Toddler's Swallowed Pendant Requires ICU Care; Expert Guide to Emergency Response

In Cuiabá, Brazil, a three-year-old girl's brief, unsupervised moment with a decorative pendant became a reminder of how swiftly childhood curiosity can collide with mortal danger. The heart-shaped ornament, no larger than a coin, lodged between her larynx and esophagus — a position that demanded two surgeries, intensive care, and the collaboration of multiple medical teams before it yielded. Her recovery, expected within a week, arrives alongside a quieter reckoning: that accidental ingestion is among the most common emergencies in early childhood, and that what parents do — and do not do — i