Close Call

So... last night I ended up going to the emergency room. I have a history of weird problems when it comes to my health. I've never had a broken bone (except toes and thumbs but that doesn't really count), I've never had a major injury, but I am allergic to just about everything, I've had hives for three years (during my elementary school years), I get red dots on my hands every summer, and my ears start to itch when I eat too much. So, this latest incident is no surprise to me or Laurie.

A Little Background

Back in 99, I choked on a piece of pizza while I was out to eat after youth service on a Wednesday night. When I started choking, I tried to take a big gulp of soda to push it down... bad idea. I couldn't swallow the soda and it came right back up. Not only that, I trapped a large air bubble underneath of the food which made it push even further up into my windpipe. I ran to the pizzeria's bathroom and continued gagging on the piece of pizza trying to force it up. Unfortunately, it wouldn't come up. It did, however, become lodged a little bit lower in my esophagus which then allowed me to breath even though the food was still stuck. I walked out of the bathroom and tried to explain what was happening but I was greeted by the owner of the restaurant, yelling at me because he thought I was drunk. Meanwhile, all of my students from the youth ministry were trying to explain that I wasn't drunk but I was choking. He didn't believe any of us and kicked us out, which was fine with me, I wasn't going to try and stuff any more pizza down there.

Anyway, to make a long story short, I eventually made it to the emergency room that night. They had to knock me out so they could use a device to push the food through into my stomach. They also dilated my esophagus (stretched it out) because I found out that day that I have an extremely narrow esophagus. I guess I thought everyone had to take a drink with every bite just to make sure their food would go down. From that point forward, I was supposed to go to get my esophagus dilated every six months... I made it back once.

Now I Have a Reason NOT to Eat my Vegetables!!

So what does the pizza have to do with last night? Let me explain. I was eating a salad, yes that's right, a salad. I took a bite, chewed it up pretty good, and swallowed. But that was one tough piece of lettuce. It lodged itself right in my esophagus and wouldn't budge. I tried a sip of soda to push it down but that only made matters worse. Laurie heard me struggling from upstairs and came down to check on me. When she got downstairs, I was unable to speak to tell her I was okay. I was able to breathe, but not very well. Laurie tried the heimlich but I'm just too big for her to get her arms around for a good thrust. Eventually, I was able to get the air bubble out from under the food and my breathing settled down. So, we headed off to the hospital to get the food pushed through to my stomach. But after about an hour at the emergency room, it went down on it's own. A pretty exciting story with a bit of an anti-climactic conclusion. Sorry about that.

I have to go back to the doctor today to get stretched out at 3:00. It's a painless procedure but they do have to make me go to sleep. So, I suppose if you want to shoot a prayer on up for me this afternoon, that would be cool. I'm not sure this is great blogging material. I mean, what are you gonna do? Tell me what you've choked on?? But it was too weird for me to keep to myself. Come on... choking on a piece of lettuce?? That's priceless.

See you all on Saturday!

Matt and Laurie