I'm baffled. I haven't been exposed to much medical information...just a few quarters and some misc. job experience, so bear with me...

Just exactly HOW does choking on a pretzel make your heart stop temporarily? I would think obstructing the airway would make you pass out, but hey, what do I know? If you're only out for a few moments, do you lose enough air to stop your heart? Or is there some direct pretzel-cardiac link that I haven't read about...

Also, how do dogs stay in the same position when a human being falls to the floor? Unless this happens often, I would think they would instead be leaping to the falling person or at least jumping something. (?)

Personally, I think Cheney pasted him one (for the Enron mess...)

(* Steely Dan album title)

-- Anonymous, January 14, 2002

Answers

funny sheepish, I have been wondering the same thing and I am a nurse!! Polly is more current than me.........what yah think Polly?? I read on another board that someone thought the real problem was that he had money on Miami and also that now we will have to have a special warnings on all prezel packages.

-- Anonymous, January 14, 2002

I have absolutely no idea what this is in reference to but...

If you are choking, one of the things that you might do to help push the lodged particle out is to perform a vagal manuever - holding your breath (well duh!) while bearing down. Like when you're trying to poop; or in the case of a man with prostate problems, take a whiz. This puts pressure on the vagal nerve and causes your heart rate to slow, and in some cases, stop. In fact, this is a well know medical condition called PFO - for "pissed and fell over". Remember Elvis and his heart attack on the pot? Happens more than you think. Try hauling someone off the pot and back to their bed so you can code them. Not a pretty job.

-- Anonymous, January 14, 2002

BTW - What ARE you talking about?!

-- Anonymous, January 14, 2002

Polly, our President was eating a pretzel yesterday while watching the Miami game and passed out. They say it was some sort of pressure that cause sudden BP drop and lose of consciousness. He woke up and his dogs were sitting in the same spot he had left them in and were just looking at him. I guess it was a bit more graceful than his father's preformance at the state dinner in Japan???

-- Anonymous, January 14, 2002

He was watching the football game alone...he either has to get friends...or some new dogs! And surely they can puree pretzels for him in the future. I knew he was boring but thought he might actually chew his food!

-- Anonymous, January 14, 2002

Maybe this is a bit snarky, but of course I could not miss noticing that he has a terrier. Terriers are NOT Lassie, they do not perform the Heimlich Anti-choking Maneuver while signaling a passing Forest Ranger via Smoke Signal to come and save Little Georgie...

No, terriers sit there and wonder what new game this is that you are playing at,and how do they join in, or perhaps climb onto your prone body and proclaim to the world (barking) that no one had better come and mess with their Human -- what my dog did when my mother fell into a ditch. Terriers ALWAYS know what they are doing, they have great Purpose in their lives at all times, and generally assume that their Human will display similar decisiveness in their behavior -- if he's lying on the floor, that must be what he intended to do.

Maybe they were just waiting for him to yakk up the pretzel so they could have it.

-- Anonymous, January 15, 2002

Hmmm. I think Polly's answer is closest. We get two newspapers here at our humble abode. The first paper gets puplished earlier so I think it has the first release of the news; the second is more local and probably publishes a little later. At any rate, they are both in our paperbox in the early a.m.

The early paper had just the basic event information, with the main source quoted as being the doc (Richard Tubb, White House Physician) that saw Pres. Bush. The second paper contained information from the presidential press secretary which added more clarity (or more spin).

Apparently, according to Ari Fleischer, "But the dogs were looking at him funny." Guess they must have been terriers...

Vasovagal syncope is apparently the culprit.

I guess I wonder why they wanted us to know about this. Must be the facial evidence. Guess they offered this since it seems like it must be hard to not arouse suspicions by saying something like "The President fell off the couch, or the President tripped over the coffee table" either implying some sort of Gerald Ford-like grace or else bringing up the alcohol spectre. However, instead, folks get to wonder about all this medical detail, and then suspect something more dire lurking in the President's physical closet.

Or else they just move on to other things in life...anyway, I'm going to do some research on my sofa this evening. I'll get back to you...

-- Anonymous, January 15, 2002

What's wrong with your sofa, Sheepish?

-- Anonymous, January 15, 2002

Ah, Hah, You guys got my funny bone this time, you are just too much. yah Oh EM, too cute! Yah Sheepish did you find out? Is your sofa an Antique or just a classic.

-- Anonymous, January 15, 2002

Speaking of dogs (while contributing to thread drift...see there - I CAN do two things at once!) Anyway, back to dogs...I was reading in my almanac last night and it listed the 10 smartest dogs: Border Collie, Poodle, German Shepard, Golden Retriever, Doberman, Shetland Sheepdog, Labrador Retriever, Papillon, Rottweiler and Australian Cattle Dog. Now, what do you see wrong with this list?

1. Lassie isn't even in there!!

2. Poodles are dogs? Really!?

3. I HAVE a German Shepard and a Sheltie - I KNOW they aren't smart!

Anybody else want to diss a dog?!

>^..^< CATS RULE!

-- Anonymous, January 15, 2002

No, Lassie would definitely not be in there! I have had two collies....too dumb. In fact, I've had lots of breeds, and I would say the Poodles were distinctly the smartest, if they use criteria like learning stupid human tricks, and making up some of their own. I personally think some breeds, like Pugs for instance, are very smart too, but like a gifted child, would not test well by the 'authorities' cuz they dont give a damn about pleasing people.

HA! Cats just THINK they're smart! :)

-- Anonymous, January 15, 2002

Contributing to the thread drift here, someone on another board (LOTR related if you must know) uses a signature line that I love: "Cats know what you're thinking. They don't CARE, but they know!" ;-)

I have a German Shepherd. She's VERY smart. Unfortunately, our minds don't work the same, so we are frequently at cross purposes. And she has yet (if ever) to decide that I am in charge -- she thinks it's a democracy or something around here! I keep hoping that part of our difficulties are due to her "teenager" status. {sigh} Actually, come to think of it, she seems more willing to acknowledge my superior position when we are indoors. Outdoors is more of a free- for-all. {shrug}

-- Anonymous, January 15, 2002

Sheepish, I hope you're not gonna eat pretzels while doing that research on the sofa.

-- Anonymous, January 15, 2002

And, if so - do you have a dog?!

-- Anonymous, January 15, 2002

Yeah, come to think of it: my controls don't work: No dog, no pretzels, and no world problems weighing on my mind...not to mention no pro football playoff games! Hmm.. I just thought I'd test a few moves...you know, getting up off the sofa and falling down; rolling off the sofa to see if I hit the coffee table (which I also don't have. Darn!) Mostly, I was just curious to know how I could get a half-dollar sized scab on my face. Would that small area have to be the point of impact? Is it possible to go from horizontal to vertical to cheekbone? Is the sore from carpet burn? What's the mimimum velocity, etc. These important items need to be determined!

-- Anonymous, January 16, 2002

The story is that his spectacles were the culprit behind the bruise and cut. I didnt hear anyone say anything about whether they were broken in the process, which would seem likely.

By the by, did anyone else catch the boo boo he made last week? I heard no one on the news talk about this, perhaps they covered it on SNL or The Daily Show or something. Anyway, what I heard was that, in the spirit of his father's infamous "read my lips", he proclaimed that he "would not raise taxes over my dead body!" I heard him say it!! Really!! I thought it was pretty funny, but the news just kept playing the tape without comment.

-- Anonymous, January 16, 2002

I think what really happened is that his daughter Jenna punched him because he hid the keys to the liquor cabinet!

-- Anonymous, January 16, 2002

I am a bad person. I've had food get stuck going down and ended up choking a number of times. It is scary and unpleasant to say the least -- not funny at all. So I should be sympathetic. But I laughed when I heard he choked on a pretzel and passed out. And I'm laughing reading all these posts. I am a very bad person!

-- Anonymous, January 16, 2002

Gosh and here I am thinking the whole story was just cooked so we wouldn't wonder who really punched George Bush!

I don't buy pretzels at all. Who watches a play off game by themselves. I agree this man needs friends (any volunteers?).

Kim

-- Anonymous, January 16, 2002

Well, Kim, I like that scenario -- that it's just a cover-up. Then I'm not such a bad person for laughing! ;-)

-- Anonymous, January 16, 2002

More thread drift here, but I was really hoping German Shepherds were at the top of that "smart dog" list, since we just became the proud owners of a German Shepherd puppy. She IS smart AND strong willed, it will be a challenge to raise her I'm sure - but we all love her!!

-- Anonymous, January 16, 2002

Earthmama, I heard it!!! Made me cringe so hard, I nearly passed out! Good thing I wasn't by a sofa or a teevee....I was only operating a motor vehicle at the time. Nearly drove off the road. Big "HUH???"

-- Anonymous, January 17, 2002

Terry, just don't feed her pretzels..

-- Anonymous, January 17, 2002

Copyright ©2001 Aaron Mcgruder Published Wednesday 01/30/02

i dunno if this will work, but here goes:

Boondocks

-- Anonymous, January 30, 2002

Thanks for the link EM..........funny stuff. Have not seen that strip before.

-- Anonymous, January 31, 2002

Earthmama,

Yeah, Mr. S. pointed that one out to me at the breakfast table yesterday (btw, the link pulls up the current daily one, so my guess is that you were referencing the one for 1/31/01). (Hmm. Off topic, but looks like the Bush's have a chunk of substance abuse problems running in the family... to wit, Jeb's daughter in Florida getting busted for the fake Rx; W's daughters, etc.) Seriously, it must be weird to be famous...

We usually have a cartoon or two up on the refrigerator for a week or so. Boondocks has been up there a number of times in the last couple of months!!

Thanks for the link!

-- Anonymous, January 31, 2002

Yeah, I agree, sheepish; it's gotta be hell to be related to famous people. Hope no one thinks I'm making light of people's substance abuse problems; I know the pain involved. And I personally believe Georgie has kicked his, and he has my utmost admiration for that. But a liitle chuckle is a good thing sometimes.

-- Anonymous, January 31, 2002

?? Didn't you mean the one for the 30th? The one for today, the 31st, is about the shoe bomber.

There are a couple about the pretzel on the 28th and 29th also.

-- Anonymous, January 31, 2002

Wha ??? You mean January doesn't have 32 days? What was I thinking?!

-- Anonymous, February 02, 2002