broccoli, carrot, lemon drop.....GOLD FISH CRACKER!

 Those are the 4 things i have dislodged from different peoples esophagus by doing the

 heimlich maneuver!

FIRST..the broccoli, was at a high school dance, my friends date went into the bathroom because he was choking (huge mistake). one of the other boys in our group came running out and said that "sam"* was chocking. so heals, gloves and all i went in and gave him the heimlich, by the time i got the broccoli out he was blue! it was pretty dang scary, i was pretty shaky for the rest of the night.

SECOND.. the carrot, was at a family dinner and arrons Grandma choked, again, pretty freaky!!

THIRD.. the lemon drop, my niece was strapped in her car seat and the adults were standing outside the car talking when i looked over and noticed that she had her whole hand in her mouth and was kind of red, i jumped in the car undid her seat belt handed her out to her dad and then jumped out, took her and did the heimlich. This one was the scariest for me, she was only about 4 or 5 at the time and she was so little, i couldn't sleep that night.

FOURTH.. the gold fish cracker! i always wondered if i would freak out if i ever had to give my own kid the heimlich, i mean i realize i'm a nurse and probably should not freak out in emergency situations, but when its your own kid its different. well i found out today! he was shoveling the food in, since he has decided he no longer eats baby food and MUST feed himself i had a spread of canned beans, canned corn mandarin oranges and gold fish crackers on his try and he was going to town. and.... he started choking, NOT GAGGING, full on chocking, no air movement. and luckily i didn't freak out, i just grabbed him out of his high chair and flipped him upside down. it took 3 thrusts and that fish came shooting out. he was fine! i was fine!....until about 1/2 hour later when the PTSD set in and i started to feel a little shaky and light headed. but at least i know that during an "emergency" i was able to keep it together, now lets hope i never have to do it again.

i made this print out for arrons scout group and i thought if anyone wanted to they could print it out and hang it somewhere in the house, its a good cheat sheet, just in case. and here is a website to review tips for doing the heimlich on an infant!
http://firstaid.webmd.com/tc/choking-rescue-procedure-heimlich-maneuver-baby-younger-than-1-year