The Nasty Little Kidney Bean!

Two days ago my three year old came home from the Montessori with a kidney bean lodged in his ear canal. He had found it on the floor of his class and for some strange reason decided to put it into his ear. Thankfully his teacher called me to inform me about the incident and that they could not see it in his ear. When he reached home he was his usual active self and happy to be home. However, when I looked closely into his ears I could see a portion of a kidney bean protruding from his tiny ear canal. Instead of trying anything at home I called up my husband and asked him to come and take us to the hospital and get it removed safely. While it was a cause of worry I did not think it was too serious a matter and believed that a doctor would be able to pull it out easily with some specialized instrument.

At the multi-speciality we were referred to the ENT specialist. He had a fancy chair and a lot of shiny instruments but not the skill to pull out the partially visible kidney bean from my son’s ear. Our son resisted and cried while we held him tight so the doctor could fish it out but on the contrary the doctor failed miserably and he made the situation worse by pushing it further into his ear. We ended up with an agitated child in greater pain. He cried inconsolably for twenty minutes while I held him in my arms in the waiting area of the hospital. Irrigating his ear with water to coax out the bean only ensured that the bean now had lots of moisture to grow, soften and cause more pain by pushing against his ear drum.

The doctor smartly went on to suggest a minor operation the next morning to retrieve the bean for which we were asked to admit the child for a day. Since the whole procedure was expected to cost up to thirty thousand rupees we were asked to reach out to our insurance provider and make the necessary bookings at the hospital immediately for the next day. Blood work was also required and I had no heart to prick a needle into my already crying child’s arm. For some strange reason all this did not feel right and seemed to be a business move to me. I wanted a second opinion for sure before jumping into this.

After giving it some thought and discussion we called our trusted paediatrician for advice who referred us to another ENT specialist. We left the hospital without making any booking or doing any blood work since we simply could not trust this doctor’s intentions. In the evening we visited the other doctor in his not so impressive clinic in old Gurgaon. The absence of any specialized instruments and a small cabin in a local market complex did not do much to build my confidence in him.

Since our son had already been traumatized enough in the afternoon he used all his force to prevent the doctor from touching or putting anything in his ear. My husband tried in vain to hold his limbs still. Our son cried at the top of his lungs and begged for mercy. The doctor was able to pull out only small specks of the now softened kidney bean. He prescribed an oral sedative to relax him a bit but that too did not seem to do the trick the moment his ear was touched. There was no choice left for the doctor but to suggest that anaesthesia be used to keep him still.

Soon he was admitted at a small nursing home nearby. Our son slept under the influence of the sedative and we waited for the doctor to arrive along with the anaesthetist. I observed him sleep and wished for a way to transfer his agony to me. I was willing to go through his pain a hundred times over only if he could be spared from this trauma.

The operating room was nearby and soon after our son was carried into it we heard him scream, shout and cry for his father to save him. His blood curdling cries were unbearable. May no mother have to hear her child cry, while she stood there helpless. My husband knowing what a softy I am, expected me to cry and put his hand on my shoulder but I did not. Slowly my son’s cries and calls for help turned garbled and he fell silent indicating that the anaesthesia had taken effect.  Only when I could hear nothing but the constant beeping of the monitoring machines and not my son did a tear escape from my eye. For the first time in my life I fully understood what it really meant to have a heart outside of your body.

He was returned to the room after the longest twenty minutes of my life. The doctor showed us the nasty little culprit that had to be extracted part by part. My son now lay on the bed unconscious with a large oxygen mask on his tiny face, a clip on his finger to monitor his vitals and a canola taped to the top of his wrist in case any emergency medication needed to be administered. I called his name after twenty minutes of his return to the room but there was no response. He woke up only after about an hour and I used the time to write a mail to his school principal strongly advising against the use of kidney beans for pouring activities.

An innocent looking kidney bean had not only cost us eight thousand rupees, but caused immense trauma to our child and a lot of heartache for us as parents. Thankfully, the bean was out of his ear and his ear drum was not damaged, only swollen. He was sent home after two hours with some medications prescribed. On the way home he sat in my lap and asked for his latest green toy car. I was happy to give it to him and gave in to all his demands. I was grateful and glad to see him back to his normal self the next day.

I write this post to request all parents, teachers and caregivers to be extra careful and keep away any small beans, beads, toys with small parts or sharp objects (even sharp pencils) away from small children. Seemingly innocent, harmless items could become dangerous or even life threatening in the hands of small children. We can only try and prevent our children from getting hurt. For me, my belief that the parenting is a roller coaster ride on which I learn every day from my little Gurus grows stronger.

You may also enjoy reading The Naughty Boys! and The Parenting Roller Coaster.