Trying to call a pediatrician is a lot like trying to win a radio station call-in contest

It recently occurred to me that there are a lot of things we do as carefree youngsters that prepare us for parenthood. Take trying to win a radio station contest, for instance. You sit by the phone (well, we did back in the '80s. You can just carry it around with you now.) waiting for the lines to open up. Then you dial, dial, dial (today, of course, you just repeatedly hit redial.) You get hit with a busy signal over and over until, finally you get that ring. If you've played your hand right, you'll win those concert tickets. See now if you're a parent, this is the exact same way you get through to your child's pediatrician. Your toddler wakes with a fever that's flirting with danger, but not quite enough to rush to the emergency room. You call your pediatrician and you get the off-hours voice mail that tells you if it's an emergency call 911 and if not, wait until the office opens at 8:30am. You decide you're not worried enough to rush to the hospital, so you wait and wait and wait. And at 8:28 a.m. you start dialing. Still voice mail, Drat. You hit redial once ... busy signal .... twice...busy signal ... three times ... RING! You won a conversation with the receptionist. It feels great, although it's rarely useful. You need to remain persistent. Think back to those concert-going days. The receptionist takes a message. The doctor will have to call you back. And you better not miss that call. The doctor only calls in between appointments and if you miss the call because someone called on the other line and you didn't hit flash quick enough or if the doctor called your cell number and you didn't hear it because you were waiting by your land line or if, God forbid, you took a shower, you can't call back. You can go ahead and call the number that showed up for the doctor on your caller ID, but she won't be there. She'll have moved on to the next call, or left to see a patient by then. So think of it like a radio station contest. Stay focused (it is, of course, more challenging now with the feverish toddler to attend to). Stay determined. And if all else fails, find a friend whose child once was once unfortunate enough to be so sick the doctor gave his mom her secret cell phone number and tattoo that number to the back of your hand.