I have a huge fear of choking when it comes to Wheeler.
With anyone choking is very scary, but with Wheeler its extremely scary because he has a very poor swallow/gag reflex due to his injury - which makes him more likely to choke in the first place but also almost totally unable to cough anything up. Then, put him in a wheelchair, strapped down in 5 places (2 feet straps, a seatbelt, 2 arms bands, a chest strap and chin control) - it would be really hard to get him out of the chair fast enough and be able to somehow administer the heimlich maneveur since his legs are limp noodles. So I've always had a fear of him choking and I'm hypervigilant about it. Well, it happened on Monday, he choked. After 6.5 years together, its kinda amazing it took this long for it to happen.
He was in bed, I was feeding him ramen noodles (don't blame me, I just make what he asks for, there's no accounting for taste). He took a drink of water and it all got bungled up in his throat somehow. I saw the look in his eyes that said "trouble". I asked if he was choking - in the past when I've asked, its always been a false alarm and he would just say no, albeit sputtering most of the time. But this time, he didn't answer when I asked him, his eyes were just wide open staring hard at me. For a split second I wondered if he really was since he didn't say he was choking, then in the next split second I realized he can't talk because HE IS CHOKING.
I am a good person to be around in an emergency. I focus immediately, I stay calm cool collected and I just move into a zone, I just act and don't feel any emotion at all. And thats what kicked in at that moment. I made a plan and executed it. First I just pulled him forward and thumped him open-handed on the upper back a few times. Nothing. I hit him much harder, with a closed fist, very hard, down in the middle of his back. Nothing. I leaned back around to see how I could best jump behind him, hoist him up to try to do a real Heimlich and I caught his eyes again. There was panic in his eyes, and for a moment, I felt the same panic kicking in. But I fought it, and I decided I would give him one last thump before I tried to somehow get behind him. The thought crossed my mind of calling 911 but one can only be oxygen deprived for 4 minutes before brain damage begins, so I would have wasted precious seconds calling and there is no way anyone could have gotten here in less than 4 minutes, especially since we were already 1 minute in by this time.
I leaned him over again, as much as possible at the waist to keep the airway straight, I wound up my left arm, balled up my fist and I hit him with all my might, a punch worth of Muhammed Ali, pushing as much presure from bottom to top as I hit as I could. In response, I heard the most beautiful sound I've ever heard - a gasp of air in. He coughed weakly and swallowed over and over again, while still struggling to breathe. I wasn't entirely sure he could fully breathe so I asked if I needed to hit him again and he shook his head no (of course, he may have decided death was preferrable to another punch like that). After a few minutes he was breathing normally again. And that's when I panic - after the fact. I just starting to tremble and shake head to foot because I realized that he could have so easily have died right then and there. It was very frightening and just underscores what a bitch spinal cord injury is all around. Its not that you just can't feel or move, there is SO much more. At Wheeler's level, you can't pee or poop anymore - you need a tube to pee and you just don't even want to know about the back door. Your lung function is compromised, your immune system is compromised, you are subject to bone breaks because you can't feel your limbs if they get pinched or stretched in the wrong direction, prone to pressure sores because you sit in one place for so long, you get urinary tract infections (see previous about tubes to pee, they carry bugs quite effectively), you get fungal infections, which are opportunistic since there is little airflow due to lack of movement, and then there's the higher risk of everything from depression to heart disease. SCI sucks. Alot. And so much more than it seems on the surface, and it sure seems shitty even on the surface.
Moral of the story? Don't break your neck. And learn the Heimlech maneuver.
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