Swallowed pen removed from woman's stomach 25 years later, still usable

NYDailyNews.com ^ | December 19 2011 | Rheana Murray

[Daffynition]

A bizarre doctor’s visit turned up a 25-year-old pen in the pit of an elderly woman’s stomach – and when it removed, it was still usable.

The 76-year-old woman, whose story was reported in the British Medical Journal Case Reports, was seeing a gastrointestinal specialist for stomach-related problems, including weight loss and diarrhea.

[Daffynition]

Not reported in this story is the fact that this woman has been waiting 25 years to be seen by a doctor, b/c of Brit healthcare queues.

[goseminoles]

Who in the hell would try to write with the pen??

[Cincinatus' Wife]

How do you “accidentally swallow a felt-tip pen?”

[JIM O]

So every time she said no for the past 25 years when someone asked if she had a pen she was lying.

[nuconvert]

Waiting for the ad slogan for this pen.......

[skeeter]

and when it removed, it was still usable.

The world's first bile colored highlighter.

[nuconvert]

LOL

[JIM O]

So every time she said no for the past 25 years when someone asked if she had a pen she was lying.

[SWAMPSNIPER]

"She was using the pen to poke her tonsils"?

Why would anyone want to poke their tonsils?

[Safetgiver]

It’s a sexual thing. I think.

[stylecouncilor]

She was using the pen to poke her tonsils, examining them with a handheld mirror as she stood on stairs, a report from gastroenterologist Dr. Oliver Walters explained. While doing this, she lost her balance and stumbled down a couple steps, swallowing the pen in the process. At the time, X-rays didn’t show any evidence of the object in her stomach, and the issue was forgotten.

Weird.

[sodpoodle]

****this woman has been waiting 25 years to be seen by a doctor, b/c of Brit healthcare queues.****

Astute observation and conclusion.

She was a 51 year-old woman when she ‘swallowed’ that pen. There is no way she didn’t notice - unless she was drunk....or it was a very small pen.

FWIW I have a really tiny pen - 2.5” long - with a sharp point- the smallest I have ever seen - and it would still be impossible to swallow without choking or piercing the esophagus.

[Daffynition]

[Daffynition]

[Daffynition]

>>Who in the hell would try to write with the pen??<<

A writer? You're too young to remember this....

The Most Mechanically Complex Pen Ever Made

In 1952 Sheaffer introduced the Snorkel pen line, which is recognized today as one of the most complex filling mechanisms ever made. The pen was supported with a heavy advertising campaign, proclaiming its clean "dunk free" filling and ease of use. Sheaffer's early advertisements focus on the filling system, often showing the Snorkel extended and comparing it with hummingbirds or straws to get the point across. Later in the 1950s Sheaffer enlisted celebrities to sell the pen: famous actors such as Jackie Gleason, sports figures such as Jack Dempsey, and cartoonists such as Al Capp.

[Dysart]

She likely had tonsiloliths-- malodorous, rotten egg smelling deposits that collect in the tonsil crypts due to long-term inflammation, and are composed of bacteria and food debris. When you encounter someone with really, really bad breath that you can detect from some distance this is almost certainly the cause. The afflicted frequently try to expel them with all manner of instruments, or their digits.

It disproportionately affects liberals.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

You remember those "you won't wear out the Bic, you'll probably lose it before you wear it out." First thing I thought of.

Bic 19₵ pens worked great and never seemed to run out of ink. I worked at a company that made strip chart recorders, inter alia. The writing element was a Bic pen refill that cost about 5₵ wholesale and we sold for $2. When Bic stopped selling refills, they had a girl with a nut cracker opening up cartons of Bic pens.

[Daffynition]

Maybe it was one of those fancy schmantzy *Space Pens* a la Seinfeld?

[Daffynition]

The *Bic* has an interesting history.

[WinMod70]

I’m thinking this whole saga started with a fly.