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Horacio Rodriguez, 42, had no idea what was causing intense pain in his chest. And he couldn’t have been more surprised when he found out.
It was a toothpick.
What's more, the toothpick – swallowed the year before – was fully intact.
According to the Mirror, Rodriguez had suffered for at least six months, visiting hospitals throughout that time and never receiving an explicit diagnosis. In January, doctors told him he might have had pneumonia after he was rushed to a hospital with a high fever. Later, he was told he could have had a heart infection.
When an ultrasound showed a strange object near Rodriguez' heart, doctors decided surgery was the next option.
It wasn't until surgeons operated on Rodriguez during a seven-hour surgery at Hospital Fernandez in Buenos Aires, Argentina that they had an answer for what had caused his ailments.
"First, we took the blood out of his heart, and then we saw it clearly. It was a toothpick. Nobody could believe it at first," said heart specialist Fernando Cichero.
Rodriguez later revealed that he had eaten many appetizers at the end of last year.
"I have no idea when I swallowed the toothpick but can only assume it was during some sort of celebration," Rodriguez said. "Perhaps the next time I eat salami or cheese, I'll make sure they've got little flags attached to them so I can see them," he added.
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