Choked

In response to Kim's last post, I thought I'd share some stories that involve choking...some that really shouldn't be funny but are.

The first time I saw someone choke was in the 8th grade.  My friend and I were selling pizza on behalf of our class as a fundraiser for our trip to Washington, D. C.  We were in the cafeteria, handing out pizza to 4th graders and making sure everyone had what they were supposed to have.  All of a sudden, we hear "he's choking!" from parent volunteer in the room.  A little boy had been laughing and eating, eating and laughing and then I guess a piece of pizza had gone down the wrong way.  He was still sitting in his seat, coughing but choking.  The parent volunteer went up to him and smacked him on his back- exactly what you're NOT supposed to do.  He stopped coughing; the piece of pizza had lodged further in his throat, completely blocking his airway.  Then he started to really panic.  Poor boy couldn't breathe at all and no one knew what to do (this was before I knew anything about CPR or the Heimlich).  Then, out of nowhere, my mom ran from the kitchen into the cafeteria (she was a lunch lady/kitchen manager at our school for a while) and started doing the Heimlich maneuver on the little boy.  Nothing.  She tried harder but still nothing.  I guess her adrenaline was really pumping because the next thing she tried was something none of us expected...something that totally had me hanging my mouth wide open: she turned this too-tall-to-be-only-in-the-fourth-grade boy upside down, held him by his legs and shook him up and down.  She turned him right side up again and he coughed it up.  Paramedics were called and the boy was fine after but no one moved right away...we were just in shock that my mom was Superwoman with superhuman strength.  Looking back, I giggle, "Damn, mom!"  The woman does NOT panic but somehow always knows what to do.

The second time I was around a choking person, I actually missed it.  We'd just come back from the pool a couple blocks away from my house with my friends Joyce and Gilbert.  I was in the shower, rinsing off the chlorine while Ana and the other two were snacking in the kitchen.  According to what they told me once I was out of the shower, Gilbert was about to eat a banana and was dared by the girls to see how far he could "take it."  Of course, everything was in good fun until the top tip of the banana broke off at the back of his throat.  Needless to say, he choked but never coughed.  Yep, completely lodged from the beginning. At first the girls thought he was joking as a "that's what you get" joke since they'd dared him but soon enough they realized he wasn't joking.  Both Ana and Joyce knew what to do but Ana sprung into action since Joyce is a little girl and Gilbert's a big boy.  Ana has long limbs, perfect for the Heimlich, so she started trying.  After three tries, Gilbert coughed it up and was fine...all before Miss Keren could get out of the shower.  Boys who like boys need not demonstrate on soft food.

Keren