Curiosity killed the cat...and it almost killed me.

That day was unanticipated. It was a lighthearted afternoon, that spiraled into catastrophe. A race to save me from death! My family and I were visiting our Grandma Pat, and she ended up saving my life. If it wasn’t for her, I would not have lived past the age of one. Now, knowing that I was only ten months old, I don’t have the best idea about what happened. But here's how it all took place.

It was an early afternoon, when my mom, sister, and I got to my grandma Pat’s house. It was a nice spring day, quiet, warm and calm.

“ Hey grandma, how are you doing?” My mother questioned as we walked through the door.

“ Pretty good.” She replied.
Grandma looked at me and my sister, “Hey guy’s, come on in. Make yourselves at home!”
Grandma and mom chit chatted about the past week as they enjoyed a hot cup of coffee, sitting around the dining room table. My sister, Keaton, and I liked to curiously roam my grandma’s front seasonal porch. It was the length of the entire house. This was where my grandma had her craft shop.She was a very crafty lady, and made jewelry, purses, scarves, mittens, and she even painted wooden Santas. Crafts were my grandma’s job. She took them to craft shows and flea markets to make her living. She loved her crafts, and her precious crafty work would soon become my demise.

As I crawled along the floor, and searched for something amusing to undertake, a sparkle in the carpet caught my eye. Intrigued I raced across the hard berber carpet toward the sparkly object. When I reached it, I clenched it in my little baby hands and fiddled with it. What the heck is this? I thought puzzled.

My mom was abstracted to what I was doing and focused on grandma Pat. After fidgeting with the pendant, without concern, I carelessly put it in my mouth without hesitation. At first everything seemed alright. But after a few seconds I felt swelling in my throat and I couldn't breath. I scuffled over toward my mom, deprived of oxygen. As my mom picked me up, and assessed the condition at hand, there was an expression of panic on her face and fear in her eyes. My face had turned blue and I needed to get help quick!

“ Call 911 now!” Grandma loudly shouted to my Mother.

She rushed to the phone and called 911. After that, Grandma Pat quickly picked me up and attempted the heimlich maneuver. The pendant was lodged deeply in my trachea! Hopeless concern filled the room. With every thrust the pendant refused to emerge. It wasn’t working! Time was growing slim and oxygen was scarce. My face was a blueish purple as I clinched on to the last few breaths of my life. I was running out of time fast, and there weren’t many options.
In desperation, my grandma grabbed me by the the ankles and wildly shook me up and down, as my mom was smacking me on the back. Suddenly with tremendous force, the bloody, mucous covered pendant flew out of my mouth onto the ground. My blue, pale skin instantly changed to a peachy red, as I gasped for a breath of air to fill my deoxygenated body.

Soon after an ambulance arrived. The medical personnel raced through the doors with their curative equipment to check and make sure that my throat was okay, and free of any perforations. They guided a camera down my throat to assure there wasn’t damage done to my trachea. After they had probed and prodded me, they decided that I was okay.
After they left my sister Keaton came up to me worried.

“ Kynney’s are you okay?” she asked.

Thankfully! I thought exhaustingly. Wow, I’m never doing that again! Everyone gathered around in a sense of relief.

It was a hard lesson learned at a young age.My mom became more self aware after the distress too. She vacuumed, checked floors, and kept a closer watch on me than she had ever before. My Grandma Pat was a hero! And my mom was so grateful that her baby boy was going to live another day. Curiosity is a great thing when explored with wisdom. But curiosity without caution can lead to a brush with death… or a dead cat.