I caught Jacob with some coins in his mouth, so I promptly took them away and told him to quit. I didn't think any more about it. A few minutes later, Todd was getting ready to take Jake outside to play when Jake said "Eat coin" and pointed to his chest. After discussing it, I said that he had some in his mouth. Todd took him outside and decided to dig out the metal detector. It started going off once Todd stuck it up to Jake's chest. I didn't believe him at first, but he tried it on me as a baseline, then Jake and it continued to beep.
So, I took him to the St. Vincent Urgent Care. I knew that if it was in the stomach, it wouldn't be a big deal. It would pass on its own. Our luck was a little different. Stuck right in the middle of the esophagus. You don't need to be a radiologist to see this one:
So, from there we went to the Peds ER at St Vincent where we were met by Dr Maisel. I have always liked Dr Maisel. She is an amazing person. You can imagine my relief to have a doctor you know and trust taking care of your child. After waiting for an OR slot, we went to surgery to get the coin out. The surgery itself didn't take too long. They just gassed him and snatched it out. It was a 1996 penny:
After recovery room, we got to go home. Jake was starved. He acted like he hadn't eaten in a month.
Needless to say, we have been lecturing him about not putting things in his mouth. I figure I will frame it with the xrays and the bills to let him know just how expensive this penny was!
