NOSE CANDY

ok - so Saturday evening, we return home from watching the football game at a friend's house and Jackson tells me his nose hurts. He has asked for a tissue several times that afternoon and I just thought "allergy season has already started". I replied to his comment, "noses don't hurt, why does your nose hurt?" I barely got the question out and whirled around, "did you put something in your nose?" A barely perceptible nod, "yes". "What?", I ask. "Dirt", replies the boy. Loud exhale, "Tony can you please get me a flash light - your child has put dirt in his nose."

So, we lay him down and I peer up this tiny nostril and low and behold - a rock. Another loud exhale. "Can you get me some tweezers, there's a rock up there?" Jackson is now crying, it's late, closing in on midnight. So, Tony and both attempt to retrieve said rock from the child's nose, who is now screaming at the top of his lungs and wiggling like his life depends on it. We alternate between trying to hold him while the other tries to get a hold of the stupid rock and concede defeat. Can't get the stupid thing and fear we are just pushing it farther into the nasal canal since Jackson has not stopped screaming or wiggling.

I call my mom at 12:30 at night to see if this is an emergency room visit or can it wait till Urgent Care is open in the morning. She hates the phone ringing late - it's never good news, so my first utterance, "it's not an emergency....but your grandson has stuck a rock up his nose, do we need to go to the ER?"

We talk it over and decide that a $100.00 co-pay is worth the peace of mind than worrying all night if it's going to dislodge and Jackson choke on it, or aspirate it into his lungs. So, I go get the boy out of his bed, "Now we have to go to the hospital because he stuck a rock in your nose!"

"I don't want to go to the hospital!!!!" wailing....

All the way there, "I don't want to go to the hospital Mom. My nose is ok!" "No, son, it's not ok, you can't stick things in your nose or your ears or we have to come to the hospital".

We get there, get settled in our room in a very narrow bed and find Penquins on the cartoon channel. Jackson tells me he likes this bed because he can watch TV. I told him he better not get too attached to that bed.

Doctor comes in - sees the nose rock and goes and retrieves the official nose rock puller. Which I don't really know what it was, but a super thin thing he stuck up the nose that must have had some kind of jaws on the other end. To keep Jackson from flailing about and turning into super strength toddler like he was for me and his dad, they wrapped in him a blanket to restrain him. The doctor told him he made a cute burrito to which he replied, "I am not a burrito, I am a schwamwhich (Jackson lingo for sandwich)."

It was quite the rock - much larger than I was expecting. I asked the ER doc if this was indeed an ER visit, on the rare chance he dared do it again and the answer is/was yes. The longer the foreign object stays in the nasal cavity, the more trauma to the tissue and the more invasive they may have to be to get it out. Once the rock was removed, his nasal passage swelled shut.

All is well now, he does have to take a really gross antibiotic for 10 days because of the abrasions in is nose. He tells me every day when I try and give it to him, "mom, I don't need medicine, I am not sick." "I know, but this is the consequence of putting things in your nose, you have to take really gross medicine."

On the way out of the ER, he saw a lady lying in another room and asked me what was the matter with her. "She is sick honey." "I'm not sick, I just stuck a rock up my nose" was his reply rather loudly and got the entire nurses station chuckling. Glad someone thought it was funny.

Next day, I said to Jackson, "you owe me a hundred dollars".

J: "I don't have dollars mom"

Me: "Then you need to get a job""

J: "School is my job mom" and off he struts, not a care in the world.