At lunchtime one day last year, I was going about my business trying to manage my severe afternoon exhaustion due to chronic illness while sitting upright in my bed eating a chicken burrito, hold the cheese, from Chipotle, when I suddenly started choking on a large bite of the dry tortilla/rice/chicken. Somehow, I was able to dash into the hallway and call for help, though barely audible. My wife screamed for my oldest son to call 911, but he couldn’t find her phone (we have no landline). Running up the stairs faster than you can say, “Extra guac, please,” she descended on me and delivered three hard slaps to my back, to no avail. Seconds from death, I was able to eke out, “Do the Heimlich maneuver.” “I don’t know how to do it!” she screamed back. Then, suddenly, I was twice lifted off the ground during a series of severe chest thrusts — more like massive bear hugs — in her desperate attempt to do the Heimlich maneuver. On the fifth one, I could finally breathe again. The next morning...
Working on some creative animation stuff, having a great day, decided to go for a bike ride to pick up something for supper. Ended up at Jimmy Johns, about 10 blocks away, got a giant sandwich, left a couple dollars for a tip, put sandwich in backpack, started biking home. Nearly home, stood up on bicycle and started cranking to speed to a stoplight that had just turned green when "pop", my chain flies off, foot hits the ground (because I was cranking hard on the pedals), bike turns sideways instantly and my face BOUNCED HARD off the asphalt. No traffic on the road I was coming from, still 50 feet from the stoplight I was rushing towards. Lip is very swollen, one of my front teeth is painful if pressed on, but not loose. Forehead and nose have cuts, bloody knee, bloody elbow. Walked the bike the last three blocks, came inside, showered, used some bactitracin on the wounds and put on gauze pads with surgical tape I have had in my medicine cupboard forever. I live alone i...