The Three Musketeers: The Peanut

Hi Guys. I need to preface this blog post by saying my mommy really isn't sure she wants this on the internet for people to read. BUT since this blog is sorta my baby book in our digital age, she has agreed to let me write about my experience with The Peanut on here.

However, let's not go and tell Super Grammy (aka Mommy's grandmother) anything we read here today. In fact, let's never talk about this to anyone. Thanks! :)

Last Friday, the 22nd of February, Mommy was still at work while Daddy and Laura (and Riesling) were eating peanuts. Peanuts are tricky, because sometimes they fall. And sometimes Daddy and Laura (and Riesling) don't notice they have fallen. I'm at the perfect age right now for finding the tiniest, most miniscule things dropped on the floor, and putting them in my mouth. So I found a peanut. I put it in my mouth. I couldn't quite swallow it right - and I choked.

I was always breathing and I never turned blue or anything, but I had this obnoxious thing lodged someplace that was neither my mouth nor my tummy, I was wheezing like a broken squeaky toy, and I had a dad thumping me on the back really hard.

Mommy came home and immediately knew something was wrong. She said I looked like carp. (Um, Mommy? Did I really look like a goldfish? Maybe I misheard her.) She mentioned ER, Daddy thought about it too. They waffled back and forth, and both decided that maybe I just needed a good night's sleep. But I was still wheezing funny the next morning, so Mommy bundled me off to the nearest ER.

The ER got me situated very quickly. But! My wheezing didn't sound like choking to them. It sounded more like a virus. Both my lungs were wheezing, not just one. The nice doctor took me to radiology for mean old x-rays for some inconclusive pictures of my lungs. Apparently peanuts don't show up on x-rays! So they took more pictures - if each lung got smaller when I laid on that side, I was fine. Unfortunately, my right lung didn't get smaller (sign of obstruction), but my left lung got TOO MUCH smaller (sign of a virus). No one knew what to do!

Finally, the nice doctor talked with some pediatric specialists at another hospital and they all decided to transfer me. Daddy got to the ER just in time for my ride in an ambulance across town, while Mommy went home with Laura (and also her friends who were visiting from out of town). The doctors at the next hospital waffled a little back and forth on what to do, too. But in the end, the scheduled me for a bronchoscopy. That's a procedure where they put a camera down into my lungs to see what was going on. They had to give me general anesthesia to do it, which was partly why it took so long to decide if that was the right move.

Transfer to Hopkins

Chillin' in my scrubs

The bronchoscopy was definitely the right move! They quickly found the peanut at the top of my right lung - and a little bit of fluid in my left! Both were removed (but we only kept the peanut). They kept me overnight, since I did indeed have a virus after all, and I went home the next morning, ready to play.