I hope you get the pun in the title. If you don’t, I kind of explained it before the bonus fact section.

— Dan

Another Brick in the Nose

If you have little kids or have ever been around a little kid, you’ve probably seen this in action: the kid gets a hold of something that shouldn’t ever be anywhere near their nose or mouth, but makes it dangerously close to those orifices. That can be very dangerous — not everything was made to be ingested, inhaled, or swallowed. And if the wrong thing goes down the wrong pipe, there’s a risk of choking or suffocation. (Let’s ignore the risks of toxicity and gastrointestinal damage on the way down and out.)

But it happens nonetheless. Parents and caregivers do what we can to prevent these outcomes, of course, but kids put stuff up their noses anyway.

And sometimes, we only learn about it decades later.

For most of his life, an Arizona man named Andi Norton, now age 32, suffered from all sorts of respiratory ailments — constant congestion, sleep apnea, asthma, and more. But earlier this year, he was miraculously cured. He explained the solution to Inside Edition: “I'm in the shower, doing my thing and blowing my nose in there, and out pops this LEGO.” Here’s a screenshot of Norton showing the piece to Inside Edition (and if you click the image, it’ll take you to the video.)

Norton put the LEGO up his nose in 1997 when he was only six years old. And while he was too young to realize that was a bad idea before he did it, he was old enough to quickly realize that it was a big mistake — and that he needed to fix it. As NBC affiliate WFLA reported, Norton “didn’t want to get in trouble” so he concocted a way to get the little LEGO piece out: he stuck another one up there. Specifically, he stuck a minifig — that’s what little LEGO people are called — up the very same nostril, hoping that it would connect to the first one and he could pull both out together. But like most plans laid by six-year-olds, this one didn’t work out well. The minifig head also got stuck, so Norton went to his mom to ask for help. Using a pair of tweezers, she was able to remove the minifig head and didn’t detect anything else up there. The problem appeared to be solved, but it wasn’t — the original piece was still logged in his nasal cavity.

Fast forward two and a half decades and a lot of respiratory strife, and Norton ended up solving his own problem, despite not realizing what was causing the problem. As he said in an Instagram video, “my doctor has told me, with the dry hot summer months, it's really helpful to blow your nose while you're in the shower, because the humidity of the steam and everything... and today I blew my nose and low and behold a LEGO shot out.” And after that, he could breathe easily.

This time, he decided to go to a doctor to get everything checked out though, just in case. To date, Norton hasn’t reported any further issues, LEGO-related or otherwise.

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More About LEGO Bricks

(Because that’s what they’re called — bricks. I am pointing this out so today’s headline makes sense.)

Today’s Bonus fact: LEGO minifig heads, today, have holes at the top (as seen here), but that wasn’t always the case. As LEGO fansite True North Bricks explains, “The original Minifigure head released in 1978 featured a solid stud, much like what you see on top of a brick or plate. It remained that way until around 1992. At that point, the stud on top underwent a drastic change. It became hollow with an interior, three-arm support lattice. The move created an air passage to prevent choking. Interestingly enough, it was around that same time (1991) that pen companies like BIC incorporated holes into pen caps for the same reason. If you accidentally inhale the plastic parts, they will not completely obstruct your airway.”

From the Archives: LEGO's Grayscale Color War: Not all LEGO greys are created equal.

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And thanks! — Dan