As Nidhi Khanna looks at her son playing with her neighbour's daughter, there is a sense of relief on her face. Just a few months back, she faced a crisis when her only son, Armaan accidentally ended up with a button inside his nose.
The 28-year-old Indian recalls with a shudder: "It was a sunny afternoon and I was speaking to my dad in India on the phone. Armaan was lying on the bed and playing.
"He is a restless boy but when I could not hear his usual noisiness for more than five minutes I guessed he had fallen asleep. So I turned around but found that he was awake. I asked him if he was okay, and he said, 'Mom, a button has got inside my nose'.''
Nidhi checked his shirt and found that a fairly large plastic button was missing.
"For a moment I thought he was joking and I searched for the button on the bed and even on the floor."
But when she could not find it she knew something was wrong. And then her 3-year-old son started to sneeze. "I called my father who advised me to take Armaan to the doctor.''
But then Nidhi did something which some would advise against. "I put my finger inside his nose to take out the buton.'' When she failed to get it out, she decided to rush to the clinic which was located on the first floor of her building. "Unfortunately, it was closed."
Even though her son was behaving normally, Nidhi didn't want to take a risk. She sought the help of her neighbour Arti Vardhan and took Armaan to a nearby clinic.
"On the way I called up my husband. Though he was in a meeting, he immediately left office and set off to meet us in the clinic.''
By now it was 4:15pm and the nurse informed us that there was no child specialist at that time in the clinic. She suggested taking him to the emergency unit."
The doctor examined Armaan and confirmed that there was a button inside his nose but that it had slipped deep inside. He advised them to consult an ENT specialist who would be arriving soon.
But Nidhi did not want to waste time so she took her son to another clinic but it too did not have an ENT specialist.
By then she was a bundle of nerves but her friend Arti calmed her and they rushed to yet another clinic. Nidhi's husband meanwhile was waiting for them at that clinic.
There, an X-ray of Armaan's nasal passages was taken. But the plastic button was not visible in the X-ray and the doctor wanted to seek another profesional opinion.
Armaan's parents then rushed him to the emergency section where the duty doctor confirmed that there was a button in the boy's nose. The boy's nose was 'pumped' but nothing came out.
The doctors then said that they would have to perform surgery to get the button out. The worried parents agreed and the hospital staff began preparing the boy for surgery.
"Suddenly, as the doctors were discussing his condition, Armaan coughed out blood and a miracle happened - the button came out when he coughed.
"We could not believe it. The doctor sighed with relief while we hugged each other."Even today, I thank God for helping us that day.''
- Jyoti Narang Watchmaker,
Dubai-based freelance writer
