Chinese woman in hospital with stomach ache after she swallows spoon while eating noodles
A Chinese woman “accidentally swallowed” a 15cm-long stainless steel spoon while eating a bowl of noodles, mainland media reports
The 27-year-old, identified only by her surname of Wang, went to hospital in Yangzhou, in Jiangsu province, on Sunday three hours after swallowing the spoon, Modern Express reports.
Doctors spent two hours trying to locate the spoon alongside the noodles in her stomach using an endoscope before they were able to pull it out with a medical wire attached to the instrument.
However, they also cast doubt about her explanation for swallowing the spoon, although they were unable to find out precisely what happened.
“First of all, you wouldn’t use a spoon to eat noodles,” Yin Jian, the deputy director at Northern Jiangsu People’s Hospital’s department of gastroenterology was quoted as saying.
“This spoon was longer than a normal spoon and not easy to swallow either. We guess there might be another story behind what happened, but she wouldn’t say much,” Yin added.
Wang was sent home following the procedure after being discharged from hospital. It was not reported whether Wang was given back her spoon.
In May, a woman from Dongguan, in Guangdong province, was almost killed when she tried to clear her throat by forcing the handle of a 30cm-long kitchen spatula down her mouth.
The unnamed woman, 31, was cooking in her kitchen when she suddenly felt ill and gasped for breath, the Southern Metropolis News reported.
At first she tried to clear her throat with her fingers and then a pair of chopsticks before finally forcing the handle of the spatula down her throat.
After continuing to struggle for breath she was rushed to hospital.
Doctors at the city’s Kanghua Hospital, who operated on the woman, had to remove most of her oesophagus.
They said they could find no sign of any other blockage in her throat that might have led to her struggling to breathe.
Southern Metropolis News reported that the woman, who had been due to be discharged two weeks after her surgery, had also been due to be sent for a psychiatric evaluation.
In 2013, a woman in Yangzhou accidentally swallowed her toothbrush while she was talking on the phone.
Doctors said that the muscles around the oesophagus worked like a rubber band and were flexible enough to expand and contract around objects.
