Poison Control

One of our worst nightmares came to life this morning. Troy was in our bathroom and found a loose Advil laying on the counter. Before my wife even knew what was going on, Troy had snatched it and swallowed it. He started to choke on it, which is what alerted her to something being wrong. I heard her screaming and crying from the other room, so I came running in to see what was going on. I was able to size up the situation in seconds. Troy had swallowed the pill, he thought it was a game that my wife was trying to get him to spit it out, and he was running from her to get her to chase him.

My wife seemed to be frozen in place. Fear was keeping her from processing what to do next. So, I grabbed Troy and immediately started trying to make him gag and throw up by shoving my finger down his throat. When that didn’t work, we tried to pour some salt water down his throat. And when that didn’t work, we called Poison Control. (Side Note: I find it fascinating that the first thoughts that popped into my head were spy movies that I had seen and what they had done when they had ingested poison. That my not be the best source to deal with situations going forward.) The nice nurse from Poison Control assured me that Troy could tolerate a pill, but it could irritate his stomach if he hadn’t had any food. She suggested that we give him some milk or yogurt to coat his stomach to help him deal with the effects.

Luckily, Troy had no issue sucking down some chocolate milk, especially after his throat was irritated from my fingers. Just to be sure, we gave him some yogurt for breakfast too. Needless to say, my wife and I are a little on edge and raw right now. Troy seems to be showing no ill effects, other than avoiding me after handling him so roughly. Although, it should be noted that I have my own battle scars. When provoked, that little toddler has an astonishingly strong bite. I was bitten repeatedly while trying to pry his teeth apart. All in all, we’re just thankful to God for saving him.