in which i beg you not to call ask-a-nurse.
this lesson for you, dear reader, begins last night at dinner. i was getting ready to enjoy leftovers and began with a bite of chicken. it didn't exactly flow through my throat like usual though. instead, it got stuck. but i wasn't choking. not yet, at least. and while my mind began to get a bit restless, i noticed that i could still breathe and took to my next plan of action - chugging liquids.
i started guzzling water. then soda. followed by hot tea. it was all well and good until an hour and a half later when my chest began to feel tight.
at that point, i may have begun to freak out in tiny increments.
after google searching the possibility of something moving from a lower spot in the throat to a higher spot in the windpipe, i came up with nothing. so, i called ask-a-nurse. thankfully the hold music was soothing piano. 20 minutes later, during a moving rendition of beethoven's moonlight sonata, a nurse got on the line and told me to go straight to the ER. she said the piece of food could aspirate to my lungs and that i was at risk for complications. i heard her loud and clear, decided i didn't like the idea of dying, and arrived at the ER check-in 30 minutes later.
that's when the doctor told me that the likelihood of a piece of food aspirating into the lungs of a healthy person like me were slim. "but ask-a-nurse said that's what would happen," i pleaded. almost as if i wanted it to happen. she just shrugged and said it wasn't really possible. i was disappointed that nothing was wrong enough to justify my exorbitantly high co-pay, but i was already wearing a hospital gown, so i let them 'treat' me.
while i watched the JUCO channel teach english as a second language, a nice nurse hooked me up to an IV and gave me some sort of muscle relaxer for my esophagus and a bit of Valium. an hour later, they sent me home.
i'd like to thank ask-a-nurse for sponsoring a fun-filled wednesday night.
i started guzzling water. then soda. followed by hot tea. it was all well and good until an hour and a half later when my chest began to feel tight.
at that point, i may have begun to freak out in tiny increments.
after google searching the possibility of something moving from a lower spot in the throat to a higher spot in the windpipe, i came up with nothing. so, i called ask-a-nurse. thankfully the hold music was soothing piano. 20 minutes later, during a moving rendition of beethoven's moonlight sonata, a nurse got on the line and told me to go straight to the ER. she said the piece of food could aspirate to my lungs and that i was at risk for complications. i heard her loud and clear, decided i didn't like the idea of dying, and arrived at the ER check-in 30 minutes later.
that's when the doctor told me that the likelihood of a piece of food aspirating into the lungs of a healthy person like me were slim. "but ask-a-nurse said that's what would happen," i pleaded. almost as if i wanted it to happen. she just shrugged and said it wasn't really possible. i was disappointed that nothing was wrong enough to justify my exorbitantly high co-pay, but i was already wearing a hospital gown, so i let them 'treat' me.
while i watched the JUCO channel teach english as a second language, a nice nurse hooked me up to an IV and gave me some sort of muscle relaxer for my esophagus and a bit of Valium. an hour later, they sent me home.
i'd like to thank ask-a-nurse for sponsoring a fun-filled wednesday night.
posted by Pensive Girl @ 1:26 PM
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