The night I tried to kill my husband, or, why i had to talk with poison control

I have hesitated to share this story, but I need to so others are aware.
You will see this number mentioned several times. Write it down please.
1-800-222-1222.
Keep the number of poison control handy. They have a medication nurse on staff and they can help regarding medications and overdoses, as well as poisons.

My husband is an old man(71) and has parkinsons(with a little dementia) and leukemia. I get his meds ready for him, every night I set up his bedtime and meds for the next morning, and do mine at the same time. I set mine down, place his morning ones down next to the coffee maker, turn and give him
his bedtime ones.
 That night, July 30, 2016, I set up his meds, set them down, set up my meds, turned around and gave him mine to take, and he swallowed them just as I realized my mistake and said STOP.

Before you say something like that can never happen to me... I'm a nurse. An RN. I was also exhausted from work and being his caregiver, and planning a little vacation we were taking the next day.
He received 2 narcotics, a muscle relaxant, and a med for nerve pain, all of those can cause drowsiness and dizziness.
 I never thought I would ever in a million lifetimes make this kind of mistake. I was torn up big time.
Poison control isn't just for chemicals/poisons/kid incidents. I called the VA nurses help line first. She kept me on the line while she called poison control 1-800-222-1222.. She didn't disconnect until I was talking to the medication nurse.
Even with their reassurances he would be ok, I was still a mess, still fighting tears, and barely holding off a panic attack.
The poison control nurse called me back 3 hours later to check on him, and me, and had given me her direct line if I needed to call before that, even if it was just to be reassured. When you call poison control it automatically routes to the closest regional center. 1-800-222-1222.


Always know what meds everyone in the household is on, keep a list on the fridge. They will ask when they took them, what meds they took, dosage, and what, if anything, they normally take.

I have all meds in a 3 drawer plastic shelf thing. One has his meds, one has mine, and one has all the back up stuff and my diabetes supplies. I didn't have a list on hand, but because I have them organized like that I was able to go right to the drawer and look at each bottle to tell her what they were. On a normal day I can name off each of our meds, dose, and when it's normally taken. In my panic I couldn't remember anything. I still kept a cool head, despite how I felt inside, but it wasn't enough. I couldn't think of the names, let alone dosage or times.


1) keep the number of poison control handy. Hang it by the phone. Program it into your cell. Write it on the fridge with a sharpie. 1-800-222-1222.
2) keep a list of medication names, dosage, and time it's normally taken.
3) keep all meds separate(many look nearly identical) and in a locked box if you have tiny minions around.
4) never hesitate to call/ask someone for help, you may not have the mindset to call 911 or poison control. 1-800-222-1222.


We are VERY fortunate nothing bad happened with this. I know we had luck and God on our side, it could have turned out so horribly different, I could have killed my husband accidentally. I am thankful nothing more than him sleeping 14 hours came from it.
 I am not ready to lose him.