Happy Mardi Gras & Wheezing

Many of you may have heard the adage "all that wheezes is not asthma." As an intern, a first year physician out of medical school, a colleague came across a case of what she thought was asthma. The child was the right age, right symptoms, and a pretty typical presentation. The only problem was she did not get better with the typical treatment. She eventually underwent a bronchoscopy, a special lighted, flexible scope is inserted into the lungs, and surprisingly the lung specialist found a mardi gras bead that was not showing up on x-ray!