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Meet Frank and Louise Wilmot Frank, 75, is a retired engineer who enjoys gardening, fishing, and shouting at the television. Louise, 68, is a retired middle school teacher who likes to travel, read, and ignore Frank’s shouting at the television. They share their New England home with a happy little wheaten terrier named Bailey. |
“I can’t believe we are finally here!” Louise said as she embraced her niece Cara.
“I can’t believe Uncle Frank got on a plane!” replied Cara, reaching out for the grouchy man wrangling luggage in her entryway.
“I can’t believe they can charge $5 for a coffee at the airport,” Frank grumbled, unceremoniously dropping the bags.
Frank and Louise followed Cara into the family room and sank into the sofa, happy to stretch out after a long flight. Cara’s husband, Bill, joined them, accompanied by a shy 3-year-old boy.
“Can I get you anything? Dinner is almost ready,” Cara said. “Wow, Auntie Lou, your ankles look swollen! Is that something new?”
“Yeah, she’s taking on water—man the lifeboats!” Frank quipped. Louise shot Frank a look that could sink a ship, but brushed off Cara’s concerns and turned to the little fellow now sitting in Bill’s lap.
“Hello Christopher! You don’t remember me, do you?” she said. The boy buried his face in his dad’s chest. “That reminds me, I need to take my medication. My pill minder is in my purse, where did that land?”
“I’ll get it for you.” Cara retrieved the bag and set it in Louise’s lap. Louise found the pill minder and snapped open that day’s compartment, removing two round pink pills and one white oval pill.
“Candy!” chirped Christopher with sudden interest.
“No, no,” laughed Cara, “those aren’t candy, that’s Auntie’s medicine!”
Christopher looked disappointed as Cara explained, “When he’s a good boy at the supermarket or at church he gets a candy.”
Louise took her meds, returned the pill minder to her purse and placed it on the floor next to the sofa. They spent the next two hours catching up on family news over dinner.
After a long day, Frank was ready to call it a night. “You two can chat, but I need my beauty sleep. Where are we sleeping, Cara?”
“Up the stairs, second door on the right,” Cara replied.
Bill headed toward the living room. “Let me give you a hand with the luggage—WHOA, hey buddy, hold it right there!”
As he came around the corner he had spotted Christopher elbows deep in Louise’s purse. The pill minder was on the carpet, with two of the compartment doors unsnapped and empty, and several pills on the carpet as well.
“Candy!” Christopher said. In his hand a small round pink pill was dissolving.
“Not candy, buddy. How many did you have? Cara, come in here please!”
Cara and Louise appeared, responding to Bill’s urgent tone.
“It looks like he’s gotten into Lou’s pill minder. I can’t tell if he’s eaten any,” Bill said, taking the pink pill from the boy’s hand. “Open your mouth and stick out your tongue, buddy.”
“How did he even get the thing open?” Frank said from the sidelines. “Louise has to fight with it half the time—I thought it was supposed to be childproof!”
“He’s a little Houdini—‘childproof’ is a myth,” said Bill. “I don’t see anything in his mouth—are there any missing?“
Cara and Louise gathered the pills, coming up with three pink ones and two white ones.
“There should be three pills in each compartment, two pink and one white. I have my medication list right here. The white one is for my fat ankles. One pink pill is my thyroid pill, the other is my heart medicine but I don’t know which is which.”
“Uncle Frank, the number for poison control is on the fridge,” Cara said.
“That’s OK, I’ve got it in my phone,” Frank said, pulling out the device. “Did you know it’s the same number nationwide?” He dialed the number, 1-800-222-1222, and was connected to the closest regional poison center.
The specialist who answered asked for Christopher’s age and weight and whether he was showing any effects from the medicine. Then she asked about the color, shape and markings on the pills. The missing one was identified as Louise’s thyroid pill, which was fortunately the least concerning of the three. The specialist explained that this was not an emergency and described possible complications they should watch for.
Crisis averted, Louise promised to be more mindful of her meds with a little one around.
