Children's Tylenol ROCKS!

Yes, I said Children's Tylenol. Yes, it says "Ages 2 - 6" on the front. And yes, I took 6 of them - that is only how high the chart goes "11 years and up to 95 pounds = 6 chewables" - I probably should take 8 since I am slightly older than 11 and slightly heavier than 95 lbs but 6 seem to be working.

I am still sick and have been couch/bed ridden since Tuesday. Although I must be feeling better since I have managed to make it to the computer =) I actually have a dr. appt today because I think I have a sinus infection - either that or my head is just going to explode one of these days. We are hoping for the sinus infection. So remember I am sick, there very well may be type-o's and misspellings - just ignore those!

Anyways, "why take children's medicine?" you might ask yourself - let me explain:

For Thanksgiving 2005 we went to Packwood, WA to spend it with April & Rick in their cabins they have built there (beautiful location - if you want a wonderful vacation spot, this is it! They rent them out - let me know if you are interested!) We had a great time but toward the end of the trip I got a cold and by the time we left, my throat felt like it was on fire!

It was a 2 day trip home for us and so when we stopped at a hotel late at night, I was in pain! My throat hurt so bad. Evan was only 8 weeks old, Hailey was 3 and Kayla was almost 5. The girls were asleep and I had fed Evan and given him to Kurt to rock to sleep. I decided to take some Tylenol so that when I woke up in a few hours to feed Evan again, I would already have pain meds in me so hopefully my throat wouldn't hurt too bad. Well, I went to the sink, filled my glass with water, popped the first pill in my mouth, chugged some water and . . .

it LODGED in my throat! I couldn't breath, swallow, nothing. I grabbed more water but it just kept coming back out my mouth. I ran over to Kurt, who was asleep with Evan on his chest, shake him awake and I was pounding on my chest because I couldn't talk. Kurt bolts awake, tossed (sounds better than threw) Evan on the bed and starts pounding on my back, trying to give me the hymlick (?) and we both start freaking out because it isn't working. He runs to the phone to call 911 and he can't figure out how to get a line out. He calls the front desk and is screaming "She's choking" to whoever anwered the call. At this point I thought I was going to die in this hotel room with my 3 kids just feet away. Awful feeling!

While Kurt was on the phone I was able to calm down a bit and realize that I could get some air, although my breathing was hindered. I kept trying to drink more water but I would just make this awful gurgling noise and the water would just come right back up.

Finally we heard sirens. We waited. Nobody. Waited some more. Nobody. Did they stop to get something to eat or what? The paramedics couldn't find our room so Kurt runs out to flag them down and get them to our room.

Their advice: drink some water! Duh, I have already been trying that! And because I was technically breathing they couldn't touch me. WHAT? So the 3 paramedics stand there watch me try to drink more water, watch me gurgle and watch it all come right back up. We waited. They said that it should dissolve and I should be able to swollow it. Drank more water, water came back up, pill didn't go down. It was stuck right on the "fire" spot on my throat so their guess was that my throat was swollen and that is why it got stuck. It wasn't dissolving because it was completely surrounded by my throat tissue and the water wasn't able to get around it to help it dissolve.

At one point Kurt started banging on my back again trying to do something because they obviously weren't doing anything to help me. One of the guys said "Uh, sir, I wouldn't do that. You could dislodge it and make it worse". I understand but come on, someone do something!

So after I don't know how much time, we decided it wasn't dissolving (they had put another pill in a cup of water to see how quickly it would dissolve and it did so rather rapidly) and they needed to take me to the hospital and give me a muscle relaxer. Kurt starts trying to figure out how he is going to carry 3 sleeping kids into the ER. I started getting upset because I don't want my 3 babies in the dirty ER. One of the paramedics went to get the stretcher, the others start taking down all my info and Kurt starts packing Evan's diaper bag when all of the sudden I SWOLLOWED THE PILL!

Oh, the relief.

I can't even describe the relief I felt. I didn't have to go to the ER, we didn't have to wake the kids (who, by the way, slept through all of this!) and I wasn't dead!

After the paramedics left, Kurt and I just hugged each other and cried, okay, sobbed. We had both been so scared. I don't think either of us slept much after that but I do have to say that my sore throat was gone. Tylenol lodged in a sore throat cures it quickly, although, I don't recommend this treatment to anyone!

I have had other trouble swollowing pills and so after this incident I avoid them at all cost!

So that is why I prefer Children's Chewable Tylenol Meltaways, Bubble-gum flavor!