[MissTwisties]

...just kidding...well almost. I think I'll banned all round shape candies. My youngest daughter wanted to go see her dad at the office so I brought her. Before we left she went in their kitchen and grab 2-3 small round (like small balls) shaped candies. Put one in her mouth, by the time I was driving at the corner of a street ready to ake a turn, she slam open the rear door, bend forward, I turn around and look at her and say "Kellie, what are you doing?" then she opens her mouth wide, kinda like she wants to vomit and for a second I don't understand, she was perfectly fine the minute before. I ask "Kellie are you OK??" Then she puts her hands around her neck and then I "clicked" and knew what was going on. I get out of the car in panic, starts waving my arms in the air for someone to stop and help. I unbuckled my daughter, grab her in my arms and get her out of the car...she was chocking more and more, grabbing her neck...life leaving me as I felt helpless, not knowing how to help my own daughter. I called 911, about 5-6 cars were already stopped all around us, a lady yelling "Does anyone know how to do "ips....maneuver" and she was shaking my daughter, I was telling her to stop shaking her like that in fear the candy would lodge even deeper...For a second I turned around to look for the name of the street I was on to give 911 operator, and someone yelled at me she got it out...I rushed to her, vomit at her feet and the stupid candy in it.

A nurse apparently stopped by, looked at my daughter's face to make sure her eyes were ok..?? then I said thank you to everyone and they left...my little girl was pale like the moon, sweaty (it's f*ckin hot outside) and extremly calm. I sat her in the car with A/C next to me. One thing that PISSES me off in all this is that "I KNEW" how to do that maneuver, I had to learn it a few years ago. But somehow, it all went down the drain seeing my daughter like this. I could not even help her, or was afraid to, in fear of aggravating the situation. I felt like an awful mother out there. I'm just glad she is OK now, altho she feels pain in her throat, and she is VERY quiet now. I want her to start arguying with her sister again...

[richw]

Sorry kid

Anything that's chockable my kids are always told let me here the crunch

[OreoGitorio]

glad she's alright, choking is fuckin scary.

You should look into learning how to do the Heimlich Maneuver, especially on kids... it's different than adults. I'm actually pretty friggin surprised you didn't need to get trained to do that for when you got your child care license.

It's very basic, google it.

[MissTwisties]

That's what I said Pete, look at the end of my post (yeah I know, sorry for the long ass rant), I KNEW how to do it, I was supposed to be able to help her. It's just like I got so nervous and scared that I forgot, or more likely, I was afraid to make things worse for her if I was to try anything on her. I suck!

edit....'cause I can't spell.

[MissTwisties]

It happened to me once when I was about 10 yrs old, I was out on a school field trip, doing an obstacle course in the woods. You know those YUMMY red and white striped little balls? (taste like peppermint candy canes) I was the last in line, choked on the thing suddenly, nobody noticed as they kep walking and I was choking on the candy for maybe...less than a minute, but it seemed like forever, I couldn't even shout "help!", it finally came out tho. Scarry as hell.

[OreoGitorio]

meh, got to the point where she puked it up & figured she was alright so i pretty much stopped reading.

The thing w/ that stuff is you always need to keep things fresh by practicing & getting re-trained in it often. I get re-certified in First Aid every 3 years & CPR/AED (which includes the Heimlich) every year.

[Doc]

Sometimes when people are not really familiar they freeze.

You owe it to yourself (and your Daughter) to go get retrained Miss Twisties.

Or at least look it up and get re familair.

Thankfully it all came out ok.

[Uncle Snake]

Sounds like oreo wants to heimlich somebody......

[JohnnyV]

Originally Posted by OreoGitorio

meh, got to the point where she puked it up & figured she was alright so i pretty much stopped reading.

The thing w/ that stuff is you always need to keep things fresh by practicing & getting re-trained in it often. I get re-certified in First Aid every 3 years & CPR/AED (which includes the Heimlich) every year.

They make us do the first aid/cpr/aed every year here... and I'm glad they do, because I tend to forget a lot simply because I never have to use it.

[bump909]

Originally Posted by OreoGitorio

glad she's alright, choking is fuckin scary.

pete, don't confuse choking with gagging. if it's scary, just tell me and i'll be more careful next time.

[richw]

Thats why doctors don't work on relatives

[hqp921]

That's scary, but I'm glad things turned out okay.

I guess when I was a child, I nearly choked to death -- mum froze up, but luckily dad was around to dislodge whatever delicious candy I had found sitting under the couch.

You never know how you'll react in a real live situation until you're faced with it. Sometimes all the training in the world goes out the window, and sometimes that adrenaline enhances what you've trained.

[Stoneman]

STAY CALM! Number 1 rule in ANY situation. You panic, you forget and / or fuck up. STAY CALM, especially when it involves a child...

Yes, it IS easily done. In fact, it's easier to stay calm than it is to freak like that...

[MissTwisties]

Originally Posted by Stoneman

STAY CALM! Number 1 rule in ANY situation. You panic, you forget and / or fuck up. STAY CALM, especially when it involves a child...

Yes, it IS easily done. In fact, it's easier to stay calm than it is to freak like that...

I can only say to you "easier said than done". Don't you think I WISHED that I had stay calm, because it would have been the best thing I could do... Different persons....different ways to react to situations...and I for one never thought I would react this way.

[OreoGitorio]

Yup. Like Doc & Jay said, there's alot of reasons why some people don't or CAN'T help, even if they know exactly what to do. there's alot of factors that can affect whether or not you step up.

One example is it can depend on who else is around. If there are other people around & you know someone else has the same kinda training you do, sometimes you sit back because you expect them to step up & do something, where they're doing the same thing you are.

Interestingly enough, I've been present in a few medical situations here at work & at home (luckilly nothing too major) and when it's someone I know I tend to be better at putting the emotional part to the side & do a better job than if it were someone I don't know. Luckilly I haven't been in a situation where no one was doing anything. If I do end up in that situation I can only hope that my training will kick in.

[Stoneman]

Originally Posted by Stoneman

Yes, it IS easily done. In fact, it's easier to stay calm than it is to freak like that...

VERY easily done...

[01YZF6]

glad your girl is ok.

important note on first aid/cpr: unless you are frequently having to be in use of the specific techniques, you should take refreshers every 6 months or annually at a minimum, they are constantly changing the way procedures are used, and under what circumstances to use them.

[OreoGitorio]

Originally Posted by Stoneman

VERY easily done...

Ah, but you're forgetting one thing...... She's a woman.

[MissTwisties]

Originally Posted by OreoGitorio

Ah, but you're forgetting one thing...... She's a woman.

You know...somehow I won't take offense to that, because I almost said the same thing to Stoneman. I would think it's easier for a man to put emotions aside in bad situations where critical actions need to be taken. When I saw my little girl choking, my emotions were overwhelming, I was desperate and scared. And you know what...it didn't help my daughter. And that's what makes me so angry at myself. What if no one was around to help? I like to think that not given the choice, I would have give it a try at doing the maneuver instead of just panicking (spelling?). I'm mad at myself for relying on others to help my daughter, I'm her mother, not them. Either way, even when I type this, I feel no reasoning of mine makes any sense about the whole thing.

I'm just glad she's ok. She took a good nap when we got home, she went straight in her room and layed down on her bed, and she just felt asleep. When she woke up and we went out to run some errands, her big sister offered her M&M's and she said "no thank you, I don't want to eat any candies for a while" (that's a 7 yrs old talking...) lol...

[Dianne]

It's strange how people react to these types of things, medical training or not. Ive had to deal with stuff from "shooting" someone with an epipen to giving first aid to a tech who nearly cut the end of his pinky off last season.

I am the biggest wimp when it comes to this kind of thing and very squeamish. But for some reason, when something like this happens to coworkers, famiy, etc. I deal with it pretty well. Of course, after the adrenaline wears off and I know they're all set, I usually need some help myself because I feel like I'm going to pass out.

[Doc]

Thanks to my training I like to think I thrive in these situations...

BUt even with all my training I sometimes miss stuff or do something that I could have done better.

Practice makes perfect, Get some practice unitl your perfect.

Best way to learn is to learn it, do it and the TEACH it. If you know it well enough to teach you will remember it when you have to.

[Luvanicebum]

It's no reflection on you as a mother. The fact your are concerned that you couldn't help her is, in itself, an admirable quality.
Hell, I knew mothers back in my day that would have punched the kid in the back of the head and then screamed at them.
Sad but true.
Perhaps a small laminated reminder First aid card in your wallet will give you the confidence to apply such a manuever.

[MissTwisties]

Thank you...

[SVRACER01]

thats how lifesavers candies were created

[MissTwisties]

Originally Posted by SVRACER01

thats how lifesavers candies were created

??