June 12, 2003
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Taking a break from caring for very sick children in the PICU station, I leaned over the desk, just chatting with the other nurses sitting there. It was shift change and I was waiting to give report to the oncoming nurse. On the desk, someone had left us a basket of tootsie rolls. I, having a severe craving for chocolate, took one, and slowly unwrapped it as I turned around to glace at the monitor of my patient who had only 3 hours earlier been brought back from surgery. I put the candy into my mouth and started chewing on that very soft and sticky candy. I turned back around to say something to one of the nurses and realized that the once delightful candy was now caught in my throat and on the way to being the weapon of my death. I quickly put my hands up to my neck in the universal sign for choking, everyone else being engrossed in report by now, didn't notice my plight. What was I to do. I was quite panicky by now, as I couldn't breathe. I started hitting the desk hoping that someone would notice me. Finally, as my lips were surely turning a dark shade of blue, one of my coworkers noticed me. She quickly came over and performed the Heimlich maneuver on me, the once satisfying little chunk flew out of my mouth and hit the floor with a silent plunk. No one else really noticed the situation, and continued on with report. To this day, I do not eat tootsie rolls, no matter what that owl says on the TV!
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