Whew! Good for you! Although you did make one faux pas, since it was Father's Day, you should have first asked your dad if it was OK to do the Heimlich on your mom.

Moahahahaha! Wendell!

Cool, mom-saver!

Ha!

She was sitting between us. He didn't know what to do.

As I said, my hubs has had experience with this but I figure mom would rather ME do it.

It was not as hard as I thought it would be.

(It did scare the crap outta the Grandbun. After we got Mom squared away we both had to take turns hugging the baby and reassuring him. Poor little punkin.

Good for you, bunnyfire. I almost choked once on a piece of steak and it's the closest I think I've ever come to death. It was completely different to that 'something going down the wrong way' feeling, it was like a valve in my throat had shut. When I'm eating alone at home I make sure I take small bites, which is hard sometimes, being a bit of a glutton.

Yes, seriously, good for you! (I am really losing my ability to take anything seriously... too much anti-depressants?)

Wendell, we like you that way, don't sweat it.

Glad to hear she's fine. Good for you.

Good work! And YIKES.

I had to give my mother the Heimlich a couple of years ago, and a few days later I realized the experience had scared me silly. (I'd never had any training, just seen the diagram of how it works, so I wasn't confident that I was doing it correctly. And I agree, it's surprisingly effective.)

Good for you, and I'm glad it worked for you.

I once had the horrific experience of watching a small woman in public restaurant apply the Heimlich maneuver to a much larger woman she was having lunch with, the larger woman being in obvious distress. It worked! But the chunk of matter dislodged was sucked right back down by the older woman, on her big intake of breath immediately thereafter! And she was choking again, and passed out, slumping in her chair. The small woman wouldn't quit trying, or relinquish her hold on the large woman! The large woman turned ashen grey.

About 5 minutes later, the EMT's showed up. The restaurant had largely emptied by that point. The small woman was still jerking on the big woman, and wouldn't give up. The EMT's pulled the small woman off the big woman by main force, and then pulled the big woman out of the restaurant on a gurney.

The line at the register was shorter by then, so I paid my bill, and left.

Good for you bunnyfire! Thanks for sharing the "hey it works" stories bf and Elsa - that's reassuring.

Good for you!

I've never had to perform the heimlich, even though I am CPR certified. Though my then-husband once had to perform the heimlich on me in one of those teeny Thai restaurants. I often have food get stuck in my throat, but usually I can wait and it will work itself down. This time I tried to chase it with a bit of water, which just backed up passed my windpipe and I could no longer breathe.

I guess my eyes bugged out and I put my hand to my throat; my husband asked if I was chocking, and then he jumped up and squeezed it out of me. He had had some EMS training a few years previous and still remembered how to do it.

It was horribly embarrassing, however, for that piece of chicken to come flying back onto my plate along with everything else I had eaten. While the other restaurant-goers, sitting two feet away, gaped on in horror. My husband took me to the bathroom and then I went to the car while he paid. He said that they had already cleared the table. I didn't go back there for a year, certain that they would remember me.

(I hope I didn't make it sound like it's a breeze for the untrained. In fact, I came back in here to stress: if, like me, you've never had any training, you might at least like to refresh your memory before you need the technique. I was terrified, because I really didn't know what I was doing, so I was afraid she'd choke to death while I fumbled. I don't like to think about that.)

rhapsodie: Don't be embarrassed! They would have remembered you far more clearly if you hadn't survived. Thank goodness your husband acted quickly.

Way to go, bunnyfire! Glad to hear she's OK!

(And that grandbun is no longer stressin'.)

The only time I’ve seen it being performed is in Mrs. Doubtfire, and Robin Williams had a tough time getting that morsel out of Pierce Brosnan’s throat. Work with me now—work with me!

cheers bunnyfire's Heimlich Maneuvre skills

Another Good For You bunnyfire!

We love our bunnyfire, we do, because we know she's amazing.

I knew a girl in college whose mother choked to death before the whole family, at the dinner table. That was years before there was so much public awareness of the Heimlich.

Just remember, everyone, the test is whether the person can talk. If they can't, act fast, because you don't know how long until the EMTs can arrive.