Sometimes a story comes along that seems too strange to be real, but this story is a real one. It was first published in December of 2011.
A 76-year old woman was having digestive issues, so she went to the doctor. She was diagnosed with extreme diverticulosis, which is essentially small pouches bulging from the colon. It is common with older people, so it seemed like a rational diagnosis. She was given a CT scan, and that's when the true cause of the pain and discomfort was shown.
Unbelievably, she had a pen in her stomach. And not only was it in her stomach, it had been in her stomach for 25 years! She remembered standing by the steps 25 years earlier and trying to make a mark on her tonsils when she tripped and swallowed the pen. Her husband and doctor didn't believe her, and the Xrays came back normal. Her digestive problems weren't caused by the pen itself, but it was removed to ensure that no holes were punctured in her gastrointestinal tract. The pen itself was a felt-tip pen made of plastic. It was beginning to flake, but it was still intact. It was an amazing story in that the stomach acid hadn't degraded the pen to a more decayed state.
The most amazing part of this story was that it still contained ink, and it could still write! If you don't believe me, click on the link below to go to the medical journal that has pictures of the CT scan and the pen.
http://casereports.bmj.com/content/2011/bcr.10.2011.5001.full?sid=fba8736f-33ca-4362-a35e-bb230df19d64Images%20in..
Beyond belief, but true!
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