Surgeons discover man’s stabbing heart pain is year-old swallowed toothpick

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...