I learned three things recently, and all from reading one article:
1) It is possible to swallow an entire pen, by accident, without causing yourself serious harm.
2) Pens sometimes do not show up on x-rays (despite the fact that they are PENS).
3) A pen that has been hanging out in your stomach for 25 years is still capable of writing.
It’s gross, it’s weird, and it’s 100 percent true. A woman in Britain accidentally (accidentally!) swallowed a pen while doing a little medical self-diagnosis on her tonsils. It wasn’t visible on an x-ray, though, so her doctor never did anything about it. Finally, a different doctor was concerned that the pen might hurt her stomach, so they operated to take it out.
And guess what? The pen still worked! (Of course they tested it. Wouldn’t you?) That pen is as old as I am and has been sitting in stomach acid for years, and it still works. Maybe they should say what brand it was, because that company has a great marketing strategy in front of them. I mean, I have pens that are only a year old and don’t write anymore. Talk about quality products that are built to last.
I don’t know what this story has to do with anything, but I do know that it is wicked cool.
Photo Credit: npr.org (Yes, that’s the CT scan from this news story.)
