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Objects in nose are closer than they appear
Filed under: Toddlers Preschoolers, Preschoolers
Two weeks ago, I was getting Nate ready for a jaunt to daycare and stalling. Getting a preschooler and a baby dressed in snowsuits and into a car with no power locks gets frustrating in a hurry. I gave Nate some fruit and TV action, while I nursed Lucy and waited for backup. (AKA my mom)
"Mum, I got somessing in my nose." It's booger city around here with head cold after head cold, so I grabbed a tissue with my free hand and impatiently squeezed his nose. Both our eyes widened in horror as we heard it. Felt it. POP!
"Holy $%&* Nate! Did you stick a pomegranate seed up your nose?!"
"Uh-huh... Baaaaaaaaaaaaa!" Holy crap. What to do? Call 911? No. Yes. Omigod! All I could remember is that Simpsons' episode where Homer shoves a crayon up his nose into his brain. Brain! Oh dear.
The 911 operator told me I'd be waiting a long time in Emergency. Forget it. I calmed down a bit. He'd stopped crying. Ish. The Telehealth nurse assured me it was not in his brain. She told me I had to try and get him to blow it out or head to emerg. Have you ever tried getting an almost-three-year-old (who has just suffered a strange nose injury, no less) to blow his nose on command? Impossible. Not to mention he kept lying out of fear, "There's nossing in my nose mommy." I wanted to believe him, but I could see it way up in there!
I fretted. I begged my son to blow. He would not let me near his nose. His nose started to leak fluid, which I read on BabyCenter.com to be the first sign of infection. Of course, as the laws of motherhood would have it, I had tickets to see Dirty Dancing the Musical that night -- my first big night out since baby. I called my husband at work and bawled about the fact that the children were trying to send me to an early grave.
My husband rode his bike home with all his might, on his lunch hour. He pleaded with Nate to blow and when he wouldn't, he brought up the pepper shaker. When Nate refused to sniff, Jan blew pepper into his eyes. Great, I thought as Nate started sobbing again, now we have to deal with burning eyes, too. Jan swiftly took Nate into the bathroom to wash his eyes out. They came back holding the offending fruit. "He's learned his lesson," my husband said triumphantly, "He's never going to put anything up his nose again, are you Nate?"
"Yes I am..." Oh boy. What's the worst thing your kid ever stuck up his or her nose? Any other orifices I should worry about?
"Mum, I got somessing in my nose." It's booger city around here with head cold after head cold, so I grabbed a tissue with my free hand and impatiently squeezed his nose. Both our eyes widened in horror as we heard it. Felt it. POP!
"Holy $%&* Nate! Did you stick a pomegranate seed up your nose?!"
"Uh-huh... Baaaaaaaaaaaaa!" Holy crap. What to do? Call 911? No. Yes. Omigod! All I could remember is that Simpsons' episode where Homer shoves a crayon up his nose into his brain. Brain! Oh dear.
The 911 operator told me I'd be waiting a long time in Emergency. Forget it. I calmed down a bit. He'd stopped crying. Ish. The Telehealth nurse assured me it was not in his brain. She told me I had to try and get him to blow it out or head to emerg. Have you ever tried getting an almost-three-year-old (who has just suffered a strange nose injury, no less) to blow his nose on command? Impossible. Not to mention he kept lying out of fear, "There's nossing in my nose mommy." I wanted to believe him, but I could see it way up in there!
I fretted. I begged my son to blow. He would not let me near his nose. His nose started to leak fluid, which I read on BabyCenter.com to be the first sign of infection. Of course, as the laws of motherhood would have it, I had tickets to see Dirty Dancing the Musical that night -- my first big night out since baby. I called my husband at work and bawled about the fact that the children were trying to send me to an early grave.
My husband rode his bike home with all his might, on his lunch hour. He pleaded with Nate to blow and when he wouldn't, he brought up the pepper shaker. When Nate refused to sniff, Jan blew pepper into his eyes. Great, I thought as Nate started sobbing again, now we have to deal with burning eyes, too. Jan swiftly took Nate into the bathroom to wash his eyes out. They came back holding the offending fruit. "He's learned his lesson," my husband said triumphantly, "He's never going to put anything up his nose again, are you Nate?"
"Yes I am..." Oh boy. What's the worst thing your kid ever stuck up his or her nose? Any other orifices I should worry about?
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 1)
12-20-2007 @ 1:09PM
Amanda said...I'm laughing so hard over hear I almost blew something out of MY nose !!!!
I have an almost three year old little girl who, thank God, hasn't shoved anything, other than her fingers, up her nose. One time she put french fries up her nose (barely) just to make me laugh. And after I took a picture and sent it to everyone in my family I sternly explained that we should NEVER put ANYTHING up our noses EVER! She hasn't done it again, however, we have a 15 month old daughter who is like big sister's little guinea(sp?) pig so, she might end up with something involuntarily placed in her nose. We'll watch closely so that nothing like that happens!
Reply
12-20-2007 @ 3:56PM
Heather said...You seriously called 911 over that? I really hope you were joking. This why people who are actually having in an emergency situation get busy signals.
Reply
12-20-2007 @ 4:30PM
Jenn said...Let's see....she thought her child was having a seizure. Since she'd never seen this behavior from him before, and there was the possibility he might have had a head injury, it sounds like she did the right thing!
What if he HAD had a head injury and it WAS a seizure?
Would you say what you just said to an person who called 911 thinking they were having a heart attack, and it turned out to be heartburn? Because you know that happens all the time.
12-20-2007 @ 4:53PM
Justin said...Wow I think that has to be the most un-intelligent reply I've seen on here in a LONG time. Guess you've never had any first aid training or just flat out don't care if your kid is having a seizure...
Seriously I hope that was meant as a joke or you need some serious help.
12-20-2007 @ 7:21PM
Heather said...I was referring to the original story. (The seed in the nose) If was replying to the comment above mine I would have pressed reply. Of course I would have called 911 if I thought my child was seizing, but I would not exhaust resources for a seed in a nose. Also, my husband is a physician specializing in pediatrics. He sees a lot of small objects in noses.It is something to look into, but it is not an emergency. My point was 911 should be for real emergencies (like seizures or bad falls etc) not pomegranate seeds. Now Justin calm down here before you start dishing out insults. Your comments here are never quality material.
12-20-2007 @ 2:06PM
LizzyBee said...I've read before that if your child sticks something in his/her nose and you can't get it out, that you can blow in their mouth, (like CPR) and it will force the air in their lungs through their nose, popping it out.
But, luckily, I have not had to try it (yet) with my two-year-old.
Reply
12-20-2007 @ 2:09PM
sarahs said...my son... when he was a 1.5 years old... shoved a french fry up his nose. this was on a saturday night. he'd sort of been in the habit of putting potatoes up his nose for awhile, but nothing had ever gotten stuck. well, on this particular saturday night we had french fries and when i wasn't looking one got shoved up there and part of it broke off. i wasn't totally aware of this.
he couldn't breathe in his one nostril. he went to sleep that night only breathing through the one open nostril. and i realized the next morning he was still having troubles breathing through his nose. otherwise he didn't demonstrate too much discomfort.
that night, he still was having troubles... so finally i looked up there and sure enough there was a major obstruction -- i.e. french fry. i tried to remove it. but i couldn't get him to stay still. so he spent another night with the french fry up his nose. and the next day we went to the doc. he surveyed the situation, had to sit down and think about his plan of attack....
took 2 people to hold my son down and keep his head from moving, but the doc went in with a spoon like device and scooped it out. the french fry was a good 1/2 inch long!!!
at any rate, he's never stuck anything in his nose since. and perhaps i was a bad mom for waiting so long... but oh well. it all worked out very well, and is now a funny story.
Reply
12-20-2007 @ 5:07PM
renee said...My middle son (then 3 yrs., now 8 yrs.) stuck a blue M&M up his nose one day. I could see that is was completely blocking his breating of that one nostril. I freaked out and took him to the emergency room. After sitting there for almost 2 hours, we were finally seen by the doctor. The docort laughed. I didn't find anything amusing at the time! He began to tell me that the M&M had already dissolved. My son was fine... except his nose kept running blue snot for the rest of the day.
Reply
12-20-2007 @ 2:19PM
Val said...Nothing up there nose for my kids....but a good 911 story!
One morning, my son woke before my daughter, which is unusual...she is usually up before the roosters!
So I got him from his crib and sat down with him on the couch. Suddenly, he dropped to the floor screaming and rolling around! THIS has never happened! I tried to pick him up, and he continued to scream and kick and flail until I was forced to put him down. Now I am freaking out....background story was the night before he climbed out of his crib....so now I am thinking he has a head injury that we didn't notice then, and he is seizing! So I called 911. They told me to strip him naked and put a cool wash cloth on him and that the ambulance is coming. At this point my son is screaming and flailing, and I am calling my husband and sister, since someone had to get my daughter. The ambulance arrives, EMT's come into my house, pick up my son, who very quickly stops screaming. My daughter wakes up to strange people in the house, looks out the window, and asks why her Aunt is here? Nothing about the ambulance!
So anyway, trip to the hospital, and what we find out is.....my son is fine.....they don't know what happened but it was not a seizure.
Fast forward to a week later, it happens again. Only this time we discover it was over something he wanted and was told "no"!
I called 911 for a tantrum......so don't feel bad about calling them for something stuck up his nose! And watch out, since he got lots of attention from the first time, he might try to do it again!
Good luck!
Val@ http://www.stinkyjohnjones.typepad.com
Reply
12-20-2007 @ 4:06PM
Allysen said...I have a two year old who thank goodness hasn’t tried to stuff anything but her fingers up her nose. That being said, my brother had a penchant for shoving things up his nose and into his ears. Of the list I can remember there was a pussy willow, a piece of Lego and a button, plus a pea in his ear that actually sprouted – ew! My poor parents said many hours were spent in emergency getting the bits and pieces removed.
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12-20-2007 @ 4:33PM
Jenn said...My daughter's not into sticking things in her nose (yet). I don't think I ever did, but I know I had to go to the doctor several times because I would get little scraps of paper stuck in my ears. And no, I have no idea what the heck I was thinking...
And I have a friend whose 3-year-old niece had to go to the doctor because of the piece of soap she had stuck up inside her vagina during a bath! At least you don't have to worry about that particular orifice...
Reply
12-20-2007 @ 4:39PM
Jamie said...My son at age 2 stuck a Tic Tac up his nose. I was on my way to the pediatrician's office to get his flu shot when this happened. He sneezed it out just before we walked into the building.
Reply
12-21-2007 @ 1:39AM
SKL said...Wouldn't one of those syringe thingies help to get something out of a kid's nose?
So far I haven't had this problem, but I did shudder when I read the prior poster's comment about putting things up a sibling's nose. Somehow I can see that happening here.
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12-21-2007 @ 11:35PM
rachel said...lol. When I was like 3 or 4 I shoved my Flintstones vitamin up my nose. My mom didn't notice until my nose started running red snot. The doctor laughed and told her that it would come out on it's on once it dissolved a little more :)
So far my 3yo hasn't put anything up his nose, but I'm sure it's just a matter of time.
Reply
1-07-2008 @ 11:27AM
Kathy said...A while back, I heard a radio program on objects in noses and an er doctor said the best solution is to seal your mouth over your child's and blow to force the object out the nose. Alternatively, you can put your mouth over their nose and suck but I suppose you would only want to do this if having that object in your mouth is not totally disgusting. Sure enough a few months later, my 3 yr old got a piece of cellophane stuck up her nose. Tried the "mouth blowing" trick and out it came! Saved me a trip to the clinic. BTW, I tend to agree that a pomegranate seed up the nose isn't really 911 material unless of course it is seriously interfering with the child's breathing.
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