From the North Pole to the South Pole

Kaela swallowed a magnetic marble today.

Here's what she said when she told me: "MomIswallowedamarblejustthesilverkinddon'tcallthedoctor!! SOB! Sob!"
She lay on the floor in a sheer panic tantrum explosion while Eric checked the internet and I called Poison Control and her pediatrician.

"Better bring her in right away," her doctor said. "If there are 2 in there, it could be real trouble."
Poison Control was more explicit. "Yes, we have heard of two magnets attracting each other on opposite sides of a bowel wall, then lodging there, eventually killing the bowel. This is serious."

With the sobbing intensifying, we began our first trip to the emergency room in 2008.

We checked in, and went to triage fairly quickly, where we sat and waited to see the doctor. We could hear the doctors and nurses talking outside the door (which was open!) about a little girl who swallowed 3 magnetic rocks last year and punctured her intestinal tract. I couldn't tell from their hushed tones whether the little girl survived or not--but I was about to pass out by this time.

Kaela went in for her X-ray alone with the radiation tech. When they came out of the X-ray room, both of them were grinning from ear to ear. "Did you see it?" I wondered aloud.

"Definitely a magnet in my belly," Kaela laughed. The X-ray tech couldn't tell me anything, but he was clearly amused...and our blood pressures began to fall within normal limits again.

In the meantime, my brother David was sending text messages, offering to be of assistance in the "do it yourself" arena for magnet extraction. He had some very creative ideas, all of which kept us entertained, but none of which Kaela was willing to undergo.

Finally, we got to see the X-ray and speak to the pediatrician about what our next steps were. Our next steps? Eat plenty of fiber, drink lots of water, and wait.
Our X-ray?

Look at this:




So she didn't do her homework tonight, but she has a good story for Show and Tell, anyway.