THE RECORD

December 17, 1997

BACK TO THE EGG

Suzanne Trevis

I was into the drugstore the other day looking for sinus medication. I have to be careful as I have a bad reaction to most, but I have found a brand that seems to work okay. Unfortunately they didn't have any in a bottle and as frustrating as it is to come up against the 50 different protective devices they now have on most medications, I prefer them as I have a house full of children.

I had to take a blisterpack and was stupidly thankful that at least they had those. I grabbed two boxes, and shoved the bag in my coat pocket as I hurried out the door and headed home. As anyone with kids knows getting home, sorting out homework and getting dinner started is a confusion all its own and I forgot all about my purchase until later that evening.

My husband and I were sitting recovering some energy after dinner when my two year old daughter wandered in. She spit something out of her mouth and promptly handed it to me. "Yucky candy," she said as I looked to see what it was she had handed me.

I thought it was a TicTac and was about to go beat on my other kids for giving her candies with out talking to me, when a funny chill ran down the back of my neck. Before I'd even reached the closet I found the box and two of three almost empty packages. I counted fifteen empty blisters and was frantically combing through the carpet trying to find all of the tablets that were scattered around on the floor.

I am not a person prone to panic but my stomach was clenched and I swear I must have stopped breathing for about four minutes while I counted and recounted trying to determine if she'd actually swallowed any. All I could think about was how the box says not to give them to children under twelve, how one or two other tabs usually send me off the deep end and how she's only two and still so little.

We managed to find them all. One was bitten in half and the one she had spit out had all the "candy coating" sucked off but the other thirteen we picked up. We eventually figured out she had been looking for lifesavers in Moms coat pocket when she'd come across this brightly coloured box of "candies". Getting them out was just one more challenge that two year olds seem to thrive on.

After I got over being half scared to death I felt stupid. It never crossed my mind how easily a small child could get into this medication and I had forgotten all about them being in my coat. I am usually very careful about keeping cleaners etc. locked up and medications out of reach and this was a good, and thankfully harmless, wake up call.

I hope this is a warning to others with small children, you can never be too careful.