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    The Sideshow

    Pen removed from woman’s stomach after 25 years and still works

    A CT scan of the 25-year-lodged penA 76-year-old British woman recently had a pen removed from her stomach, and doctors were shocked to discover that after 25 years of gestation the pen still works.

    The British Medical Journal Case Reports chronicled the medical case of the woman, who has not been identified, was sent to a GI specialist after various symptoms, including weight loss. When doctors scanned the woman's intestinal tract, they discovered, "A linear foreign body in the stomach." After the discovery, the woman said she remembered accidentally swallowing a black felt-tip pen, more than a quarter century ago.

    While the pen was corroded after two decades of exposure to stomach acid, it still contained usable ink and could be used for writing.

    More from the report by Dr. Oliver Richard Waters:

    While she was interrogating a spot on her tonsil with the pen she slipped, fell and swallowed the pen by mistake. Her husband and general practitioner dismissed her story and plain abdominal films done at the time were reported as normal. A gastroscopy demonstrated a plastic felt-tip pen sitting in the lumen of the stomach without evidence of any gastric damage.

    Even though the pen was apparently not related to the woman's current health issues, doctors went ahead and removed it anyway. In perhaps a bit of dry humor, Dr. Waters concluded in his report:

    This case highlights that plain abdominal x-rays may not identify ingested plastic objects and occasionally it may be worth believing the patient's account however unlikely it may be.

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    • M. Brandon  •  La Mirada, California  •  4 mths ago
      Now that's an advertising campaign!
    • olaniyi  •  Lagos, Nigeria  •  4 mths ago
      Well nothing is impossible anylonger!!!
    • Mike  •  Mahwah, United States  •  5 mths ago
      Most of my pens just die on my desk. What brand was that?
      • give me a break 5 mths ago
        HAHAHAHAA!!
      • Terri 5 mths ago
        she swallowed that pen like this story wants us all to swallow bul.......
      • jb 5 mths ago
        thats when the pens where made in the usa now i have to buy a new made in china pen every day... ok i lied(i take a china pen for the bank every day)
    • George  •  Houston, United States  •  5 mths ago
      She thought she had a pen de sidus.
      • Billy Joe 5 mths ago
        *ba dum dum pssh*
      • Mark B 5 mths ago
        God love that Punster!!!!!!!
      • Anna 5 mths ago
        cute!!!!
    • Jimmy  •  Bowling Green, United States  •  5 mths ago
      Mom you have not written to me in over 25 years.
      • petpal 5 mths ago
        With the skinny black felt tip pen I gave you or that you bought.
      • ME 5 mths ago
        Hilarious...thanks!
      • Thin-Line 5 mths ago
        Jimmmmmmmy---- son I didn't have my pen it was in the crapper baby!
    • Darion  •  Portland, United States  •  5 mths ago
      How do you accidently swallow a pen ?
      • Childs 5 mths ago
        Thinking the same thing. At 50 years old she should know if she swallowed a pen.
      • BillS 5 mths ago
        With great difficulty.
      • Rumple01 5 mths ago
        She was practicing 'swallowing' and the pen accidently got swallowed.
    • Pedovan  •  5 mths ago
      Doctor: "We've discovered a linear foreign object in your stomach..."
      Lady: "I swallowed a pen... 25 years ago..."

      *Whole doctor staff stares blankly*

      Random doctor in the corner: I wonder if it still works?
      • Rusty Shackleford 5 mths ago
        comments funny, but your profile pic is even better. ROFLMFAO it just made my day.
      • YOSHI 5 mths ago
        My god that comment is so funny! The profile pic match.
      • [fill in the blank] 5 mths ago
        HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
    • Joe  •  Omaha, United States  •  5 mths ago
      I find it funny they tested the pen to see if it wrote.
    • give me a break  •  5 mths ago
      i can't believe she wasn't believed! she would know if she swallowed a pen or not!
    • ROBERT  •  Kalamazoo, United States  •  5 mths ago
      Now there's a pen worth paying for.
    • Tech  •  Los Angeles, United States  •  5 mths ago
      (( Her husband and general practitioner dismissed her story and plain abdominal films done at the time were reported as normal. )) Worst Husband Award of the Year
    • Gary Gilmore Jr  •  5 mths ago
      I ate a pencil once, but it eventually worked it's way through my system. That's right - it was a Number 2 pencil.....
    • Jussy  •  Malvern, United States  •  5 mths ago
      her insides must look like one of those caves with hierorglyphics on them
    • KingsWay  •  5 mths ago
      She has some serious talent in swallowing things.
    • Andrea  •  Hallandale, United States  •  5 mths ago
      The pen is mighter than the stomach acid
    • Dooley Noted  •  5 mths ago
      Weight loss was one of the symptoms? Quick, was it a Paper Mate or a Sharpie? I'll be in bikini shape by May!
    • Caffe`_addict  •  5 mths ago
      Obviously the pen wasn't made in China
    • Penny  •  5 mths ago
      How do you swallow a pen and just forget about it?
    • Oleg the Tumor  •  Cleveland, United States  •  5 mths ago
      Wow! What a sales pitch! Gimme a dozen!
    • Tom P  •  5 mths ago
      Gestation results in childbirth. The word you are looking for is digestion, it occurs in the digestive tract, which is where this pen was located
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