A 17cm-long spoon was found inside the body of a woman following an unexpected incident.
The woman, identified as Reymy Amelinckx, accidentally swallowed the spoon when her dog jumped on her lap while she was eating yoghurt.
She said she had to decide between “choking or swallowing the spoon” but felt the implement ‘sliding down into my stomach smoothly”.
The 28-year-old said she was sitting on the couch with the yoghurt when her energetic Hungarian Vizsla named Marley suddenly jumped on her.
Reymy, from Rumst, Belgium, said: “I put the spoon in my mouth so I had my hands free to reply to a message.
“Just then, Marley decided to jump on me. I was so startled I jerked my head back, and before I knew it, the spoon was lodged in my throat.
“I stood up and started to panic.”
Reymy, who works as a medical representative, tried to remove the spoon with her hand.
“But everything happened so fast, it was either swallow or choke,” she said.
When her boyfriend came home from work, she said she felt too embarrassed to tell him so she “pretended nothing was wrong”.
“I didn’t feel bad at all – so I didn’t say anything about it right away.It wasn’t until after dinner that I realised it was actually quite serious,” she said.
Doctors told her the spoon was too large to pass naturally, so she had to return home and wait until a gastroscopy could be scheduled.
Reymy said: “That night was difficult, I felt the spoon moving, sometimes even between my ribs.
“It was truly terrifying. I felt bloated and nauseous, and I couldn’t eat without feeling strange.
“Sleeping was difficult because every position reminded me of the spoon in my stomach.”
The utensil was removed two days later under local anaesthetic. Doctors had to rotate it in her stomach, which caused a small gastric haemorrhage.
She said: “It wasn’t pleasant, but I felt pure relief when it came out.
“I had a sore throat due to damage to my oesophagus, a few minor gastric bleeding episodes, and a sensitive stomach for a while, but no permanent damage.
“I did, however, gain a lifelong reputation as ‘that girl with the spoon’.”
Despite the nasty experience, Reymy decided to keep the spoon in question as a keepsake.
“My boyfriend wants to turn it into a work of art,” she said. “He doesn’t know exactly what yet, but it will definitely be a unique piece
