29th July 2019. Monday. 14:00 Hrs. Schools across Hyderabad had declared a holiday for a reason I do not remember at the moment. Vijay’s sister, Jasmine, and her boys were spending the day with us. It was a laid back sort of day. The younger kids were playing with magnatiles and watching TV. I was in the kitchen, prepping to serve lunch.

All of a sudden, Krissy, my 5 year old, came to the kitchen with her hands on her throat and said with a muffled voice,

“Mama, I swallowed a corn!”

But I never gave the kids corn!

When I asked her again, with a little struggle, she replied, “I swallowed a coin!”

My heart began to palpitate. My mind began to bring up every possible thing that can go terribly wrong in the next few mins. I started shaking in fear. I started to frantically walk up and down in a panic attack, not helping my baby!

Thank God, Vijay was working from home and Jasmine was around. They both quickly rushed to help Krissy and calmed me down. They carried her upside down, patted her back. But Krissy said she could feel the coin in her chest!

We quickly rushed her to the nearest hospital. To my utter surprise, Krissy was chatting with us with a smile on her face. At the hospital we were asked to take an x-ray!

 

On taking a look at Krissy and the x-ray, the doctor told us that they will not take any action as the child is asymptomatic and that we should wait for it to be passed out naturally.

The doctor also assured us that the coin has travelled past the initial problem areas. But that we need to hope that it passes from the stomach to the intestine through a narrow port with ease.

By this time Krissy was back to her happy-self. Seeing her laugh and smile, calmed me down.

We were expecting the coin to be out in a day or two. There was so much expectation every time she pooped! However, 4 days went by and still no sign of the coin. I had to travel to Cochin the next day. My anxiety started to mount again!

To our disappointment, the coin had come down only by two inches. The doctor at the hospital said that we need to continue the waiting game as they would not do anything as the child is not showing any symptoms of pain or discomfort! She even encouraged Krissy to resume school!

 

My cousin, Dr. Judson, who also happens to be an Emergency Doctor at CMC Vellore took a look at the picture and said that what appears to be just two inches down from where the coin was spotted first, could actually be a long journey through the intestine!

One more week went by. I got back from Cochin. Krissy had been going to school. It’s two weeks since she swallowed the coin. We assumed by now the coin must have come out while we did not notice. So went for the 3rd X-ray!

We were shocked to see that the coin was still inside after so many days. Thankfully, it was supposedly in last station of its journey, as remarked by the doctor. Just when we were about to breathe a sigh of relief that it is going to come out any moment now, a Paediatric Surgeon took a look at the x’ray and remarked that the coin appears quite big and that it may be difficult for it to come out naturally. He suggested the child either has to be given enema or examined under anaesthesia!

Although both are not elaborate procedures, just the thought of our little Krissy having to go through that made us sad.

Deep in our hearts there was an undisturbed peace. Having waited for two weeks, we decided to wait for two more days.

13th August 2019. Tuesday. 18:00 Hrs. Kaitlyn colored a coloring paper and showed me and my parents who were visiting us that week! She had colored ‘Watch with glittering eyes!’ Little did we know that in the next couple of hours our eyes were going to glitter in wonder.

19:00 Hrs. Krissy went to the loo. She walked out of the loo in complete ease having completed the ‘business’. Two hours later Vj happened to enter that loo and he called us. His voice was filled with so much excitement!

There in the bottom of the closet lay the coin!!!!!!! Our eyes did glitter with excitement in wonder!!!

There are several things that could have gone wrong. We have heard numerous stories of coin getting stuck in the windpipe and kids losing their life within a matter of minutes.

What if it had choked her food pipe?

What if she had choked and wasn’t able to come and tell me that she had swallowed the coin? 

What if the coin had got clogged in one the numerous passageways in her digestive system? 

What if she had required a surgical procedure?

What was even more amazing is that,

Had she passed the coin at school, we would not have noticed it, until the next x’ray!

Also, we have two loos in our house. That evening Krissy was about to go to the one she regularly uses, but as it was occupied she had to use the other loo where the flush was not properly working. It turned out because of the faulty flush the coin was retained without being flushed away!

Amazing how when God does something, He ensures even the smallest detail is going to leave us in awe!

Our hearts overflow with thanksgiving to God even now pondering about the incident! We have preserved the coin (after cleaning & sterilization) as a reminder of this miracle!

While I was contemplating to post this here on my blog, I asked God of what value is this incident going to be for the person who reads it?

This is what I felt Him say,

“If the person who is reading this is suffering with some sort of pain or sickness in their body… Something that’s not supposed to be there in their body and if the doctors have said that it is going to be a long difficult road to recovery… Let them be encouraged that I will get that pain/sickness out of their system with ease and in no time!”

“It could be a situation or a struggle in their relationship, career, finance… I am going to get them out of it in a manner their eyes will glitter with wonder!” 

This is the LORD’s doing; it is marvellous in our eyes. This is the day which the LORD has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118: 23, 24

A special mention of thanks to Dr. Judson who was guiding us and reassuring us not to worry. And thanks to our family and friends who lent their moral support and prayers! It meant a lot!