Oops! I nearly killed my mother.

My mom nearly choked to death last week on a teaspoon of water that I gave her through a bendy straw and a tiny plastic cup.  Of course, Henry was there blithely playing with his cache of toys that the staff gives to him every time he visits.  And there I was giving mom a sip of water that she asked for.  She was in bed and upright and slowly sipped and swallowed her first drink of water.  The next drink and her mouth opened in that horrifying way, her tongue out and her face turning beet red.  I struggled to get her sitting even more upright, hit the emergency call button and ran out the door looking for a nurse.  One was right there, I told her what was happening and she sprinted in and I started crying and Henry kept playing.  We thumped on her back, she was beginning to turn ashen and blue, then she took a breath.  The fear and panic left her face within a minute, she had already forgotten  what happened.  She settled back down and Henry commented, "Grandma was choking" without too much concern.  A couple nurses were milling around the room, everyone was trying to remain calm and I just cried as I looked at my mom and held her hand.  When she noticed that I was crying she looked at me like every mother looks at their grieving child, with worry and concern and she leaned in a little to provide some comfort. Which, of course, made me cry some more at the irony of it all.