Problems a knife can fix...

[Buddy Thomason]

There's lots of problems in life that a knife can fix - like this one.

[SKIVIE]

OUCH ! Better a knife fix that before it turns and tries to come out....OOOOOCH !

Do you have a story behind that one Buddy ?

Shane

[Buddy Thomason]

Shane,
Ouch is right! Truth is always stranger than fiction though. This 37 year old female with a severe 'eating disorder' of the binge/purge type was using the blunt end of the fork to stimulate her 'gag reflex' in order to vomit the contents of her stomach. While in the throws of this somewhat violent and definitely messy process she lost her grip on the fork and it slid beyond 'the point of no return' and lodged just above the stomach at the gastro-esophageal valve which had clamped down tight to prevent the fork from entering the stomach. Her gag reflex, through habitual triggering in this manner, had become weak so she could suppress it voluntarily - which is good, otherwise she'd have been gagging and wretching involuntarily and thus risking a tear in the wall of the esophagus or worse.

The fork was surgically removed (that's where the knife is involved) and the patient recovered. The location was Spain and the report appeared in a recent New England Journal of Medicine, which is the most respected medical journal in the US. The editors have a habit of publishing weird cases like this one, apparently to lighten the tone of what otherwise is a very dry and scientific publication.

[SKIVIE]

Well, Hopefully she learned a lesson from this. I remember years ago a small girl probably around the age of 8 swollowed a small Cresent wrench. Its always interesting to hear stories like this. Thanks for sharing.

Shane

[fitzo]

Buddy, just out of medical curiosity: when you say surgical procedure, does that mean fishing it out with a scope or on a fluor. table, esophageal entry through the throat or chest, or entry through the abdomen?

Sorry for a gross question, folks, but this type of stuff interests me.

Thanks for any explanation, Buddy!

[hammerdownnow]

So you say she could supress her gag reflex voluntarily ehh? That sets the old imagination a spinnin'. She could have a great future in the circus as a sword swallower...or something.

[TKC]

That person reallly got, um...... forked!!

[Buddy Thomason]

Roc, You're right about sword swallowers. They do learn to subdue the gag reflex and they're not the only ones. The 'Deep Throat' types are apparently good at it too. These folks at least get paid for it unlike the woman in the X-ray above.

Mike - The brief description accompanying the X-ray didn't say what proceedure was performed, only that the fork was 'surgically removed.' Looking at the X-ray though, the G-E valve did let the small end of the fork through into the top of the stomach so I would presume the easiest way to get it out would be through an upper abdominal incision, a small incision through the stomach wall, then pull the fork out handle first, tines last. It would be tough to retrieve it through the mouth with an endoscope unless, as is done with the colon and intestines, you could inflate the 'tube' with a bunch of air to keep the wall away from the tines as you yanked it up. Also a major risk that way would be possible damage to the airway and vocal cords. Surgeons love this stuff. Beats the heck out of doing yet another gall-bladder or similar boring proceedure.

[hammerdownnow]

Ummmm... uhhhhh.... I was trying to be subtle with my implications Buddy....lol, but thanks for spelling it out!

[fitzo]

Thanks, Buddy. I was guessing abdominal entry but didn't really know.

People do the strangest things. Someone in the lab once came up with a paper from a hospital in NYC detailing various items removed from the opposite end and the methods of extrication. That was as odd as this case.

Did I mention that people do the strangest things...