21 ms·
This is a real problem. My wife had been having extreme stomach pain for months, multiple trips to the emergency room, gastroenterologist, nothing could be fou
by genkimind 10y ago
This is a real problem.
My wife had been having extreme stomach pain for months, multiple trips to the emergency room, gastroenterologist, nothing could be found. She described that she felt that there was a hole in her stomach, the doctors called it stress.
On her final ER visit (two months after the pain began), something showed up in the CT scan (the 3rd one). Embedded in her belly fat was a wire. Everything clicked and I realized we had had steak on the grill the day that the problems started. She went into surgery and had the grill brush wire removed.
The wire had poked a hole in her stomach, and somehow worked its way out through the abdominal muscles into her belly fat. We are grateful that it exited that way, instead of into another major organ.
Beware.
- rocky1138 10y agoBy the time it reached her belly fat, was the pain any less?
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- genkimind 10y agoThe pain transformed from "there's a hole in my stomach" to "I have a painful lump under my belly button". It was easy to miss, and initially the doctors were just like "Oh it's your belly button". But then one doctor took a closer look with the CT scan and BAM.
- skyrw 10y agoWell, now I'm thoroughly terrified of BBQ.
- alexissantos 10y agoYou and me both. Yeesh!
- tptacek 10y agoFuck this I'm done with brushes.
- joezydeco 10y agoI have a nylon brush that works great, it's designed to be used when the grill is cold.
- ptaipale 10y agoI use a metal scraper (no metal bristles) with extreme heat, plus a traditional root brush where the bristles are made of plant roots (as of old crowberry, nowadays commonly rice root). Root brush doesn't tolerate as much heat as metal bristles but more than nylon.
- iLoch 10y agoI'm done with doctors. Stress? Give me a break.
- dghughes 10y ago>Stress? Give me a break. I think that's the point.
- peeters 10y agoI think that's a bit unfair. If they went to the point of two CT scans (which showed nothing), it's not like they were being dismissive. They were probably trying to give the best diagnosis they could with the evidence available.
- bobwaycott 10y agoI'm not one to typically experience much stress, but it sure sounds like a dubious explanation for the symptoms.
- ptaipale 10y agoThat is not a very reasonable outburst. Stress does give similar symptoms to some people. The doctors had clearly tried according to best procedure, but it is a matter of luck whether something like a small bristle is visible in a cat scan. Regular x-ray, not possible. And if the doctors make you go through dozens of cat scans, you'll probably make a noise about them making unnecessary expensive examinations.
- g10r 10y agoGlad your wife is ok. I dated a girl once who had a similar experience when she was younger. Her family thought she was complaining about nothing and eventually received treatment.
- shultays 10y agoIsn't a metal wire highly visible in x-ray? How doctors miss that?
- balabaster 10y agoAlso, aren't BBQ bristle brushes magnetic? Wouldn't a simple magnet over the spot have exacerbated the pain and triggered a closer look? Not that you'd have known to use a magnet to test it, but now it's certainly something that could be considered on a checklist of cheap/free things to check before more expensive/time consuming/invasive procedures are initiated.
- genkimind 10y agoThe only xray given were CT scans. How it was missed I don't know. It could have to do with the orientation of the wire.