Friday, August 6, 2010

Lead Poisoning

I could have titled this post so many other things but lead poisoning kind of stuck out. A month ago Chloe had her 4 year well baby check. The intake form asked all sorts of questions about her development and included questions about life's possible stresses. We have had all sorts of stresses with the move, new jobs, new relatives etc and I actually started to feel self concious as I was checking "yes" so many times instead of the safe answer "no". One question asked if we lived in a home older than 1978 and if we were worried about lead poisoning. I answered "no" even though I didn't know how old our surf shack was...everything in Hawaii seems like it is from the 1950's.
Back to the current month, Chloe has been complaining of stomach aches. I have tried all of the normal remedies but she still complains. She also has started chewing on soft toys, shirts, blankets, etc. I finally looked up the symptoms on line...even though I try and tell my own patients not to do this. Lead poisoning popped up.
Did I fail to mention that Chloe has been peeling the 2009 paint off of her walls in her bedroom during quiet time and time outs?
So, we just returned from the lab where Chloe had a blood draw. She did well but mad did I feel guilty. I am trying to keep the guilt feeling out while we wait for the results of the labs but it is hard not to let your brain go to scary places.
Scary places was the other title I was thinking of using.

No comments:

Post a Comment