http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/ohio-news/nc-doctor-removes-plastic-
fragment-lodged-in-lung-304006.html

RALEIGH, N.C. - Doctors say a North Carolina man who was plagued with
coughing fits should be OK now that they have removed a 1-inch piece of
plastic from his lung, where it had rested since he apparently inhaled
it nearly two years ago while sucking down a soft drink at a Wendy's
restaurant.

Doctors at Duke University Medical Center say the plastic fragment of an
eating utensil - with the Wendy's logo still legible on the side - was
likely to blame for the coughing, fatigue and pneumonia spells that
plagued John Manley for almost two years.

They pulled the fast-food foreign object from Manley's left lung during
a Sept. 10 surgery. The 50-year-old Wilmington resident said he probably
inhaled it while gulping a drink from Wendy's.

"I like to take big gulps of drink," the former home remodeler said. "I
don't know of any other ways of it getting in there."

Manley said he and his wife were puzzled by his bouts of illness after
moving to the North Carolina coastal city from Queens, N.Y., about two
years ago. He met with multiple doctors, who eventually determined there
was a foreign object in his left lung. But they couldn't figure out what
it was or the best way to remove it.

"One doctor said they could remove my lung," Manley said. "I said no
way. That was the easiest way for them, and I said I didn't think so."

Manley's case eventually came to the attention of Dr. Momen Wahidi,
director of interventional pulmonology at Duke. Wahidi, who mostly works
with cancer patients to remove tumors from their lung airways, told
Manley he would try extracting the object using a rigid bronchoscope.
The procedure would allow Wahidi to insert a camera and other
instruments to examine and remove the mystery object.

Wahidi said he still remembers his staff's amazement in the operating
room when they pulled it out.

"We're looking at it and realizing that there are letters on it ... We
started reading out loud, 'A-M-B-U-R-G-E-R,' and realized it spelled,
'hamburgers.'

"Everybody was shocked. We had no clue why something that said,
'hamburgers' would be in someone's lung," he said.

They had read a side of the plastic that spelled Wendy's motto of "Old
Fashioned Hamburgers."

Wahidi said foreign objects in the lungs are much more common in
children, but he's extracted false teeth, nails, and even a peanut from
adults who have held the items in their mouth and accidentally sucked
them in. Patients often don't realize there's a problem until their
bodies begin to react.

But Wahidi said the piece of plastic was a first.

"It's definitely one of the weirdest things I've removed in my career,"
he said.

Manley said he's unsure if he will contact officials from Wendy's, based
in Dublin, Ohio. Wendy's spokesman Denny Lynch said he has never heard
of a situation like this in his 29 years with the company. He said
company officials would contact Manley at the appropriate time.

"We're as quizzed by the whole situation as everyone else is," he said.
"This is quite a surprise that this could even happen."

Manley said there's a huge difference in his quality of life days after
the surgery.

"I can breathe now," the father of three adult daughters said of his
recovery. "I can get up and walk my dog. I couldn't do that before. I
was pretty much house-ridden."

Wahidi said he will meet with Manley in a month for a checkup, but he
expects a full recovery.

"The body has an amazing ability to heal," Wahidi said. "Now that the
object is out, his body should be able to recover and his airways should
be back to normal."

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