One day a teacher called me in a panic as one of her students was bleeding from the ear. I asked if he had been injured and she said to the best of her knowledge no. Upon examination of the child I did see a red sticky substance flowing out of his ear. It did not look like blood. I looked in his ear very carefully with my otoscope and low and behold there was a piece of red crayon in his ear that had begun to melt due to body heat. We all had a little chuckle as I called his mother and had him taken to the doctors to have his ear canal flushed.

On another occasion I had a teacher call and tell me one of her students was turning blue and to come with oxygen immediately. I flew out of my room down the corridor and into their room. The little boy did look blue but did not seem to be having any difficulty breathing. He was playing with the other children like nothing was wrong. After a minute of observation I said come with me. I took the little fellow into the bathroom and proceeded to wash his hands. As blue dye rinsed down the sink I realized he had a brand new flannel shirt on that was fading onto his skin. The amazing thing was that it was on his face, hands, arms, all spread out evenly and it really did make him look cyanotic. After a sigh of relief the teacher and I had a big laugh.