One relieved Jordan with his tool and Lego piece!
It was a very normal Sunday evening at our house. The entire family was gathered around the dinner table, eating, talking about what had been “our favorite part of the day” and in general just being the vision of the typical American family in Any Town, USA.
Jordan (5) turned to me with his always mischievous smile, this one was brighter than his average smile though. He had a small blue Lego connector tube sticking out of his left nostril! He read my facial expression rather quickly – and accurately, and in a desperate attempt to remove the blue piece of plastic he shoved it up – way up in his nasal cavity. I swiftly grabbed him and placed him on the bed for further examination.
My husband brought me the tweezers. Although he did not witness the “hide the Lego in the nose” game, he knew (from experience) which tool I would need to perform my motherly duties. However, the little blue tube was truly up there where the sun doesn’t shine. I was not going to attempt to perform a home-extraction without knowing how much damage I would do to the inside of his little nose.
Now, please know that this is not our first encounter with “little boy fills body cavity with foreign object”. We had a few experiences with Jacob and rocks of various sizes and different holes, let’s just leave it at that.
I decided it was time to call in the professionals, so Jordan and I got dressed and went on our merry way to the local pediatric urgent care facility here in town. We had never been there before – in part due to dumb luck and also because our pediatrician is so awesome that he will meet us after hours or on the weekends in case of minor emergencies. However, I felt that he deserved the evening off, so we took the opportunity to establish a record at the urgent care office.
Jordan who is normally a rather spunky little boy, all of a sudden had turned into a little blob with no energy or personality. He could not look at anyone, refused to answer questions and just sat in my lap as if he was hoping to melt into his surroundings. My little man was scared – truly scared. He knew that what had happened was his fault and NOT a good thing – judging by our reactions. The staff at the urgent care office were top notch and 100% pediatric friendly. I am so glad that I decided last minute to go to that facility over the Med Express that is right around the corner from our house.
The doctor arrived, got a breakdown of his medical history, spoke directly with Jordan, asking him questions. He, true to his present fear-filled condition did not answer a single question. I was finally asked to place him on the bed, so the extraction could begin. They asked if I thought he would need to be restrained by anyone other than me, but I felt comfortable holding his hands and talking to him the entire time. Thankfully Jordan was really compliant and laid there – still as a church mouse – not a movement, not a peep.
This is the specialized tool used to remove foreign objects from children’s noses.
The doctor brought in a tool that specifically was designed and developed to remove foreign objects from the noses of pediatric patients. Apparently this is something that happens often enough for a quick thinking inventor to fulfill a need in the medical community.
They explained that they did not want to run the risk of doing any harm to the inside lining of his nose, so three tries was all they were going to do, before we would get a referral to an Ear, Nose and Throat specialist… And three tries is all it took!
Once Jordan received his well-deserved praise for being such a good patient, compliant and laying still, he almost bounced right off the bed and was high on adrenaline. He was so proud of himself, especially after he was given the Lego piece AND the tool to take home to show his brothers!
I have to admit that I was proud of him too. I was relieved to see the color return to his cheeks and the spunk return to his step. But most of all, I was thrilled that our first trip to the pediatric urgent care was for something as NORMAL and benign as a mis-placed Lego piece. I was thankful that although life hands you inconveniences, not all of them are drama-filled or earth-shattering. Some curveballs just require for you to be a little more limber than normal, for you to stretch a little further – nothing worse than that! I am thankful for normal little-boy shenanigans!
