Flash

Bad Medicine

Nancy's Notes 🖊️🎶

Written for Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt #369
where we are challenged to write something clever
in exactly 33 words using the word “spoonful”.

Identical medicine bottles was how my non-English speaking grandfather almost killed my grandmother.

Alone for 15 minutes resulted in administering a near-fatal spoonful of massaging oil of wintergreen instead of dextromethorphan for coughs.

NAR©2024
33 Words

Weekend Writing Prompt #369 – Spoonful

This is “Bad Medicine” by Bon Jovi

All text, graphics and videos are copyright for The Sicilian Storyteller, The Elephant’s Trunk and The Rhythm Section and are not to be used without permission. NAR©2017-present.

40 thoughts on “Bad Medicine”

  4. Oh, my goodness, how traumatic. Easy to see how this could happen, even with language not being an issue. I almost did something similar when my daughter was a baby – baby vitamin drops and plant food in strikingly similar bottles. An almost that still haunts me! I separated bottles after that – new mom lesson. Your song selection was a perfect choice and softened the seriousness of the post. 🎶 You do a great job with these prompts! 👍🏻

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    1. Even though I was a toddler, I remember bits and pieces of this almost tragic event …. my nonna sick as a dog, my nonno feeling so quilty, my mother angry with my grandpa for giving grandma her medicine when he really wasn’t supposed to. Emotions were all over the place and kids pick up on everything.

      That was a terrifying story about you almost giving your daughter plant food. As new moms, we have so much to think about and try to remember, I’m sure you never gave a second thought to the chances of something happening with plant food! Thank goodness we both realized happy endings.

      Thanks so much for your ever-gracious comments. You are too kind. 🫶🏼

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      1. What an ordeal for your family! The type of situation that leaves a lasting impression. Thank goodness for happy outcomes, yes.

        New sleep deprived moms. Ugh! Both bottles looked the same and had squeeze top lids for drops. I almost squeezed drops into her bottle then noticed. Thank God.

        You’re very welcome, Nancy. Thank you for the lovely connection and for sharing your creative talents. 🫶🏼

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  5. Ooof! Very scary, no doubt.
    But, hey, at least it was wintergreen,
    rather than, say, oil of rhubarb or Brussels sprouts.
    (Kiddin’, kiddin’!)

    ~ D-FensDogG

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    1. Yes, definitely. The interesting thing about oil of wintergreen is you’d think it would have a powerful minty fragrance but it actually had a mild, fruity scent …. at least before the addition of artificial scents and flavors …. making it ever harder to tell the difference between it and cough medicine. I’m sure lots of terrible accidents like this happened. Thanks, Liz.

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    1. Totally! There were many of those brown bottles sitting on my grandmother’s nightstand. I was still a toddler but I remember how deathly sick my poor grandmother became …. and how terribly guilty my grandpa felt. My parents tried never to leave them alone but things come up and I’m sure my grandfather was only trying to help. It’s a wonder none of us kids got into any of her potions!

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  13. It wasn’t uncommon at all to recycle and refill medicine bottles in the 40s. My mother had several blue bottles (I believe that blue was used for what might be poisonous substances) from previous prescriptions.

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    1. It was a long time ago and I was very young, perhaps still a toddler, but I remember my sickly grandmother having quite a few brown bottles on her nightstand. To me they all looked alike; apparently to my grandfather as well. It was touch and go with her for a while. This was one of the reasons my parents tried to never leave my grandparents alone. What could possibly go wrong in 15 minutes?

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