Foreign Bodies

When I was working at the practice in Dunkirk, New York, the nursing staff had kept a treasure box. In that box, they kept the things I found in kids. (noses, ears... all good hiding places) The box held all sorts of objects. There were pencil erasers, glitter, beads, GAK, lead from a pencil, pebbles, and my favorite... a BB. I got to thinking about that box this week and what Gambian children would contribute. The most common object... the peanut. To remove the peanut I perform a CHARGE procedure. Crochet Hook Assisted RhinoGerberEctomy. A crochet hook is inserted into the nostril and then turned. The hook catches the edge of the peanut and waa laa, your peanut comes out. This week I had a parent bring in a young girl who had put a watermelon seed in her nose. They said it was five days ago. Now, I haven't seen a watermelon in weeks. I took a look, the inside of her nose was swollen with yes, a barely visible watermelon seed. I tried the CHARGE procedure. A watermelon seed is definitely not like a peanut. I did get pieces... but even with suction, I could not get a hold of the slippery little thing. I gave the girl a break and some antibiotics (I did cause a bit of trauma to her poor little nose) and had her come back Friday. Once again... I had no success. I had to send her to the capitol where a MD could sedate her to get it out. Friday afternoon Teresa came by. Her namesake's daughter had a peanut in her nose. Since the last CHARGE was unsuccessful, Teresa still hadn't seen it done. I told her to meet me in the clinic and we would try it. Praise God it was a peanut, it came out so slick! The little girl was very vocal about not wanting me to mess with her nose. She was happy to have it out, but still not very willing to communicate with me.