Penny down thwoat

David was six months old, laying on his back in this crib, while  two year old Mara sat at the other end, playing with a few pennies in a tiny change purse. I was washing the bedroom floor when suddenly David started coughing and then screamed as loudly as he could. I dropped the mop and ran over to scoop up a red faced,crying baby.

"What happened?", I asked Mara.

She kept repeating, over and over,

" Penny down thwoat, penny down thwoat."

"There is a penny down his throat?", I questioned.

Mara nodded but by this time David had stopped crying.

I peered at the three pennies in her purse and then

I drilled myself silently,

"Had I given her three or four coins?"

I couldn't remember.

It seemed impossible that this now calm baby could have a penny stuck in his throat.
Did he swallow the coin and would it get stuck in his digestive system?
 When he nursed later, he kept stopping and whimpering.
 Was his throat simply scratched?
My husband insisted that there was a penny stuck in his throat but to me that seemed physically impossible.

After five days, David was still distressed  when  he swallowed, so I sheepishly made an appointment with my doctor. He looked at the calm baby sitting contently on my lap and sighed,
"I seriously doubt there is anything in his throat but since a lab has just opened on this floor, I'll send you over. Mind you, this is just to reassure you."
Twenty minutes later, I stood in  middle of the waiting room and wailed loudly,
 "There is a penny stuck in my baby's throat!"

Of course I was hustled into an examination room, where an astonished doctor called in  his college to witness this incredible event. The doctor exclaimed,
"Do you realize that I would have sent this baby home if the lab hadn't moved into our building?"

Off to Emergency to endure a day long vigil in a hospital room waiting for surgery. Poor David experienced blood tests and an intravenous needle which was protruding out of his arm and attached to a pole on wheels. I  paced the room and the hall for hours while squirming David, sporting a pink and white striped nightgown, desperately  needed to nurse. David had an avid appetite. After his first bite of solids, he lunged foreward in the highchair while gripping the sides with both hands and snapped down on the spoon. I was so startled that I called Michael into the kitchen. That same baby could not eat for twelve hours!

 Surgery went well. The team presented us with a penny trophy placed in a see through container. My guilt was assuaged because a two year old had the same procedure done right after David.,only this little fellow had used a pencil to push the coin down.We discovered that both pennies were lodged sideways, allowing liquid and soft solids to squeeze past the obstruction.

The doctors and nurses were amused and nicknamed both patients The Penny Boys.