Chapter 11

Over the next four months, Sean and Megs became closer, more devoted to each other as their love deepened. Megumi was very focused and single-minded about her studies.

She told Sean that her advisor warned her about the seven deadly sins committed by third year med students.

She said to him one evening. “My student advisor told me the third year of medical school is probably one of the most difficult. I’ll be constantly changing teams, meeting new people, and being evaluated. Each rotation, from surgery to pediatrics, requires a different skillset, that I’ll need to learn on the fly. Nevertheless, there are some core skills that are required to do well in every rotation. Actually, many times, he said, the best way to do well is to simply avoid the 7 deadly sins of a third-year medical student.

“I don’t think I’ll have a problem with six of them. But I will need to be sure to avoid #5:

Don’t shelf or final-study procrastinate. I am usually good at last minute studying, but if I don’t have time, I need to be diligent. The reason is that the third year of medical school is completely different from the first two years. I’ll rarely have dedicated study time. That means that I cannot cram in the last two weeks of a rotation. The best thing to do is to study a little bit every day. Even if I’m exhausted by the end of a long workday, I try to force myself to study even for at least one hour. It will also pay many dividends on my ward visits because I’ll actually know clinically relevant things.”

Sean asked what the others were, and she replied, “Being late, which I am never late. Being rude to nurses or staff. Being annoying. Another is not showing enthusiasm, I’ve never been annoying and medical practice excites me, I’m always enthusiastic. I’m a team player, and I’m not fake. Some students pretend to like a rotation to score brownie points with the resident instructor. The reason I’m telling you all of this, my dufus flyboy, is because we will need to limit our calls to the weekends so I can have what little time I have during the week to study. It’s gonna be close, but I think I can graduate at the end of December and then the Boards in early January. I have a few professors and mentors who are cheering me on. Dr. Jamison, my medical advisor said it’s been a few years since a genius whiz kid has graduated medical school early. He said it happens about once every five years or so.”

“Yes, Ma’am, I’ll listen. But I’ll be sending you oodles of texts,” Sean said. He sounded a little dejected.

Megumi noticed his tone and said, “Look, Flyboy, we need to stay focused. It’s only for this year. You need to keep up your account degree studies and continue to make progress. By the way, how’s that coming along?”

“I’m on track. I’ll finish late next year, about six months before my enlistment is up.”

Megumi moaned, “Oh Baby, I miss you so much I can’t stand it! But I don’t feel like I used to. Before I missed someone who loved and cared about me, thought I was pretty and wanted to have a relationship with me. But now, even though I miss you terribly, I know that you are real and that there IS someone who loves and cares for me. It’s comforting to have that knowledge even though I miss you. Does that make any sense? Maybe I can’t explain it right.”

“No, Baby Girl, it makes perfect sense. You hit the nail right on the head.”

“My love relationship with God had also changed. My faith is now more real to me because of you. I can’t see you, touch you or be with you, but I know you are real and that you love me. I can talk to you. My relationship with the Lord is the same way. I can’t see Him, be with Him or touch Him, be we communicate through prayer and He answers me in my spirit and makes me feel loved and fulfilled — just like you do.”

“Megs, I couldn’t have said that any better. We’re on the same wavelength.”

Sean changed subjects and said, “I spoke to Josh the other day. He told me he bought a car. He was able to pick up a ten-year-old Mercedes with fairly low mileage for $6,000. With Suki living at home with him, they are probably acting like their half married already, aren’t they? What does Suki say about things between them?’

“They are going strong. She said they get into some heavy make-out sessions once in a while and they both need to cool off before they do something rash. At home, your mom, well, you know your mom. Nothing gets past her. She keeps both of them on a short leash. As far as those two being baptized, they are waiting to do it when you come home at Christmas. He’s been helping her with her studies, and surprisingly, she has a respectable 3.25 GPA; Josh has a 3.95. She said that she thinks it’s kinda funny the way Josh gets very emotional when playing computer games.”

In September, Megumi called Sean. She was overworked, overextended and at the end of her rope; she was just plain worn out. After calming her to the point where he could talk to her, he asked her, “Now, Sweetie, tell me what’s going on.”

“Sean, I just can’t do this anymore.”

“Baby, you’ve got three months to go, you need to hang in there.”

Crying, she replied, “But Sean those three months include the whole last year of medical school. I need to complete nine months of work in a third of the time. My nerves are frazzled to the ends and I’m losing focus.”

“Have you laid out a plan for tackling this last year’s work?”