A Texas mother shared how she rushed her screaming toddler to the hospital where he was misdiagnosed with a stomach virus.
But his life was saved when she insisted on an X-ray that revealed he had swallowed a button battery that had gotten stuck in his throat.
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The boy had woken up in pain
Madeline Dunn told the Daily Mail that one of her 18-month-old twins, Kai, had woken up screaming in pain at 11pm and when trying to calm him down didn’t work, she and his dad took him to the hospital.
Upon initial examination, doctors insisted Kai just had a bad stomach bug, but Dunn wasn’t convinced by the diagnosis.
She requested an X-ray for the boy
The mother shared that she had always been worried her kids could end up “swallowing something they’re not supposed to,” and requested an X-ray to which she said the doctors said they “could do one to make me feel better.”
The X-ray revealed a battery in the boy’s throat
The mother’s request ended up saving Kai’s life as the X-ray showed he had swallowed a button battery.
She said, “When we were walking back to the room there was already a team of doctors waiting in the room with him and they had the X-ray pulled up which showed the button battery in his throat. They were saying he’d swallowed a button [battery]; It’s code red.”
He was rushed into surgery
“They started shoving honey down his throat and getting him prepared to rush him into surgery,” the mother recalled.
“I didn’t know that he’d swallowed a button battery but something in my gut told me to have that X-ray done.”
Button batteries are small and can be hazardous
The circular batteries are often found in watches, remote controls, and children’s toys and they can be stuck in the throat if swallowed, which is what had happened to the toddler.
The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) explains, “The saliva triggers an electric current which causes a chemical reaction that can severely burn the esophagus in as little as two hours, creating an esophageal perforation, vocal cord paralysis, or even erosion into the airway (trachea), or major blood vessels.”
The boy underwent life-saving surgery
“The doctors told me when they were bringing him back from surgery that I saved my baby’s life by doing that,” Dunn said.
Kai was left with a hole that had been burned into his esophagus following the surgery, causing him to need a feeding tube while he healed.
But the hole in his throat closed afterwards
“I kept asking them if they knew if my baby was going to live or not, and they told me that they couldn’t say because of the hole,” the mother said. “If he caught an infection, it could have spread to areas outside of the esophagus.”
Thankfully, the boy did heal and was able to go home, but his esophagus is tight due to buildup scar tissue.
He now does weekly trips to the hospital
As part of his recovery, the parents now take Kai to the hospital every week where he’s put under anesthetic and has his esophagus stretched with a balloon.
Although the mother is unsure where the button battery came from, she urged other parents to be careful regarding toys that include them. She said, “Every single day I just keep thinking that we got lucky.”
