Ring in the New Year, But Not Literally
28 Dec 2024
Albert Einstein once said, “Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe.”
Many doctors would agree. There are patients who willfully inflict medical problems on themselves, even when they have full knowledge of the behaviours and lifestyle habits that will end their lives prematurely. There are other patients who become victims of carelessness. Nine times out of ten, problems could have been avoided.
It’s time to “ring in the New Year”. But a woman in Australia took those words too literally at a New Year’s Eve party in 2015. The 41-year-old, who had asthma, reached into her purse for her inhaler when she began to wheeze during the festivities. Unbeknownst to her, a loose earring from her purse had become lodged in the inhaler, and with one quick puff, she inhaled it!
The earring’s rapid propulsion injured the woman’s throat before getting stuck in the airway leading to her right lung. She missed the rest of the party, being rushed instead to the emergency department, where doctors extracted the earring. She learned the importance of replacing the lid on her inhaler after every use.
Every year, people make simple mistakes that result in trouble, and sometimes tragedy. There’s a simple rule. If it’s not air, don’t breathe it in. A few unlucky people broke this rule inadvertently. One fellow was sitting on his porch, perhaps on a windy day. He suddenly inhaled what he thought was a bug. But after months of a nagging cough, doctors extracted what appeared to be a cocklebur.
Another case remains a curious mystery. A middle-aged man was misdiagnosed with COPD after developing a cough. As a smoker of one pack of cigarettes a day for 20 years, the diagnosis made sense. But treatment failed to help. Upon further imaging of the problem, a surgeon was called in to remove a small chunk of coal! The man’s cough was cured, but he couldn’t explain how the coal got lodged in his trachea.
Such bad luck is not always followed by good fortune. A tragedy ended the life of a nine-month-old baby in a case that should not have happened. When no one was looking, the child swallowed a balloon. The ensuing respiratory distress must have been a nightmare for the parents who rushed to the hospital. But the balloon was not found until it was too late.
Children can swallow all sorts of things. One child didn’t need an inhaler to gulp down an earring. It was her mother’s wedding ring this baby mistook for food. An x-ray may have provided relief in finding the missing jewelry, but it was another lesson in the tremendous responsibility that comes with parenthood. Keep small items away from the hands of young children.
One would expect adults to have more sense about what they put in their mouths. But not so a careless woman who was enjoying the holidays overseas. She launched a handful of vitamins into her mouth and down the hatch. She didn’t notice her diamond wedding ring was also in the mix! For her, it must have been a stressful vacation while she awaited her ring to reappear, which it did, naturally, three or four days later.
Swallowing a ring is one thing, but a set of dentures? That’s what one man swallowed while eating a bowl of soup. Once again, emergency surgery was required to extract the false teeth from the man’s esophagus.
A good New Year’s resolution would be to pass safely through the year ahead without these kinds of unfortunate problems.
