Granola Bar Up The Nose: Day 2

Yesterday, Daniel accidentally got a chunk of granola bar stuck up his nose. If you missed that post you can click HERE to get the full story. 

 

Today, after several phone calls with the doctor's office, we headed to the ENT. The specialist checked him out and saw no sign of any left over granola up there. She said we can continue with a saline spray to ensure that all tiny pieces are out but as far as she could tell it was gone. So there you have it, Daniel's nose is officially granola bar free.

Pediatrician's office co-pay: $20

Saline nasal spray: $4.25

ENT office co-pay: $30

A story that will last a lifetime: Priceless

 

All that's missing in this picture is some granola

How Do You Get Food Out Of Your Kid's Nose?

Today turned into one of those "never a dull moment" type of days rather quickly. The kids were enjoying a late afternoon granola bar snack. From the other room, I heard a weird gag type noise that I've never heard before. Apparently, that noise is the sound of a chunk of granola bar being lodged in the nose of a four year old. It was soon followed by crying and general freaking-out-ness by Daniel. It appears that it was a total freak accident and that he had his head back taking a bite and a part of the bar fell off and he inhaled it. 

Sooo...I grabbed my flashlight and the tissues and we gave it the old college try to get it out of his nose but no dice. Then it was off to the pediatrician's office we went. Normally, I'd be pretty annoyed to drag all three kids out in the snow to the doctor but the whole situation was so bizarre that I couldn't help but find the whole thing comical. Little did I know the comedy hits would keep coming...

When we got to the doctor the first thing the doctor had us do was basically mouth to mouth resuscitation. She explained to Daniel that I would just give him a "big kiss." This big kiss turned out to be me blowing as hard as I could in his mouth while she held his other nostril shut. You have to find the funny in that or else you might just lose your mind. So we had a couple of attempts with that but no luck dislodging it. Part of the problem was that his nasal passages were swollen just due to his general state of allergies, etc. So the swollenness was making it more difficult for the granola bar to come out. She explained that they have several tools used to remove objects from the nose but they are mainly used for hard objects like beads. The staff was pretty baffled as to how to get gross, gooey, granola out of the nasal cavity. Leave it to my troublemaker to stump the staff. So we continued with blowing his nose for a while in the office and eventually a piece came far enough down that she could dig it out with a scooper. Even after that piece came out though there were still visible pieces left up there that wouldn't budge.

She suggested that we give him some allergy medicine at home to reduce the swelling and buy some saline drops to keep the granola-bar-infested nose moist. The concern is that it will harden and be (more) difficult to remove. Ideally the pieces will come out his nose or go down his throat. The concern is that they would travel into his sinuses and cause infections/problems. They also can't rule out that there is additional granola bar farther up his nose that they can't see due to the swelling. So regardless of if the pieces find their way out or not, we are off to the ENT tomorrow to confirm he is granola bar free. I'm not psyched about this appointment since I'm sure he's fine but I understand that they want to be thorough. Luckily, part of it came out in the doctor's office so they didn't think it was necessary for us to go to the ER. So that's our silver lining.

Seriously though, GRANOLA BAR up the nose? This is one for the record books.

Mr. Granola Bar being goofy as usual

My Last Kindergarten Registration

 

See that kid up there? I registered him today for Kindergarten. He's my last one. My last baby. My last little. 

Although, I'm partially excited to kick my biggest challenge out the door in September, like any mom I'm also partially worried. He's not only my youngest but he's young in general. He's a July 31st baby which means with a Sept 1st school cut off, he'll always be one of the youngest. With more and more people keeping summer babies home another year, I won't be surprised if he's actually the youngest in his class. 

I think he's ready though. He's seen his siblings do it. He's socially ready. He's physically ready. He's academically....somewhat ready. He's never been much into school work but I don't think that necessarily has much to do with his age. He's a boys boy. He'd rather run and play than sit and learn. Maybe it will come with age - maybe not. Either way, it's off to kindergarten he goes this fall!

Totally In Love with My New Washing Machine

Can I just tell you how much I love my new washing machine? It has been completely life changing for me (which I do recognize is pretty pathetic). In order to understand why I love my new one so much it's important for you to know how bad my old washing machine was. It leaked water so we had to keep a jug under it. The jug had to be emptied every 3 loads otherwise it would overflow onto the basement floor. The washer didn't spin properly (or something) so about half the time I had to spin the load twice. It got to the point when I was happy to just have to spin it twice and not rinse and spin again since towards the end I'd go down and the clothes would be both wet and soapy. Plus, often the clothes were STILL dirty after all that! Oh, and if you washed towels or sheets it made a horrific noise that you could hear all throughout the house. You couldn't even think about washing anything large in it without committing to rinsing and spinning it like three times. Oh, kid, you peed all over your comforter? Sorry, your comforter's dead to me.

I finally hit my breaking point as did my husband (who I'm sure was sick of the piles of laundry around and my constant complaints), so we bought a new washing machine shortly after Christmas. We got a Samsung energy efficient top loading one. OH.MY.GOD. It's amazing. Know what it does? It WASHES clothes - correctly - on the first try! It is quiet, it is smart, it is friendly, it is magical. I can now happily wash several loads of laundry a day without having to rip my hair out. I never should have let Cheap Diane make me wait so long for a new one.

Hello, Lover.

 Now if I could just find a machine to fold all this laundry...

A Seven Year Old's "To Do" List

Isabelle and I have this routine where she saves EVERYTHING and every couple of months I go in her room while she's at school and throw most of it away. She's so blinded by how nice and neat and organized her room is that she doesn't miss the random coloring sheets or scrap pieces of ribbon that she HAD to save.

The other day I was cleaning things out and I came across her "to do" list. I'm not going to lie, as an avid list maker, I smiled ear to ear when I saw it. Clearly, she inherited my Type A personality.

Three Reasons You Should Have A Skin Cancer Check NOW!

 (1) It's simple, easy, and pain free.

(2) You can see your regular primary care physician. No need to make an appointment with a dermatologist right away if you've never been to one before. Simply keep an eye on your skin (monthly self checks are recommended!) and tell your doctor of any changes or concerns at your annual visit. They will refer you as necessary. This is also a great way to ensure you get a yearly physical!

(3) It could just save your life. My father passed away of Melanoma Skin Cancer when I was only two months old. He missed out on almost his whole life and left behind a family that would never really know him. Don't let this happen to you or someone you love.

This week I had my annual skin check up. This is your friendly reminder to go do the same!

Sick Kids Are The Worst

For about the past three weeks, we've been in that funk of being hit with illness after illness. You know - strep throat, scarlet fever, conjunctivitis, ear infection, and a lovely cold/cough. Luckily, I haven't been able to complain too much because it honestly hasn't been THAT bad. Obviously, I'd love for everyone to be healthy but up until now we've been sick and over it pretty quickly and no one has been too bothered by any of it. Until now that is. Daniel has always been the one that gets hit the hardest. He was my constant ear infection kid which we eventually curbed with tubes. He's the kid that caused me to check out an Urgent Care clinic in Delaware and go on a goose chase of pharmacies for a nebulizer while on vacation. He's the kid who likes to go from a mild cough during the day to questioning if you should drive him to the ER because of his breathing at night. There's one in every bunch, right?

Cover up yo' germs

So this time we were celebrating New Year's Eve at a friend's house and at some point during the night I heard him start coughing from the other room. It was the first cough he had had - by the next day he was a coughing/wheezing mess. So since then he's been pretty much attached to his nebulizer and using his steroid inhaler. I had him at the doctor on Friday and the message was to just keep doing what we were doing. Over the weekend he was okay - not great -not good - but okay. This morning he was up at 5am coughing and complaining of an earache. After another visit to the doctor today, he's on increased meds and an antibiotic for an ear infection. The good news is there's no pneumonia - just a chest full of congestion and wheezes. The other good news is that the antibiotic for the ears should fend off any other infections that try to form.

Breathing treatments, anyone?

Overall, he's feeling pretty good today and got in a nice nap which always helps. So once again, I'm hopeful that today's medicine and a day of rest will make him better tomorrow. I hate seeing him not himself and I HATE that it's his lungs. I'm also hoping that tonight is the last night that I need to give him his nebulizer during the night. He is able to sleep right through it which is great for him but it's definitely interfering with my beauty sleep. 

Oh, and unrelated, today is day one of a two week no sugar/no alcohol challenge that I'm doing with a friend. Poor timing for sure!