Emergency Room Visit To Have My Stomach Pumped At Such A Young Age

I lived a very traumatic childhood, parts of which I can never forget.

For those of you that have read my story titled, Nine Years Of Age And Too Terrified Too Sleep, you will have read about a small portion of my trauma. This story is a result of the rules that were put in place for me during that period.

If you haven’t read this piece, here is the link.

Now we are all on the same page, I’ll continue my narration.

One of the unreasonable rules that was put in place, during this period of my life, was the rule that I was not allowed to drink after 4 pm each day. This included such pleasures as eating ice-cream or watermelon for dessert. Not only was I not allowed these items, but I had to sit at the table and watch my brothers and sisters partake in this pleasure.

I often wonder if this is why I detest ice-cream these days!

Now this rule may not sound traumatic but as I was between the ages of 9 and 12 years of age when this rule was in place, I was not mature enough to know how to combat my way around this rule. For example, as an adult I would know to drink as much as I could at approximately 3:50 pm. As a child I didn’t think of this simple answer.

There were many days that I felt like I was going to die due to the dehydration and thirst that made me so uncomfortable. Can you imagine, at 5 pm, being so horribly thirsty but knowing you were not allowed your next drink until 7 am the next day?

Trust me it was tough and there were times that I was so thirsty I had to find a way to break the rule and not get caught.

One of those such days ended in total disaster and a rush to the emergency room at the local hospital.

I was 11 years of age at the time and terribly thirsty, when I remembered that my father always had a drink cooler down the back shed. He always had water in this cooler so he didn’t have to traipse up to the house every time he was thirsty.

Dad wasn’t working in the shed on this particular day. In fact he was in the house with my stepmother — so the coast was clear and I was so very thirsty.

I snuck into Dad’s shed and found the cooler.

Like a dying man stumbling around in the dessert, on finding an oasis, I grabbed the cooler, upended it into my mouth and sculled the glorious liquid that would quench my raging thirst.

Now as you probably are already aware, when you scull a drink, there is a period of time where you cannot taste what you are drinking. Have you ever experienced this while sculling milk, only to find, at the end of the scull, that the milk was sour? Too late to spit it out as you’ve sculled it.

Well that’s what happened on this particular day. The cooler was not filled with water!

Unbeknownst to me, Dad had purchased a new cooler and therefore no longer used this particular one for his drinking water.

Only that very morning, Dad had decided as he was going to throw out the old cooler, he would use it one last time. He needed to change the oil in his car, so he climbed under the car with the old cooler and placed it under the oil sump. Once he removed the sump plug, he used the water cooler to catch the old, dirty car oil.

And it was later that afternoon, that I sculled thirstily, the old car oil in that very cooler.

I knew as soon as I stopped sculling that I was in serious trouble but still I attempted to fix the problem myself. I was too terrified to ask Dad or my step mother for help as I knew the punishment that I would receive for breaking her rule.

How did I attempt to fix my problem?

My mouth, lips and throat felt like they were on fire and I was struggling to swallow. I came up with the bright idea that I needed water to soothe the burning, so I snuck around the side of the house and turned on the hose and started guzzling sweet water.

Now I know you’ll ask why I didn’t drink from the hose in the first place. This hose was outside the kitchen window and my stepmother was in the kitchen. I knew she’d hear the hose and I would get caught.

However, I was in so much pain and starting to panic, that I was desperate enough to try the hose as a solution anyway.

Of course, I now know that oil and water do not mix — at 11 years of age, I did not know that. No amount of water I drank from that hose helped with the burning. It did nothing to soothe my mouth, lips or throat.

I had to find the courage to go inside and own up to what I had done. I was in so much pain, I couldn’t stop crying.

I finally gave in and went inside the house to tell both adults what had happened.

They, of course, rushed me to the emergency room at the local hospital where I went through a very traumatic time having my stomach pumped. A procedure I would not wish on any child!

Unbelievably, even after this instance, the rule not allowing me to drink after 4 pm, was still left in place!

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Originally posted on Medium