Tuesday, November 3, 2009

All Choked Up

Whoa - something super scary happened last night. I almost choked to death on a dried out "hockey puck" hamburger. No shit, the wife was already on the phone with 911 operator when the chunk of meat popped out.
Like 10 times since then I've repeated silently to myself "must take smaller bites & chew completely". I'm sort of not looking forward to lunch today (not normal for me). Haha, trying to keep the mood light. Here's how it went down... (or not!)

I got home very late, was very hungry & had to turn around to go pick up my son from religious ed. So I had called the wife and she had a burger cooking on the stove when I got home. I remember seeing her smashing it down in the pan with the spatula and thinking that's not good 'cause it always dries it out. But she was trying to speed up the cooking since I was in a big rush. I was wolfing it down, about halfway done when the fateful bite got totally wedged in my throat. My younger son & wife had already gone into the other room to watch Jeopardy & do homework.

I knew immediately something was very wrong. I was trying to cough but nothing was happening. After a few coughs I realized not a bit of air was getting in or out. My wife called in "are you okay?" and I couldn't talk or get any air in. Not breathing totally sucks! I started banging the table with my hand loudly. I remember getting up and spitting out a bite of burger back onto the plate, but that wasn't the bite blocking my throat. I could see a panic stricken look on my wife's face as she came into the kitchen. As I tried to cough it up, there was absolutely nothing happening. Thinking about it now I don't remember any sound. I was gagging and each time I just tried to get a breath in, but total blockage. I could feel a sort of vacuum pressure in my chest. I think I was trying to expand my chest to get even just a little bit of air to come in. In retrospect that was probably just wedging the chunk deeper into my airpipe by creating a suction from within the ribcage.

My wife asked if she should do the Heimlich - and I motioned for her to go around behind me. Unfortunately she was sort of on the verge of tears already and drew a blank on how to actually do the maneuver. The first thrust was with her arms around my rib cage. I pushed her hands down to my belly, but she moved right back up with her hands over the bottom end of the sternum for the second pull. I moved her clasped hands down again and tried to hold them there and indicate a motion to thrust from the lower position by pushing her hands in at that level. At this point I was getting a bit panicked myself. Why was she not doing this right?? She released her grip and said "can't you do it yourself onto the table or over a chair?" I thought yes, but wanted to scream "help me".... but of course couldn't say anything.

I pointed over to the phone and tried to motion for her to call 911. I was just thinking if she couldn't get this thing out of my throat then an ambulance had better get rolling because I wasn't going to be conscious for too much longer. Of course in hindsight the whole incident at this point had to be less than a minute. Maybe like 45 seconds, although I'm not actually sure. Thinking about it now, if the first responders on the scene would take 5 or 6 minutes, then another minute to take charge of the situation and Heimlich out the obstruction. Plus the minute I was already choking. That's like 8 mins. That's scary to think about 8 minutes without any breaths of air. I can't imagine how freaked out my wife & son would've been waiting for the ambulance with me unconscious on the floor.

I could see her talking to the 911 operator. I tried to calmly and softly get an inhaled breath to get past the blockage. Nothing. I tried again. Relax, slowly and softly just suck in a gentle breath. Nothing - but a building pressure in my chest. (I'm actually getting a bit jittery while typing this now). I threw myself down hard onto the back of the chair and immediately felt a change. I coughed, gagged, and got a breath of air. I remember that I swallowed, I coughed, and I took another breath and then started coughing. But now it was real coughing. I said "I got it." and I could see she was already saying "wait." It's okay, it's out. She told the 911 operator, "yes, I'll hold on." And she asked me if I was okay and I said yes. I could talk & breath in. I noticed she was crying. I saw my son for the first time. He wasn't crying, but he was standing against the wall and was looking really scared. I told him I was okay. I became aware of a instant splitting headache in my right temple. I remember looking around for the burger chunk... and then realizing that I must have swallowed it after it came up. I felt like I might puke, and my head was pounding. I burped a few loud belches. My wife asked if she should just hang up. I have no idea how fast or slow time was moving. I told her to just stay on hold to confirm that I was fine. I didn't want to sit down, I was gulping in big inhalations and then coughing on each exhalation. I was a little dizzy, but so relieved to be breathing in & out.

the 911 came back on and I spoke to them to say all was fine, crisis averted. It was over.

This morning my abs are a little bit sore, and my neck too. I have a scratch on my collarbone right at the throat - I don't remember how that got there. I still have that headache just on one side (weird) and my eyes are really really bloodshot.

A close call. Within 5 minutes we were all over it; our house returned to it's typical calm quiet harmony. We had a review of how to do the Heimlich once my older son was home. My younger son knows how to dial 911. I kind of wished I had motioned to him to place that call rather than my wife. But I know next time he'll be ready. Hopefully there's never a next time. "must take smaller bites & chew completely."

Please review with those around you how to perform the Heimlich.

3 comments:

  1. OMG, that is some seriously scary stuff there. When I was maybe 12 years old, I had a similar incident with a hotdog. It was CRAZY freaky. I think the thing was lodged for like 45 seconds at the most, but it felt like SOOOO long that I couldn't get any air. My mom was basically exactly like your wife--so freaked she couldn't remember what to do. But FINALLY, we got it out somehow. NOT FUN. It's crazy how easily something like that can happen if you're not careful.

    I am SO glad you are okay! That's so scary!

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  2. wow this is very scary!! i'm so glad you are ok! i hope you and your family are recovering from the incident - it is certainly tragic and obviously frightening.

    glad you are OK!

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  3. Yikes!! Very scary indeed! Glad you're ok! take care :)

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