Rocky Lives!!

Ever have one of those days that was so boring and then turns on a dime? We were stuck in the house all day because of the rain. Pretty boring. After dinner, I ran an errand, and that's when it happened....something so shocking and yet preventable....funny and yet not so much...and culminated in Ray's first visit to the E.R.

She swallowed a rock...or at least we think she did.

Let me begin this by saying that sometimes we let Ray play with things that others might find inappropriate. We don't do it to be careless. She has long since passed the stage of putting everything in her mouth...okay, we thought she was past that stage. She is always supervised when playing with said item...okay, well almost always. And we always store it out of reach when she's done...okay, well almost always. Ray found these decorative, polished rocks in our basement awhile ago and loves them. Her level of play involves taking the rocks out of a bucket, lining them up and putting them back into the bucket. Good times. She & I were playing with them earlier today, and I forgot to put them up. My husband didn't realize they were accessible until (after I left) he walked in on her gagging. Quickly assessing the situation, he assumed she swallowed a rock. We didn't want to take any chances, so we packed up the kids and headed for the E.R.

The good news is that Ray did very well despite the late hour, long wait and constant poking by the staff. AND we were in & out in about 2 hours thanks to our privately-run healthcare system. (Sidenote: I'd rather pay a few bucks and be inconvenienced for 2 hours instead of pay nothing and be inconvenienced for 2 days.) The bad news is that we're still not 100% sure that she swallowed a rock. It didn't show up on the x-ray, but the doc & nurse assured us that the rock could still be there. It just may be smaller than we thought, which means it could pass. What goes in must come out, so now it's a waiting...and searching...game. ICK! We agreed that a day off is in order for the person who "discovers" the stone. We kinda laugh about it now, but it could still be a serious situation if the rock causes a blockage as it passes. All we can do it pray for the best and wait....and institute a strick "no little things" play policy.

The truly funny part about this story, which occurred to me at the hospital...is that Ray has finally lived up to the nickname given to her by her grandma at birth...Rocky.