Bad Mom story #2038

So, Joey had a bit of bad luck when it came to a marker tip and his nose.

While nearing the end of our vacation Joey was sitting in his car seat playing with his beloved Color Wonder Markers (you know the ones that only work on color wonder paper?). Well, Joey decided that it would be a good idea to bite off the tips of his markers, I only discovered this when I found marker tips on his car seat. Now I can only assume that this is what happened b/c I was in the drivers seat, but Joey, midway through biting his marker tips decided that it would be a good idea to stick the marker up his nose. That is when he started crying. Upon inspection I thought that he had scratched the inside of his nose and I couldn't see anything up there. Mind you, I still only thought that he had just bitten the tips off and put them in his car seat. For the rest of the trip he was a bit snotty and his nose wheezed a bit while he slept, but he never complained about his nose hurting at all, so I only assumed it was running b/c of the wound healing over.

When we got home, I was able to get a better look up his nose and discovered what appeared to be white and shiny, which could also be confused with straight up baby snot. With a good pass at the nose suction thingy and a couple of attempts at blowing his nose it still didn't look like anything was up with his nose. That is until last Wednesday when we laid down for a nap together. His left nostril was wheezing again, so I decided to pull out the flash light and the nose suction thingy. With him sleeping this made it very easy to get a good look up the ol' nose. Well sure enough there was definitely something up there. I tried getting it out with the bulb, but it didn't work. I called his pediatrician and was able to get in that day.

His doctor attempted to get it out but between 4 of us holding a screaming two year old down the effort was futile. The Ped. referred us to an Ear, Nose, and Throat Doctor. So the next day I took him into the ENT Doctor. Poor Joey had to be strapped down on a board. He was hysterical and the doctor had no such luck either, mainly b/c Joey was struggling and wouldn't hold still. So he suggested surgery as the only way to get it out and since it had been in there for awhile it needed to come out next day.

So of course, in perfect timing Joey had to have surgery the same day I had surgery to have a polyp removed on my uterus. Thanks to great family and friends we were able to do both surgeries back to back and I was able to be there even though I was in a wheel chair and slightly dazed from the anesthesia.

My surgery went well and Josh and I headed across the street to Mary Bridge where they took care of Joey. I have to say though, Joey was very brave. The staff was wonderful and they are very into helping the children adjust in scary situations. For Joey the anesthesia mask was a big obstacle, mainly b/c he had enough of people trying to touch his face, but once they were able to pass that fear they wheeled him into the OR in of course, a red wagon. He toted along his Tuckie, Georgie and his blanket for comfort.

The whole surgery only took about 10 minutes, but we did do a lot of waiting. When they wheeled him back to his room in his bed it looked as if he never had surgery. Aside from a bruise from his IV in his arm and a slight bloody nose, Joey was back to being Joey. 30 minutes after being sedated, had surgery, and in recovery the kid was running around....Naturally. =)

There was no infection and no need for follow up and we all learned a big lesson. Don't let Joey play with markers. =)

The Child Life Specialist was getting him prepped for the OR by tricking him with cool toys.


Mommy and Joey, looking a bit dazed and tired.

Hugs