An Arizona resident has described the moment they realized they had been living for over 25 years with something entirely unexpected lodged up the nose.
It had started like any other normal day for Andi Norton, 32, from Phoenix. Every morning starts with a shower and a big blow of the nose.
“My whole life I’ve had sinus sensitivity, allergies, and issues with congestion,” Norton told Newsweek. “Since I am allergic to cats, dogs, grass, many of the native trees, and dust, and I’ve always been exposed to one or more of these things, I lived my life assuming any congestion issues were just simply caused by the allergies.”
Norton can be forgiven for assuming that. A 2021 survey of 2,016 U.S. adults conducted by Harris On Demand on behalf of specialty pharmaceutical company Optinose found close to one in four experienced nasal congestion, with 85 percent claiming congestion negatively impacting their daily activities.
Norton had always been susceptible to sinus infections too so decided to speak to a doctor about the best ways to alleviate those symptoms. She was the one that recommended blowing your nose in a warm, humid environment.
Norton had been doing that for the past eight months with little change until one day recently when something “really hard” flew out of their nose and hit the shower floor. It was only when they picked it up that Norton realized what it was.
“It was a piece of Lego,” they said. “Suddenly, the memory of something I had completely forgotten about in my adult life came flooding back to me.”
Norton was transported back to a time around 1998 and a particular day when they were playing Lego. “I’m not entirely sure what possessed me to do this, but I evidently thought putting the dot brick into my nose was a good place for it,” Norton said.
Having realized the piece was stuck, they hatched a plan to rescue it—it didn’t go well. “I came up with the brilliant idea of making a Lego man minifigure and using him to put it into my nose and connect the dot piece to his head like a hat, and pull it all out at once,” Norton said. “Unfortunately, the head got stuck in my nose too, and only the body of the minifig came out.”
Norton admitted defeat and was forced to confess what had happened to the parents. ” I remember my mom tilting my head back and taking tweezers to my nose and popped that minifig head out,” Norton said. “I got rightfully scolded for it, and never stuck anything up there again.”
No other pieces were visible up Norton’s nose when their mom looked. “We thought any residual discomfort was from the experience of the whole thing and just moved forward,” Norton said. “We never thought to follow up on the situation with any medical staff.”
Little did they know, the piece had ended up lodged in Norton’s sinus cavity where it would remain for the next 25 odd years. But while Norton may have been unaware of it being up their nose all those years, they noticed a difference from the very moment the piece flew out.
Andi Norton
“Honestly, it felt like a plug came out and I had a great rush of relief,” Norton said. “I am able to take a deep breath through my nose without feeling restricted, which is something I’ve never been able to do.” Though Norton is planning to consult a doctor about what happened, it was decided that the story of the Lego piece was worth sharing on Reddit.
“I just thought it was really interesting and also really funny,” Norton said. “I didn’t realize how many other kids were sticking things like beads, toys, and popcorn kernels into their noses but most of their stories ended with the lost piece removed in a matter of a few days, where mine was forgotten about for many years.”
Whatever happens next, Norton is planning to hold on to the Lego piece as a “silly keepsake” and is even open to an idea suggested by a few people on Reddit who reckon it might look good mounted on a ring. It’s certainly a step up from being lodged in a nose.