Urban Myths and Poison Control

I have received many urban myths in my inbox during the 8 or 10 years that I have had an email address. Fortunately most of them are proven false but this week I received two that were alarmingly true. One regarding candy that is being used to lure kids to the world of meth. The other about younger children ingesting hand sanitizer and the dangerously high alcohol content contained in this product. Both warnings worth reading and heeding. Better to be safe than sorry.

The article on hand sanitizer mentioned Poison Control and that took my mind back. There have been a few occasions that I have sought their help. Some more humorous than others but every time they have been wonderful to work with...no blame or accusation that would infer you are a bad parent...just kind, helpful people who are willing to listen to even the silliest or most ludicrous concerns.

Incident #1: My brother-in-law had given me one of those fancy candles sold at a kiosk in the mall...similar to a unity candle with all the fancy curlicues...but this one was in the shape of a lighthouse. In order to retain the shape, this particular candle had a small recessed jar that contained kerosene and a small wick for burning rather than to burn the candle itself. My bathroom was decorated in lighthouses but it was too small to have a shelf to hold the candle. So the candle was placed in the only space available - on the back of the toilet. I didn't foresee any problems with this until the day I found Kerrigan, probably 12 to 18 months old, up on the toilet seat, dipping the wick in the kerosene reservoir then sucking on it. I had no clue how long she'd been doing this and I freaked out. I called Poison Control and they assured me that she would be fine. The candle found itself in a new location, way up high!

Incident #2: One night I found evidence that a little someone had been in my room and in an old purse. When I change from one purse to another (refer to "H" in my ABC post) I often leave things in the old purse that I don't think I need anymore but might want later. Well, this time one of "those things" happened to be a sample of an allergy medicine. The foil had been punched and the pill was missing. I hunted down the Suspect and asked if she'd eaten something from the tampered package. She confessed in her 3 yr old way that she had. And another call to Poison Control was made. This time they told me the worst that would happen was that she might sleep a little longer and a little more soundly. Hmmm...can she have one every night?!?!

Incident #3: We were leaving my niece's wedding reception last July and my sister was handing out those glow in the dark necklaces to all the kids. Using the Ladies Room before we began our 5.5 hr journey, my girls opened their packages and discarded the wrappers in the trash. A few hours later darkness had descended, one child was asleep and the other two were being very quiet. I was on the phone when suddenly our oldest yelled that Janae (our 8 yr old of all things)had green stuff in her mouth! I was on the phone with a friend, turned around and Janae's mouth, her stuffed animal and parts of her clothing were glowing green! I told my friend what happened and asked her if she knew anything about these things being toxic or not. She didn't so I bid her a hasty farewell. You would think by now that I have the Poison Control number memorized but I didn't. Thank goodness for cell phones with Internet access. I looked up the number on Tony's phone. The rep that I got was a guy with a sense of humor. I explained to him that we were traveling and had thrown the wrappers out so I had no info. He said she might vomit from the yucky taste (she had spit out as much as possible when Britnee started yelling) but other than that these toys were perfectly harmless. Before I hung up he suggested if we wanted to have fun on the remainder of our trip she could stick her tongue out to anyone that we were passing on the freeway :) And I'm thinking, "Maybe I should save the number for Poison Control into my cell phone."