My five-year-old suddenly collapsed at his birthday—then the doctor ruled out food poisoning, and my husband’s reaction back home changed everything
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Chapter 25 / 27
Chapter 25 - Claire stops checking
For almost a year, I checked the pantry every night.
Not rationally.
I knew medication was no longer there.
Still.
Door.
Shelf.
Behind cereal.
Look.
Close.
Then once more before bed.
Dr. Lin said:
“Checking is giving you short-term certainty and long-term dependence.”
I hated that.
“Easy for you.”
“Yes.”
I reduced.
Every other night.
Then twice a week.
Then stopped.
The first night I intentionally did not check, I lay awake.
Robert said nothing.
Good.
No:
See, there’s nothing.
No reassurance cycle.
At 1:10 a.m., I almost got up.
Then didn’t.
Morning came.
Pantry remained a pantry.
That mattered.
Vigilance had been useful immediately after Lucas’s poisoning.
May you like
Permanent vigilance would have made the event own our house forever.
I did not want that.
