That stubborn bean in my throat FINALLY got onlodged during the night and must have digested in my sleep because when I woke up in the morning I no longer had that horrible lump in my throat. Thank God! Let's just say I'm on a bean hiatus for a while.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Monday, October 15, 2007
Bean Update

Oh yes, the bean is still comfy and cozy beside my left tonsil. I'm kind of getting used to it there! I went to the doc yesterday and I don't know why I bothered. This is why he won't EVER see me again: 1. He listened to my story and he didn't believe me. I was so frustrated that he thought I was making it all up! He didn't know how a digested bean from my dinner would have made it back up to my throat. I should had told him they were Mexican jumping beans!! 2. He practically made me gag with that tongue compressor; he used it like a weapon and was enjoying my pain!! 3. He told me, "You're not from here are you?" Then he asked how long I've been here and looked me up and down one too many times. Very uncomfortable feeling. 4. He told me he could only give me liquid Vaseline to drink??? However, he didn't have any and neither do any of the pharmacies in town. And no, I don't think I'll be eating Vaseline for dessert today, thank you. 5. I had to ask when the ENT specialist would be in. In one week. Great. What if this thing starts sprouting on me?
Friday, October 12, 2007
A Little Poroto (Bean) Story
It's been kinda wacky, today. First, let me prempt this by explaining that last night we had beans and rice for dinner. I’ve been trying to master this savory Brazilian-style dish for almost five years now. Last night however, they turned out too watery and a smidge hard. Believe-it-or-not, explaining our evening meal is vital to the story. Okay, so after dinner and putting our son down to sleep, I went out running. Ashamedly, I’ve only been out one time since our return. Part of the reason why running is so difficult for me here is the cobblestones. Do you now what the dictionary says about cobblestones? They are "a naturally rounded stone, larger than a pebble and smaller than a boulder, formerly used in paving." Unfortunately, our cobbles are NOT round and definitely not smooth. And around one minute into my run, I tripped and in trying to catch myself from splatting on the ground, I I did this ungraceful freestyle stroke mid air to keep from falling and I gasped, boy did I gasp. Well, somehow, when I took that big breath of air, an undigested bean (pinto, to be exact) comes flying at mach speed through my throat and got conveniently lodged behind my tonsils. I don't know where that little bugger came from, but apparently, he's there to stay. At 2 a.m. the thing started to really scratch my throat so I went online to see what I could do to beckon the little bean out. I must say that "How to remove lodged object from throat" is one of my more interesting google searches I've done these days. I was suprised to find a good deal of sites related to <a href="http:///www.tfproject.org/tfp/archive/index.php/t-20095.html"><font color="#99bbdd">this</font></a> and <a href="http://www.power-surge.com/php/forums/lofiversion/index.php/t5686.html"><font color="#aa77aa">this</font></a>, but thankfully I wasn't suffering those issues. I tried all the home remedies, drinking a large cup of water, eating bread, gargling, using my finger to try and sweep it out, but nothing worked. I decided to go back to bed, because it wasn't blocking my entire airway, it just felt like a small toaster was in there. So, this morning I called the hospital and found out that our ear, nose and throat doc only comes in once a month! And the GP was booked until after lunch. So, at lunch I was trying to cough to make the bean come up and miraculously a small piece did decide to break away from its mother. It definitely feels better...more like a can opener in my mouth, now. So, I'm praying that the doc can do something to coax the other half of the bean to make itself known. Moral of the story: Don’t go running on cobblestones late at night after eating undigested beans and rice.