One little raisin

This is not a story for the squeamish. Be warned! :o) ha-ha!

I've been trying to think of a creative way to start this entry but I think the best thing to do is to just explain what happened.

Last week we noticed that Olivia has really bad breath. It got worse and worse as the week went on. Those who know her know that she puts her fingers, thumbs, and pretty much anything she can in her mouth. Could the bad breath be from her constantly having her fingers in her mouth?? So, we had her brush her teeth & wash her hands several times a day. It didn't help. We checked the Internet and found that toddler bad breath is rare but was usually caused by an infection from food particles that were caught somewhere in the oral cavity (behind tonsils, up the nose, etc.). There was also a site that said the bad breath could be caused by ketoacidosis which could mean she had diabetes. That was a terrifying thought.

On Monday, we called the doctor's office to make an appointment. The nurse suggested we make an appointment with her regular physician but she was on vacation Monday and Tuesday. So, we had an appointment for Wednesday at 3:50. Two more days of dealing with the foul breath and worrying about the cause.

Since the info we read said the cause was usually an infection we decided to play detective. Monday night Bill looked up Liv's nose and noticed it was pretty crusty so he sprayed some saline drops in her nose to clean it out. Tuesday, we were talking & remembered a day right before Addison was born (yep, about a month ago) when Liv came into the kitchen and said something about her nose. We didn't understand what she was saying but thought she was telling us that there was something up her nose. We asked questions trying to figure out what she was saying but she said she didn't stick anything up there. We checked her out, found nothing, and she went back to playing. She never said another word about it.

You know where this is going, don't you??

Tuesday, we looked up her nose again and noticed it was again looking pretty crusty. We pulled out the saline spray again and a flashlight. With the flashlight you could see there was definitely something up there. I asked her what she put up her nose and she said it was a raisin. Why didn't she tell us this a month ago when we asked?? Bill got the tweezers and tried to pull it out but Liv kept pulling away. I'm sure it felt funny having tweezers up your nose. So, I gave it a try. I took a deep breath, grabbed the tweezers, and slowly went up her nose after the object. I got a hold of it and slowly pulled it out. Whatever it was, it was enormous coming out of that cute, little nose. I almost threw up! It may have been a raisin at one time but now it was a big, fat, green thing that looked like it had sprouted arms and legs. (Sorry Mike, no picture.)

Bill wanted me to smell it to see if that was what was causing the bad breath but there was no way that was ever going to happen. I gave it to him and he smelled it and he too almost threw up. There was no question about it being the cause of her bad breath!!

Since we had the doctor appointment already scheduled, we kept the appointment. Even though her breath was better, could the month-old, rotting raisin in the nose have caused an infection? Dr. H checked her out and said she could see where the "raisin" had been but saw no infection. She checked the other side of her nose and both ears to make sure there was nothing else stuck where it didn't belong. No other objects. Thank God! I think it's safe to say Olivia will never do that again!!!