Just had a bad scare

[Clay]

Ok got to give a little background first, and alot of former military, especially Marines can agree that in boot camp we had to shovel in food without much chewing or we didnt get to eat. Well now its a bad habit of mine not to chew my food very well. I am usually bad with veggies and noodles, but sometimes I do it with meats. Today it was meat, chicken, boneless at that. I was making dinner, chicken and yellow rice, I had just cut the chicken and had been eating some in the process. The last peice I ate, I guess did not get chewed very well, and next thing I know I cant swallow anything. Now I can usually force it down by swallowing air, but not this time. Now I spent an hour trying to puke this thing up to no luck. SO the wife to me to the hospital and I had a bad case of the hiccups and had to spit in a bottle because I wouold just spit it back up if I swallowed it. Once the doctor started doing his thing, I started puking. after about the 4th one there it was. A peicec of BONELESS chicken, about 1 1/2 inches long and about 3/4 to an inch wide. I dont know if you guys had any experience with this but I felt so relieved that I started crying, because as the hiccups got worse the harder it was to breath. It made me realize that, I dont need to be in such a hurry to eat. No one is going to take it away from me. I am thankful that she was there and that I could still be here for her and my two kids.

Just wanted to share my scare with you guys.

Later,

[RJWood]

Clay, Buddy, You gotta chew your food at least 20 times before swallowing.

I do this a lot myself, my wife is always telling me "you need to chew 20 times before swallowing" but I never listen.

Who wants to count while your enjoying a meal. Good thing she knows the Heimelik manuver.

Good to here your OK. We want you around here for a good long time.

[Raul_Perez]

Yeah...I've done it, too...It scares the ###### out of you!!

I'm glad that you're OK!

Later,

[MrObsessive]

Well, you know what they say Clay.........."Old habits die hard"!

Thank goodness that didn't happen to you! Yes, I remember the Army boot camp days when not only did the Drill Sergeant want you to shovel your food in...........they didn't want your eyes to leave the tray until you were done!

Those that didn't follow the rules were "killed" to no end!

Believe it or not, I've choked on what seemed to be a drop of water.............I have a nasty habit of washing my food down. I have to watch it though...............if I choke there's no one here to rescue me!

[hemi]

Wow! Glad to hear your OK dude.I have done the same thing and it will scare the Bee Geezers out of you.

[Eshaver]

Clay, it has happened to me as well! I was almost breathless and I suffer from Emphazemia too. I wound up taking a hammer to my back and pounding the hell outa myself . Thats how I finally got the chicken to go down enough to where I was finally able to spit the rest up. No man you aint alone , former Wrecker drivers are also prone to the same problems too! Ed Shaver

[ewaskew]

Hello Clay

Thank God you made it. I had a boss that would make comments about me eating slow, even though I always finished lunch on time

And as you said no one is going to take it from you.But my response every time to the boss was.

This could be my last meal so I take my time and enjoy every bite of food, and every breath of life.

Glad your still here to do the same.

Earl Miller

[george 53]

Clay, my Son-in-Law does the same thing. He's a Firefighter an has gotten used to eatin fast caz he never knows when they'll get a call. But I'm gonna show him if a hard core MARINE can have accidents, then so can he! This is a good lesson Clay, it's stuff like this that MAKE us slow down an think! Thanks for shareing it! Semper Fi!

Edited January 7, 2009 by george 53

[MikeMc]

Eating and painting........Both must be done slow...if you want enjoyment!!

[70gmcer]

Clay, I remember it well. Going to the Chow Hall at P.I. & the D.I. would tell us we have 20 minutes to chow down and 10 of it will be used standing in the chow line getting the food. After 40 years, I still eat too fast. Old habits are hard to stop.......What you have went though, should also be a lesson to me..

Semper Fi

Edited January 7, 2009 by 70gmcer

[FloridaBoy]

Clay and guys,

Glad you all made it. Very scary. I never had any problem with chicken, but a piece of roast beef that was the well done end, and I too, was in the habit of eating quickly, as I somehow felt stress when eating, that I was going to be called out somewhere, and I wouldn't be able to finish my meal. I used to drive too fast, tailgate, switch lanes, toss the finger at slower drivers, and generally drive aggressively.

Now I am older, I have thought some things through, and now I chew food not twenty times, or count or anything like that, but make darn sure it is well gooed up before I send it down. Amazingly I always used to be the first done at any meal, and now I am the one who is slowest. It just took thinking things through.

Second, I heard from my favorite shock talk jock on the radio that he tried comparing going to work at the speed limit, versus, speeding and driving aggressively. He said in a 10 mile drive, the difference between the two was about 5 minutes considering the same lights. He also said which I proved to myself later, that no matter how fast you go, or how you try to make up time with the gas pedal, if you get caught by redlights that is the difference, not your driving. I used to drive 30 miles to work via turnpike and local traffic, and judged taht no matter what it took me 45 minutres each way. One time I hit every light red, and it took an hour, and another time, I drove liesurely according to law, but hit every light green and took 35 minutes. So, I figured why put extra wear and tear on the car if it makes no difference?

Maybe I am getting older, and more softer, but I will tell you that as you get older, you get much more cautious.

Ken "FloridaBoy" Willaman

[Clay]

No I was cutting and eating on cooked chicken.

Thanks for all the concerns and well wishes guys, I think everything is going back to normal. My throat isnt sore anymore. So hopefully I wont have to go through that again..

[Scott H.]

Clay,

I too suffer from the quick eating problem. I've tried to start chewing and eating slower, but just can't seem to break the habit (Kinda like smoking - I can't kick that either). My solution was to start cutting everything into smaller sizes that can't choke me easily.

Glad to hear you're ok,

-Scott H.

[CB]

Glad you're ok, Clay. Years ago I had an almost identical incident . Wasn't happily married tho, like you are. Never was in the service, boot camp, etc, but growing up, I did sit at the far end of the dinner table, as one of 6 kids. My dad was a school teacher back then, when teachers didn't make any money, and there were even a couple times when we didn't have any food. My brother sat caddy corner to my Dad who sat at the head of the table and that's where the platter of food was. I had to eat fast so's I could get done before my bro, so I could ask for more. Had no problems for many years, but when my first marriage started getting really stressful, I started having those incidents, getting food stuck, and either having to wait for it to go down itself, or puke it back out.

The one night, she had made chicken, and I'm pretty sure it was Friday night, and I was in a hurry to get done and down in the workshop, so I was wolfing the chicken down too. Probably got a piece same size as yours stuck and it wouldn't go down or come back out. Figured I'd just try and go to sleep and maybe it would slide on down, but ate a whole bottle of TUMS, and got a little sleep. No change in the morning--Saturday, so I drove myself to the ER. The nice nurse told me to drink some kinda stuff, but like you, I told her, "Honey, I can't swallow! understand? I can't freakin' swallow! You better give me something to spit in, coz I CAN'T SWALLOW ANYTHING!". Doc finally checked me out, doped me up good ...(REAL good---felt like I was in Pa and San Diego at the same time ) then he and a couple cool nurses, stuck this big cable lookin thing down my throat. It had lights, camera, and a claw on it! He grabbed some of the chicken and pushed some of it on down, taking pics the whole time!

Stupid doc tells me what happened while I was still all doped up, nurses had a pool going on what kinda chicken it was, and best/worst part was that my (then) wife had to drive on icy roads to come and get me. Wonder if'n thats why she divorced me? Anyhow, turns out my esophagus was a little smaller than normal, which I found out is pretty common. Had a few more trips back to get it stretched out a bit, and did learn to eat slower, and was especially careful with certain foods, like rice which if'n I tried to swallow too much at once, just turned into a big ball of paste that stuck for sure.

That was a long time ago, and a lot of alimony ago as well. Learned a lot of lessons since. Hope you don't have any more problems.

[Clay]

You know, my week has not been that lucky. First, my big tents at work almost flew away, which would have been very expensive to replace/repair, then I choked on a peice of boneless chicken, and finally today is the icing on the cake, during our softball game I stumble over the second base and landed on my right knee, now I have a nice size scrap AND a swollen knee that I can barely walk on.

I also have duty tomorrow, but that was my choice. I opted to trade a buddy his duty (Saturday(full 24hrs)) for mine (Thursday(roughly 18hrs)) so I can take a little vacation time at the end of the month. And for those of you wondering why, you will notice at the end of the month.

[Semi Trailer Mechanic]

What's goin' on...

Clay

Back in the days (How pathetic I'm 36 years old saying back in the days GEEEZE ) when cartoons were on TV every Saturday not the news there were short educational cartoon clips between commercials and the cartoon called School House Rock. There was a skit where there was a little guy singing SLOW DOWN ...DON'T GULP ...CHEW NICE AND EASY ...CHEW,CHEW CHEW, Your food.

Just thought I'd share that w/ ya!!! Glad you're ok. I've had the windpipe capped off by a piece of food once longest couple seconds of my life.

[lordairgtar]

had the same thing happen with a 7-eleven hot dog while i was in real estate school. tried to eat too fast and choked.

Never ever eat a 7-11 hot dog. You are just asking for it.