Jingle Bells, Do They Smell?

It was inevitable.  It had been 10 years since one of my kids thought it was a fun idea to stick something odd up their nose.  A day like this was long overdue.

By 9:00am I had my little cutie-pie all dolled up for her preschool Christmas Music Performance.    All decked out in red & green, she patiently let me put her golden locks into piggy tails.  Then I adorned those precious pig tails with festive jingle-bell scrunchies. I just wanted to eat her up, I tell you.  So, once at school, I snapped photos like crazy and listened to her class sing 4 sweet songs.  Then, I dashed home to finish wrapping gifts.  (It was the last day of preschool for the year, so it was urgent that I seized the day!)

Hours later, my phone alarm chimed to remind me to stash the gift wrapping and pick up my pint-sized cutie from school.  Just then, my phone rang.   It was the preschool.  (Uh-oh.)  This couldn't be good.  Was she sick?  Hurt?  I answered.

"While your daughter was resting on her mat just now, she somehow managed to put a miniature jingle bell up her nose.  You know, the ones that were attached to her hair scrunchy?"

(Breathe.)  Uh, I know the scrunchy.  

"We can't see anything up her nose, but she says it's in there.  And, her nose is bleeding a bit."

And, away I went.  I didn't even panic.

See, I've been down this road before.  Ten years ago, when my oldest daughter was 4, she thought it would be interesting to put a raisin up her nose.  Once she sucked the thing right up into her nasal cavity, she let me know that she (well, we) had a problem.  After trying to pry it out with tweezers and many attempts to have her blow it out, we ended up at the ENT.  (That's the Ear-Nose-Throat doctor, folks, which I had never heard of until then.)  He put her in a "cocoon", which is a happy word for "straight jacket", and sucked the "raisin" out with some sort of scary suction device (ie. mini vacuum cleaner).  Oh, it came out alright.  But less "raisin-ish", and more GRAPE-ish.  Yep, it soaked up enough you-know-what from her sinuses that it came out looking like a full-sized grape!  Oh, how I wish we had camera phones back then!!!

So, back to the bell…

As I was driving, I speed dialed the pediatrician.  They wouldn't be able to get the bell out, they explained, so we would have to see an ENT.  (I knew that already, but thought I'd start at home base.)  Next, I called the ENT office down the hall from the pediatrician.  The one with the cocoon. They had no openings in their schedule that day.  Urgh.

I arrived at the school, and I found my sweet little bell-sniffer sitting calmly in the office chair.  I hugged my baby and made light of the situation.  Boy, will this be a funny story to re-tell when she's older, I thought.  The school administrators were amazing and handled everything perfectly.  However, I knew I needed to get in to see an ENT that afternoon.

We got in the minivan, and while Ella opened various gifts from her Christmas party, I heard her nose whistling while she breathed.  It's the bell - don't laugh out loud, I thought.  After calling 3 more ENTs who could NOT get us in for an appointment, I decided to take matters into my own hands.  While still in the school parking lot, I climbed into the back of the minivan and held my iPhone flashlight up to her nose.  I stretched her nostril open just a bit, and THERE IT WAS!

"It's GREEN!" I said.  "Yep," she responded.

I told her that if she just blew hard, it would come out.  (I hoped.) And, no doctor necessary!  (I prayed.)  On the count of 3, she blew….

And there it went!  It shot right out into the tissue!  FIRST TRY!  We high-fived to celebrate our success.   Yes!  I just saved so much money!  And, of course, my baby can breathe, which was most important : )

It was a win-win.  So long, "booger bell"!

Psalm 46:1 

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.