Wednesday, January 7, 2009

why I will never eat Gobstoppers again...

Today was quite the day. As I sit here on the couch trying to figure out how to explain it, I can't quite find the right words to describe it. I'll try.

Today I choked.

Literally.

Everyone at my school has been at a conference the past couple of days. It was a good one with lots of sharing and personal stories. Lots of tissues and deep, meaningful conversations as we learn how to build relationships with our students. It has been a cathartic experience.

It has been a lot of time sitting in a chair, though. So today I brought some Gobstoppers with me. I thought it would entertain me to have something to chew and suck on during the meetings.

Not too smart.

While our presenter is in the middle of a really personal story about her past, my GS broke apart in my mouth, just as I inhaled.

I'm sitting there and all of a sudden, I have this huge piece of jawbreaker in my windpipe. It hurt. But strangely enough I could breathe. So I'm sitting there with this thing in there and each time I swallowed it bobbled up or down, but it didn't go anywhere. But I could breathe. Strange. I thought to myself "if I get up and go to the bathroom, I can probably hack it up, but then I'll be alone. What if I can't get it up?"

The presenter is still walking around in front of me and I'm sitting close to the front. I figure I'll wait until she finishes her story and then I'll have another teacher go with me.

And then it happened.

I breathed wrong and coughed.

Then I couldn't breathe. I started hacking and gagging. Right in the middle of this intense moment with the trainer. Matt, our IT guy, is next to me and he turns and looks at me.

I managed to squeak out "help."

And he's up. And I'm gagging and choking and am only sucking in a little air and the jawbreaker is moving around in my windpipe, but not really coming up. It just keeps coming up far enough to make me gag and then moving down again.

Matt leans me over and I'm still gagging. He has his hands around me, ready if I completely stop coughing. But leaned over I somehow managed to cough hard enough and it popped up into my mouth. "It's out." I whispered.

Well, by now I'm crying and shaking and every eye in the room is on me. The presenter has stopped. The world has stopped.

People hand me tissues and water and Matt looks like he's gonna have a heart attack. I felt that way a little bit. The presenter asks me if I'm all right. Yes, I am. They clap for me and for Matt, the hero.

I kinda miss the next 15 minutes while in a daze. Every time I cough, eyes turn towards me. And my windpipe realllllllllly hurts. A couple times when I coughed, I tasted blood, so I know I scratched the lining with my gobstopper. And it's still really sore. Can't do anything about it really, cause it's only designed for air. It doesn't hurt to swallow or drink, so it's a strange feeling to have that pipe bother me. That isn't the only that normally bothers us.

Someone followed me home in case I flaked out while I drove. As soon as I saw my husband I started crying. He asked me what was wrong. I told him I did a bad thing. Which isn't really the case, but I was really mortified that it happened in front of all those people.

That was my day. Please tell me yours was better.

17 comments:

Belle (from Life of a...) said...

I can't imagine how scary that was...glad everything is OK.

Jana said...

Yikes! What a scary day! Hope you are feeling better soon!

Scrapper Mom said...

I'm so glad you're ok, but you know as soon as I read your title I KNEW what you were going to say. I have always been such a freak when it comes to hard candy...including peppermint, gobstoppers, etc. I have always been made fun of bc I don't let my kids eat it. It terrifies me!! My son choked on peanut butter when he was about 7 and I thought I was going to have a nervous breakdown. I'm sorry you had to deal with that in front of people, but let it be a lesson. NEVER let your kids eat those!!!

Anonymous said...

Oh, how terrible! I am so glad that you are ok, though. I hope your windpipe heals up quickly. My teenager loves those, but you've given me reason to pause with them from now on. Yikes!

Lula! said...

I need to hug you. I do.

Erika said...

HI! I popped over from Chatting At The Sky. Wow! I knew, too, what happened from the title. I didn't eat bacon for years after choking on it. I hope you feel better soon!!

And, hey, don't feel like you did something bad! I used to work for a bank and we'd have all day meetings like that and it was a big candy fest; we'd have bowl after bowl of all kinds of candy to eat to keep us from falling asleep!!

Caroline said...

Oh my gosh, I'm so glad you're okay. I bet that WAS scary. I get scared if I even "choke" on a drink and can't get inhale for a couple seconds, but a gobstopper...I can't imagine. I'm so glad you weren't alone when it happened though and that Matt was ready and willing to do the Heimlich if necessary. I'm glad it didn't come to that.

Frizzy said...

Oh my goodness! I am sooo sorry to hear this happened to you and I'm glad to know you are relatively ok. Sorry you are in pain from the incident. Feel better soon. Some day a long time from now you'll stop and laugh much like when I lost my bikini top in front of a ton of strangers. Mortifying but at least you're alive!

Frizzy said...

This might make you feel better or at least laugh. When I read your title I thought it said, "Why I will never eat grasshoppers again." I couldn't for the life of me figure out why you didn't talk about grasshoppers but instead were talking about Gobstoppers. Time to have my eyes checked aye?!

Alison said...

Oh no!
I can only imagine how scary that must have been.
I'm glad you're ok and hope tomorrow is a better day.

Kim Hancock said...

I'm so sorry that happened to you, but am glad you're ok. Gobstoppers have always been a favorite of mine, but I am so paranoid about choking that I almost never get them.

stefanie said...

Oh, I felt so bad for you choking, but then I really hurt for you that you even for a moment thought you did a bad thing. You did nothing wrong! It was just a freaky thing. I'm so glad it turned out ok!

Rebekah said...

I had that exact same thing happen to me while eating Smarties. It was a horrible feeling.

Who do you know in Tallahassee? Reason I ask- I had a hit that originated from you blog. Just curious- I grew up there. But dont you have family in FL? ok, Im starting to babble

Bye

Karin @ 6ByHisDesign said...

oh my gosh! did you see the shiny light and turn away! good grief, sissy! i'm glad you're ok!!

Unknown said...

Same thing happened to me today except when I coughed it popped right back up into my mouth and now I realize how lucky I was

Unknown said...

Same thing happened to me today except when I coughed it popped right back up into my mouth and now I realize how lucky I was

thot said...

i hope you choke on peanut butter