Amoebic Prevention . . .

So I do not claim to be an underreactor.

My kids and husband would certainly not describe me as such; I am rarely accused of keeping calm and failing to take action when action was (or was not) warranted. There is a special look and tone used by my husband when he feels I am unnecessarily alarming the children by my response to something.

But every now and then . . . you're welcome!

Due to an intervention (albeit caused by a freak out, perhaps), usually triggered by a strong mommy instinct and some google searches, disaster is averted. Or may have been averted, because often "unnecessary" interventions can't really be proven unless no action is taken. For example, if a blog writer interrupts a blog post about overreacting in order to track down a mosquito for a longer time than one might usually bother, we would call him or her a hero if that mosquito is carrying Dengue or some other nasty virus. But since the only way we'd know is by letting it go and inevitably infecting an unsuspecting victim later, we would probably assume the hunt was just an overreaction. This is, naturally, a purely hypothetical speculation.

Anyway, Jesse was the beneficiary (or victim) of my overreacting today. And he insisted that I blog about it--he thinks my readers will be interested. He is, in fact, my overreactor-in-training.

While my children were scavenging for their lunches from the limited supplies in our refrigerator, I was hunting mosquitoes, coincidentally, in the garage. When I came back in and reports were given me of the various lunch items eaten in my absence, Jesse unwittingly shared that he had eaten some of the raw bok choi in the container he found.

Freak out.

In the sunny Dominican Republic, where palm trees and tropical fruits abound, we have some nasty parasites and amoebas to avoid in raw produce and water.

Veggies I expect us to eat raw, once they are cleaned by soaking them in a vinegar and filtered water solution for 20 minutes, I store in a tupperware or ziploc bag. However, when my maid helps me by cutting up green beans or bok choi or broccoli for me to cook for dinner, she also puts them in a tupperware. This system has served us well for seven years, but today my son went rogue and ate a new veggie raw.

Since my husband was at work, there was no one to say that it would all be fine and to give me that special look and voice tone.

I did try to backtrack after my initial response and tell Jesse that very likely he did, in fact, not pick up an amoeba or parasite from the raw produce he ate. It was more like playing a lottery no one wants to win and he just needed to avoid playing in future. But as the son of an overreactor, he did not find it all that comforting that he probably did not have one.

So I googled. And gave Jesse the following Dominican home remedies:

• garlic and carrot (this was supposed to be juiced, but I do not have a juicer and our blender is broken, so I made him a little salad with some vinegar, yum!)
• fresh oregano and clove tea (I have oregano growing in my garden)
• a ginger candy
• yogurt
• a drop of peppermint extract

OK, the last two aren't Dominican, they were just bonus. And I realized that probably all of the other stuff killed whatever good bacteria were living in the yogurt, but it can't have hurt. He told me all of that gave him some powerful breath and made his stomach churn a little.

I'm guessing that even if Jesse happened to have eaten something nasty, we killed it. If he didn't, well, then I guess all that was an overreaction. And I guess we'll never know which it was . . .