I am inspired to write today because of my near death experience yesterday morning. I was choking yesterday morning and alone in my apartment.
I had prepared my breakfast for the day and I was taking out my pills that I take twice a day. Once in the morning and once with dinner. I take two daily vitamins, two fish oil, one iron and one vitamin D. Those are all capsules with a smooth outer surface. The last two pills I take are called Curcuplex. They are a pressed pill made of Turmeric. The surface of these are ruff and dry. I was given the ability to swallow a lot of pills at once. I have in the past, every time, taken all these pills at once to save time and save myself from swallowing a whole glass of water. Yesterday was different than the other times that I have taken my pills. As I swallowed those pills I immediately knew that something was wrong. I have once or twice before had an issue swallowing the Curcuplex. They have taken a little longer to go down before. But this time they were no moving at all!! I tried not to panic and think of what to do. I first tried to drink more water. I thought ok maybe they just need a little more lubrication and push. I drank a few large sips and nothing they were still stuck. At this point I could still breath so I was not freaking out. I tried to hack them up and to my surprise one came out. So I tried to hit my self in the stomach and the back. Nothing was moving. Then I tried to swallow again and again with water. This time the pill got stuck more. The last sip of water actually came back out of my mouth and went all over the floor. Now this is when I knew I was completely by the book choking. I couldn't breath or cough. I was in complete PANIC I went from thinking I was OK to thinking oh my god I am going to die alone in this apartment and no one is going to know about it. I immediately knew that I needed to go to someone and have them give me the Heimlich.
I went to my neighbors door and started pounding on it like a crazy person. If you have seen in movies when the girl being chased by the killer is trying to pound on the front door of the house to try and get someone to answer it so she doesn't die? That was me. I was trying for what seemed like for ever. They weren't asnwering right away and I was really scared that I was going to have to go down a flight of stairs to the next door and try my luck that someone else would answer. I started thinking maybe they are too scared to answer this kind of knock at this early in the morning. It was 7 AM. I know I would be worried. I saw someone walking past my building and they just looked at me as I was pounding on this door. I tried to yell for help but I could project my voice. Then suddenly the door opens and the neighbor and his wife are bewildered. I had woken them up and now they were confused and looking at me like "what the hell is going on". I put my hands on my throat and opened my eyes wide trying to convey that I was choking and I needed help. Side note here is that my neighbors first language is not English... The wife knew pretty quick that I was choking and asked me "are you choking?". I nodded yes and she got behind me and started giving me the Heimlich. After a few thrusts the pill became unlodged from my throat and I was able to breath again. I thanked the neighbor for helping me and went back in my apartment. I sat down on my couch to try and process what had just happened. My neighbor did come back a few minutes after and asked if I was OK and if I needed any tea or if I wanted to stay in their house for a while. I declined as I just really wanted to call Robert and talk to him. I thanked her immensely and gave her a hug and went back in side. I soon had to start working so that helped my focus on getting myself back together.
It took me a few hours to calm down enough to think about what had occured. I had just experienced the feeling of thinking that I was going to die. It was really hard to deal with and I cried as I tried to call my fiance and tell him what had happened. I felt really alone and scared. Scared is the only word to describe it. I felt a little anxiety this morning as I was preparing my breakfast and getting my pills ready.
Definitely was a seriously life changing and learning experience that I won't soon forget.
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