February 26, 2008 is a day that I will remember forever.
On this day, my wits was tested and my presence of mind was put to the test. I was sleeping during the night of this day since I had work at 2am on the 27th, when my mother in law woke me up to inform me that
Keisha bit the thermometer. As I also suffer from asymptomatic high blood pressure, I saw my house spin and everything that I was looking at spin like I was in a bad dream. A very bad dream, and what made it worse was the fact that I knew I was awake.
I made my way down the stairs to find my eldest daughter crying. I asked her what in the world she was thinking, and she said in between tears that she didn't mean what she did. With my vision spinning, the back of my neck aching, and my head pounding, I honestly did not know what to do. My heart felt like it was stuck in my throat. I feared that she might have ingested mercury and that was poisonous. I told my mom in law to dress her up as we were going to the hospital.
I asked her for
Henry as well, whom apparently had not come home yet from his meeting. I was so close to tears and with everyone with raised voices, I knew I was not feeling well. I also felt guilty when I even screamed at my daughter for doing what she did, and that she just might die. I sat down and called
my mom. She confirmed my fear - go to the hospital as soon as you can. You don't know how much time you have. Keisha may have also swallowed bits of the broken thermometer glass which could damage her esophagus and her intestines.
As we were about to step out of the house, I saw Henry was walking down the street. I informed him of what happened in a semi-hysterical way, which added to everybody's anxiousness (I know, I'm terrible at emergency situations). So we went to the hospital and Keisha was admitted.
I was the first one to cry when she was administered a dextrose. And when she was being x-rayed and all. I only calmed down when she was being wheeled to her room. I found it hard to put up a strong facade when I wanted to just burst in tears. It's different when you're the one who's in the hospital, like when I gave birth to my kids, I was even smiling during and after the operation and all. But when it's someone you love, you wish you could just take the pain they were feeling or that instead of them, you were the one who was in that situation.
Henry tried to calm me down by telling me that I only reacted the way I did because I was abruptly woken from sleep and that I wasn't feeling well myself. He may be right, although I know he was just trying to be nice. I could have done so much more and I could have been more calm and supportive to Keisha.
We stayed the night there, and Henry and I ended up not being able to go to
work. After several tests, we took Keisha home and all we're waiting for is the results of her mercury level test, to see how much she's actually ingested. During the night where we didn't sleep a wink, we watched for any symptoms of nausea, vomiting, dizziness or stomach aches, all which she didn't have.
For now, we're just waiting and praying.
I can hardly wait for the coming payout this April fourth. This payout will have my overtime pay included and I am really excited about it. My teammates and I had to work on our day off and had to come two hours earlier every work day.
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