Sadie Swallows a Gem and Learns Her Lesson

The kids love these decorative gems.  I got a bunch of colors for a counting activity I made once.  Kaden and Sadie especially love them.  

Sunday, August 29th Sadie put it in her mouth at lunchtime.  Then she accidentally swallowed it.  She didn't say anything at first but came running over to me and buried her head in my legs.  I was like, "is something wrong or are you just giving me some love?"  She goes, "I'm going to be in trouble."  Many things race through your mind when your child is clearly upset and she says those words.  Anyway, she confessed to swallowing one.  My first thought was that it was Kaden's favorite one (he has a habit of latching on to specific objects and whining and begging if he misplaces them).  But it wasn't, I told her it would have to pass through.  And I didn't think much about it after that.

The next day, Sadie has a stomachache.  Then she throws up.  I assume she has a stomach bug.  It wasn't until much later in the day when Ryan mentions the gem that I put the two together and realize that might be the problem.  My nurses brain starts flipping through scenarios and what could happen and what probably will happen and what or if I need to do.  Of course I called my mom.  She's my sounding board for everything.

At one point I was in my car getting ready to take her to Community Care, when I decided there's nothing they would do at this point.  If it was stuck, they would have to get it out through a scope or operation.  But they would wait another day before going that route, I was certain.  So we waited.

Sadie could not keep ANY food or drink down.  She had some Gatorade, it came back up a couple hours later.  At 9pm she had a banana, it came back up at 11.  She was occasionally curled up and screaming out in pain.  Not fun.  She had slept during the day and was in so much pain she couldn't sleep at night so she sat up watching TV.  She went down at some point because she was gone when I got up at 6.

When she woke up, she was screaming in pain again.  We decided it was time to take her in, not only because we weren't sure if it was moving on its own, but she was in so much pain.  Ryan called Community Care to see if it was the right place to go, and they told him it wouldn't show up on an x-ray.  So we called the pediatrician and Ryan took her.  I can't remember where I was with the other kids, swim club?  Ryan told me the Dr. Hatch thought she had a stomach virus coincidentally at the same time she swallowed this "marble".  I thought that was a big coincidence...  But just to be safe he ordered an x-ray.  Ryan took her and had that done.  It was definitely visible.

 From that scan, it looks like it is at the illeocecal valve, the one that leads from the small intestines to the large intestines.  Sadie had started feeling much better right around the time they got to the Dr.  So she was no longer in horrible pain.  I took that to mean that it had probably gotten through the small intestines (which caused the pain) and into the large intestines.  Dr Hatch talked to one of the surgeons that work at the hospital (one of them happens to be our neighbor and good friend of our family) and they wanted to see her.  But then they changed their mind and said just watch it.  And then they wanted to see her again.  Whatever.  At this point she was off playing with her best friend, the daughter of said surgeon.  So I went over the to get her, but I was also not looking forward to more doctors.  I asked my friend Jen to text her husband and ask if he could just take a look at her when he got home.  He didn't text back right away so I just made the decision to wait until he got home.  Shortly after that he called me and told me quite plainly that they needed to see her.  He would not be her doctor, though.  Surgeons aren't allowed to operate on close friends and family.  Which I guess is why he didn't want to wait until he got home to look at her.  Or maybe he just didn't want to wait until after hours and find out she was in bad shape and have to do more work. I don't know.  But we went in.  The Dr we saw (whom I kept calling Olivander but was actually Olaveson) looked at her xray, looked at her belly, talked for a minute.  He told me the "marble" looked rather large in the xray.  I told him it wasn't actually a marble, that it was flatter, and must've been sitting on it's side in the xray, his attitude towards it changed.  He was less concerned.  He said he would like to get another xray the next day.  Well, like I said, I was sick of doctors!  I told him we were leaving town (heading to Lava Hot Springs) in the morning.  He said if we could make it before we left, great.  If not, we could come after or the next day.  I was slightly annoyed that I had to go to that visit and I had no interest in doing more xrays if she was no longer in any pain.  I assumed it would pass.  He said it could get stuck down in that pouch of the large intestine where the appendix is.  But I figured if there was a problem, she would show some sort of sign.  If she could pass stool, she should be fine.  So when she had a bowel movement later that night, I wasn't worried at all.  We had asked her to not flush, but she forgot both times.  And so we stopped worrying about it at all.

Let's just say that Sadie learned her lesson about putting things like that in her mouth!!

I assume what happened is that it was in her stomach on Sunday so it didn't bother her.  Then it moved to her small intestines, which hurt.  And it moved through, causing pain the whole way.  Then made it's way to the large intestine and passed through.  Worst case scenario would've been it stuck in her small intestine and they couldn't get it with a colonoscopy or endoscopy so they had to cut her open.  Ryan had given her a blessing and I feel like we were very blessed!

I had a few friends tell me that similar things happened to their kids.  One of them had to have an enema.  One of them swallowed a quarter, her mom rushed her to the hospital and they had to scope it out.  These kids!  I don't know how they all survive so well.