16.02.2025 13:01
A 92-year-old woman in Zonguldak, who underwent surgery to remove 28 date seeds and 35 olive pits from her stomach and intestines, has regained her health.
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Şerife Ay, 92 years old, who started living with her children after the death of her spouse in the Ormanlı town of Karadeniz Ereğli district in Zonguldak, was brought to the hospital on February 5 with complaints of abdominal pain and vomiting.
After examinations, Ay was referred to Zonguldak Bülent Ecevit University (BEUN) Hospital, where a tomography revealed foreign objects in her stomach and intestines. Due to her high blood values, Ay was taken into surgery, where it was determined that a stone measuring 4 centimeters had blocked her small intestine, causing the organ to decay and perforate. After removing the decayed and perforated parts of the small intestine and connecting it with healthy sections, 28 date seeds and 35 olive pits, as well as 5 stones measuring 5.5-6 centimeters formed by the hardening of date seeds, were extracted from Ay's stomach. After approximately 2 hours of surgery, Ay, who spent 5 days in intensive care and was later moved to the ward, is now experiencing the joy of regaining her health.
"OUR PATIENT IS HEALTHY"
Dr. İlhan Taşdöven, a faculty member of the General Surgery Department at Zonguldak BEUN Hospital, who performed the surgery, told AA correspondent that they detected foreign objects in the patient's stomach and small intestine in the films taken. Stating that they decided to operate due to the patient's elevated blood values, Taşdöven explained that they saw hardened foreign objects blocking the intestine, which caused the decay of the small intestine, and that they removed the decayed segments of the intestine. Taşdöven noted that after connecting the healthy parts of the intestine, they also removed the hard objects from the patient's stomach, saying, "The stones we removed were hardened date seeds measuring approximately 5.5-6 centimeters. We cleaned those as well. We saw that there were a lot of date and olive seeds in the stomach. After cleaning these, we concluded the surgery." he said.
"IT CAME AT THE RIGHT TIME"
Emphasizing that hardened food in the stomach is dangerous, Taşdöven stated: "The stomach cannot digest these types of bezoars (hardened food in the stomach). Since the stomach cannot digest them, swallowing is not healthy because they can harden over time and cause perforation of the stomach and intestines. Therefore, we do not recommend it. These can be detected by endoscopy. We can encounter such emergency cases, but it is very rare. The fact that the patient is 92 years old makes it challenging for doctors to perform such surgeries, but our patient is currently healthy." Taşdöven emphasized that the intervention was made at the right time, stating, "If she had continued like this at home with abdominal pain, we would have had a high chance of losing our patient due to blood poisoning. It came at the right time." he said.
"I WILL NEVER TOUCH SEEDS AGAIN"
Şerife Ay expressed that she loves dates and olives very much and that she swallowed their seeds, saying, "How was I to know this would happen? My daughter in the village said, 'Mom, give me the seeds.' I said, 'No' and swallowed them, but over time I couldn't eat bread or drink water. Everything got stuck in my throat." Ay recounted that they went to the hospital after her son noticed she was unwell, saying, "I thought I was dying. They took me to the hospital. They told me what needed to be done for me to recover. Later, they took us to the hospital in Zonguldak. I am fine now. I will never touch seeds again. I was going to separate the seeds; the fault is mine. No one should swallow seeds." she stated.
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