Fun in the ER

Yesterday, I put Isaac up on the changing table to change his diaper (yes, he's still wearing diapers at 3 1/2, but that is a whole other post). He started gulping and then said, "I swallowed it!"

Well, he's always putting legos in his mouth even though he's told not to, so I figured that's what it was. "You swallowed what?" I asked him.

"A sharp little metal thing," he said. Oh, fantastic. I called hubby, who rushed home. Meanwhile, Isaac kept crying that his throat hurt. You know that feeling when you take a pill and it still feels stuck in your throat? Imagine that with a little piece of metal.

When hubby got home, we took Isaac to the ER. We had in the meantime figured out that what he swallowed was a little one-centimeter-square piece of steel that came with some bar magnets. I had another one so I could show it to the doctor.

Hubby dropped me and the boy at the ER so he could run an errand. By this time, Isaac felt fine and was only concerned about whether or not he would get a sticker for being there. They gave him a paper bracelet, which he loved for about two minutes. Every two minutes after that, he wanted to know if he could take it off.

Finally, they took us back to a room, and then to get an x-ray. Sure enough, there was the little metal square staring at us from his stomach. We went back to the room to wait for a doctor. Hubby showed up with the other kids, and it was general pandemonium until I discovered the television in there had cable. I found Cartoon Network, and all was well.

So after all that, the doctor told us it will pass through his system. Obviously we need to watch out for pain or bleeding or anything like that, but otherwise, in a couple of days, it'll be out. So I guess when it comes to childhood trauma, this too shall pass.