The story of a Colorado woman whose pharmacy mistakenly gave her an abortion drug instead of an antibiotic is so scary, especially since this is not a one-time incident. Read the story here.

One time when my son was sick, the pharmacy gave him the wrong dose of an antibiotic. I thank God that it was too low of a dose rather than an overdose — but still. He wasn’t getting better, and as I was looking at the bottle, I noticed the dosage wasn’t the same as previous antibiotics he’s taken. I thought maybe it was because he was a baby and the dosage changes as they age, but just to make sure, I called the doctor to ask, and it turns out the pharmacy just got it wrong. Enraged, I went over to the pharmacy, where all I received was a sorry.

The doctor had to prescribe a stronger, different antibiotic because my son built up a resistance to the first one with the low dosage. I don’t even want to think about what would have happened if they anciently doubled the dose or gave him the wrong drug.
I don’t know about you, but before this happened, I didn’t check dosages; I assumed the pharmacists knew what they were doing. But if I can’t read the doctor’s handwriting, I don’t know what made me think a pharmacist could.

Since then, I make sure I know what the dosage is before I leave the doctor’s office so I can compare it to what I get from the pharmacy. If the name or dosage is complicated, write it down, and make sure your instructions match up to the pharmacy’s.

Last night I had the joy of spending hours going through the steps to delouse our house because our friend found head lice on one of our kids. Yuck.

My first reaction was to be embarrassed. Even though someone at her school was the source, it still felt originally like we must've done something wrong as parents. After a little research on head lice on WebMD, I felt a little better. This is my favorite quote from their slideshow:

"Head lice are not a scourge of the lower classes, nor a sign of poor hygiene. They affect children across all levels of income, social class, and cleanliness. The bugs can survive underwater for up to six hours, so kids who bathe regularly are just as vulnerable. The good news is lice are not carriers of any disease."

That information did not change the task we had in front of us — decontamination of three kids. I stopped at CVS on my way home from the office to pick up the treatment. The full kit was a whopping $25 (here is a coupon for $2 off) which includes the shampoo, the gel & comb, and the spray for their rooms. I only bought one kit to treat the whole family. After dinner, my wife and I split up to our respective tasks. She started the shampoo on our daughter, while I decided this was a prime opportunity to give the boys buzz cuts. We washed all of their sheets and pillows, sanitized all of their combs and brushes, sprayed their rooms, and used that tiny little comb on all of them. WOW, what a process. We still managed to get them to bed at a reasonable hour, but I sure hope that we don't have to go through this again.

Have you ever had this problem with your kids? Did I miss any steps? I'm scratching my head just thinking about it.

Stupid mom confesion: When my firstborn was brand new, I discovered some suspicious crystals in his diaper. I immediately turned to my library of reference books -- otherwise known as my guides to paranoia -- and learned that he had some kind of horrible kidney problem.

Naturally, I rushed him to the pediatrician. As I explained the dire situation, the very kind and patient doctor looked intently at me and calmly said: "You just need to change his diaper more often. It's soaked, and that's the stuffing in the diaper."

What I learned from this is that the pediatrician is your friend. And 15 years later, I'm still asking questions. Most recently, when I was sure my second born had had swine flu for a couple days, the good doc called me back to assure me that, given the symptoms I relayed, she didn't.

Today, we're giving you the chance to ask any silly question you might have. Dr. Noel Alonso will be on hand at noon today for an online chat with readers about back-to-school health issues. Don't be shy!

Go to SunSentinel.com/healthchat

The comments that accompany our news articles on SunSentinel.com can often be pretty nasty, but now and then we get something that's really useful.

This morning, we received one such helpful comment in response to an article I wrote about a child who died after his mother gave him a sleeping pill meant for adults. Apparently they found 4-year-old Nicholas Ordze next to several open bottles, but they weren't sure he had taken anything. They went to sleep, and when the parents woke up the next morning, Nicholas didn't.

A reader identified as "paisleyk" wrote in with the following (cleaned up for a family audience):

The thing that bothers me (aside from the whole giving a 4 year old an xxxx Lunesta!!) is that they found him with all the other bottles and weren't sure if he took anything else. I have two little ones that got into a child proof Advil bottle in my purse once. I called that poison hotline 800-222-1222. They answered on the first ring and couldn't have been nicer or helpful. They had me tell them what the worst case scenario was (how many pills missing) and calculated against each child's bodyweight.

Paisleyk, thank you for a terrific reminder of a valuable resource available to every parent, guardian or caregiver.

Waiting for the child to look or feel sick is a mistake in such cases. By then, whatever poison has been ingested is doing what could be preventable damage. If you even think your child might have possibly swallowed a medicine he shouldn't have, call that hotline 800-222-1222.

Whether Nicholas' death was a tragedy, criminal negligence or something worse is for the justice system to decide. But parents don't need to wait for the case to work its way through the system to remind themselves of the importance of childproofing or of keeping that phone number handy. Put it on your speed dial. Tape it to your refrigerator. Wherever there's a phone, this number should be there. I'm going to put it in my address book right now.

Poison control: 800-222-1222.

If your baby, toddler or child of any age is crying - you want to know why, right?

For instance, if your car were acting up, you might look under the hood before taking the vehicle to the mechanic. If your computer suddenly froze up - you're likely to push a few buttons or scoot the mouse around the pad.

So if your infant or baby is all red-faced, teary-eyed, fit-to-be-tied-bawling-his-or-her-eyes-out -- get over it - by checking it out the old-fashioned way: touch, hold, cuddle, sooth, coo, hug and in general assess the situation of said tiny being.

But wait, forget all that - don't trouble yourself - here's an App for that. I'm sorry to be the one to break the news to you.

The Cry Translator, according to promotional verbiage is, "an easy to use iPhone app that quickly identifies the five distinct cries made by infants: hungry, sleepy,annoyed, stressed or bored. These five cries are universal to all babies regardless of culture or language."

Wow. I'm speechless. Don't get me wrong - there are a few apps I am a huge fan of - Paper Toss is my fav.

But just imagine, you hear the child cry and you approach gingerly. Finally, thinks baby, I'll get some food or be held [insert other need/want here]. Instead, Baby sees tiny microphone held to face area. The outstretched arm is merely a tease. Baby increases wailing.

How will the app translate that?

Well, once is does, there are some suggestions on how to care for the child - which means while the Baby continues to cry, you begin reading a paragraph or two on what to do next.

Frankly, you really need to just put down your gadgets and pick up the child. It's called communication. What ever happened to consulting with the co-parent; Neighbors, people at work, on play dates in the park, grandparents, etc?

A 16-second Saturday Night Live skit says it all. Gosh.

Please, if you have this app - don't tell me. It'll make me want to cry.

The public health messages about mammograms have never been more confusing.

For years, we were told every woman over 40 should get a mammogram every year so doctors could detect breast cancer before it became widespread. Although the American Cancer Society is continuing that recommendation, they admitted last month that mammography can “miss cancers that need treatment, and in some cases find disease that does not need treatment.”

That means women are going through chemotherapy and radiation for tumors that don't need intervention. Unfortunately, doctors can't tell the difference yet.

I've had a couple of mammograms over the years but let my prescription for the last one lapse because I've been reading so much about the controversy over their usefulness. I have an appointment next week with my ob-gyn and definitely will broach this topic.

What would possess a woman to take joy in not shaving her legs or underarms for months, when she always had, and in fact - simply stopped using shampoo?

That same woman even got her eyebrows tattooed, started working out and shaved her head.

That's because this mother/daughter was getting ready for the battle of her life - fighting breast cancer. And October marks the annual National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

It's been nine years since --Doris Pastl, now also a grandmother, and owner of the Boynton Beach-based Specialty Advertising Inc. was diagnosed with Breast Cancer. That's when she entered her own personal, self-imposed boot camp of readiness: creating a support group around her, a positive attitude, purpose, focus, and humor.

She underwent treatments and surgery. She endured wigs, hospital gowns, no hair, nausea, fear, strength, laughing and crying. She chronicled "This is My Story," in a pamphlet-style book with photos, short cutlines and lists.

Pastl lists feelings, advantages of being bald (you never have a bad hair day) and disadvantages (if you've had a face lift, the scars will show).

Pastl's simple presentation makes it an easy read despite the fact that it is about someone's real life emotional and physical roller coaster. Any woman: aunt, sister, mother, grandmother facing the challenge could sit with a child to read "This is My Story."

But Pastl also knows the experience is different for every one. So she wants other women to share with her, to add to her lists. Pastl wants people to read her story and share it with others. To obtain copies, to add to her lists, call Pastl at 800-433-7452.

For a donation, you can have a hot pink hair extension woven into place as another way to recognize Breast Cancer Awareness and as fundraisers. Find out here where PINK Extensions are available at participating hair salons throughout the month.

Do you have a breast-cancer survival story to share with the Sun Sentinel?

UPDATE: Find out about fundraisers this month on Rod Hagwood's Fashion calendar blog. Some events, starting around Oct. 18, are specifically geared to breast cancer awareness.

Earlier this week, it was announced that Broward public schools, and the county health department, would vaccinate students against H1N1, for free. This is quite a convience for parents.

But I wonder how many will opt out?

A recent AP-Gfk poll revealed that 38 percent of parents nationally would not give permission for their children to be vaccinated at school. Some are concerned about the side effects; some say the swine flu threat is no greater than any other flu.

There are those who eschew any kind of vaccination for fear of all sorts of terrible things; and then there are the germ phobes who would vaccinate their children against other humans if possible.

I'll probably let my kids get vaccinated, but that's mostly because I'm lazy. It's free and I don't have to schlepp them to the doctor. What's not to love about that?

What are you going to do? Take our poll here.

It's worth reading this story from The Hartford Courant and then visiting this site for more information.

The makers of Children's Tylenol have announced a voluntary recall of more than 20 children's and infants' liquid products.

McNeil Consumer Healthcare, which makes Tylenol, is recalling "select lots" of the products due to a bacteria that was found in medicine manufactured between April and June 2008.

The recall was done on a warehouse and retail level. Products already packaged and on store shelves have been deemed safe. No bacteria has not been found in any of the finished products, according to the statement by Tylenol.

Parents and caregivers are urged to talk to their child's health-care provider about any concerns.

The full list of affected products can be found at Tylenol.com. Consumers can find the lot numbers on the bottom of the box containing the product and also on the sticker that surrounds the product bottle.

More here.