There's always a first for everything. As a mom of three, I thought, I have seen and experienced it all but then, I never knew that my youngest will put me up to it. Two months ago, my youngest SWALLOWED A COIN. 10 cents to be exact but it was only later on what coin he swallowed after I scoured through his poop.
It was exactly 2:00 in the morning when it happened. Everybody else was sleeping and suddenly, he tapped my leg and I immediately woke up and there he was, struggling and looked like swallowed a coin. My sleepy head mind was shocked and didn't know what to do because all the while I know he was already sleeping. And when I finally got myself together, I asked him if he swallowed a coin, he said he did. I asked how big, he cannot describe anything but he is certain, he swallowed one. I observed him for a few minutes if he has difficulty of breathing, and good thing, he didn't show any signs of difficulty of breathing or else we will go to the nearest emergency room in no time. The coast was clear so I had to continue sleep and so we did.
The first thing we did upon waking up, go to the nearest hospital and asked for Xray to be done to confirm if he really had swallowed one and know the location of the coin is. So we did. The x-ray below shows the coin is already near the rectum. All I have to do is to wait and scour through his poop and mind you, I almost lost hope because I couldn't find it!
So what do we really need to do during incidents like this?
1. Observe for DOB or difficulty of breathing.
Our body has two openings from the mouth which is the esophagus and the trachea. We need to observe if the patient will show signs of difficulty of breathing because the coin most likely to pass through the trachea and is very dangerous. In this case, we need to bring the child to the nearest Emergency Room.
If the child didn't have any difficulty of breathing, proceed with getting an X-Ray to confirm the location of the coin or any foreign object. This is to make sure that the object will be passed out wit no complications in the bowel.
2. If the object swallowed is an irregular object, bring the child to the nearest medical practitioner and have doctors palpate or examine the abdomen for distention. This is to make sure that the object is not obstructing the bowels.
3. To aid in faster bowel movement, give the child high fiber food to ensure ease in bowel movement. Never attempt on making the child vomit as this may cause further problems.
4. Remove all the objects that can be ingested (coins, small objects, sharp objects or hazardous liquids). Children 5 years old below are very fond of putting things inside their mouth and most likely a high chance of ingesting it.
5. Lastly, don't panic!
I hope this may serve as a reminder to all of the parents out there. It happened to me, it may happen to you as well.
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