Saturday, May 8, 2010

Tic Tacs are not for Snorting



Well, I am grateful and somewhat surprised that we are a week past the birth of our fourth child and I am just now writing my first post like this. Our middle two children (Benjamin is 5 and Rachel is 2) were riding quietly in the third row of our vehicle on the way home from the grocery store today, sharing some orange Tic Tacs our eldest had given Benjamin. Everything seemed to be going along swimmingly until we got home and unbuckled. I looked back, and in the shade of the car, it looked like Rachel had a bloody nose, but upon closer inspection, I realized the flow of liquid was orange.

Knowing my children, I immediately recognized what had happened, tilted her head back and was greeted by the sight of a bright orange capsule lodged about an inch or so into her sinus cavity. Through the next twenty minutes, I fought with the little booger (no pun intended), and it seemed like every time I got it down far enough to tweeze, she would cry and sniff it right back up. Thankfully, I had the peace of mind to realize that, even if I couldn’t get it out immediately, it would eventually dissolve, so I would just have her periodically blow her nose.

Finally, she blew it out, and you could see the immediate relief on her face. Once things had settled down, she very clearly informed us that “Bubba put candy in my nose.” When confronted with his sister’s claim, the noncommittal response went something like, “I don’t know. I might have, but I can’t remember!” Those of you with little boys understand that this is as good as a sworn confession, so we dealt with the problem and everyone is now down for a nap, adventures over for at least another hour.

Life as a parent is never boring, that’s for sure. While I’m not happy about what happened, it was a bit humorous as well, and I’m glad I thought to shoot this picture. The candy on the left is a new one out of the container while the one on the right is the remnant that was finally extracted from her nose. Hopefully we’ve all learned a lesson from this: only give children candy that is small enough to be easily blown out of their sinus cavities, or else too big to fit up there in the first place.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Oh my....LOL LOL. Thank you for a good laugh today...you wrote that post well. I know it may not have been too funny at the time, but the way you wrote it....hillarious. On the serious side, glad her nose is clear now. Never a dull moment being a mommy that is for sure
Kristi L

Anonymous said...

That is so funny! I was about 8 months pregnant with my 6th child when one of my little boys put a piece of plastic up his nose. I couldn't quite get a hold of it with tweezers, and it wasn't going to melt, so off to the urgent care we went! of course my hubby was working and couldn't take him or any of the children. Imagine the sight! but we made it! the doctor actually had the nerve to ask if I wanted to keep the piece of plastic for a scrapbook or something!

~Emily

Tim and Cindy said...

that's hilarious, although I'm sure it wasn't at the time. it's one for the family archives. =)

Anonymous said...

Oh, my! So glad it turned out well! But just in case it's not something that will melt the next time....My sister worked in the hosp. lab for years and spent many hours in the ER...she says that many of the Dr.'s will simply have you put your mouth over the child's and gently blow....if this is done before any "snorting" occurs, it will usually remove the "item" on the first try.
Holly H

Jeanné said...

o wow!! LOL!!
you should ask sheri b about one of her sons experience with something along the lines of this..=)

sara said...

Oh my word! What we thought we would never have to deal with :)