Andi Norton of Arizona had been struggling with sinus and respiratory problems since childhood.
But a loud sneeze in the shower at age 32 revealed the problem: a Lego piece had been lodged in his nose for decades.
Norton was startled to hear a ‘clinking’ sound and looked down to see the fluorescent yellow piece. ‘Suddenly, the memory of something I had completely forgotten in my adult life came flooding back to me,’ he said.
In 1998, more than 25 years earlier, the six-year-old boy was playing with his Lego collection when he thought of inserting a piece into his nostril. It was a small, circular yellow dot smaller than a kernel of corn.
Andi Norton, 32, got an unexpected answer to the question of what might be causing her lifelong breathing problems: a long-forgotten Lego piece had become lodged in her sinus cavity.
Norton, who is nonbinary and calls themselves “they”/”them,” said on Instagram mail Last week, a comment went viral: “I thought maybe I could stick it up my nose. I don’t know why I did that. Kids in the ’90s just did stupid stuff.”
Panic set in as he realized the tiny plastic dot was too small to get his fingers in and grab.
Then another “brilliant” idea came up: to assemble a Lego minifigure and insert it into the nostril on a daring rescue mission, hoping that it would reach the point and hook on like a little hat, which could then be pulled off.
They continued: “And of course the Lego head came off and got stuck in my nose. So now it’s stuck in my nose too.”
Her mother removed the figurine with tweezers, not knowing that a small piece remained that would remain there for almost two decades.
The small piece of plastic had been lodged in his sinus cavity for 26 years, which they believe could be the cause of his obstructive sleep apnea and breathing problems.
They said Newsweek Magazine:’All my life I have had sinus sensitivity, allergies and congestion problems.
‘Because I’m allergic to cats, dogs, grass, many native trees, and dust, and have always been exposed to one or more of these things, I lived my life assuming that any congestion problems were simply caused by allergies.’
They added: ‘My doctor has told me that with the hot, dry summer months, it’s really helpful to blow your nose while you’re in the shower because of the humidity from the steam and all that.
‘I’ve been doing this regularly for the past six months or so… Today, I was blowing my nose in the shower and lo and behold, I expelled a Lego dot that had been in my nose for 26 years.
“I’m shocked.”
They said they plan to consult a doctor about it, but for now they feel extreme relief, comparing it to removing a tampon.
Now, Norton plans to keep the piece “as a silly souvenir.”
The story has since exploded, with her original Reddit post featuring the image of the dot reaching four million views before it was removed from the “mildly interesting” stories thread; it had become “too interesting.”
They saying:It’s so far away that all you can do to react is laugh.
“Now it’s become a silly joke among all my friends and family, everyone makes fun of it with humor.”