A Texas mom is warning parents about the dangers of fidget spinners after her daughter swallowed a part of the popular toy and had emergency surgery.
If you have kids in elementary and middle school you likely already know about fidget spinners. The newest “it” toy is a small gadget with two or three prongs with circles in them, along with a circular pad in the middle to hold the device with a finger and thumb. Then, kids twirl it.
Kelly Rose Joniec posted on Facebook Monday cautioning parents about the popular toy, which she says does not have age appropriate warnings. Joniec said she was driving her daughter home from a swim meet, when she heard her making a retching sound in the back seat.
Here is her complete post:
“We had a really significant Saturday.
In transit home from a fun swim meet, I heard Britton make an odd regurgitating clamor in the secondary lounge as I was driving. Thinking back in the mirror, I saw her face turning red and dribble pouring from her mouth – she could articulate commotions yet looked froze so I quickly pulled over. She indicated her throat saying she’d gulped something, so I endeavored Heimlich however there was no resistance. She said she’d put some portion of her fidget spinner in her mouth to clean it and by one means or another gulped it.
Frantic, I went straight to urgent care where they checked her for choking. They couldn’t discern where the foreign object was located – along the airway or the esophagus. From there we got the red-light treatment via ambulance
X-ray demonstrated the spinner bushing stopped in her throat. The GI specialist was entranced… he’d just barely learned of fidget spinners that morning when he was at the shopping center with his child, so it was an astonishment to be confronted with one for a situation a couple of hours after the fact. He’s likewise a promoter for related kid wellbeing in toys, so he took a unique enthusiasm for the case.
After multiple, very stressful attempts to place an IV, Britton was taken to surgery to endoscopically locate and remove the object. Fortunately we had a positive outcome, but it was pretty scary there for a while…not only because of the initial ingestion, but then the concern about the composition and structure of the object, and finally, the risk with general anesthesia.
From this I wish to offer some word of caution to parents. Fidget spinners are the current craze so they are widely distributed. Kids of all ages may be getting them, but not all spinners come with age-appropriate warnings. The bushings pop out easily, so if you have young kids (under 8 yr old) keep in mind that these present a potential choking hazard.
Be sure to share this with all of your friends- it could save their children’s lives.
