One of the main fears of parents or adults who care for their children is that they will swallow a foreign object that puts their life at risk, even more so if it is toxic. In this sense, a 5-year-old boy swallowed a ball, which was stuck in his throat for five weeks and was saved for an unusual reason.
Luke McMillan is the main character of this event. This boy, from Arizona, in the United States, was playing with a toy when he swallowed a ball, which remained in his throat, but he did not tell his parents.
After this domestic incident, the minor began to suffer a continuous pain in eating, which remained for several days. Luke’s parents found out what was happening to the boy and brought him to the doctor for a diagnosis.
As explained by the family itself, the baby used to get sick very often, he was prone to foreign ear infections. For this reason his mother checked him to the doctors. However, the doctors prescribed antibiotics thinking it was reflux.
Luke, however, continued to have solid food issues. Faced with this situation, his parents decided to change his diet from solids to liquids for him to eat during the treatment period.
“We’re just a side effect of what he did before,” said the boy’s mother. But after the boy finished the prescribed antibiotics, he was left without food.
Lucasn’s mom was not satisfied with the diagnosis. For this reason, together with her husband, they decided to make a new plan and in another medium of medicine. So his new pediatrician discovered what was causing the boy’s pain: a ball that was stuck in his esophagus.
The doctors explained that the child was in great danger if the ball were eaten into his body. They explain to him that after hours it starts to corrode, but his son has had a ball in his throat for more than a month. For this reason, the minor is urgently transferred to the hospital to undergo an operation for his removal.
They said, “Isn’t it a battle, because it begins to corrode in as little as two hours?” They said they had some silver in the chest, but it would be dangerous to remove that thing without a full hand,” said the mother.
Finally got a surgical intervention. Medical professionals found themselves with a lithium battery stuck inside Luke’s esophagus. The battery was wrapped around an electric machine, which is believed to have saved the boy’s life. Given this, pediatrician and spokesperson for the Academy of Pediatrics, Gary Kirkilas, indicated that it is necessary to act quickly to reduce the risks.
“Sometimes children show signs of suffering from burns, they complain of chest pain. They vomit and do not want to eat, they even spit up blood,” said Kirkilas.
