Scariest Day of my life...Alex strikes again!

So, this goes back to Sunday. I had worked overnight on Saturday so I slept almost all day on Sunday. I was also sick with the stomach flu, so I completely stayed away from the kids and Tim. Finally at 6pm I headed down to see them for a few hours before bedtime. Tim mentioned that Alex had gotten into a locked cabinet (we still don't know how) and gotten into Max's Aqua Dots. For anyone not aware, these were recalled due to the fact that the coating turned into GHB (date rape drug) when ingested. I had planned on returning them for store credit and had them locked up in the meantime.

Anyway, Tim said he went to check on Alex who had been playing upstairs for awhile and was a little too quiet. He found him in the cabinet and locked it back up. Not thinking much of it because there would have been a huge mess if he had actually got into them. A short time later when he was cleaning Alex up after dinner, he found two of the aquadots stuck to Alex's shirt. When I got up, I noticed that Alex was starting to walk funny. He looked drunk and sleepy, but more so than he should have for that time of evening. It continued to get worse. I told Tim to find the number for poison control and then I started panicking. It was kind of a blur after that. I remember holding the phone in my hand telling him to hurry because Alex looked like he was about to go unconscious. Tim grabbed the phone from me and yelled to just call 911 which he did. Alex slipped in and out of conscious for the next several minutes and I think he had a few small seizures as well. He definitely had tremors in his arms and legs, but not full body like I would normally think of. His breathing got really slow and labored. We stood by the front door all in tears waiting for the ambulance when Alex finally perked up a bit and puked all over the floor. There ended up being 18 AquaDots in it. But he started getting really bad again and Max followed by throwing up from seeing it.

Speaking of Max, I can't even imagine how scary this must have all been for him. He had no idea what was going on, only that mommy and daddy were freaking out and he kept asking if his brother was going to die. Unfortunately at that point, I couldn't give an honest answer because I didn't know. The ambulance finally arrived and they rushed Alex outside to hook him up to monitors. His oxygen and heartrate were fine so they slowed down a bit from there. Tim rode with them and fortunately Alli ran over to see what was happening. I ended up sending Max home with her so he didn't have to sit in the hospital with us. I followed the ambulance in my car. It was the longest 10 minute drive of my life. They stopped once at a green light when Alex became unresponsive. Tim said he could see them reaching for stuff and it freaked him out. I could see in the back window and was freaking as well. But then a second later I saw him crying so I knew he was ok.

When we got to the ER they hooked him up to an IV, drew blood, tried to cath him to get a urine sample and just basically watched him closely. His vital signs all looked really good, he just had periods where he would hold his breath for a few second too long. I layed on the stretcher with him for most of the waiting game. I had lost 4 pounds that afternoon puking and being sick so I was pretty weak myself. Not to mention it had been almost 40 hours since I had any real sleep.

The doctors brought us any info they came across about GHB and kept us informed on what Poison Control sent them. Unfortunately, most of what was known involved adults taking it in pill form. In that case, it should have been completely out of his system in 8 hours. But we weren't sure how many he ate or how his small body would handle metabolizing it.

Finally around 11 he woke up. He seemed almost back to his normal self, just woozy. They decided to keep him overnight for observation just in case which was fine by us. Around midnight we were given a room. Oh, which reminds me, we think Alex has a very mild case of the chicken pox, which he got from the chicken pox vaccine. Most likely it wouldn't transmit to anyone else, but because we were on a pediatric unit with other sick kids, we were in isolation. All the nurses and people entering the room had to gown up and wear masks so as not to possibly spread it to anyone else.

So, at this point, I ran home because Alex had nothing but a diaper and one sock on when we left for the hospital. I had to get his soy milk, bottles, and stuff for Tim and I. Max spent the night at Alli's and got to sleep in a tent in her room. He had a blast, but did spend the evening worried sick about his brother. Tim and I slept together in a hospital bed squeezed in next to Alex's "cage." He was hooked up to an IV and several leads to a monitor so he didn't have much room to move, but that was ok because all he really wanted to do was sleep. I don't know about Tim, but I think I might have actually gotten 4 straight hours never hearing the nurses come in or anything. Alex was a little cranky when he woke up in the morning and I later found out why. When Tim got up, he left to go get Max and take him to school. While he was gone, Alex screamed and grunted to poop, like he was constipated. Next thing I knew I had a diaper full of swollen aquadots. Probably 20 or so of them so he actually ate more than we originally thought. Once he got that out, though, he really did finally seem back to normal. They released him just before noon and told us to keep an eye on him, but no follow up was needed. He slept alot yesterday afternoon, but other than that, he's back to his old hellion self.

They did another urine capture in the morning so they can send away and see if GHB shows up. I don't think it will since it leaves the system so quickly, but I also wanted to have any and all information I could just in case anything ever comes from this. I can tell you I will be scared for the rest of his life that it has done some permanent damage. It was a horrible, horrifying experience, and the main thing it taught me was that China is trying to kill us all. Haha, just kidding. But it did teach me to pay attention to recalls and get the bad stuff out of the house. Getting money back is not worth the risk to my children's lives. Also, I've learned that you can childproof all you want, but some kids are smarter than others and will get passed it. I remember now when I think back, how many times he sat next to me when I opened that lock to get batteries out. I would bet money he got it open all on his own. Don't know for sure and maybe never will, but a lesson was learned and that's whats important.

Here are a few pictures of Alex in the hospital.


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See the spot on his face in the middle picture? He has about 10 or so over his body which is what we think is the chicken pox. I grabbed the camera when I went home for clothes because I wanted to be able to scrapbook this someday. Especially when he woke up acting so normal just before I left. I'm glad I did!! It is something I'll never forget, but now I can show him when he grows up and wonders why mommy has him living in a bubble.