So Mondays are generally a pretty crazy day. I watch my friend Jeanette's boys Jack and Brian who are 3 and 2 all day, Maddie and Jack have pre-school, my boys get out early, and I watch my other friend Deanna's 2 boys after school. Now I've added another friends' daughter to the after school crew, so what am I up to, 20 kids or so?!:) I picked up Jack and Maddie from pre-school at noon, made the kids lunch when we got home, and then went into the bathroom because I was determined I'd get it cleaned that day. I had already showered, but had no make-up and hadn't even dried my hair so it was pretty funky looking. I had just sprayed cleaner all over the shower, when Maddie came in crying. She said her nose hurt and finally told me she stuck something up it and it was stuck . Great. I'm having her blow and blow her nose, but the dang thing won't budge. She's in hysterics, because it's so far up there it's hurting her. So I decide we're going to have to take the dreaded trip to the emergency room. What's more fun than an emergency room with a hysterical 5 year old and a 2 & 3 year old, right? But first things first- I am not leaving this house before putting at least
some make-up on! So, yes, I did take a couple of minutes to do that. What, it wasn't like she was choking on an almond or anything! I start gathering everyone and everything to leave when I realize I have to pick-up 5 more kids in an hour. Not going to happen. So I call Todd and luckily he was only half an hour away and I told him to come home, NOW. Then my brilliant husband called his mom to have her watch Jack and Brian for me. What a lifesaver! Maddie and I get to the E.R. and were seen about 30 minutes after we got there. Maddie is still crying. Everyone is asking her what she put in her nose, and she says she doesn't know. The Dr. comes in and says, "OK, usually when this happens I just have them hold the other nostril closed and blow and it comes right out." I bite my tongue because I want to yell, "Really?! Gee, I never thought of that one! Good thing I came into the ER for that fabulous, insightful medical advice!" Instead I said very politely, " yes, we tried several times at home, but it wouldn't budge so we came here." His next brilliant idea was to have me hold the other nostril closed, cover her mouth with my mouth, and blow hard into her mouth. OK, I'll cooperate. So here I go, take a deep breath, put my mouth to hers, blow, and proceed to be covered in bloody snot all over my face. No lodged object, just snot. The Dr. tells me, "oh ya, that usually happens." Thanks big helper! He tried several other things- a vacuum type instrument, some small pliers, without numbing and 3 adults holding her down. He finally declared that they will have to surgically remove it and sent us to the surgery floor to get her prepped. We're finishing up the paperwork and they get an IV in her and then the Dr comes running in and says, "cancel the surgery! We're sending her over to an E.N.T.(ear, nose and throat) specialist and he'll see her right away. So they unhook her from everything, have me fill out more papers to transfer her, and that was the end of our 3 hour ER visit. Off to Placentia. Maddie fell asleep on the drive and was making some really funny whistling noises with that thing in her nose! We get there, get right in, and the 1st thing the Dr. does is put numbing spray in her nose- what a novel idea! He proceeds to try an array of tools to extract the darn thing, to no avail. At one point he looked up the other nostril, and discovered that he could see the object on that side too. He sent his nurse to call the hospital to book an O.R., and then decided to try 1 more time and, bingo! That sucker finally came out! Oh, but the fun does not stop there my friend! It turns out that the mystery object was a battery from a booklight. It was a 1/2 inch diameter battery- the button type that goes in watches. And the reason the Dr. could see it in the other nostril is because the battery started corroding, and the acid ate thru the cartilege in her nose, perforating her septum. So now we go back to the Dr. in a week to check the extent of the damage. At this point the Dr. is pretty sure she'll need reconstructive surgery. Great, only we would have a 5 year-old with a nose job!
So,the moral of this story is don't bother cleaning your bathroom,because it's just going to get dirty again anyways, and if you're going to stick something up your nose, stay away from batteries!
What the battery looked like at 12:30 when it went into her nose.
What the battery looked like after being in her nose for 6 hours.
