Medical Mondays - Step One

Welcome newcomers and not so newcomers to May Medical Mondays! I am Elle, tax accountant extraordinaire dating "M", an almost third year medical student. We are pleased to have you join in on the stories of our daily lives.
As you are reading this my boyfriend is taking Step One. When I get out of work tonight we are getting hour long massages, going to the movies, and packing. Tomorrow we'll be on the sandy beaches of North Carolina. My god do we need a vacation.
This has been the worst month of our relationship in three and a half years. We endured him living with his parents for a year, we dealt with over two years of long distance, we battled the stressful time I took the CPA, we sat on pins and needles waiting for his MCAT scores and later med school interviews. But never have we endured something as horrible as Step One.
Maybe I haven't put it in perspective clearly for you: I am booking a flight soon to a far away country for next year's Step Two study period. I want to be far far FAR away from M while he's studying.
Yesterday, M turned to me and said something I'd been dreading "After this exam, we need to have a serious talk about my becoming a doctor. I don't think I can do this career." It's probably the stress of Step One, the loads of studying over the past two years, how he's not sure he'll even like working with patients. It could be lots of things, or it could be that he's worried our relationship can't withstand the stresses of a medical career.
"I hate what I have become. I hate that I can't spend time with you. What if it's like this for a very long time?" he asked me. I had no reassuring words. I could only hear my pleading back in college begging him to reconsider engineering because I wasn't sure I'd be strong enough to go through medicine.
Readers, I tried it all to keep myself busy. Reading, exercising, going out with friends, scheduling events during the work week, taking trips on the weekends, but none of it worked to ease the pain of being away from M. Maybe it's sign of weakness in our relationship. I feel pretty weak right now. But then again, I can't help but wonder if anyone else in this world chose a different kind of career for fear of ruining their relationship. If we know that both of us could be happier both inside and outside of our relationship with him doing something else, shouldn't we choose it?
Anyways, I still think he's going to choose medicine in the end. He's just burnt out from studying and the first time he sees a patient he is going to feel rejuvenated. And I think we will make it work.
I wish I could be sure.