Don't Stick Beads Up Your Nose
Ingrid learned a very important life lesson on Saturday, and we had a fun little trip to the local ER, because she put a bead in her nose. It was tragic but kind of funny. Ingrid is a trooper. She slept most of the time we were there, cried very little, and once the bead popped out, she insisted on holding it, ("mine! My bead" quoth Ingrid), and everyone laughed at the end of the ordeal. If this had happened to Bea, it would not have been funny at all. Bea does not do well with medical procedures. She was about 5 years old before she stopped screaming at the sight of a stethescope. And here's another example of how similar we are. When I was in nursing school, I cried when someone gave me a test injection--just saline, sub-acute, and I thought I would pee on myself I was so freaked out.
So how did Ingrid get a bead in her nose? I wasn't there, but apparently she was putting it in her nose, my husband caught her--surprised her, and she inhaled. It was lodged pretty far up there. So the husband brought the girls to JiffyCon where I was playing Best Friends, so Bea wouldn't have to go with us. I went home to get the insurance card, and met them at the ER. They took us in pretty quickly, and Ingrid slept until they started the first attempt to get the bead out. The doctor, Dr. G, looked like he could be my husband's brother or cousin. Tall, long blond curly hair, big nose, Scandinavian looking, very handsome. This just added another surreal dimension to an already surreal morning. I had an urge to touch his hair, which tends to happen when I meet people who have nice hair. My intentions were harmless, but it probably would have been inappropriate.
First he tried using a little vacuum to get it out. That didn't work, and the otherwise placid Ingrid got a bit upset by having a metal vacuum catheter stuck in her nose. Then Dr. G gave us two suggestions. He could either get the bead out with forcepts, or he would give us a very effective method of extracting things from children's nares. But we would have to do it ourselves. He would just kinda peek in from around the corner. Now I'm not sure if this was because the method was one of those tried and true methods that JHACO and insurance companies frown upon. But it sounded intriging, if not a little folky (and I'm all about the folk medicine). So here's what we did. If you or anyone you know, ever stick something up your nose and it gets stuck, you'll save yourself a trip to the emergency room. But please don't take this as medical advice, and this should not be a substitute for seeking medical care from a health care professional. I'm just a nursing school dropout and a mom. We told Ingrid that Papa was going to give her a funny kiss. I held her so she wouldn't squirm, and could feel secure. Papa closed one of her nostrils, made a good seal around her mouth with his, and blew really hard. And out popped the bead!
The whole procedure made Ingrid quite upset, but she was happy to get the bead out of her nose.
I missed playing Best Friends, unfortunately, but Ingrid was happy and didn't seem traumatized by the ordeal. My husband and Bea went to pick up the new dog, and all was right with the world again.
Speaking of new dogs, he has a name, Bea is $10 richer, and we both learned a valuable lesson in creative negotiations and compromise. Our new dog's name is.....
Jeddy, as in Jed + Buddy = Jeddy. And yes, I call him Jed.
11 comments:
Thankyou ! Thankyou ! Thankyou !! And thankyou to Ingrid ... this afternoon our 3 year old daughter put a bead up her nose - we tried tweezers and nose blowing but to say she is not a good patient is a massive understatement !! We had the medical bill arrive today for the stitches she had about a month ago when she ran into the corner of a wall - and with that fresh another medical bill for the Hospital was the last thing we needed - or May wanted !! I read your story, we were minutes from getting in the car to go to the hospital and thought 'its worth a try' !! IT WORKED !! We are so delighted !! Thankyou again
Parthenia, my kid Kouske, two and a half years old, owes you not having to go to the ER and very likely getting sedated. He put a bead up his nose yesterday night and it was pretty much stuck up there, about a centimeter and a half in, so after trying several things that only made the situation worst my lovely wife found your blog with the description of the solution and we decided to give it a shoot. It worked. Thank you very much.
Ignacio Soler
I'm glad to hear that, and very happy our experience helped! Ingrid actually stuck a bead in her nose six months after this incident. We didn't go to the ER that time, and used the blow through the nose method.
Thank you so much for this! I found you when I googled "get bead out of kids nose." We were at our wit's end, but we hadn't tried your method here. Worked like a charm! I really appreciate you posting this.
We were just about to try this, when we realized our daughter's pony bead had turned enough with blowing that we were able to use a size D crochet hook, slip it through the hole and pull it out...
Just another suggesti
Thank you this does work, just got the phonecall at work to rush to A&E and tried this instead and was back in work within the hour. Child nearly 4 was very happy to return to nursery. Unfortunatley nursery are not allowed to use this technique but have advised friends already for future reference. Thanks again, in my opinion it was worth the try before making the trip to hospital. V happy Mumx
THANK YOU. This worked great. 2 yr old said he had put some glue in his nose. We guessed it was a bead of hot glue. Tried it twice and out flew a clear rubber disk more than 1/4 inch across! Whew! All is well again.
Thank you! This was the first hit when I Googled "how to get bead out of nose." I had tried her blowing her nose, tweezing (can you say nose bleed?) and suctioning. Nothing worked. This worked first try. Got it to the nostril opening, and all I had to do was pull it out. We both laughed. I'm sharing this with all my friends.
Be very careful, though--too much pressure in the lungs could cause an embolism, as any diver or CPR instructor knows.
Just wanted to thank you for this advice. Although the bead in my 2 yr old son's nose was not very far up, he would not let me near him with the tweezers. I was just putting his shoes on to take him to the Doctor when my husband told me to try the 'special kiss'. It worked a treat.
Thanks for passing this on! I was so worried for my 4 yr old daughter, but after reading your experience I tried it on my child. Thank you so much for sharing... and a good read!
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