Another Nose No-No

I'm sure by now many of you are familiar with Johnathan's fascination with sticking food up his nose---peas, carrots, cheerios, raisins---you name it, and he has probably attempted to shove it into his little nostrils. Well last night took the cake, when of all things he shoved a soft, mushy penne pasta noodle straight up into his nasal cavity, literally. Aaron and I attempted to get it out ourselves...using tweezers & the bulb syringe (booger snatcher!). I even suggested trying to get him to sniff some black pepper so that he would sneeze it out---pepper always makes me sneeze, so I figured it was worth the try---well, it wasn't. All it did was float into his eyes, which caused a fresh case of tears and frustration, poor boy.

After placing a call to Johnathan's pediatrician (a WONDERFUL doctor, who I am sooooooo thankful for) we decided to take him to the ER...where, fortunately, his doctor was going to be for several hours covering a shift. Upon arriving the pediatric hospital's emergency room we quickly surmised that our little trip might be an all-night event---there were tons of kids there...with masks on, trying to control what must have been the flu virus. After already experiencing our little bout with the swine flu I sure wasn't going to be around any sick kids. So, Johnathan and I waited in the car while Aaron went inside to sign us up. Johnathan's doctor was going to try to fit us in after we got registered. Well, after waiting over an hour we were still 10 down on the list to get our paperwork filled out---not cool! Aaron spoke with one of the residents who said the average wait time was 10-12 hours to get seen! Can you believe it?!!! Needless to say we went home, with the plan of seeing J's pediatrician, Dr. Cortes, first thing in the morning.

This morning dawned bright and early, and Johnathan and I headed out to the doctor. Cortes just told us to show up and let the receptionist know that we had spoken the night before, and to let him know that we were there. Well, I did just that. The receptionist however told me that I had to go and register since we didn't have an appointment scheduled...so, even though I didn't want to do it I did anyways...I pulled the "doctor card", and politely told the receptionist that my husband is a physician and that he had personally talked to Dr. Cortes the night before and that he wanted to see us first thing. Her attitude totally changed (I think that she'd had a long week!) and she started helping us really quickly.

Like the night before, there were sick kiddos everywhere in the office. The waiting room was packed, and so, wanting to be extra careful, Johnathan and I waited off to the side. I guess I was pretty anxious about the whereabouts of the noodle, because each time the waiting room door opened and the nurse called out a name I kept hoping it would be Baby J's that I'd hear. After just a while, the door to the back opened and Dr. Cortes himself was standing there and motioned us back. He is a really cool guy, and has put up with us calling him/texting him at all hours. He really cares about his patients, and I think that he has a tender spot for the residents kids especially. He will go the extra mile to make sure they're cared for properly and in a timely fashion. As we walked to the exam room together, Dr. Cortes said "here's the macaroni man!" Haha! Actually it was penne pasta...but yes, the "macaroni man" fits! ;)

After a quick look into the left nostril Dr. Cortes informed us that we'd need to go see an ENT specialist. The noodle was pretty far back and needed some special equipment in order to come out. So, after making a phone call to a Doctor Robert Oshman, Dr. Cortes sent us on our way with specific instructions to tell the people at the ENT's office that we were sent over by him.

We showed up to the ENT's office, which was thankfully right around the corner. And, after filling out some paperwork, we were seen right away. Dr. Oshman was fantastic. He had a great sense of humor and talked to Johnathan the whole time he was working his magic to remove the "foreign object" from Johnathan's nose. Johnathan did great...there were many tears of course, but all in all I was very proud of how he did. Very proud indeed!

So, that's what we've been up to lately. It was a fresh reminder for me to keep a hawk's eye on Johnathan while he is eating anything "noseworthy"...which at his age is a lot! Just when life seems "normal" something like this comes up. Of course, when you have kids I guess the unexpected should be, well, expected! Life sure stays interesting, which I like, but I don't like late night trips to the ER and early morning visits to the doc kind of interesting. So, I guess I'll just stay extra vigilant and try to keep the interesting toned down a bit here.

Blessings for a happy (& safe) weekend!