The Penny

Whoever would have thought that a simple penny could cause so many problems!


Well, this is actually not an ordinary penny, this is a flattened penny with the image of a dinosaur stamped into it. Pete collects flattened pennies and had to have a dinosaur penny from the Natural History Museum in Mesa. And since Pete was getting one, Isie wanted one too!

Of course, Isie doesn't collect things, she tends to destroy them. In this case she ate it. Yep, she swallowed the flattened penny. I have NO IDEA how she was able to swallow it, the angle must have been just right.

A trip to PCH Urgent Care provided an x-ray that showed that penny right in her tummy. (Kind of Cool, you could see the dinosaur outline in the x-ray) We were told to watch her for a couple of days and that "usually" pennies will come out on their own but if it had not come out in 48 hours to come in for another x-ray.

Well, 48 hours came and went and there was no penny (I won't even go into how gross looking for that penny was). So we went back for another x-ray. And nope I hadn't missed it. There it was, still in her tummy.

So the pediatrician called a gastroenternologist who wanted to take it out immediately. We learned that have a penny in your stomach for too long could cause ulcers or the stomach lining could grow over the penny causing many other problems later on. However, they forgot that Isie was a heart patient. When this was remember it was determined that she could not have it done immediately that we needed to have a cardiologist on hand just in case. So the procedure was scheduled for Tuesday.

Even though it was outpatient, it was still an invasive procedure requiring anesthesia and posing potential risks. So she was also given a medication, reglan, to get things churning and moving along. So more poop watching for me.

In addition to wanting to avoid this procedure we had been hoping to leave for Disneyland on Sunday. The clock was ticking and Isie had until 2:00 Sunday afternoon to pass that penny so we could still go to California and not lose our reservations (that would have to be cancelled so she could have it removed).

Thankfully she had a 1cent poo Sunday morning. So we went to Disneyland!

And while Pete got a Disneyland penny for his collection Isie did not get another flattened penny.