If i hadn't known the Heimlich...

about a month ago, my studio was asking what people thought about having a CPR class on-sight. this was my reply:

I made my ex-girlfriend laugh once while we were walking down some side street when i lived in Mexico City. i guess it was around 1996. She was eating some fruit from a fruit stand, one of her favorite pastimes, and proceeded to choke after one particularly loud guffaw. I almost didn't notice that she had stopped walking until i made another joke. there was no laughter so i looked sideways and realized that she was behind about 15 feet clutching her throat. she was visibly blue and not making a sound.

Instantly, I could tell that she couldn't get any air in or out. it was the kind of choke that can kill a person in less then a minute. There was absolutely no one around so it was up to me and only me. I immediately remembered my CPR training from Outward Bound (it had to be good for something) and proceeded to do the Heimlich maneuver. the instructions just popped into my head like i learned it the day before and i was behind her in a flash.

I could tell that she was totally panicked and i could only imagine what was going on inside her head. i wanted her to know that i knew how to deal with the situation so i told her not to worry, and that i knew what to do. she stopped struggling when i said that so calmly. i think that is the part that she remembers the best. not how quickly i was there, but that i let her know she was going to be OK and that i was confident of that fact.

Sure enough, on the third attempt, a large yellow chunk of pineapple flew out of her mouth and bounced down the sidewalk. to this day, i know she is eternally grateful to me, which is nice considering that I am the one who made her huff the fruit in the first place.

now, i make sure that the person i spend most of my time with knows CPR and the Heimlich. just in case. i have been known to try to inhale food before myself. a poorly timed joke can kill a person.

I was saved by my mom when I was 8 yrs old. I had inhaled a frozen strawberry that was in my ice cream in our country house in Vermont. I think it was my sister's fault :) My mom got behind me and heaved up pretty hard. or maybe it wasn't that hard, but i was small so i levitated off the ground. The little bastard of a berry flew out of my mouth and made a splat mark on the raw wood wall of the living room. I remember that i was shocked and embarrassed about it so i turned to mom and said "why the hell did you do THAT?!".

my mom had been talking on the phone with a friend of hers when she saw my distress. so the phone was still lying sideways on the counter with the caller still on the other line. i clearly remember hearing this persons voice say "Kill that ungrateful little shit!".

Either way, learn how to save a life and make sure everybody else does too. The life you save, could be your own.