The Sign On the Door
That little bag with the auto-injectors and the Benadryl has been attached to my shoulder since I first got it. Much like my keys are always in my pocket, I’ve gotten used to having the little bag around; to the point of completely ignoring it. The problem with something constantly present is, you tend to ignore it.
There was one particular day when I took him to his occupational therapy session after three terrible nights with only a handful of hours of sleep. As we were driving (about 20-25 minutes) away from home I went to reach into the bag as I normally do. However, the little bag was nowhere to be found. At this moment I knew that I was approximately 25 minutes away from an EpiPen if needed. I held onto the steering wheel tightly and listened to what I didn’t want to hear…silence.
This experience made me realize how I look at things differently now. Several days later, my wife experienced the very same situation. She had used the same bag with the AUVI-Q auto-injector and Benadryl, was headed to the same appointment (after another long night of poor sleep), and was attempting to get her son to occupational therapy. Two parents who take their child’s health extremely seriously, made the same error in the same place. This helped us learn that a tired parent can not rely on themselves, and that simply telling someone to try harder to be awake will never help a tired parent become more alert. Give your reminders to the tired person so they have to see them, not just remember them.
We put up a sign on our door for when we leave for appointments or activities with our son. The sign reads: “Did you bring this for him?”. Underneath it is a small check list. Every time we head out, we see it and answer it without even thinking about it. We don’t need to think clearly. It works best when I’m not thinking clearly.