Our 15-month old daughter Eden swallowed a button battery around 7pm on Wednesday, December 28th. We were at a friend’s house and Eden found the battery in a drawer while exploring the mudroom.
We were in the room next door, watching Eden explore through the doorway and waiting for her to bring us one of our shoes - playing ‘Bring Mommy/Daddy a shoe, watch them put it on’ is one of her favorite games. However, when Eden turned back toward us she was holding a golf ball and I thought I saw her rolling something around in her mouth. I dug my fingers into her mouth to scoop whatever it was out, but there was nothing. I walked into the mudroom and saw she had opened up a few drawers. Inside the drawers were shoes, legos, action figures, pieces of paper, etc but nothing concerning. After a few minutes, Eden became a tad fussy and seemed to grab at her chest, so my husband performed the Heimlich and she threw up her dinner but nothing abnormal came up, so we were less worried she had swallowed anything.
Eden began to fuss about an hour later but it could have been any number of things, she may have been; hungry from losing her dinner, tired and ready for bed, teething, uncomfortable from swallowing something, or fussy from her ongoing bout with the Flu! We gave her some Tylenol to help her sleep and she went to bed.
The next morning at 4:30am Eden began to whimper, so we went in to check on her. She was still fussy after a few minutes, so we gave her another dose of Tylenol and snuggled her. She fell back asleep and we all got up around 7:30 am.
At 8am she drank her entire 8oz bottle of milk and was happy, playing all around. My husband and I said to one another, "Can't wait to see her poop in the next few days to see whether she ate anything!" We figured it was likely a lego, if anything at all.
An hour or so later, we settled Eden into her high chair for breakfast, her favorite meal of the day! Eden LOVES scrambled eggs, she immediately grabbed a handful and shoved them in her mouth when I set them in front of her. A few seconds later she was crying and coughing them up. At this point we knew something was wrong, and we immediately went to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) Emergency Room.
Eden took a peaceful nap on the 30min car ride down, waking with a smile and curious about her new surroundings as we walked into the ER. Upon check-in we had two staff members at CHOP ask if we had any suspicion that Eden swallowed a button battery. We confidently told them we had no reason to believe it was a battery and said we thought she may have swallowed a lego. It wasn't until about 20 minutes later, after Eden’s chest X-Ray, that we all found out Eden had swallowed a button battery.
The removal went well, thankfully. The ENT surgeon told us it took about 200 lbs of force to remove the battery because it was so wedged into her esophagus - since it had been inside her for approximately 17 hours. The doctors informed us that the battery was facing in the best possible direction, away from her trachea and vocal cord nerves, but that her esophagus was badly burned. Eden had a breathing tube and was heavily sedated/paralyzed when we finally got to see her at 2pm following clearance from the Operating Room. Eden was stable all afternoon and night.
At 10:43am the following day Eden coded while two nurses were dressing her and changing her bed linens. A ton of nurses and doctors rushed into the room to give her CPR and assist. Eden had no pulse for 60 seconds, but the team responded unbelievably fast and was able to bring her back.
Following the cardiac event, Eden was taken for a CT scan in an attempt to unveil the cause of her flatline. The CT scan showed air in her chest area, which prompted an exploratory neck surgery. The surgery revealed a small hole in the back of her esophagus, but both the Thoracic and ENT surgeons said things looked better than they expected. The surgeons placed a pair of small Penrose drains outside her esophagus to drain any air/fluids.
Eden remained stable in the following days as they weaned her off the paralytic and sedatives, and because she had no damage to her airway the team was able to extubate her on Tuesday evening - just five days after the battery was removed!
Eden continued to display remarkable healing and was released from the PICU nine days after admittance. Eden was moved to the General Surgery ward, and after a week they conducted a swallow test which showed the hole in her esophagus had totally healed!
We were discharged from the hospital on January 17th, twenty days after the battery was removed. Eden still has a long road of recovery ahead - her vocal cords are not yet fully functioning and she is constrained to a puree diet, but we are beyond grateful to have our Eden healthy! We have come to recognize Eden’s story as one of miraculous healing, and are so grateful that the battery fell facing away from her trachea.
GOD IS GOOD! Eden had her second dilation yesterday and it went well! The doctors are hopeful she won’t need to have any further procedures!
Eden generally did well eating different foods following her first dilation. But she had two throw up incidents, so we elected to go ahead with a second dilation while we’re here in the US.
As mentioned last time, the CHOP team used a 10mm, 11mm, and 12mm balloon to expand her esophagus during the first dilation, so the GI doctors started the procedure yesterday with a 12mm balloon. It slid down easily, so they increased to a 13.5mm balloon, and Eden’s esophagus handled the 13.5mm without issue!
The doctors have told us that in most button battery cases the goal is to get the esophagus to 13.5mm. However, since Eden responded so well to each dilation they decided to use an additional 15mm balloon - and recall that 15mm is the normal esophagus width for a child her age. The GI team believes that the 15mm balloon stretched her tissue just the right amount, so they do not think there will be any need to schedule more dilations and that Eden will be able to return to her normal diet without issue!!
God truly answered EVERY single prayer throughout this whole journey! Eden is now ‘back to normal’ - we thank God for her story and for all of you that have been praying alongside us and cheering her on! It has blown us away to hear all the ways God has already used her story for good!
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