A Chinese man accidentally swallowed a coffee spoon while intoxicated in Thailand, believing it to be merely a dream for several months.
The 29-year-old, known as Yan, visited a doctor in Shanghai in June, suspecting he had ingested plastic while eating takeaway food.
However, instead of plastic, the doctor at Shanghai Zhongshan Hospital discovered a 15cm long spoon lodged within him.
The spoon was trapped in his duodenum 鈥 the first section of the small intestine.
It was positioned precariously; even a slight movement could cause perforation of the intestine, resulting in inflammation or severe bleeding.
It was at this point that Yan realised his experience in Thailand back in January was not a figment of his imagination.
While travelling there, he had been drinking and attempted to use a coffee spoon in his hotel room to induce vomiting.
The ceramic spoon was inadvertently pulled from his hand by a force in his throat and slid into his stomach.
Following this, he experienced an alcoholic blackout.
When he awoke the next morning, his memory was so hazy that he believed he had merely dreamed about swallowing the spoon. He attributed his stomach discomfort to the effects of vomiting.
For the next six months after returning to Shanghai, he continued to work out, feeling no significant issues.
Doctors explained that extracting the spoon from his body was complex, as its slippery surface and the position it was in made removal challenging.
On June 18, he underwent endoscopic surgery. The initial attempt to use a snare forceps to retrieve the spoon failed due to its slippery surface.
Subsequently, Zhou Hongping, the director of the endoscopy centre at Zhongshan Hospital, decided to employ a combination of two forceps to first drag the spoon back into the stomach before switching to the snare tool for extraction.
They succeeded 90 minutes into the surgery.
Yan has since been discharged from the hospital and expressed gratitude that the spoon was discovered by chance.
Recently, a report emerged about a 64-year-old Chinese man who found a 17cm long toothbrush lodged in his intestine for 52 years.
He had swallowed it while brushing his teeth at age 12, was too afraid to inform his parents, and believed the brush would dissolve on its own.
鈥淎nother crazy thing one can do after getting drunk,鈥 commented an online observer.
鈥淚t鈥檚 amazing he sought medical attention for something other than the spoon,鈥 noted another.