10:58am I was at work and actually holding my phone as her first text came in. (1st miracle right there). If you notice I sent one text back and then I wasn't responding anymore. I was on the phone with 911.
10:59am I was calm and spoke clearly. Because I was in another state they had to give me the number to call the police where my daughter was.
11:00 am I dialed the police. As the phone rang I was looking up her address.
11:03 am As soon as I finished with them I called the apartment manager and asked them to go to her apartment and make her throw up.
11:06 am I called her back and calmly started asking questions.
Where did she get the excedrin. Did she take the whole bottle? How many has she had? How was she feeling. Where was she? All while I paced the hallway at work.
"Did you call someone? I think someone is here".
"Yes. Go answer the door""No."
"They have a key and will come in so you might as well go out."
"No."
"Are you hiding? Where are you?"
She hung up
11:14 am I called the police back and let them know she was hiding. They asked how many girls lived there and if I knew of any of them were home. I think they were waiting for someone to answer the door. I told them I'd been talking to her and that she said she'd found them in the bathroom and had been taking them 3 at a time. They asked me to try to get her on the phone again.
11:19
11:2011:21
11:22 am I told them she wasn't answering. I described her: long blonde hair, 5"6 1/2, 115 lbs, brown eyes. My hands were finally starting to shake.
11:24 am "We've made contact"
"Then I'll let you do your job and wait for a call when she's safe." It had been less than 30 minutes since the first text.
The apartment manager called me shortly after that to see if I was all right and if there was anything they could do. I asked if she knew if they has taken her to the hospital (in my mind there was a hope that it was just a bid for attention).
"I saw paramedics carrying in a stretcher so I think so."
11:44 am Then I had to call my husband. He was only four hours away from her. I was 15 hours away. He said "I can go up there"
The Dean of Students called. I withdrew her from school and submitted a medical deferral request.
I left a message for her bishop. I called the hospital and confirmed she had been brought in. I gave them the insurance information and my contact info.
An officer called to give me a report. She had indeed ingested Excedrin Migraine and the amount was lethal. But because I had immediately called it probably saved her life. He had some questions and needed some info to finish up the report. I thanked him for responding so quickly.
12:55 pm I asked him to go up. He started talking about how he needed to find someone to go with him. That's when I got triggered.
I waited until I was off the phone though. And then I reached out. I made some calls but couldn't get through. So I texted someone who was already dealing with the death of her father just a few days prior. I felt horrible adding to her drama but I HAD to reach out.
These are the things I wanted to say to him. Because these are the reactions I have gotten from him when I needed him. But this wasn't about me. This was about our daughter and so I had to get it out. So I sat in my car and texted and sobbed out my trauma.
And I'm glad I did because my trauma didn't get in the way. He went up on his own. He was there by 8:30pm. She was in the ICU and listed as stable. He held her hand and cleaned up after her as she threw up cherry flavored activated charcoal. He joked with her and talked to her and shared the absurd comments she made.
"Who are you talking to"
"Mom""How"
"On my cell phone"
"That's really weird"
It could have been ruined by my trauma. But I reached out. He was there for her but he was also there for me.
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