Wrapping up from the Midwest

 #USA

Post#13

Wrapping up from the Midwest :

In less than  a month from my delivery I was scheduled for my FMGEM Part 1 exam. Which means delivery had simply interrupted my study for a day or two. I was back to refreshing the basic sciences ( biochemistry, microbiology, anatomy, physiology etc) . The exam was an all day affair not too far from home, 3 sessions of 2.5 hours each. I could have gone from home if I had didn’t have a baby who was breastfed. Amita had not transitioned to baby formula by then. None of us wanted to wean her off too soon. Abhay booked a room in the hotel where the test was administered. Aai accompanied us to take care of Amita when I was taking the test. I nursed her before the first test of the day , then ran  to the room to feed her in 3 hours ,and again between the second and third parts of the test. Thus managed to get through the day.

Soon afterwards there was FLEX ( licensing exam ) to take for which we drove to Pittsburgh. Took Amita along. Also visited Baltimore at the time . I remember we encountered one of the worst winter storms in Pittsburgh at the time.

After FLEX there was still the hurdle of FMGEMs part 2. Studying for exams had become a side job. Aai had flown back to San Diego in the spring. I was the solo full time attendant for Amita thereafter. One day I placed her on the bed and stepped into the restroom to answer nature’s call. Next thing I heard a thud. This girl had rolled over and fallen off the bed . Fortunately there was carpet and no damage was done . That’s when we knew she was now able to turn over. No more leaving her out of sight even for a moment!

She would stay awake at night and start crying unless I sang to her and danced holding her. Naach re mora was the favorite song that pacified her. This went on through the entire night. In the morning Abhay would casually comment “she slept well last night right ? “ 😜

He was busy as a senior resident. Earlier in the fall he had to send applications for fellowship. There were attendings (Professors) in his program who would specifically ask for him to work on their service because they knew he was competent, after having the postgraduate experience from India. That way they could get a good night’s sleep because he would never have to call them on any sick patients. But when it came time for writing recommendations for fellowship then the venomous snake of racism would show its face !! That was my first brush with racism in America. 

Despite this raw treatment Abhay was beginning to get interviews for fellowship and traveling to California amongst other places for these. Sometime in March or April he got confirmation he had matched for Hematology Oncology Fellowship at the University of California in Irvine ( UCI, in Orange County,south of Los Angeles). Not withstanding the fact that I had really started loving Chicago and didn’t want to leave, he was determined to be in California to be closer to his sister. 

So we had to start preparing for the move. He went and scouted the apartment to rent in the vicinity of his hospital. Whatever little furniture we had in Chicago we gave it to prospective new residents in the apartment building. Amita’s brand new crib we donated as a shubh shakun ( good omen)to Abhay’s friend and his wife who were having trouble getting a baby. Soon thereafter we learnt that their efforts were successful. Their son was born 9 months later. 

The car was shipped to California on a truck. A few boxes of kitchenware, microwave and clothes were loaded into the trunk of the car. The two of us with 6 months old Amita took the one way flight to Los Angeles !! I carried the Windy City , my first home , the birthplace of my first baby in my heart.💕💕

The saree is yet another sungudi Madurai cotton. My maternal uncle had bought this for his wife( my Mami) from Madurai the same time he got the green one for my mom. Mami gave hers away to my mom because she didn’t like to wear cotton sarees . Mom in turn gave it to me. I call them the Sungudi twins that were destined to come stay with me 😀