Horrified

​Leon choked last night.

He’s fine, we spent a few hours in the ER last night to check his lungs for any aspiration. We’ll monitor him for any weird coughing over the next few days, but it seems like we’re in the clear.

He was eating jackfruit with Minh. He loves jackfruit. He ate too fast and started to hunch over and show signs of choking.

Minh immediately jumped up and patted his back a couple times. When he realized that wasn’t getting the food out, he jumped up and did the Heimlich.

He was still making some vocalizations while choking so it seems like his breathing was never fully cut off, but he was so scared. He cried for a while afterwards while we consoled him.

It happened so fast. From the time he started showing signs of choking to the time he coughed up the food was less than 20 seconds.

But I’m still haunted by it. I felt so helpless and unprepared. Minh was great at jumping right into action (he said he didn’t even think about it – it felt like someone else was controlling his body, like a religious experience). But I more or less froze.

It’s something you hope never happens. I thought we were in the clear on choking (for the most part) since he’s so much older, but now I feel so paranoid. Can a kid get adequate nutrition from  only eating applesauce and yogurt?