Give or Take.  As you may recall from our last episode, Jack had swallowed a quarter while flipping a coin to decide which piece of Halloween candy to eat. Hindsight being 20/20, I wished he had eaten both pieces instead of the quarter he used to decide!

Since that fateful night, he has had three trips to the “doc in the box” to image the life that quarter has taken on in his digestive system.  “It’s in the stomach”, we heard twice; “it’s now in the small intestine”, giving us hope.  We were directed to go home and continue to check Jack’s output…ugh, I could stand to lose a few pounds anyway!

Last night while at a friend’s house, we got a frantic call from Jack that his side hurt really badly with what he calls a ‘bubble’.  We have had this a few times in the past, and after two ambulance trips and a first name basis with the EMT team, we know it is a gas bubble and can be calmed with over-the-counter meds.  But no, not this time, not with old George Washington floating among pizza, chicken wings and heaven knows what else.

So off my husband goes to Albany Medical Center at 10pm last night.  They whip him in and once again, x-ray his abdomen.  It’s gone…that quarter is gone and so is one last co-pay, once last jolt of x-ray juice and about  5 weeks of my stress eating imagining the procedure to get it out.

Moral of the story, eat both pieces or don’t look up when you flip a coin. $465.49 is worth it though, to see the relief on Jack’s face when that x-ray showed no quarter floating about! I’d like to think that it won’t happen again, but that’s why we call it the “Jack Factor” in life.