Monday, February 23, 2015

Adventure of the Day: Getting to know the staff at the ER

I had a to-do list about a mile long today.

Go to the immigration office to get my A-3 visa stamp...
Unpack the Unaccompanied Baggage shipment that was delivered this afternoon...
Clean out the Keurig so we can use it tomorrow...
Buy masks for "Hwang Sa" (yellow dust) season...

You know what was NOT on my list?

going to the ER to get a tire removed from my 5-year-old's nose!

Say what?
No, you read that right.
I said we had to make a trip to the emergency room to get a small, toy tire pulled out of my child's nose.


Around 4:30pm today I heard him scream that scream that every mother dreads. 
I ran into the living room and found him flailing his arms and running in a circle. I know people use this expression a lot but he really was running around like a chicken with it's head cut off. 

I immediately grabbed him and started doing my once over. No blood, no big bumps, no out of place bones. 

Me: "Buddy calm down so I can understand you"
Him: (still flailing) "MY NOSE!!!"

I thought he ran into the wall. If you know my sweet boy, you know this is not that far fetched. 

Me: (trying to hold him) "What happened to your nose?"
Him: (holding up his car): "MY NOOOOOOSE!!"

Me: "You hit your nose with your car? Just wait a second and it will stop hurting"
Him: "IN MY NOSE! THE TIRE!"

At this point I'm almost laughing half because I really thought that it couldn't have went that far in there and half because I just laugh when I get nervous (it's terrible, I even laughed when he fell and busted open his head on an escalator when he was barely a year old. It's really embarrassing and I always seem really insensitive or insane, but I really can't help it). 

Me: "Okay, hold on. Mommy will get it out! Which side is it in?"
Him: (STILL flailing his arms) "BOTH!!!"

Yep.
There were not one but TWO tires in his nose. One in each nostril. 
I had him blow his nose so hard that the tissue I was holding and my hand got completely covered in snot. I was able to get one of the little donuts from hell out with the tweezers, but I could barely even see the other one. It was turned sideways and so far up that you could only see the little tire tread of one edge. I was almost impressed. Thankfully, he was breathing fine. He said it hurt, but not that bad.

We called daddy to tell him what happened. "I have to go to the ER, our son stuck a tire in his nose." .... "Wow, okay. I'll meet you there." Not even surprised. That's what being the parents of two preschool boys does to you. Suddenly, everything is pretty normal. 

A medic, a nurse, two doctors, and two pairs of forceps later, the other tire was out!

Our boy was so nervous; on the way in he asked me what was going to happen and I told him. He sighed a big woooo-saahhh and said quietly to himself "Be brave!"
I love that boy, tire-nose and all.

Although, we did have a long talk about this situation on the way home with both children. Both my husband and I are mostly just surprised that it wasn't our youngest stuffing things in his nose. Usually, it's him with the crazy antics.

Not only were we dealing with nose full of tires today, but the Korean "Hwang Sa" or yellow dust is in full swing. The air is full of metals and pollutants coming in by wind from China. The air quality has been between 600-800 for the past two days; anything above 300 is considered hazardous for even the healthiest of people. 

We've been staying indoors as much as possible considering this, but the ER is a short walk/subway ride from our apartment. When in Korea, do what Koreans do. That has been our motto here so far. So today we donned our masks.



At least my boys make cute little ninjas! 

I hope you and your noses have a good, tire-free and mask-free day! 

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