A couple of days ago, I choked on my lunch. Not a minor choke, I might add, but a full blown 2 minute coughing fit that left my shoulders and chest throbbing. It was slightly scary as I was home alone at the time - good job I didn't need the Heimlich manouevre (though it felt close)!
Within a few minutes of this incident, I could feel my breathing was impaired. I could only take very shallow breaths, any deep breaths or yawns were causing a relapse of the coughing fit! I could also feel that something was lodged in my windpipe, and I was making a wheezy sound when breathing.
This is where my inner hypochondriac kicked in... I was straight on the internet to find out what to do - most of the advice was to wait 24 hours then seek emergency help at a hospital, which was quite alarming! This led me to looking at what happens if food goes into the lungs and lots of searching about aspiration pneumonia!
The following day was a very uncomfortable one, trying to get through work meetings suppressing as many coughs as I could. I decided to have a nap when I got home, and as soon as I lay down, I started having another coughing fit... and voila... out pops a completely intact kernel of sweetcorn. Much relief - but also amazement that something so small could cause so much pain and hassle. I'm still feeling pain in my ribs every time I cough or yawn!
Also this week, one of my customers e-mailed my boss to say that I had "been a star" over the last few months. Now my job still sucks big time, but that one small gesture at least let me have a happy day!
Small things matter!
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