Chicken bone turns Sunday lunch into nine-day hospital stay

By Tholakele Mbonani, Health-e News

Dorothy Khomo from Duduza township, near Springs on Gauteng’s East Rand, had just returned from church and was eating with her family when she felt a chicken bone lodge in her throat.

Her sister suggested eating brown bread to push it down. When that did not work, Khomo went to bed, hoping the discomfort would pass.

Instead, her condition worsened.

“I couldn’t sleep properly. I had a fever and my throat was uncomfortable,” she says.

By Monday morning, Khomo could barely speak and her neck had started swelling. She went to Nokuthela Ngwenya Clinic in Dunnottar, where she was referred to Pholosong Regional Hospital.

Sent home to wait for medical specialist

Khomo says when she arrived at Pholosong Regional Hospital, she was told she needed to be examined by the hospital’s ear, nose and throat (ENT) department.

But hospital staff told her that ENT doctors would only be available the following day. Khomo says she was sent home despite the pain, fever and swelling.

When she returned to the hospital the following day, a scan confirmed the chicken bone was still lodged in her throat. Doctors performed an emergency operation to remove it.

While most accidentally swallowed foreign bodies pass through the digestive tract without intervention, sharp bones can become lodged and cause serious complications, including perforation of the oesophagus, infection and abscess formation.

A review published in the South African Journal of Radiology notes that CT scans may be needed when a chicken bone is swallowed to check for complications such as perforation or an abscess.

Nine days in hospital

Khomo could not eat normally after the operation and was fed through a tube. As her condition improved, a dietitian gradually introduced soft foods.

She eventually spent nine days in hospital. Khomo says one of the most difficult moments was when her feeding tube came out and had to be reinserted. She was awake during the procedure.

Khomo says the experience has changed how she eats. She now pays closer attention to every bite, but says she still eats chicken bones.

“I still eat chicken bones, but now I am very careful.”

When to seek medical help

Emergency doctors advise seeking medical help if you think you have swallowed a chicken bone, as sharp bones can cause serious medical complications.

Eating chicken bones as a cultural custom

Eating chicken bones is part of the way some Southern African families consume chicken.

Dr Dambudzo Mushambi, a Zimbabwean-born postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pretoria, who has spent most of his life in South Africa, has written about eating chicken bones as part of his own family’s food culture.

Mushambi links the practice partly to traditions of making the most of scarce meat. He writes it can persist even when people’s economic circumstances change.

Daryl Hewson, a lecturer in Gastronomy and Culinary Studies at the University of Johannesburg, says chicken is one of the country’s most widely eaten meats.

“It is prepared in different ways, from home-cooked stews and curries to shisanyama, wings, necks and walkie-talkies [chicken heads and feet].”

Small bones can pose a health risk

But Hewson warns that bone fragments are a recognised food-safety hazard. She says there is no national data showing how frequently people choke on them.

“It would therefore be misleading to describe them as either common or rare,” she says.

“The main concern is not the large bone a diner expects to find, but a small, unintended fragment or sharp cut edge that is easy to overlook,” she says.

“Extra care is needed when eating wings, necks, backs and portions from mixed braai packs because they may contain several small bones or pieces cut across the carcass.”

Source: Read the original report at Health-e News.