It's official: I'm raising Curious George

January 20, 2008

It was a busy Sunday. Sai had been home in St. George with us for 1 week between finishing his work at Turtle Bay Resort on Oahu and heading to Aspen, Colorado to start a new job at The Gant resort. After sending him off that morning, we attended church. Later in the evening, I was just getting ready to attend an enrichment meeting. I went to the bathroom, and as all mothers should know – that is when the chaos struck!

I came from the bathroom into the kitchen to discover 2 ½ year old Aisea on the counter, with the cupboard open, Aunt Lisa’s pill tray out and colored powder on his lips. It took a couple of seconds to sink in, then I started shouting for my mom, whom I was so grateful was still in town!!!

She came running and filled in as my brain for the next 24 hours.

My sister, Michelle got on the phone to Poison Control. Between mom and Michelle, they were able to tell the Poison Control that he had taken just 1 pill and what kind it was - a blood pressure medication. Luckily for us, the pills were laid out in a daily dose container and so it was easy to see which one he had eaten – lots better than if he’d been in a bottle of pills.

Meanwhile, I had Aisea at the sink and he was acting weird, sticking his tongue out and trying to wipe it with his fingers. I guess the powder and taste of the pill was not appetizing (THANK HEAVENS!!!) He was kind of crying, more like whining, like he was frustrated or irritated. He said it was burning. He kept asking for water. Mom told me to gag him. I tried twice, but nothing happened. Then, in a calm moment. Aisea just leaned over the sink, stuck 3 fingers WAY down his throat, and threw up. There was half of the pill. I had to look away and spray it all down the sink to avoid throwing up myself. Watching others vomit without dry heaving myself is not exactly my strength.
I felt more at ease, but was still a little concerned that he may have consumed more than we thought.
Aunt Shell was still on the phone and soon the Poison Control operator directed us to take him to the ER.
At the hospital, my dad and our home teacher, Greg Abbott, gave Aisea a blessing. He was acting normal by this point, just tired. He was interested in the toys in the waiting room.

Trying to convince Aisea that the heart monitor cords were like Spiderman webs went over fairly well. As long as I kept making up stories and keeping his eyes and mind occupied, he let the medical personnel manhandle him. They decided to keep him overnight and transferred him (1st ambulance ride) to the pediatrics campus.

Everything turned out well in the end, absolutely no effects were apparent. My mom came to the hospital whenever Maika woke up and needed to be fed. She would stay with Aisea while I ran home to do the feeding. (Handy that we live just 1 block away!)

The following day, after we were home and all of the adults’ nerves were returning to normal, my mom tells me, “Last night when I was with Aisea, trying to get him to sleep, I was rubbing his arm and noticed a tourniquet still on his upper arm, underneath his shirt sleeve. His arm was considerably darker than the rest of his skin.” She said she ran out to the nurses desk to alert them and they were in the room before she knew it. And they removed it.

This made my heart sink! The poor little boy, goes to the hospital to HAVE something happen to him!?! The nurse at the ER had put the tourniquet on to find a vein to insert the IV and left it there. It was maybe 2 hours that he was wearing it. I’m so grateful for my mom! I may not have noticed it!!!!!

In the end, all was well.