Sunday, December 07, 2008

Tale of the fish and the bone.

Since Thanksgiving day, we've been having turkey left over almost daily. We have had too much of it, so last Wednesday I thought I'd make sinigang of the salmon I have in the freezer. For a side dish I grilled a couple of chicken thighs.

After lunch, I got dressed and drove to the urgency care, about 8 or 9 miles from my house. I registered at the window and waited. About 5 minutes later, I was called in by a nurse. The nurse got my blood pressure, my pulse and my temperature. I was still alright...still breathing; alive with good vital signs. I was sent to the registration once more to pay and wait. About an hour I was called in by another nurse. She took my weight...eeekkkk....I gained 4 pounds. Then she led me to the examination room. This nurse asked me the same questions I have been asked at this same place, over and over again:

  • Do you smoke?
  • Do you drink alcohol?
  • What medications do you take?
  • Do you take any (illegal) drugs?
My replies were as follows:
  • No.
  • Wine, occasionally.
  • None.
  • Noooo! (If I did, would I say yes! Nuts.)
She entered all these in my database. They are all there and they have been there since I became a member of this HMO. Next time I go, they'll ask me the same questions.

She told me to wait for the doctor and she left the room. A little while later a young lady garbed in white with a stethoscope slung around her neck came in. With a smile she greeted me, then asked me to sit on the bed. She then asked me the same questions the nurse asked me. I told her nicely that the nurse asked me those questions ALREADY! (Galit na ako. LOL) She said, it was to make sure that any medication prescribed to me won't counteract with what I was taking. Okay, that makes sense. But then why not just check my database. Why keep asking meeeee? It must be easier for her to ask than log on in the computer.

She then asked me what I was there for. I told her everything, every little detail of the episode. She said she has to ask the doctor who specializes in that condition. She left the room and came back with an older woman, the doctor. Hmmm...so the younger one was not a doctor after all. Must be a nurse practitioner (RNP).

The doctor got a tongue depressor and I opened my mouth and said, aaahhh. With a light, she peeked in my throat, and said, "It's there alright."

She saw the salmon fish bone that got stuck in my throat. I tried to swallow some food to drag it down to no avail. I could feel it. It was hurting me when I turn my head down. During that time, I was reminded of Dennis Villegas and his traumatic experience with salmon fish bone lodged in his throat. Poor guy.

"En garde, Mari!"

"Fish bones are the most cooperative of all," the doctor said. At this point, I expected her to get an instrument and extricate the darn thing. She did not.

"We will give you something to drink to ease the pain. The acid in your throat will break down the bone. No solid foods for a while," she said.

They both left the room. The younger one, a Filipina, came back with a styro cup and handed it to me to drink. It was a concoction of mylanta, lycopane and belladona; it was thick and green in color. It tasted minty, and it clung to my throat. It felt good.

Then she let me go. Happily I waved good-bye to the doctor and to the RNP.

"Are you not embarrassed to say you got fish bone in your throat?" my husband asked me. "Why should I be? It happens to other people. Take for instance that actress Elizabeth Taylor. She had chicken bone in her throat. And Dennis." :-D


17 comments:

Nance said...

oh dear me ... here's another secret! :) same thing happened to me when I was in hi-school. only then we don't go to doctors for something like that, my grandma grabbed our cat and let its paw scratch my throat. What was she thinking! :) (bless her heart) i think the belief was, the cat's paw is like a magnet to a fish bone and if you let it run up and down your throat the fish bone will eventually go down to your tummy. I hate to say it but that darn bone did went down but was not sure if it was the banana I was asked to swallow or if it was the cat's paw.
Hope it doesn't hurt as bad now, dudette! :)

ev said...

I have many times experienced with fish bone in my throat esp. when I eat milkfish and my mom said i just have to eat banana(maybe the "tinik" will go along with it down to the stomach..hehe!just my thought) and I tried. And really, it did disappear. Perhaps, mother really knows best, I said to myself. haha!

Ang kulit pala ng mga medical practitioners dyan!:)

Have a great weekend my friend!take care.

Anonymous said...

ouch! ang hirap na with a tiny bangus bone, lalo na kung salmon. i hope the bone is gone by now.

Dennis Villegas said...

It's really annoying that medical people always ask you same questions several times.
Thank goodness you went to the doctor immediately and had not gone through what I suffered. After my ordeal, I never ate a salmon again, limiting my fish menu to blue marlin ;) But I miss salmon hehehe

GingGoy said...

natinik? ouch!
it's dangerous with diabetics. i know someone who died from infection from a fishbone :(

Niar said...

hi Mary,
I have the same experience like you when I was ac child. I think the effective way to overcome the bone fish is by eat the rice much.
I cant imagine how you can bear from that pain...take care of your self...

Ebb Tide said...

It was nice to see you again yesterday. Glad you're fine. Sorry for not visiting. I have an extremely busy artistic year. Will catch up on your blog soon.

Anonymous said...

Hahaha, ups I'm not laughing because you got fish bone in your throat Mari...kundi yung pagkukuwento mo. Humurous tale of fish bone! *Grin*
You could include my name at the last part beacuse it happens to me a countless time. lol! Ang ginagawa ko susubo ako ng maraming kanin or tinapay para maitulak and it's the effective way for me.
Glad to hear you're okay now, next time be careful. ehem, I should tell that to myself as well hek hek hek!

Photo Cache said...

That right there is one of the things I am afraid of. To have a bone stuck in my throat that I needed emergency room visit.

I'm glad you are fine. You're in good company then, elizabeth taylor and dennis villegas, both famous.

Stay well. And stay away from bones. That reminds me, I cooked a potful of catfish sinigang last night. I better be careful myself.

Mari said...

Nance, I have had fish bone stuck in my throat when I was a kid and banana always worked for me. This time I didn't have banana and when I ate more rice to push it down it seemed to dig deeper in my throat. :-( I'm sure the banana worked for you...not the cat's paw. LOL It hurts a little bit when I eat some solid food.

Mari said...

ev, banana always works. It did to me when I was a kid.

Makulit nga sila, but I guess, that's one way of making sure they are doing the right thing, and that there won't be any lawsuits in case something wrong happens.

Mari said...

lady cess, medyo magaleng na.


Dennis Villegas, all the while I've been thinking about your ordeal, and that's what prompted me to see the doctor right away. I didn't want to torture myself. I'll still eat salmon. I'll be more careful next time.

Oh, go ahead, eat salmon...they're good...and marlin has bones just the same. ;-)

Mari said...

backpacking Phil., you are right about diabetics. My cousin, a diabetic, has to be hospitalized when he cut his foot, then he has to have IV at home for several days more.

Infection? That's scary.

**************

niar,oh, you do it with rice. In the Philippines, we eat banana to push the bone down to our stomach.

I'll be more careful next time. Thanks for the visit.

Mari said...

Ebb Tide, yeah, it was nice running into you that day.

Thanks for the nice comment.

Mari said...

nona, hahaha...you got the humor right away. Sinubukan kong kumain ng maraming kanin, pero malaki at lalo yatang bumaon sa lalamunan ko. LOL Yeah, I'll be more careful mext time...and you do the same. ;-D

Mari said...

Photo Cache, I dreaded the visit, but I was relieved after.

I'll be more careful next time.

Lo Kelween said...

Trust me, i know the pain! I had it in my throat once when I was 4. it almost killed me!

I don't mind eating leftover turkey, even for everyday! ;)