Good Call, Mom!

Minsy has had a problem ever since she joined our family almost 18 months ago. It's one of those problems that no one wants to acknowledge, but everyone notices.

She stinks.

I hate to be so plain, but it is the truth. When she first met us in China, the smell seemed to be similar to the smell of her city, Wuhan. I can't explain it really. Wuhan just has this smell about it. You notice it at first, but after awhile you get used to it. We noticed the odor coming from Minsy, but we just attributed it to something in the diet of Wuhan citizens. We figured that once she got to the US and started eating our diet the smell would leave.

But it didn't.

In fact, it seemed to almost get worse. Some days were worse than others, but there was no denying it ... Minsy had the world's worse breath. It was awful. So. So. Bad. It kind of smelled like a small animal had crawled into her throat and died there. I tried everything to get that smell to go away -- mints, lots and lots of brushing, you name it. But nothing helped.

I mentioned her horrible breath when we first took her to a doctor in the states. He told us that usually that was a sign that there was something stuck in her nose, but he looked at her thoroughly, and he didn't find anything at all. It had to be something else.

But the bad breath continued.

It really was a bum deal because you never want to think that others find your child repulsive because of something like body odor or bad breath. I didn't want for Minsy to have kids wiggle their nose at her because of her smell. I wanted to find a solution. A different pediatrician looked at her. She was convinced that there was something in her nose, but she couldn't see anything either.

Here's where we got way off track ...

We took Minsy to see a pediatrician in St. Louis who is a specialist in foreign adoptions. She would be able to help us see if Minsy was on track with her language and development. When we were there we mentioned her bad breath again. This time the doctor told us something completely unexpected. She said that some kids from China just have an odor. There is nothing to do about it except to be vigilant in hygienic care. Really??? I have NEVER heard anything like that in my life. She has two Chinese adopted children of her own, and she said that she spoke from experience. Hmmm. Well, that would make it seem as if Minsy would be doomed to a life of bad odor and all of society shying away from her. I have to admit, I was not all that thrilled to hear this. There had to be something that we could do for her.

Months passed, and Minsy had some mostly odor free days, and some days when her teachers might tell me that they thought she had a bad diaper (even though she doesn't wear diapers). It was horrible, but I was resigned.

Around February I decided that I wasn't going to sit back and let this be. The speech pathologist from the school called to say that she was concerned about her breath, and she didn't agree at all that this was something to be expected in some kids. She thought that there was a real problem that needed to be treated by some doctor. I decided to make an appointment with an Ear Nose and Throat doctor to see if there was anything he could do. I felt ridiculous as I made the appointment. They asked me what the problem was, and I told them that she had bad breath, and it just seemed like the silliest reason ever to go to a specialist. But I made the appointment anyway.

Last Monday we headed to Lebanon to see Dr. Allphin. Dr. Allphin was actually our bishop in Springfield before we moved to Waynesville, so that's kind of cool. Still, he never remembers me whenever I bring a child in to him. He always welcomes me and introduces himself, and I'm always like, "Buddy, I've been to your house like a hundred times." When Herman is with me he can place me because he remembers Herman really well ('cause everyone remembers Herman). I think he just is very professional, and is one of those people that just gets thrown a bit if he sees people outside of where he expects them to be if that makes any sense. Still, he's a great doctor, and I do like taking my kids to him when we have nasal/throat issues.

So, as we headed into Dr. Allphin's office I noticed that Minsy didn't smell at all that day. I was sure that I would get her in there, and he would laugh at me for bringing her in. But I was getting her seen, no matter what. I felt so bad for her as we headed into his office. Minsy is so afraid of doctors, and that week we had seen a whole slew of them. As we were called by the nurse, Minsy kept pulling her sleeves down to cover her elbows because she expected them to draw blood. Awwwww. She just expects that that is what happens at doctor's offices. Little did she know, this visit was going to be way worse than a tiny little blood draw.

When I explained what was going on Dr. Allphin said that she seemed to have a classic case of something stuck in the nose, but when he looked in her nostrils he couldn't see anything because of the boogers trapped up there. He sprayed her with some saline solution and let her sit for a minute or two. Her right nostril immediately began to bleed. I told him that this nostril typically bled fairly easily. I found out that this was yet another symptom of a foreign object in the nose. Things looked promising.

Now came the hard part.

It was time to see what was hiding up there, so Dr. Allphin pulled out a little vacuum. When he said that he was going to use the vacuum on her I first pictures something like a hand vacuum. That sounded scary. Then I thought about those suction vacuums that they use at the dentist's office. Less scary, but still kind of big for her little nose. What he pulled out looked like a tiny little needle. I couldn't imagine how that thing could suck anything out, but it turns out that that thing was powerful.

Minsy freaked out.

I was holding her on the examination table while two other nurses held her arms and legs, and my little girl screamed like a banshee. I have never heard her scream like that in all the time I've known her. She was terrified, and I'd imagine that what was happening was hurting her a bit as well because the vacuum had grabbed onto something and was pulling it out. And it was awful.

For the rest of my life I will regret not taking a picture of this thing that came out of Minsy's tiny little nose because I will be totally unable to use my words and give justice to just how nasty this was. As it arrived in the open air Dr. Allphin put it in front of my face almost gleefully as he showed me the culprit. And I almost lost my lunch right on his head. I just kept saying over and over and over "DO NOT BARF ON BISHOP ALLPHIN. DO NOT BARF ON BISHOP ALLPHIN!" No way was I going to allow myself to throw up on this man. It was so, so nasty. I'll try to describe what treasure Minsy had been storing in her nose all these months.

Imagine a Blow-Pop plastic wrapper cut into a third long ways. Now blacken it up a bit and let it simmer in a solution of blood, pus, and snot for a year or two. Throw in a hefty odor of decay and then grab it and hold it in front of your face. That's what I was looking at. Like I say, words cannot do any justice here. It was awful. But ... we figured it out. There was something blocking her nose and causing her bad breath. We fixed it. Hurray!

As I left the office Dr. Allphin said, "Good call, Mom!" Yes, it was, I guess, but in reality I was so upset with myself for not making this appointment a year ago. Who knows how long she has had that in her nose. She has at least had it in there from before we met her in China. At least two years of having this stuck in her nose. It had to be horribly painful at times, and it probably was affecting her speech and language development because of all the backup entering her ear canal. I should have taken care of this earlier. Erg!

The good news it that we have been able to check off at least one medical issue we have faced with Minsy. So many of her problems are long term problems, but this was one that we could solve in a day. It has been miraculous to see the change that has come about in only a week's time. The speech pathologist at school says that she has noticed a huge change in her progress this week, and even the OT and PT people have noticed changes. Hurray!

Minsy still does not like to talk about the experience. It definitely did not help alleviate her fear of doctors. Even today when I talk about it with others she shakes her head firmly and says, "NO NOSE!" Someday, hopefully, she'll be able to look back on this and be grateful that somebody kept her from having to carry a Chinese wrapper in her nose for eternity.