Little children have a great affinity to put foreign objects in almost every body opening. An X-ray can often find the answer. I have removed some strange things from the ears and nose and had surgeons remove a pin in the vagina and one in the trachea.
I was teaching medical students last week and urged them to always get a chest X-ray if they were puzzled about a diagnosis. I told them of a favorite three-year-old who was ill. She had seen another doctor who said he didn't hear anything in her chest, so she didn't have pneumonia. Looking at her breathing I knew the child had pneumonia and an immediate chest-X-ray proved this to be the case. I then told them about another child who was very croupy and had been seen by two or three doctors. The "croup" had lasted for a couple of months and was treated with antibiotics. The cough didn't sound like croup to me. My two children crouped every winter in Rochester, New York, so it was a cough I knew well. I told the parents I wanted to get a chest X-ray and specified that the neck be included. It was fortunate I did because the child had a safety pin in his trachea or windpipe. An excellent ENT doctor removed it that evening and the "croup" disappeared.
I have always been amazed at the places where children can put foreign objects, either in their body or in different orifices. I have removed beads from the ear canal and the nose and a particular smelly piece of bread from up in a child's nose. Another child had a dead insect in his ear canal. One child had a safety pin her vagina. So if you see smelly pus coming from an orifice you might want to think about a foreign object.