Pradeep Hode, a 30 year-old from Diva in Thane, qualifies to be Mumbai’s Metal Man. A chronic patient of tuberculosis of the abdomen, Hode — over the past few months — swallowed 117 coins, which were finally removed on Friday after a surgery by doctors at KEM Hospital, Parel.

Hode had been suffering from severe abdominal pain in the past few months. Based on hearsay and some bizarre logic of his own, Hode started swallowing coins, hoping that the heavy metal would reduce abdominal pain and create pressure to have regular bowel movement. However, his condition only went from bad to worse.

Parmeshwar Gond, senior medical officer at KEM Hospital, said Hode came with intestinal obstruction symptoms on Friday morning. “He was vomitting, had constipation and continuous abdominal pain. His bowel movement had totally stopped because of blockages in the lower abdomen,” he said.

Gond said the hospital immediately put Hode through the standard investigation procedures like CT scan and X-ray of his abdomen to know the exact position of the coins in the stomach. “He was taken for surgery without wasting any time,” he added. Sameer Rege, under the guidance of P Hardikar of the general surgery departmment at KEM, performed the operation on Hode for nearly two hours to remove all the coins he had swallowed.

“We had to dissect and remove a portion of his small bowel (alium) as many coins had deposited in that region. The metal had affected the condition of the small bowel,” Gond said.

(Times of India)