Last night, about an hour and a half before we were going to go the Messiah, I discovered that Goose had gotten into this dangerous substance that I received from a dermatologist. I had thought it was out of reach but Goose had put a chair up to the dresser where I had put it and she'd gotten the lid off the vial. I don't know what she did with it; there wasn't much in the tube to begin with and I couldn't tell if any was gone. It looks like Vaseline. All that was written on the tube was "DNCB V. For external use only." (I couldn't recognize the C) I called the poison control center and the man on the phone was unable to tell me what the stuff was. It was 6:00 on a Friday evening, and I called the Dermatologist's office but he wasn't in. So then I went through the list of dermatologists in the phone book. The first one I called answered, to my surprise, and as it turned out, she was the doctor and not a receptionist. At first she didn't know what I was talking about but then she said, "Oh, there's DNCB--Dinitrocholorobenzoide (or something like that). Oh, I don't use that. It's a carcinogen." I thanked her quickly and then recalled the poison control. I told him that I'd put Goose in the bath tub immediately and washed her off in case all she had done was touch it. He told me that if she'd ingested enough to make her sick she would have problems with her red blood cells and turn blue around the lips or get lethargic. At this point we could both hear her screaming lustily, and he said it sounded like she was okay. He said he'd call back in an hour. Fortunately, Goose never should any symptoms of red blood cell destruction and when he called back she was fine.
Husband went to the Messiah early and saved a seat for me. When we determined that Goose was okay, I went and joined him. My kind father-in-law actually dropped me off so I didn't have to find a parking spot. I went running in and, can you believe it, I didn't miss the music. It was fabulous, though we didn't sing about being like sheep or the Sons of Levi.
So anyway, it's early in the morning and I can't get back to sleep and I figured I would research DNCB and then record what I learned.
There isn't a lot of info; it seems like a mildly controversial treatment for skin lesions (that's warts). Apparently it's also used in AIDS treatment. I think I dreamed about Goose getting cancer. But maybe I should be more concerned about the person who had been getting this treatment. I was never told that the substance was a "mutagen," only that it was a substance that provokes an allergic reaction on everyone who comes into contact with it. I didn't get a lot of "danger" warnings, though.
BTW, before all this drama, Beulah did my makeup. (She wants to be a cosmotolgist, she says.) It was fun, but she laid the foundation on a bit thick and I think I looked a little orange. She did a much better job on me than I did when I insisted on giving my mom a makeover twenty years ago.
Saturday, December 6, 2008
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