Joshua hid some crayons today. Apparently, he wanted the girls to guess where he had hidden them. Can you guess?
He hid them in his ears. Blue crayon in the left ear, yellow crayon in the right ear. Apparently, he only remembered after he had put them in that he a wasn't meant to put anything in his ears.
Anyway, I got the blue crayon out with tweezers, but the yellow one was too far in. So, after ringing Health Direct for information on the closest Accident and Emergency dept that accepts kids, I took him in to Princess Margaret Children's Hospital in the city.
We had a bit of a wait, but as I said to the clerk taking our details, I was glad that I was out in the waiting room with my son with a crayon in his ear, instead of inside with my son being resuscitated - they had two "flashing light arrivals" turn up just before and after we arrived at the A&E, so it was easy to count our blessings.
When the doctor checked Joshua's ear, "Hmm, that old chesnut", he could see the crayon fine, but when he tried to grab it out with some funky cross between a pair of scissors and tiny tweezers, Joshua yanked away and burst into tears. It was painful and loud, so the doctor worked out that the crayon must be pressing against the ear drum.
So the doctor said he needed the expertise of an Ear, Nose and Throat specialist to get the crayon out. Unfortunately for us, on public holidays the ENT people from the city service the entire state of WA (presumably via the flying doctor) and we are way down the list in terms of importance. So we have to go back to PMH at 8am tomorrow to see them then. Unless he wakes up in the morning and finds the crayon lying on his pillow, having fallen out overnight. One can but hope!
[Update Tue 14 Apr: Jeff took Josh back to the hospital this morning and, after another attempt with the tweezers, the doctors ended up simply flushing out the crayon with a squirt of water! Apparently it popped out of his ear like a cork out of a bottle. I am very glad they didn't have to velcro him down to be still, Amy! Joshua certainly displayed no ill effects at all: he was unusually bouncy for the rest of the day.]
Monday, 13 April 2009
Holiday Hiccup
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3 comments:
Oh my! Poor guy.
When Hope was two she jammed a little piece of flat craft foam up her nose. She kicked and screamed so much when they went after it with the "funky cross between a pair of scissors and tiny tweezers" that they had to put her in a "papoose board." This ingenious thing basically velcroed her entire body flat to a board. Like a mummy, she had no chance of moving any of her limbs. Much to my surprise, as soon as they wrapped that around her she completely quit fighting and they pulled out the foreign object without any trouble.
Not that that experience is parallel at all, but Joshua's ordeal reminded me of Hope's.
I'll be curious to hear how the ENT solves the problem. Hopefully without too much more ordeal!
Wow I remember my brother doing something very similiar but his resulted in a burst ear drum. I hope all goes well with the ENT specialist.
I hope you and your family had a happy Easter.
Oh dear! I'm praying for you guys.
Kellie
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