The Stringhams: A little Thursday drama...

Jackson has always been what I like to call a "quiet explorer." His favorite place to be is at home, just wandering around and exploring things. Taking things apart, figuring out how things work, sitting in the dark with a flashlight, etc. He doesn't demand much attention or ask for help very often, just prefers to figure things out on his own. Even at the park he quickly loses interest in the playground and usually ends up poking things with sticks or messing with the water fountain.

Today his inner quiet explorer got him into trouble. We were eating lunch as a family before Jack left for his afternoon shift in the emergency department. Jackson left the table and went upstairs while I cleaned up, Hannah continued eating, and Jack talked to a friend on the phone. Suddenly, we heard a loud, angry-sounding yell from upstairs and then a painful scream. When we heard the scream, Jack dropped his phone and ran upstairs and I was close behind.

Jack carried Jackson downstairs in a panic saying something about his eye. I saw that Jackson had what I thought was blood coming out of his eye and was rubbing his eye, refusing to open it.

I started screaming, thinking my son had poked out his eye. Everything that I said or did after this seemed to come from someone else, like I wasn't really in control of my body anymore. Hannah moved to the corner of the room and sat down and screamed over and over.

"Its not his eye," Jack said, "Something is in his mouth, he can't breathe, call 911." Jack rushed him into the kitchen while I frantically searched for my phone and then called 911. Jackson was breathing, but seemed to be struggling in doing it. Foam was coming out of his mouth. He couldn't swallow and kept alternately gagging and holding his breath. Jack was trying to give him some water, to flush out whatever was in his mouth. At this point Jack assumed it was a chemical. He actually licked Jackson's face to get a sense of what it was and felt that it was burning him and thought it maybe smelled like vitamins, but he still didn't know what it was. He was worried Jackson was possibly going into anaphylactic shock.

While we waited for paramedics to come, we went upstairs to try to figure out what had happened. Jackson could not talk or indicate at all what had happened. His eyes were swollen shut and he was still foaming at the mouth. His face looked red and was beginning to swell as well. When we set him down he ran around blindly in circles, stumbling over his feet.

I searched the bathroom for any chemicals that he might have gotten into. I had used Drain-o the day before to clear out the sink. The Drain-o was capped when I checked it. Maybe it had bubbled up out of the sink and Jackson was playing in there? In our panicked state, it was the only conclusion we could think of and it terrified us. For some reason, I picked up Jackson and walked outside trying to stifle the screams that were in my throat. I came back inside and gave Jackson back to Jack and then Goggled what to do if you swallow Drain-o. Everything I saw indicated that Drain-o would eat your esophagus and likely cause death.

I ran and grabbed apple juice out of the fridge and tried to give it to him. Then the ambulance, a fire truck and a police car pulled up. The paramedics didn't know what to do, Jack didn't know what to do, I obviously didn't know what to do as I went inside for more apple juice that Jackson couldn't drink anyway.

While I was inside, the ambulance pulled away with Jack and Jackson inside. I know Jack hesitated getting into the ambulance, I know he wanted to use his medical knowledge to fix his son, but there was just nothing anyone could do since we had no idea what had actually happened. Jack was extremely concerned that Jackson's airway was compromised and he knew that if that was the case they had to get to the ED as soon as possible. He said that Jackson got progressively worse on the ride.

After they were gone, I realized that Hannah was sitting on the couch sobbing uncontrollably, Jane was in her high chair crying and covered in food. I told Hannah to get her shoes on. I changed Jane's diaper and put her in her car seat, covered in food and all. I called a friend and left her a message to ask if she could watch Hannah, I didn't think Hannah would do very well at the hospital as she seemed to be having a major anxiety attack.

The police then came to the door and asked to talk to me. I told them that I had to go to the hospital but they asked me to stay and search the house with them so they could figure out what had happened. I tried to tell them it was Drain-o, but they didn't think so since the Drain-o was capped. They were thinking more rationally than I and didn't think the Drain-o from yesterday would bubble up from the sink. At this point I began to feel much more calm, realizing that it really probably was not the Drain-o after all.

We went room to room, the officers opening every cupboard and asking things like, "Do you think it was Windex?"

To which I would reply, "No, it was red."

"Toilet cleaner?

"No, it was red."

"Hairspray?"

"No, it was red. Like a rusty color, like blood. It was burning him."

The officer thought for a minute, and said, "Do you have pepper spray?"

"Yes!"

I ran to our bedroom and saw the pepper spray on the floor. That was it! I put it all together when I saw that he had brought up a chair to get into the top drawer of my dresser. The pepper spray was in the back of a drawer I thought the kids couldn't reach. It was contained in a leather container and had a safety lock on it and he managed to undo all that and squirt himself right in the face. What a relief, he was going to be OK The officer quickly radioed the hospital and I text-ed Jack. Just in time too, since at the hospital they were about to start an IV and maybe even intubate him. The ER doctor later told us that for those moments before we knew what it was she was terrified too and unsure what to do for him.

The officers left and I took the girls to the hospital to see Jackson. Hannah calmed down along the way, but when we got to the hospital he opened his eyes to see us and some of the pepper spray got into them so he began thrashing around in his bed and his heart rate monitor was beeping like crazy. Hannah once again began to panic.

We are so lucky to have good friends here, they started appearing out of the woodwork. One resident friend came into the room and saw Hannah panicking, so he took her to go to the cafeteria for ice cream, moments later another friend showed up to take Hannah to play at her house, other friends working in the hospital called or came to check on us, while I got countless texts with offers to help, while someone else brought us dinner.

A child-life specialist came to see if she could help Jackson calm down. She brought him some toys and covered his face with a cold cloth. Within minutes she had him to sleep! She was very sweet and came back to check on us often and even gave Jackson a new train t-shirt to wear home.

After his nap he was feeling much better and we were finally discharged. All he wanted to do was see Hannah, but first we made a stop in the cafeteria for a corn dog and ice cream. I couldn't keep my eyes off him as we sat in the cafeteria. There were a few scary moments today before we knew that it was pepper spray when I truly wondered whether we might lose him or if he would end up with some sort of lasting damage. I wanted to hold him close and never let go.

So there's the story, for the records. I am so grateful it was just pepper spray and nothing more serious.