Married to Doctors

#20: The Sometimes Difficult Choice to be Married to a Doctor

#19: Creating Peace in a Busy Physician's Home

#18: For Richer, For Poorer: A Look at Student Loans

#17 How to Develop Your Independence When Married to a Doctor

In this episode, Lara will be talking with Melody Warnick, author of the book "This Is Where You Belong: Finding Home Wherever You Are"(Viking, 2016), an eminently practical guide to improving, investing in, and coming to love the place where you live.  Melody and Lara will be discussing the extra challenges that come from having to move for medical school and residency and how we can learn to feel more rooted in our homes, even if we know we'll only be there for a short time. 

First, Lara will be talking with Vanessa Zamora, a scrub tech who was living in California with her two teenage daughters when she fell in love with a fourth-year medical student.  Her husband matched to a program in Washington state, and Vanessa moved with him while her daughters decided to stay in California.  Next, you'll hear from Nashira Pearl, a music teacher who underwent some major culture shock when her husband's match took her from a small town in the midwest to Brooklyn, NY.

In this episode, Lara will be interviewing Chris McGilvery, the founder and Executive Director of the non-profit organization Give More HUGS.  Chris will be sharing his story of how he came to discover his passion for helping underprivileged students while his wife was in medical school and how the organization has evolved into what it is today, despite the several moves he had to make in order to support his wife as a physician. 

In this episode, Lara will be talking with Sara Walker, a doctor wife and graduate student who hopes that by sharing her experiences of dealing with post-partum depression and anxiety during her husband's medical training while inspire other medical spouses to consistently give themselves the care they need and deserve. Post-Partum depression is not to be taken lightly. We encourage anyone suffering from symptoms of depression to seek professional help.

Though a majority of U.S. medical school graduates this year will end up matching to a residency program, each year there are always a small percentage of students who unfortunately do not match. In this episode, Lara will be talking with Will and Julie, a husband and wife who experienced the stress of not matching when Will finished medical school in 2013.  Will and Julie will be sharing how they were able to move on and continue Will's medical career despite the setback of not matching the first time.

In the medical profession, saving a life always comes first. Sometimes that priority can unintentionally take over your personal life--no matter how bad you may want your spouse to be at an event or be there to support you, there are times when they need to stay at the hospital to help a patient.  In this episode, Lara talks with marriage and family intern Sarah Epstein to get some advice on how we can better communicate with our spouses to keep our marriages strong during the medical journey.  

In this episode, the host of the podcast Lara McElderry will be sharing some stories from her own journey as a physician spouse and how she became inspired to start a podcast.  She'll be talking about some of the struggles her and her husband faced in medical school when their four-year-old son was diagnosed with a brain tumor, her decision to give up a great teaching job to support her husband, and how she dealt with several moves when her husband decided to change career paths. 

At the beginning of this episode, you'll hear a letter from the wife of a doctor who struggled with alcoholism for several years and how she supported him through the recovery of his addiction. Then, Lara will again be talking with Dr. Michael F. Myers, a clinical psychiatrist and the author of several books about medical marriages, who will be sharing advice about how to support an alcoholic spouse and how to better communicate about difficult subjects with your spouse. 

Episode Notes In this episode, Lara will be talking with Dr. Michael Myers, a clinical psychiatrist and the author of several books about medical marriages. Dr. Myers will discuss some of the issues that often plague medical marriages, including workaholism and resentment.  They'll also be discussing Lara's husband's choice to become a surgeon and have a family. He will also answer the question, "Are all surgeons jerks?" 

In this episode Lara will be talking with Dr. Celeste Holbrook, a sexologist married to a physician who has dedicated her life to helping others overcome their mental blocks about intimacy.  Lara and Dr. Holbrook will have a frank conversation about the extra challenges that come with a medical career and how we can strengthen our physical connections with our partners.

Financial advice is everywhere, but not all of it is applicable to physicians and their families.  In this episode, Lara will be having a conversation with Ryan Inman, a financial planner who is married to a Pediatrician and understands the unique challenges of finances in the medical profession.  In addition to giving advice on how to find a good financial planner, Ryan will also share his thoughts on medical debt and how physicians and their spouses can best keep control of their finances.