Bears are dangerous….

Posted on by

True story:

So I am at the usual Thursday range meetup/hangout/Bullseye shoot/bitchfest….

One of the guys, Bob, is eating Gummy Bears. He has one go down the wrong pipe and starts coughing, trying to get it out of his trachea. He’s not choking, but he does have an airway restriction. He’s still able to breath, but not fully.

He doesn’t want me to do the Heimlich maneuver (and honestly, he’s a really fat large dude, not sure I could do it on a guy that big around), so we all watched him carefully until he finally coughed up the Gummi Bear. .

He thanks us for the concern, and we all go back to what we were doing before

We told him that if he had died we were just gonna tell everyone that he was “killed by a bear” and leave it at that…..

 

5 thoughts on “Bears are dangerous….”

  1. Snort… And that IS an interesting issue from a safety perspective. What DO you do? I’d be thinking possibly ambulance as repeated strong coffing is NOT good for someone that is ‘large’…

  2. Man, I came that close to choking to death myself. Took about two minutes for me to finally rid myself of obstruction. Was at a family meal – it was embarassing, but the alternative would have been far worse (except for those interested in the desert portions, lol).

    I’m glad your friend is okay.

    • No, it is actually true. Really happened. And the statement about the bears was indeed made by a member of the crowd. It was really funny at the time.

      Perhaps though, you can give advice on how to deal with someone that is obese. How do you give the Heimlich Maneuver/Abdominal Thrusts to a guy that is nearly obese?

      • I’m sure the sign poster wasn’t the first to come up with the line either. 😉

        FWIW, the Heimlich on thin-challenged adults usually involves a hard-backed chair or counter edge substituting for clasped fists, and it looks something like Ned Beatty’s famous scene in Deliverance.

        You did it right; as long as people can breathe, it’s better not to make matters worse with a Heimlich.

        Calling 911 is always a good idea though, as in a pinch, a paramedic could always do an emergent cricothyrotomy.

Comments are closed.