Last year Jacob enlivened one particularly memorable Friday evening for me by casually mentioning at about 5.45pm that he had put a small stone up his nose. At lunchtime.
Jacob’s dad was en route from Perth at the time so Jacob and I spent a particularly nightmarish evening at the Emergency department of the Royal Children’s Hospital. Jacob can fall out off a tree from six metres up with a loud -splat- without batting an eyelid but show him a petite nurse armed with a torch and the big man turns into a screaming banshee. No amount of explanation, reasurance or bribery can overcome the sheer terror coursing through his veins.
And so, when his prep teacher rang me last Friday afternoon to tell me that Jacob had swallowed a stainless steel ball I have to admit my first thought was not “Will he be alright?”, but “Will we have to go to hospital?”
Luckily it seems we may not have to go down that path. The ball is a size, shape and smoothness that is unlikely to cause trouble. So far all the signs are good and the worst thing to come out of this new adventure is that we have spent an inordinate amount of time this last weekend poking around in poo. Whenever it becomes too much, I just remind myself of the alternative.
7.00pm:Small but significant update
postcards from the north 
so, hate to be able to say this, but you probably don’t need to poke around it, you’ll know – it hits the enamel with a fairly unmistakble clinking sound. Also, it does seem to be, erm, noticeable by the person expelling it. Though having said that, it’s only happened in our family once so I”m not like an expert or anything, and maybe they all come out differently.
also, you will not believe the number of hits from google searches you will get from this post. My boy swallowed his maybe three years ago and I still get a couple of hits each week.
I hope my husband doesn’t read your comment!
I scoffed at his system, which basically assumed there would be a clanging sound, and demanded he poke around.
Anyway, the poking paid off tonight. Have to get it framed for his teacher.
Ooo – glad to hear the object reached it’s ‘destination’ so to speak…a releief to all of you! Are you really going to frame it for the teacher? ewww! 🙂
bbbbbbbbloody ellllll…