Chevrolet Repair: good idea?????

Question
I have a '03 Chevy Monte Carlo SS 3.8L. The other day, it sprung a big coolant leak and after letting it cool, I found that the upper plastic elbow from the tentioner assembly to the lower intake manifold had busted. No biggie, easy fix....well, that was until peeling off the silicone whoever messed with it last coated on it, on the manifold side, and that plastic chunk and O-ring fell into the lower manifold. My fingers are slender enough to go all the way in, but I can't feel it. After fishing around with a set of mechanical fingers, I still haven't managed to capture the piece. From pictures of the manifold that I've found online, it looks as if from that hole to the thermostat, it is almost a straight isolated pathway. My idea is to pullout the thermostat and see if I can hopefully push the piece over to the thermostat hole and pull it out that way. My uncertainty is that none of the pictures of the manifold I've seen show if there are any ports along that pathway that the plastic chunk could fall farther down into. I was hoping that the local parts place would have had a manifold in stock when I bought a new thermostat so I could see first hand what I was trying to do, but no luck, none in stock. My question...are there ports that this piece (about 1" dia. by about a little more than 1/2" long) could fall into? Pulling the upper & lower manifolds out to shake this piece out is a little out of my comfort zone and I'm really hoping to avoid that (mainly it's the removing the fuel line assembly and injectors/sensors that I'm uneasy about).
I thank you in advance for any guidance you could give me.

Answer
GOOD MORN ADAM, WELL THIS IS IN NOT A UNUSUAL QUESTION. BEEN THERE BEFORE..TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTION ABOUT REMOVING THE T-STAT AND GETTING IT FROM THIS SIDE IT IS POSSIBLE,IF YOU ARE LUCKY..NO HOLES ALONG THE CENTER BOTTOM AREA...HOWEVER IF THIS WERE MINE OR ONE OF MY CUSTOMERS CAR IF I COULD NOT GET AT THIS EASY I WOULD LEAVE IT WHERE IT IS...I KNOW THAT DOES NOT SOUND GOOD, BUT THIS WILL MORE THEN LIKELY FIND THE LOWER SECTION OF THE ENG BLOCK IN TIME AND JUST STAY THERE FOR THE REST OF THE ENGINES LIFE. WHY OPEN UP UP A CAN OF SNAKES IF YOU DO NOT NEED TO ??? THIS WILL NOT CAUSE A BLOCKAGE, OR OVERRHEATING PROBLEM OF ANY SORT IF THIS IS WHAT YOU ARE WORRIED ANOUT. IF THIS WAS A LARGER PIECE I MAYBE MORE CONCERNED..I HAVE TAKEN ENGINES APART AND HAVE SEEN PLUGS FROM RADIATORS NECKS INSIDE FROM NEW RADIATORS,PIECES OF WATERPUMP FINS AND EVEN OLD RAGS PIECES..SO IT IS UP TO YOU IF YOU WANT TO GO FISHING FOR THIS LITTLE PIECE OF ROUND PLASTIC..BUT ME I WOULD NOT...GOOD LUCK ON WHAT EVER YOU DECIDE HAVE A NICE DAY....TOM....