Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Remind me to be more careful in the bathroom . . .


I'm both horrified and fascinated by a report from China.


These amazing X-rays show how a man arrived with a tap and 16 inches of pipework stuck in his eye at a hospital's casualty unit.




But the terrified patient was forced to pull the tap out himself - because surgeons took three hours to send for a plumber to get it out.

Yi Zhao, 57, had slipped in the bath impaling his left eye on the tap at his home.

After firemen had cut the water pipe paramedics rushed him to hospital with the faucet still in place.

But while the doctors dithered for three hours over surgery, fed-up Zhao reached up and simply pulled out the tap himself.

"That caused him too much pain so we had to change the plan and first take an X-ray," said Dr. Hu Zhao of Daping Hospital in China.

"I felt I could stand the pain, and it wouldn't be a problem. It didn't look too complicated," said Zhao, who made his decision after studying the X-ray with his good eye.

Shamefaced medics immediately took a CT scan, which showed that Zhao had a fractured nose and facial bones, while amazingly his brain and his vision were not affected.

Doctors told Zhao he will make a full recovery but lectured him on the dangers of DIY surgery.

"I was tired of waiting and all they wanted to do was talk," he explained.


Y'know, my eyes are watering just looking at that!

Peter

2 comments:

phlegmfatale said...

'twas better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, I suppose!

Anonymous said...

Had a similar experience with a bad compound fracture of my lower leg. It was broken at 90 degrees and twisted 180 degrees so my toes were touching my buttocks. Had to pull on it and roll over to get everything lined back up- it hurt some doing it but the relief was wonderful! Of course I did it quick, this guy had lots of time to think about it first! Yikes.