Charcoal and Chocolate Milk

I arrive at work tonight and a fellow co-worker says "Call home right now, it's important". Well, that is never a good sign. So the call home goes something like this

C: "Z took one of my blood pressure pills" (50 mg of metoprolol) "What should I do?"
Me: "Call the doctor, you may need to come into the ER"
C: "But I was just about to give her a bath"
Me: "I don't care, she could have cardiac symptoms."
C: "Oh, ok"

C calls the doctor and he says "Hmmm, I've never heard of a child taking metoprolol. Why don't you just monitor her pulse." C does not know what he is looking for, so the brilliant doctor tells him to "watch for signs of fatigue" - it is her bedtime.....she is supposed to be fatigued.

So I call poison control, and they recommend that she be seen in the ER. By the time I get someone to watch my patients for me, she has been in the ER for about 30 minutes. When I walk in she is disheveled - hair all crazy because apparently a quick bath was necessary before the trip to the ER. And she has black streaks all over her face and hands. "Show mommy your tongue!", it is black as night. She ended up drinking 16 oz of charcoal (mixed with chocolate milk) to absorb any medication that was still in her stomach. C and Z were in the ER for about 4 hours, monitoring her heart rate and blood pressure. She is absolutely fine. In fact she was quite lively at 11:30 pm when they left - I guess all that chocolate milk (and charcoal) will get a little one wired!

I was a wreck, and C is feeling extremely guilty. But everything turned out fine in the end - except now her favorite teddy bear is missing.