Thursday, March 18, 2010

The First Call to Poison Control

OK, I promised a friend I would update w/ the story of the first call I made to poison control last week. Thankfully, this one did not involve my kids.

So last week, I had a babysitter come and watch my kids during nap time so I could go to an appointment. She came and I cleaned my house thoroughly before she got here to hide my terrible housekeeping skills. In the midst of cleaning, I discovered that the fish tank needed water, so I poured a pitcher full of water and added the water conditioner to it and let it come to room temperature on the kitchen counter.
I told myself...'tell the babysitter not to drink that water'. Well, I forgot to. When I got back after my appointment and the babysitter left, I noticed that the water was half gone in the pitcher. Oh crap. Then I remembered that the sitter did NOT have her cell phone on her, so I couldn't call her immediately to find out if she had actually drank the water. So, I read the bottle of water conditioner and it plainly stated, "Not for human consumption, keep out of reach of children (and babysitters)."
So, I placed the call to Poison Control. Ring Ring...
"Poison control, how can I help you?"
me: "well, I have a question."
PC: "OK, go ahead."
Me: "I have this Marine Water Conditioner that I treated a pitcher full of water full, and then my babysitter drank it. Is that bad?"
PC: "Well, is there a list of ingredients?"
Me: "No, it just says don't ingest it."
PC:"How's the babysitter feeling right now?"
Me: "I don't know, she left, and I can't contact her."
PC: "well, I have to contact the company to see what's exactly in it..."
So he takes my name and number and hangs up and goes on his mission to find out if my babysitter will die or not.
He called me back later said the company didn't answer and was going to try something else. In the meantime, I got in touch with the babysitter.
Me: "Hello, ugh, do you know that water that was in that pitcher on the kitchen counter?"
BS: "yes?"
Me: "Did you drink it?"
BS: "yes, and it tasted baaad! And I thought to myself, Wow! Their water is bad, but I drank a lot of it, why?"
Me: "Well, it was water I treated with a water conditioner for the fish tank."
BS: Laughter. Lots of Laughter.
Me: "are you feeling OK?" and I apologized over and over and explained that PC was going to call me back.
BS: more laughter. "Yes Kate, I'm fine."
Me: More apologizing.
PC later called me back and said that it was fine. She might get an upset stomach but it should be fine.
And all was fine. But I still feel bad. Really bad about it. And also have learned to label an old milk jug w/ fish water on it, so that this does not happen again.

2 comments:

Karen said...

Thanks for a good laugh. Mirs kept asking what was so funny! :)

Shay said...

You are awesome!