If you're gonna spew...

The first time it happened I was driving to work. I had grabbed a slice of bread for breakfast and was eating it while driving to work. I was suddenly choking and spewed the bread. Then I could breathe.

The next time I was eating steak and eggs for dinner. I felt a piece of steak stuck in my throat. I tried to swallow but no luck, still there. I tried to drink some water to force it down and then I couldn't breathe. I ended up calling Katherine who took me to the hospital. They gave me some medicine that was supposed to relax my throat. No luck. So they had to put me under anesthesia and call a surgeon. The surgeon stuck some long tweezers down my throat and grabbed the steak. All better.

It's called esophageal stricture. The surgeon said it's caused some narrowing in my throat that causes food not to go down and that I should get that fixed. That was a few years ago. I've not really had a problem since. Until last weekend...

I was eating some carrots while directing Lynda toward a gas station in Seattle. I felt my throat tighten up and tried to swallow hard. Nothing. Lynda was trying to drive in unfamiliar Seattle. Debbie was on the phone in the back seat with Collin and Hunter. Drink lots of water to force the carrots down. Nope. Then I couldn't breathe. So I started coughing which made all of the water and chewed up carrots spew out of my mouth.

Lynda was saying, "Oh my gosh Ranee!" and Debbie suddenly flung a library book bag over the seat and onto my chest. And I just kept looking like the Stand By Me guy. My nice periwinkle blue sweater was now pocked with orange and soaking wet.

So gross...but kind of funny.

Yeah...yeah...I hear you Mom, I should get the esophogus thing checked.