Note to all Doctors.

This wasn't the post I was planning on making today but this is a spur of the moment kind of thing as my mom has been trying to get a hold of my oral surgeon because of some issues with pain, but she has not gotten a call back after they told her he would call her back in 20 minutes, so this next part is for all doctors out there.....

Dear Doctors,

        If a parent of a chronically ill child calls you worried about something call them back. These parents aren't calling your office because of something minuscule, like the sniffles. If they are calling you they are genuinely worried about their child. If their child is complaining of pain, they are in a decent amount of pain because most chronically ill children are in pain a lot of the time, so they aren't complaining about just any old ache. These parents aren't the parents that are going to overreact, they have handed their babies to surgeons, watched over them as they have been hooked up to numerous tubes and wires, they have seen their child in their worst moment.

        Over the time that their child has had a chronic illness they have learned the difference between when to call a doctor and when things can be managed at home. The difference between when something is just a flair of their disease that just has to run its' course or something that needs to be addressed by a doctor. As well as they know when a flair becomes something that should be of concern.

      So my point in writing this is that when a parent of a child with a chronic illness calls your office and asks the nurse to be able to talk to you, please take the time to call them back because these parents aren't going to be the type of parent who call you over nothing.

Sincerely,

A Chronically Ill Teenager