More than pipes and wires

Back when I was “footloose and fancy free” a coworker’s wife thought one of her coworkers and I would be a perfect match.  So a double date was arranged with dinner and theatre on tap.  Bruce and I arrived at the restaurant well ahead of the fashionably late ladies, so we sat in a booth and enjoyed fine glasses of water while we waited for our companions.

Suddenly, we hear the panicked voice of a woman yelling “Somebody call the Fire Department! He’s choking!” I looked around and sure enough there’s her husband, turning several unattractive shades of blue and grasping his neck.

I think I mumbled “Excuse me” to Bruce, stood up and walked over to their table.  As a former Emergency Medical Technician from my days in California, I had learned and practiced the Heimlich Maneuver on fellow EMTs, but never actually used it.

I put my hand on his shoulder and in my best reassuring professional ... Read more »