Okay, so three weeks ago, Mom “aspirated” a pill, meaning it went down her windpipe. She nearly choked, and she couldn’t cough it up, but she finally sucked it down.

Okay, so we went to the doctor, and I was all, “I’m worried that that pill is down in there and pneumonia will build up around it.” And Mom was all like, “I think it dissolved *cough cough*,” and the doctor was all, “Pneumonia is always a concern, but it’s more likely that the pill has dissolved.”

Okay, so three weeks, an X-ray and a CT scan later, we’re in the ER and the doctor there is all, “The pill is down there and pneumonia has built up around it.” And I’m all, “Do tell.”

So anyway, Mom and a bronchoscopy and an extraction, which consisted of about five doctors peering down a tube in her throat down into her lung and taking this pill out.

Well, the woman on the team was a lady after my own heart. After the procedure, she came to see me and showed me a tub containing these whacking great “fragments”, saying the pill had been stuck to my Mom’s lung and was hard to remove. She was delightfully enthusiastic about the whole episode, saying, “We had to use all kinds of forceps and things and and break it apart and take it out in pieces. It was very eventful!” Is that the best doctor debriefing ever, or what? That’s my new thing to say: “It was very eventful!”

I’m writing this post on Sunday and scheduling it to go up on Tuesday. By now, she should be home, with me to look after her until she gets back up to speed. We’re hoping we don’t have any more amazing hospital adventures for a while now, not even if they’re very eventful.

Oh, p.s. – I’m posting today at Fatal Foodies about very easy macaroni salad.

A WRITING PROMPT FOR YOU: Have three characters react three different ways to an enthusiastic doctor’s report of a successful procedure.

MA