Accidentally swallowing fish bones is a common problem, but can you imagine swallowing an entire chopstick? According to Chinanews, a 24-centimeter-long chopstick was stuck in a 23-year-old woman’s stomach for three months until a doctor surgically removed earlier this month in Chongqing.
So how did it get there in the first place? It all started with a difficult-to-digest home meal last December. The woman, nicknamed Tangtang, felt the food did not quite agree with her stomach, so she went to the kitchen, picked up a chopstick and stuck it down her throat to induce vomiting. However, after a shake of hand, the chopstick slid down her esophagus all the way to her stomach.
Tangtang did not feel particularly uncomfortable and thought the stomach acid would dissolve the chopstick, so she kept the swallowing incident to herself and did not see a doctor.
Over the past three months, Tangtang kept her usual diet. Recently, a dull stomachache prompted her to finally see a doctor. The attending doctor, Professor Qian Feng, told the Chinanews reporter that the chopstick was stuck diagonally in Tangtang’s stomach and that she was in serious condition when she was admitted. An violent action could have caused the chopstick to rupture vital organs, or event take out her heart.
Luckily, after a successful laparoscopic surgery, the chopstick was taken out. Tangtang has since been discharged from the hospital.
[Image via Chinanews]
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