An unfortunate incident.
Last night, Rachel, Cassie, and I stopped by to visit my dad. It was late, but we hadn't seen him all weekend. We all missed him. He was in bed, but not yet asleep.
Cassie had brought a book she had just gotten and read the whole thing to him. The book was called I Spy, an early reader. She did an excellent job of it, especially considering that she had gotten the book only a couple hours previously.
Naturally, Dad was impressed, and quite pleased that she had read it to him. He asked me for the box of candy sitting on his nightstand so he could offer one to Cassie.
Cassie liked the idea, but once he got the box open she lost interest -- they were the pastel colored bon bons from See's that Dad likes, rather than the more traditional chocolates Cassie was used to. So she said no thank you. Rachel suggested one of the cookies that Dad had, and he said sure.
While Rachel got Cassie a cookie, I reached over to put the box of chocolates back. Dad, being exceptionally quick, all things considered, managed to snag a whole chocolate and plop it in his mouth before I knew what had happened.
Now, I had previously cut all of these chocolates in half, because if Dad gets too much in his mouth, he chokes on it, and can end up throwing it all back up again. Well this time, not only was it a whole candy, but he was laying down too. So of course he started choking.
And turning red.
This freaked Cassie out, not surprisingly, and she fled the room. Rachel followed shortly, after reminding me to get Dad sitting up. Meanwhile, I was frantically working the bed controls and trying to get him more upright. When the bed was as vertical as it would go, I ducked into the bathroom for some paper towels, as some of the candy was starting to come back up.
By this point, his airway was fairly clear and he could breathe again, although the coughing continued. After a few minutes, he got the coughing under control, and I started talking to him about his eating habits.
I explained the consequences of what he had done, both in terms of potential danger to himself, and in its effect on others, most notably Cassie. I told him that I didn't know if she would be willing to come into the room again, but if she did, he needed to apologize to her.
While I was doing this, Rachel had been busy as well, talking to a very frightened four-year-old. By the time I was done chastising Dad, she was hesitantly walking back into the room. I told him, and he rolled over to see.
And promptly began coughing again.
It was just an remnant, nothing serious, but you can't explain that to a child. Cassie was out the door before you could say boo, and wasn't coming back in.
I don't know if she'll want to visit again or not, but I sure hope so. Maybe if her mom is with her next time, she will be able to visit. I know for sure he's not going to eat anything at all when she's around from now on.
It was a very unfortunate experience, for both of them. Cassie is as important (if not more so) to Dad than any of his own kids. It would be terrible if she became permanently afraid to visit him.