My friend Kathy, also an RN, and I were returning from working out at Kirkwood Fitness Club in Wilmington, Delaware when we stopped at Office Depot to pick up some desk supplies. We had just arrived at the store when a voice came over the loud speaker asking if a doctor was in the store please come to Cashier 6 or whatever number it was.
We both looked at each other and said “heart attack”, and we ran to the appropiate cashier. There in front of us was a choking infant maybe six months old and she had turned blue from lack of oxygen. I picked up the baby inverting her but holding her tightly as Kathy used her finger to sweep the cookie out of her mouth and throat.
The baby immediately began to cry, Kathy and I looked at each other with relief on our faces. It worked just like it’s supposed to. I handed the baby back to Mom who was grateful and we told her no more cookies today. We also suggested breaking them into small pieces before giving to infant next time.
We explained to her what we had done to clear the throat of any debris that might be there if this were to ever happen again. She smiled as did the cashier who said that was “amazing”. Delighted we were immediately successful we smiled too and went back to our shopping talking about it.
