silversweeper
Sr. Member
- Aug 22, 2011
- 340
- 252
- Detector(s) used
- Minelab Etrac, CTX 3030
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
Last Thursday started out to be a great day. I finished work early and decided to stop by a couple of places and do some detecting on my way to pick up my 2 yr. old son. My very first signal within minutes of hitting the power button on my etrac was a mercury dime. Not long after came a buffalo nickel and then, within the next hour, 2 more mercs and a barber dime. I left feeling pretty good. It was my 1st 4 silver day in a long time and especially in such a short time. I turned off the etrac with a smile and headed to the baby-sitter's. After I picked up my son and then my 10 yr. old stepson, I headed home to fix them dinner (wife-y was working until late). During the course of fixing dinner I hear my stepson say "no, don't chew on that, Nicholas, spit it out!". I ran into the living room where they were watching tv and see my little guy just starting to choke on goodness knows what. I scooped him up and turned him nearly upside down and patted his back pretty hard a couple of times. It was already too late though, whatever he'd put into his mouth was on its way down to his little tummy. I turned to my stepson and asked what he'd had and my heart sunk and stomach knotted up when I heard the words "A NAIL!". 
I was like "A what?!! Where did he get a nail?!" and "How big was it?!" Well my stepson isn't very reliable when it comes to facts or descriptions so I really wasn't sure. I was kind of at a loss, do I toss them into the van and run to the hospital or wait it out? Obviously I was hoping that my stepson was wrong and that it wasn't a nail but how could I be sure? The only thing I could think of to do was to run out and get my etrac, hook the small coil up to it and use it as a small hand held detector. I held my breath and waved it over my son's little tummy and almost got sick when I heard the "beep-beep" of a positive signal. Dropping everything, I rushed to the emergency room and blurted out something along the lines of "my 2 year old swallowed a nail!" The wait seemed like forever but I guess they actually got him back pretty quickly. The xray confirmed it. Inside my son's intestine, already passed the stomach, was a nail 3cm long. It appeared to be head down, which was good, and had no pointed end. I recognized it immediately. That was an old square nail from the window sill in our old house! It had gotten pulled out of the wall quite some time ago, when the window sill was still WAY out of his reach and we had neglected to put it in the trash. Gah, was he going to have to be cut open?!! Well long story shorter, the doc told us that we had about a 40-60 chance that it would pass without damage and nothing would have to be done. 40 percent chance it could either get stuck, perforate or nick something as it passed, or cause more serious damage, and they'd have to go in and try to repair it. Peoples, those of you who are parents will understand, this is my only child and the apple of my eye. I was absolutely sick as I took him home in my arms that night. He acted fine and knew nothing was wrong. Daddy and Mommy didn't get much sleep and the next day we were back to the hospital for a follow up xray. That nail was still there and only moved slightly. He was full of doo doo though so they put him on miralax and sent us back home to observe and wait. Later that evening he did have a dirty but I could not find the nail. I grew up on a farm and am not afraid to get dirty, if you know what I mean. I looked through that yuck-poo two different times that night, and carefully both times, no nail. I couldn't eat or sleep a wink that night. I'm not even sure I breathed. Back to the hospital the next morning for another picture of his tummy and low and behold....that nail was no where to be seen! I got goose bumps I don't mind telling you. There had been a ton of people praying for us during this ordeal and the only thing that I could think was that it was a miracle. I took him home with tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat. As soon as I had the chance, I waved that stinky diaper under my etrac coil and what do you know......"BEEP BEEP"! What the heck?!! I had used latex gloves to look for that nail twice and it just wasn't there before. The third time I opened the little package, there was the nail plane as day as if it had just been put in there. Words can not express the relief that I feel today. Little Nicholas is fine and shows no signs of having ingested and passed an almost 150 year old nail. Being a jewelry maker by trade I do believe I will be making a tiny little cross for him out of this old nail, and I'll always be able to brag that my son is tougher than nails! Who knows, this may even be my first banner find. I was definitely happier to see it out of him than I've ever been to see any target I detected and dug up out of the ground!!
Happy Hunting to all and here's praying that none of you ever have to use your metal detectors for similar circumstances!!
SS.
I was like "A what?!! Where did he get a nail?!" and "How big was it?!" Well my stepson isn't very reliable when it comes to facts or descriptions so I really wasn't sure. I was kind of at a loss, do I toss them into the van and run to the hospital or wait it out? Obviously I was hoping that my stepson was wrong and that it wasn't a nail but how could I be sure? The only thing I could think of to do was to run out and get my etrac, hook the small coil up to it and use it as a small hand held detector. I held my breath and waved it over my son's little tummy and almost got sick when I heard the "beep-beep" of a positive signal. Dropping everything, I rushed to the emergency room and blurted out something along the lines of "my 2 year old swallowed a nail!" The wait seemed like forever but I guess they actually got him back pretty quickly. The xray confirmed it. Inside my son's intestine, already passed the stomach, was a nail 3cm long. It appeared to be head down, which was good, and had no pointed end. I recognized it immediately. That was an old square nail from the window sill in our old house! It had gotten pulled out of the wall quite some time ago, when the window sill was still WAY out of his reach and we had neglected to put it in the trash. Gah, was he going to have to be cut open?!! Well long story shorter, the doc told us that we had about a 40-60 chance that it would pass without damage and nothing would have to be done. 40 percent chance it could either get stuck, perforate or nick something as it passed, or cause more serious damage, and they'd have to go in and try to repair it. Peoples, those of you who are parents will understand, this is my only child and the apple of my eye. I was absolutely sick as I took him home in my arms that night. He acted fine and knew nothing was wrong. Daddy and Mommy didn't get much sleep and the next day we were back to the hospital for a follow up xray. That nail was still there and only moved slightly. He was full of doo doo though so they put him on miralax and sent us back home to observe and wait. Later that evening he did have a dirty but I could not find the nail. I grew up on a farm and am not afraid to get dirty, if you know what I mean. I looked through that yuck-poo two different times that night, and carefully both times, no nail. I couldn't eat or sleep a wink that night. I'm not even sure I breathed. Back to the hospital the next morning for another picture of his tummy and low and behold....that nail was no where to be seen! I got goose bumps I don't mind telling you. There had been a ton of people praying for us during this ordeal and the only thing that I could think was that it was a miracle. I took him home with tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat. As soon as I had the chance, I waved that stinky diaper under my etrac coil and what do you know......"BEEP BEEP"! What the heck?!! I had used latex gloves to look for that nail twice and it just wasn't there before. The third time I opened the little package, there was the nail plane as day as if it had just been put in there. Words can not express the relief that I feel today. Little Nicholas is fine and shows no signs of having ingested and passed an almost 150 year old nail. Being a jewelry maker by trade I do believe I will be making a tiny little cross for him out of this old nail, and I'll always be able to brag that my son is tougher than nails! Who knows, this may even be my first banner find. I was definitely happier to see it out of him than I've ever been to see any target I detected and dug up out of the ground!!Happy Hunting to all and here's praying that none of you ever have to use your metal detectors for similar circumstances!!
SS.
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Oh boy , the Joys of Parenthood 
your a good Dad and Thank God the 
glad the little one is ok 
