A couple of weeks ago, I was at Target. I’m at Target a lot, a lot more than is probably healthy, but it’s close to my house and I can’t help myself. Anyhoo, for some reason I had never bought the Munchkinette any infant’s Tylenol. Which makes me fairly lame, because it really is sort of a basic that you should always have on hand. Well, the thought crossed my mind and I casually tossed the box into my cart.
Fast forward to one day later, and the news is all abuzz with the children’s Tylenol recall, and how some of the medicine may contain too much active ingredient, some may have not enough active ingredient, and I quote from the recall site, some may contain “tiny particles.”
WTF?
They never elaborate on what TYPE of tiny particles may be floating around in the medicine, so my mind is left to wander, which is always a bad thing. Are there tiny particles of glass? Of plants? Of fecal material? Hey, if Tylenol chooses to be deliberately non-specific, then they deserve whatever my fevered brain can imagine. And a mom’s brain can go lots of weird places, I assure you.
Then I check the number on the box against the one on the website, and sure enough, I’ve got a tainted box o’ poison.
The next time I visit Target, which is fairly alarmingly soon after this, I try and see if there are any infant drops with acetaminophen. No dice. The shelves are completely bare of Tylenol and any other type of off-brand that may have been previously lurking.
Fine, whatever. I’ve gone this far without it. I’ll be fine, I thought.
Well, the Fates must have been extremely bored during that nanosecond, because what happens two days later? Yup, my daughter has a fever and there isn’t a store within a ten mile radius that has infant acetaminophen drops. So my husband and I spend the night trading off getting up with her every three hours because that is the longest she can sleep because she is uncomfortable. Yeah, and the lukewarm baths that are recommended to lower the fever? Those don’t do anything except really piss the kid off. Because who the hell likes lukewarm baths?
So thanks, Tylenol. Thanks for totally ruining my week.
I hope you and your tiny particles are happy.