72-Year Old Woman Accidentally Swallowed a Christmas Cake Decoration

A 72-year old woman accidentally swallowed a Christmas cake decoration which resulted to her suffering from stomach pain for three days, the Daily Mail reports.

The French woman swallowed an axe-shaped décor which perforated her small intestine. She was rushed to the emergency department at a hospital in Paris after complaining of pain around her belly button. As a result of the accident, she also suffered from high temperature, vomited once and experienced tenderness on the right side of the abdomen. Due to the foreign object struck against her small intestine, she experienced very high levels of inflammation in her body.

After undergoing a CT scan of her abdomen at the Assistance Publique-Hopitaux de Paris, doctors discovered damage to the mesentery, which connects part of the small intestine to the back wall of the abdomen. Doctors decided to put the woman under the knife and they were able to take out the green, two-centimeter long axe. The patient reported that she ate a cake which had the axe as its top-most design and consumed it by mistake.

Although rare, a perforated duodenum can be regarded as a life-threatening injury that is typically associated with blunt abdominal trauma as it is. This condition can be treated through a number of different forms including non-surgical procedures. Doctors may prescribe medications to be consumed regularly, depending on how grave the effects are on the patient. The woman's perforation was repaired with sutures and she was discharged ten days after. As of late, the patient is doing well and is recovering fully.