Friday, March 13, 2009

Is There a Nurse in the House? Oh Wait, That's Me.


This week has been filled with little accidents and incidents. I made my biannual call to Poison Control because Gaby found the bottle of allergy medication tucked away behind the spice rack as he was searching for the candy. I had kept/hidden the bottle in that spot to have it handy for Christian later in the day. Silly me, I forgot that everything hidden will be found by Weasel Tot #2, even if it were tucked away underneath a pile of blankets in the most remote corner of the house. Lesson #1: Never forget to put away medicine in a safe place, even if you know you are going to use it within five minutes, because if you have Adult ADD (it's contagious among women with small children) you'll forget why you left there in the first place. Lesson #2: Never leave Weasel Tot #2 alone downstairs alone with if there is a stash of sweets somewhere that is (a) visible and/or (b) within reach, even if it is on top of a refrigerator. Lesson #3: Never leave Gaby unattended - EVER. More and that later.

So I thought it was unusually quiet when I came downstairs. Gaby had sticky fingers and then I saw the puddle of medicine on the floor in the kitchen. There was also a teaspoon sitting on the counter. I realized he had opened the medicine and tried to pour it onto the spoon, just as he has seen me do many times before.

"Did you drink any of that medicine, Gaby" I asked.

"Yeah, I deeed. It's in my tummy."

"Did you drink any out of the bottle or from the spoon."

"Yeah, I deed dat."

"Which was it?! Did you drink? Yes? Did you drink from the teaspoon? Yes?" I panicked a little.

I called Gail first, one of my good friends who's also a pharmacist and who has received too many inquiries from me over the years. Like the time I worked for the semi-insane couple in NJ and whose wife expected me to take care of him while she went away to a funeral, including administering his medication at the correct times (I was their 'marketing specialist') and feeding their damned cats, and when I read the names of the many medications to Gail she responded, "Oh, Elena. Be careful with that man; he's psychotic." But I digress.

So I could not reach Gail at home, so I then I called Poison Control. Their number is memorized because on average I call twice a year: 800-222-1222. Gail used to work there, too, when she was fresh out of Pharmacy School. Poison Control is very good about checking back within four hours to see that everything is ok.

On Friday Jojo had a scary accident that involved lots of bleeding. That coffee table glass that was ruined last fall was replaced by Plexiglas for now (very classy). Jojo has now learned to climb on top of the table, and several times that morning I had removed him from the table. I should have removed the table instead. The moment I went into the kitchen Jojo got back onto the table and fell off, only this time his finger was caught between the Plexiglas and the frame which resulted in a good chunk of skin that was ripped up the side of his left pinky finger.

Blood makes me nervous, and after ten minutes of applying pressure to the wound I called my parents in a panic because I was afraid I'd have to take Jojo to the urgent care for stitches. Less than ten minutes later the blood stopped flowing as my dad was en route to our house. He checked it and saw that the wound was healing on its own and we decided not to go urgent care. Stitches and a shot would have been very painful for the little guy. As of today, it seems to be healing, although there is a little swelling. I'll take him to urgent care if it's still swollen tomorrow in case there is a fracture.

Other accidents to report: Jojo fell out of the crib after apparently climbing onto the pile of clothes that Gaby had thrown into the crib. I have already removed all toys from the room since Gaby has a terrible habit of throwing toys into the crib, which ended up putting a gash into Jojo's head. I may also have to remove all books and anything loose in that room. Either that or remove Jojo, but there'd be less room in Christian's room which means that I would have to move Christian into Gaby's room and move Gaby into Christian's. I'd rather remove all loose objects from Gaby and Jojo's room for now.



The only time I experienced labor pain was with Weasel Tot #2; he also kicked much when he was in my stomach. That should have been warning enough that this one was going to test my outer limits.

1 comment:

linda lum debono said...

Don't these accidents just kill you? You just have to laugh about it later. I've had my calls to the Poison Control number and visits to the ER. I actually dread choking even more.

I remember you talking about those crazy people in NJ!!!