Third Time's a Charm...NOT!

Jasmine's got a thing with fish bones...they like to give her a hard time. She's got choked by these nasty buggers twice before. The first time when she was barely 5 years old, and the second time when she was about 14. Both times, she had to go to the hospital to have it taken out. One might think that she's learnt her lesson but noooo......she had to do it to herself one more time - this time with the help of the mighty unagi!

It all started at Sun and Moon Cafe where we were having dinner. Knowing how bad Jasmine was with fish bones (especially the small soft ones), I protested strongly when she wanted to order some unagi with rice thingy, but she went ahead with it anyway because she had a craving for unagi. Barely halfway through our meal (I hadn't started yet cos' I was feeding Cherise), my worst fear came to pass, Jas complained about something stuck in her throat and that she had problems swallowing. I knew something was really wrong when she rejected the piece of foie gras I offered her. So like any smarta@# husband, I told her to try and dislodge it by swallowing some rice. But it didn't work so we had to head to the hospital for some professional help.

Being an experienced fish bone victim, Jasmine decided to head down to the 24 hr clinic at Thomson Medical Centre where she had her previous two fish bones taken out. However, this time the doctor could not see the bone so to play it safe, he referred her to the A&E. So we ended up at Mt Alvernia Hospital A&E where the doctor also could not find the bone. Thus, we had to wait another 45mins for the ENT specialist to arrive with his equipment. For the first time, I saw this cool device they call the scope which the ENT doctor inserted into Jasmine's nose so that he could locate the bone. I was more interested in the scope (looked like the kind spies/police use in the movies for surveillance) than what Jasmine was feeling at that time. Well, the scope did the trick and we managed to locate the offending bone which was deeper down than where the doctor initially thought it was. I later learnt that it was probably my fault that the bone got so deep in - remember the swallow-a-lump-of-rice trick??? Bad move!!! The doctor says that in future the first and only thing to do for such an event is to go straight to the doctor. Attempting to dislodge it by swallowing will only make it worse.

Jasmine was quite brave throughout the ordeal though, she did everything the doctor told her to do. It was quite comical observing the whole process though. She had to pull her tongue and go "eeee". The doc was pretty skilled - he managed to get the bone (about 1.2 cm) out in a matter of seconds.

When it was all over, Jasmine was really relieved. As the doctor left the A&E, she went, "There goes my hero!" to which I retorted, "I would have been that hero if you had listened to me and not ordered that unagi in the first place!"

Lessons learnt today:
1) Always listen to your husband when he warns you not to order something detrimental to your health.
2) Never listen to that same husband when he tells you to do stupid things like swallow a lump of rice to dislodge a fish bone.

On a serious note, always consult a doctor immediately if you suspect that you have a fish bone (or anything) lodged in your throat.

Lastly, if you happen to be like Jasmine....PLEASE DON'T EAT UNAGI!!!!