Pica - boy

there was one patient came to casualty department, and obviously i was on call yesterday...

a 16-year-old indian boy, with mental retardation was brought in by his brother, claimed that the small boy have swallowed a padlock.




alamak!!!
a padlock, size measuring at 2X3cm is located in the stomach.
what on earth was this boy doing?
there was nothing else to eat, than tasting the 'iron' flavour?

i was speechless...

but then hor, still able to pick up phone to call my surgeon on call for his opinion.
after awhile, we have decided to manage this case conservatively. so just wait and see lor...


tick... tok... tick... tok...
after 12 hours, we repeated another Xray this morning.
hah! it is still there.

then shit lor. it got stuck inside the stomach.
how leh?

we transferred him to Hospital Ipoh for further management. and obviously, this is no more conservative, it is gonna be mooooore invasive!


the moral of this story: feed your kids well enough iron supplements, before they find from other sources...



p/s: pica is defined as an eating disorder, frequent in children, in which non-nutritional objects are eaten persistently.