Expensive Taste

That is Israel, and the glowing orb under his chin is...you guessed it, a quarter. Or maybe you didn't guess it, but I thought my clever title would be a pretty good hint.

Yesterday afternoon, Israel was playing Angry Birds in the office, and I was in the kitchen with my mother-in-law when we both heard him start gagging. I ran in to find him with his fingers in his mouth. My first thought was that he'd just somehow accidentally rammed his fingers far enough into his throat to initiate the gag reflex, but he continued to gag and vomit. My mother-in-law suggested maybe he'd swallowed a chip funny and had it lodged in his throat, so I tried to get him to drink something. He just threw it all back up and continued to cry and gag. Finally, I heard him say very lamentingly, "Quarterrrr." Shit. I immediately remembered seeing a particularly shiny quarter on the desk that I'd thought I should put in my wallet to use in a gumball machine sometime. I did a quick search of the desk. No quarter. Sigh. I really thought he was past doing something like this.

I called Hiram, grabbed Israel, left the baby sleeping, and rushed off to the hospital with Israel crying and throwing up the whole way. It was a loooooong night, but I'll try to keep this post brief. They took an x-ray. The quarter was sitting low in his esophagus. The doctor didn't feel confident with his abilities to remove it--he worried he might push it further or turn it in such a way that it would block Israels airway completely requiring a tracheotomy (is that the right term) which the hospital didn't feel confident performing. Care Flight was called in from Reno. When the helicopter arrived they said that he would have to go alone. I felt very uncomfortable waking him up (he had very thankfully zonked on my shoulder) strapping him onto their table, and sending him off screaming with strangers while we drove. They kept warning us that the quarter could potentially seal off his airway at any point and so it was a big risk to drive him ourselves, but I've really learned to trust my feelings and I know when the Holy Ghost is helping me. I knew that we would be alright.

We drove to Reno (about 90 miles). We got another x-ray. We had a nice LONG wait (though we understand it could have been much, much longer). Israel was taken from us, given anesthesia and an IV, and then returned to us 30 or 40 minutes later less one shiny quarter, which I am keeping for eternity since it is going to cost us who knows how many thousands of dollars. We finally made it home at 12:30 am, 8 hours after the swallowing of the quarter. And boy was I ready to nurse!

We have a LOT to be thankful for. Hiram only JUST got insurance from his job like THIS month and he almost opted not to start til the new year! There's a $2400 deductible but then 80 percent is covered up to like 7 or 8 thousand and then everything is. Insurance, awesome! We didn't take the care flight, awesome! (Our portion would have been at least $4000.) Israel slept an hour at the Lovelock hospital and the whole way to Reno--SUCH a blessing. Every single doctor, nurse, specialist, what-have-you that we encountered was just wonderful, especially the anesthesiologist who got Israel watching Toy Story on his Iphone before taking him so that he didn't cry at all! Modern technology, GREAT! I am so thankful that we had family to leave Brigham with and we knew that he was being well cared for. It was even nice to be able to spend a quiet childless half-hour with Hiram eating snacks from the cafeteria and talking while waiting to get Is back. And a million other things. The Lord is wonderful, and I know we owe everything to Him. Best blessing--Israel is alive and well.

Take care everyone, and a MERRY CHRISTMAS!