Last night I decided to have an omelette for dinner. I ended up fixing a cheese omelette with steak strips. I love fixing omelettes because they are simple to make and only take a few minutes.
Being a teacher, I have become very good at eating my meals very quickly. Even when I am at home I tend to speed eat. Tonight was no exception. I was hurrying through this steak and cheese omelette. Let me preface and say that there are some things you should never try to hurry and eat...steak being one of them.
As you can probably imagine, I was not properly chewing my food before swallowing it. About half-way through the omelette I felt a piece of steak go down the wrong way. I felt it move down and get stuck in my chest. I just felt it stop and get lodged.
Before anyone panics, I was not choking. I could breathe just fine. However, there was a lot of coughing going on. This steak got stuck in between the esophagus and the trechea. I was smart and did not panic. Actually, this happened a couple of years ago so I knew what was happening.
Here comes the disgusting part. Because of this piece of steak being lodged where it was, I was beginning to spasm. It is my body's way of trying to vomit and dislodge the steak. All that was coming up was mucus...lots and lots of mucus. I tried drinking water hoping that it would help move it and slide it on down. What ends up happening is the water goes down the trachea and towards the lungs. It immediately starts my coughing again. Nothing would go down.
I knew what I was going to have to do. But, I wanted to wait until the morning. I decided to lay down for the night and sleep. Let me go ahead and tell you that it is impossible to sleep with that stuck in your throat. Within minuts of laying down I would start to convulse and vomit again. This went on ALL NIGHT!
An endoscopy is basically where the doctor sends a camera down my throat to find the undesirable object. Then they just get a hold of the object and extract it. I was sedated during the entire procedure. I remember talking with the nurse for a few minutes. She left to tend to another patient. Next time I saw her I was done.
All in all, the procedure is virtually painless. Waiting around for more than 14 hours to get it taken care of was not a joy AT ALL!
I missed a day of work because of it, but at least I can have some extra rest time. The sedation meds were awesome.
This has really worn me out tonght, so I am planning to turn in early. That never happens.
See, miracles do happen!
"The sedation meds were awesome." Lol.
ReplyDeleteNonetheless, ouch! I'm glad you're feeling better and alive. You can bring that piece of steak to school for show and tell!
J.C. I am glad it all turn out alright. All I can say chew 1000 times before you swallow. lol. I am truly sorry you had to go threw this ... and miss work. Glad ya ok .... Love Just
ReplyDeleteSo, dare I ask what other talents you may have, given the ability to sleep with something lodged in your throat for 14 hours? ;-)
ReplyDeleteThat sucks (pun slightly intended). I'm sure I'd panic, try the heimlich on the back of a chair, bruise or break something and just make it worse.
Sadly, I didn't get any sleep with that stuck in my throat. It was impossible. I would lay down and my lungs would go into spasms trying to clear out whatever was in them. I only got to sleep once sedated and they got the darned thing out.
ReplyDeleteyikes! so basically you need somebody to take you out for a nice, leisurely meal - this is like a plea for help, no? :-) Glad you turned out ok
ReplyDeleteI will never turn down a chance to go out for dinner. Especially if it is Italian or Indian cuisine.
ReplyDeleteUm, wow man....chew a little more next time? Please?
ReplyDeleteOh man. Glad you're safe! Take some time and recover!
ReplyDeleteEarly night, I don't think so.... :P
ReplyDelete