A Nanaimo mother is warning other parents after her eight-month-old daughter Kenzie was rushed to hospital after she put a caterpillar in her mouth.
Krystal Pyne headed to Facebook to tell her story.
“My daughter was sitting eating an arrowroot cookie and had just finished it when all of the sudden she started screaming. It was about time for her morning nap and I figured she must just be hungry and/or tired so I made her a bottle. She didn’t want anything to do with it and she was basically inconsolable at this point,” wrote Pyne. “As I’m trying to figure out what is wrong with her, she had her mouth open while crying and I noticed the inside of her mouth had some blackness to it.”
Pyne tried to wipe the blackness out of Kenzie’s mouth, but it wasn’t going away. At that point she started to panic because she thought it could be an electrical burn.
“I decided to rush down to the hospital so they could see what was going on because I was completely flabbergasted. While in the emergency waiting room a nurse started talking to me saying how her daughter one day was sitting on her stairs sucking on something and she had black all around her mouth,” the Facebook post continues. “Well turns out she was sucking on a caterpillar.”
The doctor came into the room and had a look at the child. He quickly concluded the caterpillar had latched itself onto her tongue and cheeks.
“He said that is exactly what it is and all the hairs are stuck to her tongue and the tentacles are fused to her cheek,” Pyne wrote. “I’m currently being sent to Victoria by ambulance where she has to be sedated and have the pieces of caterpillar tentacle, hairs/spines removed from her mouth.”
Pyne posted an update online after the ordeal that said her daughter did well in surgery and 98 per cent of the tentacles were removed. Medical officials say the incident is rare but should serve as a reminder to parents to always be on the lookout for bugs and outdoor creatures.
“We do have insects, bugs, even plants that may have poisonous venom that can cause irritations or some reactions in our bodies and it’s important to be aware of them,” Vancouver Island chief medical health officer Paul Hasselback said. “Especially with children, being aware that children can come into contact with unusual things in their environment. Lots of them will be safe but some of them will not.”
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