The Lego

Well, what would a trip home to FL be without a visit to the Emergency Room?  This was the first time anything like this happened, and I even though it's long since happened now, I know I need to document it so we can laugh in the future about it (still not laughing now).

Landon had already gone back to GA and left James and me in FL for a few more days.  It was Sunday afternoon and Mom, Dad, and I decided it would be a great idea to head over and visit Grandma and Grandpa for a little while.  We arrived at Grandma and Grandpa's house just like normal.  And, then things went awry.  Unfortunately.  The first thing James did was go to the hall closet and get the toys out.

 

These American Red Bricks are a big part of the toys at Grandma's house.  We have all been playing with them for many years.  Now James likes to get them out when we go over.  There are 3 tube things (my mind is drawing a blank about what they are called) in the floor of the closet.  They are a mix of the red brick stuff, tinker toys, and a few mini legos.  James got them all out and dumped them in the middle of the living room floor.  We are still greeting Grandma and Grandpa, hugging, taking a seat on the couch, etc.  All of a sudden, James was choking.  I was right beside him in the floor but was focused on the greetings.  He was making a crazy gagging noise - the one where you can tell no air is getting in or out.  So, in an uncharacteristic moment for me, I did not panic, but just acted.  I grabbed him and began doing the Heimlich.  Then I could hear him gasping for air and coughing and choking more.  I let him try to get it out.  Then, he swallowed it.  He screamed and freaked out as it was going down because whatever it was was painful and NOT supposed to go down your throat.  Meanwhile, everyone is frozen in the living room, standing, and ready to help.  I picked him up and carried him in the bathroom so that I could be alone with him.  I sat him up on the counter and squatted down on the floor beside him.  As I began to question him about what happened, he told me the exact story.  See, there was a green plastic - very little - cup mixed in the with the legos.  Sort of a tea cup.  James put a mini lego in the tea cup and pretended to drink it.  Except when he pretended, it fell in his mouth by accident, and he began choking on it.  James used to be really bad about putting stuff in his mouth, but for a long time now, he's been much better about that.  Once I could see he was okay, we headed back out into the living room where everyone was sitting on the couch, stunned, eyes wide, and waiting to see what was going to happen.  Mom suggested we go to the ER so that they could x-ray, and I agreed.  So, after staying 5 minutes and having a lovely, quality time, visit with Grandma and Grandpa, we left and headed to the Crestview ER.  They quickly got us back (oh, and by then, James was completely fine and whined about how I wouldn't let him eat any crackers for a snack all the way to the hospital) and began to check him over.  A lady came in and took an x-ray.  James was still as could be for the x-ray - a real trooper.  He and I played on the hospital bed (all over it, on the floor, jumping off of it, etc.), played Subway Surfer for a while, and finally decided to go ahead and call Landon to update him.  We facetimed Landon and when he answers, he doesn't say hello, but rather just begins "Hey There, Delilah" really loud on his guitar and singing the song, because apparently I have caught him in the middle of a jam session with Walker Bramlett.  He then realized that we are somewhere strange and stops serenading us.  I explain the situation just as he doctor is coming in to talk to us about what they've found. 

 

The doctor explains that they see nothing on the x-ray.  They see nothing because you can't see plastic on an x-ray.  I still was glad to they did the x-ray because they wanted to make sure nothing else looked wrong in there.  So, they said we had to wait.  The funniest thing was when they brought the x-ray in for us to look at.  The x-ray lady had told James she was taking his picture.  When they put the x-ray up to look at it, James, as serious as a heart attack said, "THAT IS NOT MY FACE."

 

So, we headed home with lots of warnings of things to watch for and the assurance that "most of the time", it passes in a few days.  And, that's what happened.  That's right, I combed through James' bathroom business for 3 days until I did find the lego.  And let me tell you, it was a huge celebration.  Each time we've been to Grandma and Grandpa's since then, James has assured us, "I will not eat a lego there." And, he hasn't. 

 

I know that I have a boy and that there may be more excitement like this coming for me.  I can still hope that this is the extent of the excitement though.  Here's to hoping that this will be our only lego eating ER visiting X-ray taking incident EVER.