No tip required

Maggie started choking last night.

I was at the computer just outside her room. The nurse was rinsing something in the bathroom sink. I heard a strange sound and thought Maggie needs suctioning, but the sound was different. I ran in there and she was really struggling. I started the suction but nothing was improving. I called for the nurse who could not hear all this with the water running. (A separate concern.)The trach seemed clear but Maggie was wide-eyed and clearly gurgling. I suctioned her mouth, but nothing was improving. The nurse was giving her oxygen and I kept trying different suction methods to no avail. I was confused but finally realized what was going on. I said, “she’s choking.” This is not a normal thing for Maggie because she does not eat by mouth. Generally, nothing goes into her mouth at all.

Maggie had part of a 5ml syringe in her hand. I asked the nurse where the other part was. She said Maggie had the whole thing, but she could not choke on that. It is too big to go in her mouth. Nevertheless, I knew right then that she was choking on the rubber tip of the syringe. We continued to work frantically – well I was frantic; the nurse seemed to be operating in slow motion. (That may be my perception only). I presume Maggie finally swallowed it because we never found it, but the crises passed. It was a very frightening few minutes. Maggie was very scared and fighting back tears. The nurse found the syringe plunger on the floor and, sure enough, the rubber tip was missing.

That should be the end of it, but with Maggie, we may still have things to worry about. Generally, when you swallow something it will just make its way through your system in a day or so; but Maggie’s system does not work very well. She swallowed a tooth a few years ago; it never came out and I did not really think anything of that because I figured we “missed” it. Wrong. A year or so later she was having various medical issues and the pulmonologists were stumped. A strange mark on an x-ray had them call in the GI docs. It was the tooth. The tooth never dropped into her stomach; it was stuck in the lower part of her esophagus. They had to go in and get it out in what was probably the most expensive tooth extraction in history. The tooth fairy needed to leave A LOT under her pillow that night. Now I have to hope we do not have to do the same thing for this. The tooth was organic material and caused a big problem. The little rubber tip of the syringe plunger is not organic and can only be worse.

Last night would have been much worse without the trach. I am certain it saved her life. She was choking, but she could breathe because of the trach. I have a love/hate relationship with her trach.

Today it’s more love than hate.