High Weirdness and Heimliching
I would not believe it if it did not happen to me.
I get an email, out of the blue, that makes zero sense.
Even though I have no idea about what this is, I don't hesitate to invite myself for lunch and talk about trees...
So Sue writes me back, looks like lunch time!!
She then calls me and it turns out that she's at a conference down the street and there's an opportunity to network with a palm breeder. He's bred new types of palms high in healthful oils, but they can't grow them in Florida because it is too cold. These are equatorial trees with no cold tolerance. Still, maybe there's some cool tricks we could do to make it work here.
Unfortunately I had to decline because lunch was scheduled for 12:30, but was delayed because the conference was running late. I had an errand to run and then be at a graduate student orientation meeting at 1 pm.
I was driving on my way to the errand when my phone rings. It was Sue, and it turns out that they moved the lunch up an hour to 12 noon. I was literally in front of the conference center where the lunch was being held, the timing now worked, so I turned into the driveway and went in for lunch.
We all gathered a plate from the buffet and I sat next to the palm breeder. We had a good conversation about hybrid palms and potential use for oil plants in Florida.
Suddenly he starts making a grunting noise. He does it again and it is clear that he's choking. Just as I learned, I stood behind him, gave him two blows between the shoulders with my the palm (go figure) of my hand, then reached around and delivered the Heimlich maneuver.
The blockage cleared. He sat, took a deep breath, and I sat down and shaky from the adrenaline rush.
******
When I look back at the strange turn of events that placed me in to the right time and place, it is pretty amazing. But do you want to know the weirdest part?
The lunch was in the exact same room of the conference center where I took the CPR / Heimlich class.
I get an email, out of the blue, that makes zero sense.
Even though I have no idea about what this is, I don't hesitate to invite myself for lunch and talk about trees...
So Sue writes me back, looks like lunch time!!
She then calls me and it turns out that she's at a conference down the street and there's an opportunity to network with a palm breeder. He's bred new types of palms high in healthful oils, but they can't grow them in Florida because it is too cold. These are equatorial trees with no cold tolerance. Still, maybe there's some cool tricks we could do to make it work here.
Unfortunately I had to decline because lunch was scheduled for 12:30, but was delayed because the conference was running late. I had an errand to run and then be at a graduate student orientation meeting at 1 pm.
I was driving on my way to the errand when my phone rings. It was Sue, and it turns out that they moved the lunch up an hour to 12 noon. I was literally in front of the conference center where the lunch was being held, the timing now worked, so I turned into the driveway and went in for lunch.
We all gathered a plate from the buffet and I sat next to the palm breeder. We had a good conversation about hybrid palms and potential use for oil plants in Florida.
Suddenly he starts making a grunting noise. He does it again and it is clear that he's choking. Just as I learned, I stood behind him, gave him two blows between the shoulders with my the palm (go figure) of my hand, then reached around and delivered the Heimlich maneuver.
The blockage cleared. He sat, took a deep breath, and I sat down and shaky from the adrenaline rush.
******
When I look back at the strange turn of events that placed me in to the right time and place, it is pretty amazing. But do you want to know the weirdest part?
The lunch was in the exact same room of the conference center where I took the CPR / Heimlich class.
