Charcoal Kiss

What a crazy, messed up day yesterday was! Avery decided to chug some children's cough syrup. I thought the bottle was up, in fact it was, but I forgot there was a little one on my nightstand! It's a big "no no" to be in Mommy's room, and a bigger one to touch anything on Mommy or Daddy's nightstand, but darn it that cough syrup just tastes too darn good. Anyway, it wasn't a full bottle, I just don't know how much was gone, and there was still some in it, so it's hard tellin' how much Avery drank, but according to poison control a little under an ounce is toxic at his size and it was a 3 oz. bottle.
Off to the ER.
Thank goodness for friends I could dump Carson on! It also worked to Travis' afternoon patient's benefit to cancel her appt. too so that worked out for everyone and Travis joined us later in the ER. Avery got to drink some activated charcoal (no pumping or forced puking, it just absorbs and moves thru - just to get a little graffic for you there) which he chugged down and afterward informed me that he liked it!!! UGH! Blech! Insane? Yes, I think he is. Avery was also hooked up to a cardiac monitor and stuck there for a 4 hour minimum. That was stressing in the beginning - not because that sounds serious, but because I wasn't sure if keeping him planted in the hospital bed (complete with hospital gown!) was going to go over so well with him. Two things worked in our favor there: 1) Sesame Street, etc. on TV and 2) apparently the drug in the syrup is a depressant and after a while (before TV got boring) Avery started getting awfully mellow, and eventually quite glassy-eyed. Not so great a sign, but he bounced out of it shortly before the 4 hour monitor minimum was met and we were discharged in fairly shortly after the 4 hours.
Believe me, this tongue is WAY better than it was. It was solid black down to the tip for quite a while. The crusty black around his mouth wouldn't come off with anything until I took my nail and scraped away the worst of it! YUK!
But look how happy he was. I rather think the experience was entirely too UN-scary. Avery already enjoys the doctors, and this didn't even give us the benefit of the charcoal being gross to him or being stuck in the bed a hardship. *sigh*
Avery was actually feeling so good and had so much pent energy (I guess from not getting to use any that day? rather than being exhausted by the ordeal?!) that we went the the party that night for Travis' clinic at school. Avery got to bowl and had a generally good time! First thing he said to me this morning was that we had to play bowling again with his toys. (Of course I'm a dunce and didn't take the camera to get a picture of his first time bowling. Oh well, maybe Travis' clinic coordinator got something in all the shots she was taking)

Moral of the story. Even if you think all the dangerous stuff is out of reach or locked up, you never know if something has escaped your notice. Hopefully that's the last time something escapes my notice.