Those pokey things

Now Playing : "Bullets" - Editors

I had the scare of my life at the most unusual time today.

It happened during lunch as I was enjoying a seafood infused Japanese lunch. 

California roll. Mmmmmm....

Sake sashimi. Mmmmmm....

Ebi tempura. Mmmmmm....

Sabe teriyaki. Mmmmmm....*eurk!!*

My eyes bulged and I grabbed my throat.

I felt sharp poke as the muscles contracted. Something had become lodged in my esophagus. I swallowed and swallowed (this is beginning to sound so dirty -_-"), hoping the saliva would help the foreign object along its way to the acid room...but it did not budge.

It became apparent that the fish bone was intent on not moving without a fight.

I became worried, and prayed it had not already stuck itself into the walls of my esophagus. I swallowed harder, but no results. 

Quickly, I grabbed my juice and sucked the hell out of the straw.

As each mouthful of juice that travelled down my throat, it propped the bone to poke even more. It wasn't working. I began to panic just a little bit. Would shifting the gears into Reverse help?

"Eat some rice!!!!!!"

My mother had shoved a spoonful of white vinegar rice in my face. In spite of what was happening, I hesitated. I've never been one to really believe that swallowing rice would help dislodge anything from one's throat. What if the rice pushed the bone deeper into the flesh of my throat? What if...? 

Unfortunately, at this point I was out of other things to swallow and grabbed the spoon and shoved it into my mouth and chewed the rice as fast as my jaws could work. Then it was time to try it for real. 

Swallow just one more time, my head screamed. With my tongue acting as a food dam, I did.

My eyes bulged again...this time with surprise instead of shock.

"Where the hell is the bone?!?!"

I spat out the rice and gulped down some iced tea just to test. It really wasn't there anymore; it picked itself up and went down like how gravity should have taken it in the first place. Relief swept me, and I was able to relax again--oh, and let my clutching hand go of my throat. 

"See? I told you the rice would work! You didn't believe me!" my mother exclaimed.

Should I tell her otherwise? All I know is that I was glad there was no longer a fish bone in my throat and that I'll rethink having teriyaki mackerel the next time I visit this particular Japanese restaurant (I love teriyaki mackerel and have it in countless Japanese restaurants...this is the first time it's actually posed as a problem).