Life In France: December 2008

When I was enjoying my coffee last Sunday morning... I heard Shannon crying beside me, oh oh oh ... mummy.... she pointed to her right nostril. Immediately, I knew she stuffed her tic-tac she was eating earlier into her nose. I looked into her nose and confirmed that the white tic tac was stuck in her right nostril. I tried to calm myself down, walked around the house finding a tweezer and thinking that it could help. I changed my mind when I put the tweezer into her nostril as I am afraid that I would accidentally push the tic-tac further in instead. Therefore, I called the clinic and they asked me to go down since I can still see the tic-tac. While I was changing, I couldn't help but continue to nag ~~scold~~ Shannon on why the hell she wanted to put a tic tac inside her nose. She just kept crying and I just had to scream and asked her to stop before she really sucked the tic-tac further in.

I met my parent at the lift lobby and told them what had happened. They said I should have use my mouth to suck out the tic tac immediately after I found out. I quickly brought her upstairs again and tried to suck her nose directly using my mouth. She cried in pain and I took a look at her nose and realised that the tic-tac was gone. We took a cab directly to the clinic and waited half an hour for her turn. While waiting, I realised that she was breathing thru her mouth instead of her nose. The doctor told me that he couldn't see anything inside her nose and refer her to A&E at KK Hospital. I called my Aunt to cancel the lunch appointment we were supposed to have that day but she had actually arrived at the clinic. We went off together and they said that it was not a good idea to bring her to the A&E as they will probably stick in a tube (scope) into her nose to see whether the sweet is still there. They find that it will be a painful experience for a small kid. They looked at Shannon and find her behaving normally and asked me to join them for lunch and observed her further. Meanwhile, Shannon sneezed once and from then on she started to breath normally. I took their advice as I also do not want Shannon to suffer and followed them to Great World City to lunch together with my MIL & SIL. Shannon was enjoying her favourite porridge and behaved as if nothing had happened. Whenever we asked her where was the tic tac, she would replied that she don't know.

We went to my MIL's apartment at River Valley Road as our initial plan was to meet my BIL and let Shannon play in the children pool. After much pestering from Shannon and some assurance from my MIL, I let her played in the pool for half and hour. However, I couldn't stop worrying and decided to bring her to A&E for a check in the evening time. We waited 2 hours for our turn and the doctor said that they could not see anything in her nose except it was a bit swollen. They asked me to observe her the following day and if there is no secretion coming out from her right nose, the tic tac probably had melted and she will not need to go ENT for another check up.

If you were me, what would you do the next day even though you couldn't see any secretion from her nose?

My decision was not bring her down but at the same time I am worried that she will kenna infection a few days later if the tic tac really got stuck up there. So, I started to call up my friends and asked them for their opinions. I even called my doctor up and he said it was either I act pro-active which meant to go down ENT to confirm whether the tic-tac is still there or listen to the doctor at A&E and deal with the infection if it really comes later.

I chose to be pro-active as infection causes fever and fever sometimes causes Shannon to have febrile fits. We took a cab down to KK and waited about 2 hours for our turn. I really hate the waiting time at KK Hospital; if you couldn't see us at appointed time, why give us an appointment?? I thought I could have see the the doctor at the appointed time since I was 45 minutes earlier to do the registration. I couldn't find any feedback form around for me to complain while I was waiting. Waiting is already a torture but waiting with a kid was even worse.

Anyway, the "specialist" just took a look at her nose and said she couldn't see anything and probably the sweet had dissolve or swallowed by her. When I asked her will the infection arise if the sweet is still stuck there and she just asked me to bring her back only if there is secretion come out from that particular nostril. She said if I am worried, she can give me another appointment one month later. @#$#$ Siao! If Shannon is going to be okay for the next few days, why do I need to come back one month later???? I asked her why she never uses the scope to see her nose and she said no need. Haiz... wasted few hours for a 5 minutes consultation......

Few days had passed, nothing happened and I believed that the tic-tac had dissolved or swallowed by Shannon. When I asked Shannon will she ever stuff anything in her nose again, her answer is NO.

I pray and hope this will be the first and last time...

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