Our hospitalised son

We had a bit of a scare today. Actually, Mary had more of a scare than I did.

The two older children were in their bedroom antagonising each other, so Mary went in to cool things down. Our five-year-old son, Regan, was lying on the floor playing with some toys. All of a sudden, he started coughing and a large amount of saliva was coming from his mouth. He was unable to speak, so Mary took him to the hospital.

Once she got to the emergency room, she noticed there was some blood mixed in with the saliva. The attendants quickly assessed the situation and Mary phoned me to tell me they were about to prep him for surgery: he had a marble lodged in his throat.

I take the transit to work, and had just missed the bus. I was packing up my things to get ready to catch the next bus when Mary phoned me just a few minutes later to tell me Regan coughed up the marble.

His throat was a bit raw later, but he’s more or less fully recovered now.

This was the first time any of children have been hospitalised and it does not surprise me at all that it was a boy who got there first. The joys of fatherhood.

19 thoughts on “Our hospitalised son

  1. Thank God he’s alright! My dilema after one of my boys was taken to the hospital for similar reasons was when to stop hugging him and start lecturing. SO I did both at the same time. :)

  2. and as his Nana I am just reading about this on your blog and not hearing it by phone BECAUSE??????? Think very carefully about your answer as your life may depend on it

  3. Marbles!

    …just another tool of the adversary.

    Did you throw them all out? Evil orbs of impending doom.

    Isn’t crazy how the most innocuous object can create so much drama?

    Imagine what your son could have done if given a fork and 10 minutes unsupervised…

    Seriously, I hope he’s not too traumatised – or Mary for that matter.

  4. this coming from the same man who always tells me that it is the same price for calling … sure sure… I’ll remember that next time I call YOUR grandparents the next time you decide to stick batteries up your ears to be a robot

  5. Holy crap! I’m so glad he’s okay. Geez, Mary, are you okay? I bet you never quite get over that.

    My stepson, Jared, got a third degree burn on his mouth, trying to unplug a cord from an extension cord, when he was 6. I will never forget my horror as I ran when he screamed and the froth from his mouth.

    We both screamed and cried. I sort of suck in emergencies. I just fall apart on people. If not for that, I could be a doctor.

    Grandma Sally, with you. You must also be horrified. Boy, did you guys dodge a bullet. I’m sort of horrified myself.

  6. yes, i am ok, i was pretty peaceful throughout it, i knew he’d be fine. but STILL what a BOY thing to do! yikes, annegb very traumatic!

    tell me why my older daughter has never required an ER visit???? boys boys boys

    sorry mum! i hope the phone call at the crack of dawn was ok :) regan liked getting his x-ray done, lol.

  7. Ok,

    It has to be asked.

    So Kim, if you didn’t want to be a robot then why DID you stick the battery in your ear?

  8. I was a spy. It wasn’t actually a cylindrical battery; it was a set of microfilm the size of a watch battery.

  9. battery batteries…robot spy… finding a ride late at night and someone to watch the other children while I took you to the ER … excuse me if I got 2 tiny details wrong :) all I can say Mary is the same thing I told my mother in law… I’m sorry Mom…being sorry for her son giving her grey hair… hehehehe.

  10. PS the reason I forgot the minor details is because all I remember is looking in your ear when you kept crying cause it hurt and seeing silver matter! Last time I checked dirt wasn’t silver

  11. Crying? Ha! I wasn’t anywhere close to crying. Complaining? Sure. Not crying. But it’s just another minor detail.

    And why would you need a babysitter? Douglas was 14.

  12. oh like you would ever admit you were crying??? And I had to get someone to watch the rest of the children because Douglas wasn’t home.

  13. “i was pretty peaceful throughout it”

    So I’m guessing that even though he couldn’t speak he could still breath a bit?

    Glad to hear that everything turned out fine in the end.

  14. Well, he could speak, just with difficulty becuase of the coughing and lots of saliva every few seconds.

    Yep, so are we, whew.

  15. “I had to get someone to watch the rest of the children”

    To watch a 13 year old, an 11 year old and a 10 year old? And why would Douglas have been out on a Sunday night?

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