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I just got home back from the ER. It wasn't even my shift, I was helping out a colleague of mine because we're at respiratory disease peak season, and ER consults go through the roof in this time of the year. For a small hospital with only 16 beds, we get about 110 consults on the ER each day, usually seen by a single MD who's on duty for 24 hours and then, the next day, does clinic duty for 8 hours. It's pretty nerve-wracking, so why not help out a colleague with the hard work, huh?...
Or so I thought.
16:00, ER room 3. I was seeing a patient and I hear a commotion. I excuse myself and take a peek outside. A child is being carried in the arms of his mother. The kid isn't older than two years old. He's flaccid and cyanotic (the skin turns of a purple-bluish shade because of the lack of oxygen).
I rush to the mom.
"Doctor, please help us! He was playing with his toy car less than 5 minutes ago, I went to get a coffee to my kitchen and he was seizing when I got back! Help my boy!..."
I rip the kid from his mother's arms and rush him to the CPR box. He's got a pulse. He's not breathing spontaneously. I run. And I'm a tall motherfucker, I'm 6'3". I'm on the CPR box on 3 hops. As I go, I shout the words no physician or EMT wants to hear on an ER shift:
CALL A CODE!!!
Soon, my colleague, a nurse, some EMTs and the doula, who was seeing a patient nearby in the maternity room just across the hall, rush in.
"Male, about 2 years old, was playing with a toycar about 5 mins ago, mom found him seizing after she lost sight of him for a moment. Steady pulse at 60 x minute, no spontaneous breathing."
We begin, as per guidelines, CPR. Since I was the first medical responder, I took charge of the kid's airway. I extend his head to a "sniffing" possition. I open his mouth and check for any foreign object that may be obstructing the airway. I see nothing. So I begun giving him assisted breathing with an Ambu bag.
2 breaths. His chest rises, but there's a weird noise coming from his throat.
![[image loading]](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IpyPBpyxAZQ/T6FoVGqZ7cI/AAAAAAAAC6Y/n9gRYHurako/s1600/ambu.jpg) This is an Ambu bag, for those not familiar with the medical jargon.
As my colleague takes charge of the CPR team, he begins stating instructions for everyone involved. Kid had a pulse after the first set of measures so an IV line was estasblished, I begun giving rescue breaths with the ambu bag, but there was that noise bugging all of us. I waited for mandatory check-up that comes after the 1st 2 minute cycle of measures and had a laryncoscope prepared to check the kid's throat. Medications to knock him unconscious were being prepared in case I needed to intubate him.
![[image loading]](http://equipstat.com/Products/images/Laryngoscope-Handles-L.jpg)
This is a laryngoscope.
So the mandatory check-up comes. I take the Ambu mask off and open up the airway. Take the laryngoscope and take a peek in his throat.
There it was. Right at the base of the tongue.
A rather large carwheel.
I ask for forceps. I take the carwheel out.
Kid coughes vigorously and breathes spontaneously.
At that point. I breathe.
Her mom sighs. Then cries and rushes to hold her son.
"Good call", says my colleague.
A young boy lives on.
The moral to this story:
If a toy comes with a label that says something like this:
![[image loading]](http://free4illustrator.com/wp-content/uploads/bg.jpg) Choking hazzard!!!!!!!
ALWAYS think of your child and don't let your kids have those kind of toys.
That kid could have died today because of a toy which wasn't meant to be used by him.
Thank you for reading.
 
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United States24796 Posts
Thank you for sharing this, and kudos to you for your good work!
Yea it annoys me how people always think warnings aren't for them... for some reason.
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Choking on something is one of my major fears, the thought of being helpless while you cannot breathe makes me shudder. Thanks for sharing, and keep up the good work.
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"But my kids aren't stupid."
Insert Kappa, nice story, why didn't he barf?
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Aotearoa39261 Posts
Sick story
Props for all the good work that you do =]
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This is like a continuation of a Snet story with the blanks filled in and Trauma center narration.
Nice, this is cool!
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On July 07 2012 10:25 Hnnngg wrote:
"But my kids aren't stupid."
Insert Kappa, nice story, why didn't he barf?
*Warning: Don't open the spoiler if you get grossed out by reading... uh... gross stuff.*
+ Show Spoiler +He had a little residual vomit on his airway which means he probably did vomit prior to his arrival. He also didn't vomit while extracting the car wheel because he was sedated in order to do the laryngoscopy safely.
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Man, you are a hero, just like every doctor in the world. I've mad respect for this proffession.
Are you in Chile? It's winter in the south hemisphere and here where I live the weather is crazy. Before yesterday we had 27ºC weather, today 8ºC.
Can't even blame the body for getting sick  (
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5/5 nuff said.
I hope you doctors get paid enough. I would go insane being on the job for 12+ hours.
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Great story 5/5. I hope it saves another life.
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On July 07 2012 10:30 Torte de Lini wrote:
This is like a continuation of a Snet story with the blanks filled in and Trauma center narration.
Nice, this is cool!
I love Snet stories.
Keep up the good work UmbraaeternuS, blog and job wise 
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Blogs like this always make me incredibly grateful that people like you exist. You guys are heroes.
<3 Thanks for sharing.
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5/5 I hope this will prevent the need for you to save lives in cases such as this. Really i don't care if you think your kid is the next einstein, if he is under the age on the label don't give it too him, at least in cases of life threatening potential. Speaking as someone who has dealt with stuff like this (long time boy scout and active volunteer) giving a kid something like that at that age is a stupid idea, in any circumstance.
Good blog thanks for sharing
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Harro  gj
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Holy crap, you saved a boy's life! Good job, so happy for you and the boy. :D
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I really hate how a lot of people disregard warnings like that. People regard the alcohol warnings more than these warnings which really bugs me. Why do people think that their kid is so special that he couldn't possibly fall into the pitfalls of dying to a choking hazard  .
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On July 07 2012 10:28 Plexa wrote:
Sick story
Props for all the good work that you do =]
Wrong time to use that pun!
Good read 5/5.
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Ares[Effort]
DEMACIA6550 Posts
The feeling you must have felt after you saved him must be unimaginable. Great blog, thanks for sharing!
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Things like these stories is one of the many reasons I wanna be a doctor. Thank you for all the work you do!
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The laryngoscope looks like a weapon from diablo 3. It even has a light emitting from the end...like it's fire enchanted or something.
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EPT
