An Ambulance at our Door

To celebrate Bryan's birthday, he and I went out on a date yesterday evening while my 13-year-old babysat. It was great to have some time alone with my awesome husband.

Before we left I got out one of the Tenex tablets that my 11-year-old is supposed to take at 7 PM each evening and put it in a little medicine cup far back on the kitchen counter. That way she could take it while we were gone. I was trying to be responsible by making sure she got her medicine on time.

When we got home a little before 9 PM Sydney was fussy, so I nursed her and she fell asleep immediately. It was a little unexpected that she fell asleep so soon because she had just woken up at 4:30 PM from a long nap. I didn't think anything of it though until about 10 PM when my 13-year-old mentioned that Sydney had gotten into the medicine that was on the counter, so she had to get out a new tablet for her sister to take. Apparently Sydney had pushed a kitchen chair over there, climbed up, and done what most 15-month-olds do in that situation: put everything interesting she sees in her mouth.

After inspecting the kitchen, I found half of a chewed-up tablet on the counter. I knew this was not good. Right away I called poison control. The operator told me Tenex can lower blood pressure too low in little ones and had me try to rouse Sydney. She stirred and opened her eyes a bit but was really sleepy. Drowsiness is a side effect of the medication. The operator told me she needed to be monitored in the hospital and proceeded to dispatch an ambulance. That way she could also be monitored on the way to the hospital. She didn't want something to happen on the way there.

I quickly grabbed some things to bring with us. My 13-year-old was distraught and very worried about Sydney. I told her Sydney was probably fine, but they need to monitor her just to make sure.

So that's how an ambulance ended up at our door. Well, first a firetruck came, actually. Four burly firemen came in our door loaded with medical supplies. The chief picked up Sydney and was pleased that she didn't have any problems waking up. She started crying so I held her while they attached a pulse ox monitor to her big toe, placed sticky pads snapped to wires on her chest and abdomen, and pricked her heel to get her blood sugar level. All her numbers looked normal, which was reassuring.

Next the ambulance came with a gurney, strapped her in with a car seat-type seat belt, and loaded her in the back of their rig. I grabbed my stuff and climbed in the back with her. Unfortunately they told me I would need to ride in the front because there aren't proper seat belts for me in the back. I was worried Sydney would be crying for me the whole time, but she calmed down after a minute. The medic said she even got a smile out of her on the ride to the hospital.

Earlier in the day I had read an article in the newspaper about how Cardon Children's Hospital, the only children's hospital in the east valley, is slammed with patients right now and is having to find other places for all the sick kids. There was a picture of a 14-month-old hooked to a bunch of wires and tubes. I thought, "Oh, that poor girl. It would be terrible if Sydney was in the hospital like that! I would not want to leave her side." Ironic, I know.

Because Cardon had no available beds whatsoever, the ambulance took us to Banner Gateway. Exam Room 13 became our home for the night. Maybe it's good we weren't at the children's hospital being exposed to RSV, croup, and intestinal illnesses. But the bed certainly could have been more comfortable and there could have been less light and noise coming in to facilitate sleeping. Most importantly though, Sydney continued to show normal blood pressure readings, pulse rate, and oxygen levels. She fell asleep again soon after we got there and kept sleeping except to wake every 2 to 3 hours to nurse.

The doctor tried to find a bed for her at Cardon or at Phoenix Children's Hospital since Banner Gateway is not equipped to handle pediatric emergencies should one occur. No luck. I didn't really want to be transferred anyway.

As I lay next to Sydney on the bed, feeling her warm body, hearing her soft breathing, seeing all the wires connected to her, I thought about the Relief Society lesson I was supposed to give the following morning on sacrifice. I was thinking about Abraham being willing to sacrifice his son, about Jesus' sacrifice for mankind, and how I was willing to sacrifice my time, money and energy for my daughter. I also thought about how this incident could have been prevented, and how I need to be really careful in the future.

Most medicines are cleared from the system in 4 to 6 hours, but Tenex is long-lasting: 17 hours is the average time. Poison Control recommended monitoring for 24 hours. Thank goodness we didn't have to be there that long. After speaking with a toxicologist, checking Sydney over again and observing her waking up and nursing, the doctor sent us home at 6 AM. I had only managed less than an hour of sleep. I was grateful that Sydney kept sleeping. When she woke again to nurse at about 7:30 AM I brought her into bed with me. At 8 AM I called someone to sub for me teaching (thank you Sis. Jaten!) Then we both slept until 1 PM. She kept sleeping until 2:30 PM when Bryan finally woke her up.

Now Sydney seems back to normal. I am grateful she's okay. I hope that by sharing this incident, of which I feel ashamed, it will help others also be more vigilant in keeping drugs far, far out of reach of little ones. It is scary and humbling to have inadvertently put your own child's life at risk. I would hate for this to happen to anyone else!