Emma Phillips a student teacher had to undergo surgery after trying to remove the object, even going as far as using a fork handle and BBQ prongs to remove it.
Emma, 24, from Wallasey, Merseyside, said: “We were looking around the bed in case it had fallen out. When I leaned on my stomach I could feel it vibrating – it was stuck low down and at one point was even wedged behind my hip.”“For a while Lee was suggesting all kinds of wonderful options.'' She said to Sun UK.
“He tried a kitchen fork handle, which we won’t be using again, and said he could feel it at one point but that it was too far up – it was a goner. He tried BBQ prongs too but after a certain point – after an hour of trying – we knew were going to have to go to hospital. We were both a bit shocked.”
Emma said:
“We’d both been drinking the night before so we couldn’t drive. I had to make the most embarrassing call to the ambulance at 7am. The call handler said ‘tell me exactly what the problem is’ so I had to tell him.”
Emma said:
“At that point it was just more surreal than anything. I didn’t feel much pain at that point I was in too much shock. The doctors were really good – they all moved quite quickly and were so reassuring telling me they saw it quite often which was quite a relief.
At first we were jokey about it but then realised it wasn’t much of a joke especially when there was talk of going through my stomach if they couldn’t get it.” “I think before that I thought of it as just a little operation to get it out, I still wasn’t taking it that seriously. When he said that – that only when I woke up would I know whether they would have to cut me open – it was really scary.”
At 12pm Emma underwent the surgery which involved placing a camera down her throat and the surgeon pressing on her stomach before manually extracting it.
Emma said:
“My daughter was staying with my mum and dad as I stayed at Lee’s the night before.
“I wasn’t going to tell them but then I was going into surgery I knew we were going to have to say something so I told my mum the real reason. I just took some painkillers and was told not to use stuff like that again until I was ready. I’ve learnt that I’ll need to be a bit more careful in the future.
“Lee’s not been scarred by it – he just thinks it’s funny. I think he should have one up his bum and take one for the team.”We weren’t going to do anything about it because of the embarrassment – there’s a big taboo about it – but we knew we needed help.
“I want to say a massive thank you to the ambulance crew and Wrexham Hospital staff who were really good, really reassuring and non-judgemental. There is a big taboo about this, but it really isn’t a big deal. You hear about people becoming really ill or even dying because they’re too embarrassed to get help – I would hate that to happen to someone.”