My wife and I went with her mom and sis to a nice restaurant last night and my wife started choking on some prime rib. I stood up and did the Heimlich on her as best as I understood it and she spit it out and was again able to breathe.
Last time she choked on a peanut doughnut years ago she ended up on on a respirator after she turned blue and the paramedics had to help her. This time I used a lot of force and nearly dislocated my shoulder. Fortunately I didn’t break any of her ribs.
Perhaps because of covid, no one really came over to our table to help or call 911. I am glad she is ok even though we all were a bit in shock afterwards. I went to the men’s bathroom and splashed my face with cold water like they recommend in DBT and it really helped calm me.
You would really think with the amount of worry I have regarding this SCENARIO I’d man-up and execute on getting formal training. Goes to show people, my negatives and positives for that matter, are far from healed or recovered all that much.
I once received the Heimlich maneuver. I was on lunchbreak from work and I went to my Mother’s house. She made stew and I served myself a bowl. We were all in the kitchen, my mother, my brother and I. I took a bite of potato but it was too hot and I went ti spit it out and it slipped back in my throat and blocked my airway totally. My brother was turned away and sitting at the table talking, and my Mother was standing at the stove so I frantically tapped on my mother’s shoulder and pointed to my throat. my mother turned me around and did the Heimlich. The big piece of potato went shooting across the room and I could breath again. My brother missed the whole thing. I told him what happened and he said I lied.
In CPR class, we were told that it’s a good idea to have a doctor check out anyone who has been rescued from choking. For example, the Dr would want to make sure that no food particles got down into the lungs as that could cause a serious bacterial infection/pneumonia.
