The day I went to the ER.... and it wasn't cos of the kids

I went to the ER yesterday. And no it wasn't because of the kids. It was 100% cos of me.

You know how you look forward to your date night, cos it's been forever since you last had one-on-one time with your husband? And you decide to go the Hamburg Fishmarkt because you can actually go through the crowds easily without having to maneuver a stroller?

That was exactly what I thought. What a beautiful warm summer evening. Let's sit outdoors and just enjoy the warm breeze and have some fresh fish!!

I had an accident which involved me swallowing a fish bone when I was 12. And I tell ya, I never forgot that experience! That piercing pain when you swallow. The futile attempts to gulp water down to get that damn horrible fish bone through your throat but it refused to bulge.

I was at my school "graduate" camp for 12-year olds and I was so happy to be able to stay overnight somewhere else! I remember talking to a friend while eating my Nasi Lemak fish and the next thing I knew, something sharp and thin went through my throat and never got through.

I waited 24 hours before telling any teacher because I was scared of being scolded! When I finally did, my parents picked me up and brought me to the hospital. We waited for ages before I went for an X-ray only for the doctor to say that he couldn't see any fish bone and the bone had probably got down my throat but it was still sore.

Since then, I swore off Nasi Lemak fish and I've always been very vigilant whenever I ate fish.

All the time except yesterday!

I ate a piece of seemingly harmless salmon, which is usually boneless and somehow the EXACT.SAME.THING happened! And it happened so quickly! I felt the same disgusting piercing pain while swallowing. I tried to puke. I tried to drink. I tried to swallow small chunks of banana.

Literally everything. Hub told me to wait it out, cos most fish bones dislodges itself in hours. But I was in pain! I couldn't wait.

So we went straight to the hospital. Can I just say I'm so glad we did?

German medical care is SOOO efficient! This was a Sunday evening. There was no queue. The only waiting time we had was to wait for the doctor to come back from her break (maybe 20mins?)

There was no X-ray. The doc just wore something on her head with a lamp, peered into my throat and saw the bone. She sprayed something to numb my throat and went on to stick something inside my throat to remove the bone.

I remember being sooo scared that it would hurt. But while I was sitting there, I told myself, "Pris, you gave birth to 2 out of 3 children naturally, this is no big deal!!"

And before I knew it, the whole ordeal was over! I didn't feel anything! Like ZERO!

I saw the fish bone! That horrid thing!

I was so relieved that I gave the doctor a hug! I was so so so relieved! No more pain! No more stuck feeling. Like I felt sooo free!

And I was sooo thankful that I didn't have to pay anything for that! Just passed them my health insurance card and that was it!

Healthcare premiums may be expensive here, but nothing beats having the peace of mind knowing that you will always be given the healthcare you need.

All happy before the incident

It wasn't this fish

It was this smoked salmon!!