Let’s do this together

No sooner had I dropped The Dark Lord off at the school gate after the half-term break, parked the car by the fields nearby and let the dog out for his constitutional, the school nurse rang me.

“Damn. I nearly got clean away,” I swore under my breath while saying, “Hello nurse, what’s it this time?”

“I’m afraid Jesse has lost her new earring,” she explained apologetically, as Jesse was a bit of a frequent flyer in the school medical office last term.

Bending down to scoop up after the dog with one hand, I managed to drop the mobile briefly on the ground.

“Oh well, I’m sure we can get her a new one,” I said, putting the phone back to my ear.

“Well, we’ll need to get the one stuck inside her ear out first!” she said.

“Oh sorry, I seem to have missed an important part of that conversation. She’s got it stuck in her ear?” I stopped dead in my tracks.

“Yes it seems she went into the classroom and was showing off her newly-pierced ears when someone asked why she only had one side done,” explained the nurse.

“Then she realised it hadn’t dropped out but was actually lodged inside her ear lobe, so we’ve been trying to get it back out, but it’s too painful.”

I’m squeamish at the best of times and I could already feel my palms going sweaty. “So I need to come and get her?” I asked, worried that extracting the earring was a mummy job.

“Yes I think she’s going to need A&E,” said the nurse. Coming off the phone, I thought I’d better call the GP as our local hospital probably has better things to do than dig out jewellery from ears.

In the end the GP said she would do it but without anaesthetic, so I relayed this back to Jesse. “She says you’re going to have to be brave. Frankly if I were you, I’d just do it myself!”

An hour later a little voice came on the phone, “I did it, Mummy. I don’t need to go to hospital, but can you come and get me anyway? I think I need a hug.”

Email me at siobhan.mcnally@mirror.co.uk or write to Community Corner, PO Box 791, Winchester SO23 3RP.