# The mind boggles
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mind-boggles/152201
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [February 2, 2003, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mind-boggles/152201 "2003-02-02T00:41:21Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Servant\_To\_The\_Precious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Servant_To_The_Precious)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2003, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mind-boggles/152201/1 "2003-02-02T00:41:21Z")
So instead of letting us go 1/2 an hour early, the instructor in my Medical Terminology class decides to show us pictures from colonoscopies and other orthoscopic procedures.
None of the photos are barf worthy, though a couple are pretty nasty looking , especially the ones of the esophagus that has been scarred by stomach acid.
Then she passes around a picture of a **Tylenol** capsule that is caught in someone’s esophagus. Why is it caught in the esophagus?
Because **it is still in the FRIGGING safety square packaging!!!** :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack:
Now, I can undertsand if a child swallowed something like this, but the “patient” in this case was 34 years old. How can you be that old and not know about the safety packaging and that you have to remove it???
The mind boggles.
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### Author:  [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2003, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mind-boggles/152201/2 "2003-02-02T01:20:52Z")
How did the patient ever live to see his 34th birthday?
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### Author:  [@Rhum\_Runner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhum_Runner)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2003, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mind-boggles/152201/3 "2003-02-02T02:38:03Z")
1. Great story, what a fucking idiot, and welcome to the SDMB!
2. Get a mod to put a space in your user name.
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### Author:  [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2003, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mind-boggles/152201/4 "2003-02-02T03:00:41Z")
The same guy probably wonders where the “any” key on his computer is.
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### Author:  [@Servant\_To\_The\_Precious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Servant_To_The_Precious)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2003, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mind-boggles/152201/5 "2003-02-02T03:09:47Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Rhum Runner \*
> \*\*1) Great story, what a fucking idiot, and welcome to the SDMB!
> 2) Get a mod to put a space in your user name. \*\*
1. Thank you, yes, and thanks again.
1. How do I do that? E-mail?
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### Author:  [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2003, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mind-boggles/152201/6 "2003-02-02T03:15:17Z")
Yes.
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### Author:  [@Dijon\_Warlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dijon_Warlock)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2003, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mind-boggles/152201/7 "2003-02-02T05:15:52Z")
I used to work in a hospital, and you wouldn’t believe the things people try to swallow (and often succeed). People with mental difficulties can put all sorts of things into their bodies. One of the more memorable ones I ran across was christmas tree lightbulbs. Several of them. Evidently, they passed unscathed; but the patient would have been in a load of hurt if they’d broken on the way through.
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### Author:  [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2003, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mind-boggles/152201/8 "2003-02-02T05:58:53Z")
I’m presuming that they had been removed from the electrical string? Assuming nothing-I worked in a hospital, also. They would have lighted the way for a colonoscopy, don’t you think?
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### Author:  [@Dijon\_Warlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dijon_Warlock)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2003, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mind-boggles/152201/9 "2003-02-04T03:47:41Z")
Yeah, they were just the bulbs and no cord; but not the little tiny ones you see so many of. These things were about an inch and a half long and about 3/4 inch (or so) in diameter. The patient had managed to swallow about four of five of them. I saw one x-ray of someone who had managed to swallow a table fork handle first. Never heard what they did about that one.
Long story short: stupidity isn’t always the problem.