Okay…before I say anything about my weekend, I am asking every parent/grandparent/family member/friend who has a small child in their life to walk through your house and go through your car right now and get any over-the-counter or prescription meds they can reach and get them way high up in a cabinet or behind a lock they cannot reach/cannot open.
We almost lost one of my granddaughters this weekend. Seriously. Her heart stopped beating at West Florida Hospital. She was in critical condition in less than two hours with seizures and hallucinations; she was unresponsive – didn't recognize or even see anyone around her. She was babbling baby talk and thought the DCF caseworker was a monster. (Hmmm…no, better not.)
It was terrible.
She ended up at Sacred Heart Hospital in ICU.
No one knew what happened. As grandparents, aunts, friends, cousins, sister, mom gathered in the waiting room, it was silent. Every now and then two people would put their heads together and whisper. Anytime anyone came up the hallway from the pediatric ER, heads would turn and look for recognition.
Was this someone who had news?
Was she better?
Was she dead?
We didn't even know what was wrong with her.
Turns out, she overdosed on Diphenhydramine HCl. Allergy medicine.
As her family, we are still unsure what happened and don't particularly believe the stories that are being told.
But one thing did happen, when she woke up the next day, she said she got a capsule off the counter and swallowed it.
Like I said, the details are fuzzy. Point is, she was able to reach a capsule that nearly killed her. Doctors can't say for sure how much she took. They are recording in her file never to give her allergy medicine or any facsimile due to a possible allergic reaction.
It happened so fast and we almost lost her so quickly, it was shocking. I went home and started checking the drawers in the kitchen, the ones in the bedroom, bathroom, everywhere. I looked inside cute little jars or containers sitting around. I actually found I was guilty of leaving some prescription meds in a bottom drawer in my room. I was mad at myself for being so careless and put them up.
Please childproof your surroundings if you have a little one around. Even if you think you have, do it again. I know some people have the philosophy in childrearing that kids should just learn to not touch things that don't belong to them.
That's all well and good for certain items, but I maintain if it could kill them, it's your responsibility to move it.
Brianna is my step-granddaughter and has been in my family a little less than a year. I love her. She is an energetic funny little imp and when she woke up Sunday morning, her mom said she was "normal".
I wouldn't go that far, 🙂 but she was awake and talking and knew where she was.
And that was good enough for me.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Woman on the Edge: Brianna