The Case of the Foreign Object in Parker's Foot

For the past week, our little guy hasn't been able to walk, because of this:

Parker's Right Foot, with Foreign Object

We had no idea what that little dagger in there could have been. Seriously, he walked two steps out our back door after dinner Thursday night and all of a sudden started to scream. I ran out to grab him, and noticed his foot was bleeding. So I applied pressure to the area, he screamed a bit more, but the bleeding stopped. We put Parker to sleep, and expected all would be OK the next morning.

But the next morning arrived, and Parker wouldn't put any weight on his foot. We took him to school, hoping he would be OK after a little while, but had to pick him up early. He couldn't walk, didn't "remember" how to crawl, and needed to go to the doctor. Of course, having only lived here in Newbury Park for a few weeks, we haven't quite moved all of our doctors from Santa Monica. So we went to Urgent Care last Friday Night. They did the x-ray, confirmed something was stuck in Parker's foot, and then unsuccessfully tried to remove said, "foreign object." Which was a horrific experience. For Parker, who had to endure a local anesthesia in his foot, plus being put into a straight jacket and held on the table by his parents, all the while screaming 3 of the handful of words that make up his 19 month vocabulary on repeat: ALL DONE. HOME. ALL DONE. HOME. Jeremy almost fainted when it was over, it was that bad.

Not wanting this to drag on all weekend, I wanted to take Parker to the emergency department to get this thing out. Our only option out here in what now feels like Timbuktu was Los Robles hospital. Which, as you can guess, is not UCLA Medical Center. ("The Best in the West" and quite frankly, one of the top hospitals in the world.) After several hours of waiting, some ass hole ED doc put Parker -- and us -- through the same horrific experience we went through at urgent care. Local anesthesia. Straight jacket. Unsuccessful attempt to retrieve foreign object. The icing on the cake at Los Robles was the patient education materials they provided us upon discharge, which instructed us not to insert foreign objects into our bodies. Now, I know I'm studying marketing and public health in grad school at UCLA, which has involved quite a bit of developing patient resources, but are these guys serious? You think this 19-month old put a dagger into his foot on purpose? Our darling boy still can't believe how many cars he sees when we are in a PARKING LOT.

So unfortunately, we've spent the past week watching animated movies: Pixar's Cars and Cars 2, to be precise. He sits on the couch surrounded by his cars, and for the most part, doesn't mind that the only "streets" on which he can drive the cars are my arms and legs. He's such a good boy.

Parker with Cast (and cars)

Yesterday, we finally got the little dagger out. It was a piece of glass. We can't figure out how it made its way to our back patio, but we are guessing it got lodged into the no longer necessary mat that used to protect our floors from outside dirt. Retrieving the dagger required surgery at UCLA Santa Monica, not to mention consultation in Manhattan Beach, pre-surgery check-up at Santa Monica Pediatrics, and quite a few sick days for this mama who just started a new job. (Thankfully, my manager is AMAZINGLY supportive, and I plan on killing it very soon.)

It was a nerve racking experience, drugging your child, then waving good-bye as an anesthesiologist, podiatrist, and nurse take him into what was probably the scariest looking (operating) room Parker has ever seen. Thank goodness the drugs worked quickly, the successful surgery only took an hour, and Parker will never remember this experience when he is older.

It was funny when he pulled out his IV and pretended to talk on the phone, though.

From now on, we are always going to be wearing shoes outside. Nevertheless, the very sweet podiatrist patted our back as he left the post-op area saying, "He's a strong little boy. Don't worry, he'll be fine. And I'll probably see you again, let's just hope it's not too soon."

I guess boys really are dangerous. If it's not their beautiful eyes, curly hair, or sparkling smiles, it's the foreign objects they get lodged in their feet. Fingers crossed we have a few more years (minimum) before our next surgery.