Wendy Zukerman

Oh, boy, boy, boy.

Okay.

This story was published in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology in 1988.

It begins with a lover's quarrel.

and ends with what might be one of the unlikeliest events in scientific history.

But it's so unlikely that we're wondering if perhaps it is indeed a fairy tale with some nightmarish elements.

One doctor told us it reads like Jerry Springer.

Quote, you don't see much in medicine that's published in this way.

All right, we're in Lesotho, which is a very small country within the borders of South Africa, and the case report starts off like this.

I'm just going to read it to you verbatim, the first few sentences.

Quote, "...the patient was a 15-year-old girl employed in a local bar.

She was admitted to hospital after a knife fight involving her, a former lover, and a new boyfriend."

Who exactly stabbed whom was not quite clear, but all three participants in the small war were admitted with knife injuries.

It sure did.

So this young woman comes into the hospital with a stab wound to the upper part of her stomach.

They have a look and it's actually sort of punctured two holes into her stomach.

The doctors operate on her, close up the wounds, keep her for observation, but ultimately she gets to go home after about a week and a half and she's fully recovered.

But, of course, our story can't end there.

Months later, she returns to the hospital with a very different issue.

It's about nine months later, actually, and she's complaining of serious stomach pain.