Friday, February 29

A Big Scary Monster...



Well we had a large scare here yesterday. A little background info needed for you first.. My son, has not been feeling well lately. Nothing diagnosed, just mild malaise. Occasional headaches, stomach upset, racing heart, red face, the yucks. They would come and go, but we never able to pin anything down. He just felt 'weird' in his words.

Well, above our garage, we have a lovely 'play space' for the kids. As the oldest, Z (9 years) plays up there by himself mostly because the girls are too young yet. Playstation 2, airhockey, TV, etc.. The space is heated with a Rannai Monitor Heater. For those of you who are unaware, there has been a recall on some models for a leaky gasket that may release carbon monoxide into the living space.

OK, so I took our carbon monoxide detector from the basement up to the room just to relieve any fears my son might have about playing up there and BEEP BEEP BEEP. The levels of carbon monoxide were dangerously high. Wah???? Just our luck, we never hit the jackpot, win the lottery or get the winning scratch ticket, but yep, OUR heater was one of the rare few that was actually LEAKING! OMG! My baby!

My little boy, I had been sitting by his bedside every night telling him he was OK, it was just a bug or anxiety, or nerves or maybe he ate something that didn't agree. "Don't worry, you'll be OK. It will pass and you'll be alright." Uh??? So off to the doctors we went, they drew blood and yep, he had been exposed at unhealthy levels, but his blood counts look good, so as long as he does get 're-exposed' he's just fine. Terrifying.


It's something I had no control over. I can lock the doors at night, know CPR, have all the emergency phone numbers posted, bundle them up, wash their hands, tell them not to talk to strangers, protect them in so may ways from monsters. But this monster was right there. Silent. Making my baby sick. It could have been much worse. MUCH WORSE. Horrifying. Terrifying. Now we know why he has been sickly, not right. I try so hard to do everything to protect them but this I couldn't predict. The heater was new.

My world feels very out of control right now.

19 comments:

Dena said...

Good Morning Abbie,

What a scary thing to have happen! I am so glad you had the carbon monoxide detector and the presence of mind to check it! Thank God he was ok.

Hugs,
Dena

Anonymous said...

So glad your son is ok. Big hugs to you for being a smart Mom! Glad you thought to check with the monitor.
God Bless, Janie

Janet said...

How scary!! Thank God we have the CO detectors these days and that you had the presence of mind to use it.

I heard on the news today that Concord has 42" of snow on the ground...eeek!! I am assuming you are somewhere near Concord (small state) Made me wonder what my parents in Burlington are dealing with.

Janet

Unknown said...

Abbie,

I am so glad you realized what was going on! Do not be too hard on yourself! Thank God he is going to be OK... you are a wonderful mother!!

annie

Lilli in Vancouver said...

That's scary, isn't it!!! It's a good thing you thought to check with the CO2 detector. It seems that everything is dangerous these days.

Vee said...

Oh Abbie, how frightening!

So glad that you checked on that heater before your little boy was feeling even worse. Poor kid!

When I was raising my kids, I often prayed that the Lord would "stand in the gap." It's not possible to be the perfect protector...only God can do that.

I know what you mean about the snow. I am already planning my snowy day in hopes that I may actually look forward to it. (Well I can try.) Currently, I'm thinking some little sewing projects and maybe some baking. There just so happens to be a really yummy sounding recipe at Manuela's today.

Rosie's Whimsy said...

Oh dear Abbie! What a horrible thing to have happened. So glad you checked the levels and sorted everything out. I am glad he will be OK. It does seem like danger lurks everywhere. ((((bug hugs)))) Rosie

Mary said...

Hello Abbie,
How frightening! Thank God you thought to check. You are one smart mom! Big hugs to both of you...
xoxo,
Mary

Vickie said...

Oh my gosh Abbie - followed you here from Vee. I'm so sorry to hear about your son but I'm glad he's okay! Thank goodness you had it checked. The Lord is watching over you and your family! Vickie

Anonymous said...

Thank God you thought to check the CO level! You must feel absolutely sick to your stomach over this. God was definitely watching over your little boy. I have the chills just thinking about it!

Nancy said...

Thank heavens you checked the CO2 level. It must have been so scary for you when it started beeping. Hope your son is feeling better soon. Thanks for stopping by my blog and Yes, I'll be happy to enjoy the sun/warmth for you!

Tara said...

Wow--great that you put 2 and 2 together!!

My parents bought us the detector for Christmas and my husband installed it in our kitchen...I kinda thought, aw...come on we'll never need this!

But you know what? You never know!

Poor little guy!

You were being watched over, that's for sure!!

:0)
Tara

<<<~~~Jeannie~~~>>> said...

Oh my. I am just glad he and the rest of you are alright. Take care.

Jeannie

Anke Martin said...

Oh my God! That is for sure really scary. Good thing you caught it! I hope you son feels better soon and the carbon monoxide didn't do any bad harm to him.......wow that is for sure horrible for a Mom not knowing what is wrong with your child......big hug your way, really can imagine how you feel right now.......especially you try so hard to protect your kids. Kind of shocked also.....unbelievable that companies sell stuff like that, especially so dangerous.

Carolyn said...

OMG dear Abbie !
Your thinking probably saved his life ! I`m so glad that he will recover , and your instinct was right to check it out . It must have been so scary for all your family .
There was a feature on our TV about it - the detectors , at an airport . Sometime back , 2 small children died while on holiday , they were giving them away for free, as abroad they don`t have strict regulations on stuff like that .But what made me feel sad was , not many accepted the free detectors ! Why ?? When it could save your life ?

hugs to you all


xx

Suzanne said...

How terrifying for you. I can certainly relate as something similar happened to my son when he was a child. You know we must live our lives with a certain level of faith. We can't possibly be aware of every recall on every product in our homes. If we got up every morning and thought about all the possible disasters that could befall us in a day we'd be paralyzed and never even get out of bed.

I'm so glad you were able to figure out what was going wrong before something worse happened. Be sure to have your son checked out by a physician.

Rhondamum said...

Thank you Lord for watching over Abbie and her family!

What can I say that hasn't already been said Abbie. I am so sorry that you had to go through this. Someone is watching over you all without a doubt.

Yes, we do try to keep our children safe, but you just never know. Anything can happen to anyone of us and hopefully, because you are sharing this with us all, someone else can be safe too and I thank you for that.

Everything is okay now Abbie and never doubt what an amazing mother you are!

xoxo

amanda said...

Oh, Abbie!

How scary!!! You are a supermom - you had the presence of mind to find the problem! And you are such a strong woman - I'm sure your little man appreciates that! I'm so glad he is ok.

Your family is in my prayers as you recoop this weekend!

Amanda:)

Anonymous said...

oh Abbie, you voice what every mom fears...despite all efforts to train up children, keep them safe, protect them, there are so many 'close calls'. Over my 18 years of motherhood have been many close calls that left me staggering at what could have been. I'm willing to bet is was a mother that first dropped to knees in thankful praise to God for His watchful care over her precious treasures... simply because she didn't have the ability to stand on shaking legs!! :)