My husband J and I were lucky enough to have met each other four years ago. Within a month we fell so in love and decided to pursue a life together. Sure we were only 20 and still in college, but we were absolutely certain that we couldn’t live without each other. And now we’ve been married for nearly three years. After two-and-a-half years of being long distance we finally moved in together right before I started med school & he started his masters program. Living together and starting the “adult” chapter of our lives was really exciting. I mean, who wouldn’t want to see their best friend all day every day?

It was during that first semester of living together that it hit us: we want; No, we need a baby. Of course it was somewhat of a silly idea. After all, we were only 22 and definitely didn’t want to compromise our future, or the well-being of a baby by not being able to provide all the things a child needs & deserves. Nevertheless we couldn’t shake the desire to have a baby of our own. We had openly discussed the topic of children since the very beginning of our relationship - how many, when, girl names, boy names, what sports they’ll play, will they be a doctor like mommy or an engineer like baba? And hopefully one day that dream of ours will come true.

At that time in our lives we knew a baby wasn’t a responsible choice for us, but we knew that we had so much love to give and we wanted to be able to care for and love something together. It was also a spiritual decision in that, religiously, there are good deeds for showing kindness toward any living creature. So one day during my second semester I was searching local dog breeders when I came across a listing that sold mostly yorkies. I thought a yorkie would be practical, small and easy to care for so it seemed like a good place to start. I sent J the link and he suggested we go check them out. That weekend we drove up to the breeders house. Under a pile of loud yorkies laid a shih-tzu* puppy with the sweetest face in the world. He was so meek amidst 5-6 crazy little yorkies and seemed to not mind that they were jumping on him and using him as a stool. I knew immediately that he belonged with us. Funny enough, I found out later that my husband had seen a picture of him on the breeder's site and wanted him but didn't mention it because I had been so insistent on a yorkie, lol. But this little puppy was so calm and sweet that the name we had chosen for him before even meeting him was perfect: Melo, short for Carmelo...specifically, Carmelo Anthony. At 2.5 lbs, Melo was the smallest thing we have ever fallen in love with.

[caption id="attachment_128" align="alignright" width="300"] The day we brought Melo home[/caption]

I knew having Melo during med school would be challenging. Up until we brought him home I had been attending lectures in the mornings instead of podcasting. But that all changed. I knew he needed to be potty trained and taken care of. At only 8 weeks old he was basically an infant. I decided to stay home and podcast all of my lectures so that I could spend more time with him. I still attended my required lectures, clinical sessions and other club / research meetings, but most of my days were spent studying from home with Melo. It kills me to leave him at home alone and I honestly would not have gotten him if I had not been absolutely sure that I would be able to give him the attention and love he deserves. It took Melo about 2-3 months to be fully potty trained. And though he had a few accidents here and there, the hard work of training him really paid off.

[caption id="attachment_129" align="alignright" width="156"] Potty training is tiring[/caption]

Switching from attending lectures to podcasting was probably the best thing I did for my time management goals and I wouldn’t have done it without Melo. My current day-to-day schedule with Melo goes a little something like this. At about 7:45am I take Melo on a 1 mile walk which is just enough activity to get him to nap for a few hours in the morning while I do my most intense studying. That means doing my daily firecracker questions (~200) for about 2 hours followed by 1-2 hours of podcasting at 2x speed while I’m on the elliptical. In the afternoon I typically review first aid and flag some more topics on firecracker. In the evening I review topics from previous weeks. I think having Melo has made me more efficient and more conscious of how I’m spending my time. It has also taught me to take breaks and relax, usually by taking him out to the yard to walk around or play fetch for a bit while I get some fresh air. On days when I have to be gone for a few hours I make sure to tire him out before I leave so that he can sleep. If I have an extra-long day ahead, which doesn’t happen often, J will come home during his lunch break and walk Melo.


Balancing med school with having a dog is doable and has brought me so much joy and balance overall. When I begin my third year rotations in June I won’t be able to be home as much as I’d like so we will be getting a new puppy to add to our family so that Melo has a little buddy to play with!

It is crazy to think how much Melo has grown in the year that we’ve had him. He has such a big personality and is truly the love of our life. He’s taught us so much about what it means to love a creature so much that you would do anything for them. He has also taught us a lot about ourselves as partners and valuable lessons about patience, being observant and being present. We hope that these lessons will make us better parents to Melo and to our future children.

* Melo later turned out to be a pekingese / shih-tzu / lahsa apso mix which we discovered through DNA testing. We are actually relieved to know he was a mix and is healthier because of it. The breeder was, surprisingly, cooperative and we resolved the issue financially. Later I googled her name and it turns out there were many fraud claims against her business so be sure to do your research before buying a puppy!