An Unexpected Easter Surprise

After all of the Easter travel and festivities this weekend, we were looking forward to a quiet SUnday evening at home. This was not meant to be.

Brandon was over and we had just finished eating pizza, and were hanging out downstairs. Lucy was, per typical, traveling between the upstairs and downstairs, dragging various toys and Easter gifts here and there. Just before 8:00 that evening, I heard a call from upstairs – “MOMMY!”

Husband actually went to check on her, but then called me. “She won’t talk to me, she’s just hiding on the couch.” I went up and based on the slightly guilty-looking face, I thought she’d had an accident. He went back downstairs, probably thinking along the same lines. But no. “Mommy,” Lucy said, “I swallowed my money.”

Her money. She had a fistful of coins from an Easter egg and was supposed to be bringing them upstairs to put in her piggy bank. “How many?” I asked calmly. She stuck up one finger. I spotted some coins on the coffee table, and I put them in my hand. “Which one was it?” She pointed. At that point, a little composure was lost. I called down, “She swallowed a quarter!” A quarter. We tried calling a nurse line, but were put on hold and it said I was the third in line. Lucy was saying her throat hurt, so we decided to just take her to the ER.

So we headed to Methodist Hospital and waited almost an hour to get in, and waited a bit more for an x-ray, which showed it was indeed a quarter, and it was stuck in her esophagus. After more waiting, the doctor came in and said it couldn’t stay there, and we had two options: 1) stick a tube down her throat there in the ER, which would be very uncomfortable but quick, in hopes of pushing the coin into her stomach, where it could safely move through the rest of her system. If #1 didn’t work or we didn’t think she would tolerate it, then #2 would be putting her under anesthesia and performing a scope to remove the coin. This option involved a transfer to Children’s Hospital in Minneapolis, because they didn’t feel comfortable doing the procedure on children at Methodist.

We skeptically elected Option 1, and waited another 45 minutes for the doctor to come back and tell us he didn’t have the right size tube and we’d have to go to Children’s anyway. Then another very frustrating 45 minutes to get all the paperwork for discharge and transfer. Meanwhile, Lucy was generally OK, but every once in a while would get really agitated and cry, “it hurts!” In one way we were relieved because it seemed the ER doctor was uncomfortable and inexperienced in doing the procedure in the first place, but we were also frustrated at having been there so long with no solution.

So, with already over 3 hours under our belts at Methodist, we were headed to another ER. At Children’s we had to wait again, explain everything again (tell me what is the point of a transfer?!) and then finally got back to where somebody could help us. We saw the actual doctor pretty quickly, and got in for another x-ray to determine if the offending coin had moved. No such luck. So we were back to Option 1. They explained everything to us, and we felt we were in very capable hands. So we waited a bit longer until they were all ready to go. This was taken about 12:45AM:

The doctor came back in with an EMT who was there to gently “bear hug” our Lucy and hold her down while the dirty work took place. Then they stuck about 20-25 inches of a rubber hose down our girl’s esophagus, with only a little spray anesthetic to numb things in the back of her throat. She had to be awake to basically gag repeatedly and get the hose down. It was not pleasant for any of us, trust me. It was quick, but we weren’t sure if it worked because Lucy threw up a little bit, and the doctor couldn’t get the hose down as far as she thought she should for fear of tearing her esophagus by forcing against the constricting. Only another x-ray could tell, but after the initial shock wore off we could tell Lucy felt better, so we were hopeful. Sure enough, the next x-ray revealed the coin had moved to her stomach. WHEW! It was 2:00AM and we could finally go home!

We’re all a little tired today, but Lucy is good. She slept in this morning but did go to school a little later and is eating, drinking, and playing just fine. It’s likely the sewer system will be $0.25 richer within the next couple of days, but we’ll go have another x-ray in a week or so just to be sure.

There have been plenty of quips about only giving dollar bills in the Easter eggs next year, and we’ve had a few conversations about only putting food and beverages in our mouth from now on. After her first x-ray, the tech gave her a little stuffed bunny. She decided to name him “Quarter” to commemorate the experience. This will certainly be one of those “remember that Easter when…” or “Lucy’s first ER visit was…” stories.

For posterity, here's Lucy's take on the evening.