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News: Man Finds Pearl Lodged In Ear 41 Years Later |
Lucky for me, my mom had those really big fake pearls for her necklace. Enjoy!
Later -
Tater Scot
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Man Finds Pearl Lodged In Ear 41 Years Later
Calvin Wright Says Pearl Got Stuck When He Was Five
ATHENS, Ga. -- Calvin Wright held up a small pearl that was part of his mother's pearl necklace. When he was 5 years old, it was shiny and white but it's changed a little in the last 41 years.
The last time Wright saw it was when he caught his sister, Regina Coleman, playing with the necklace.
"He said, 'Momma's gonna get you,'" said Coleman. "I pulled it from him, that's how it broke."
As the pair wrestled with the loose pearls, one got stuck in Wright's ear, or at least they thought there was only one. A doctor removed one and Wright said he didn't think about it again until he went to the hospital a few weeks ago with a nasty cold.
"[The nurse] said, 'Mr. Wright, before you leave I need to check you.''' said Wright. "She checked my left ear first, then my right. Then she asked me if I used Q-Tips. I do and she said, 'You've got one stuck in your ear.'"
But that's not what it was at all.
"She was trying to get it and it started hurting. All these years it never felt like that, so I said, 'Wait a minute. Wait a minute.' She said, 'That's a pearl in your ear.'"
Wright's family and friends said the pearl only caused one problem.
"My family and everyone that knew me would say I talk too loud," said Wright.
And though it's not as pretty as it once was, Wright said the pearl will stay with him.
"Keep it for a lifetime," said Wright. "It's sentimental, and it's a part of me. It grew with me."
Pearl comes out of ear 41 years later
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
People always told Calvin Wright he spoke too loudly.
Now he knows why.
For 41 years, the Athens man had a pearl from his mother's necklace stuck in his ear canal. ER staff at St. Mary's Hospital discovered it when Wright came in suffering from bronchitis this month.
"The nurse was checking my ear and said, ‘Do you use Q-Tips?'" Wright said. "I said yes, and she said, ‘you've got one in your right ear, I'll get it out.' She tried getting it and then she was like, ‘Whoa, this is hard. This is not a Q-Tip. Looks like you got a pearl in your ear.'"
Nurse practitioner Christina Harrelson and nurse Haley Faulkner referred Wright to a specialist. Dr. James Dempsey removed the pearl, which Wright kept.
It all started when Wright was 5, and he and his younger sister, Regina, got hold of their mother's necklace.
"My mom was at work and the babysitter was watching us," Wright recalled of the childhood incident in Chicago. "My sister broke the necklace, and the pearls went everywhere."
Playing around, Regina apparently shoved two pearls in his ear. Wright was in pain when his mother came home. They went to the hospital.
"I was hollering so bad, then the doctor said, ‘I got it out,'" Wright said. "I remember I got two green lollipops. I didn't think more about it."
When the second pearl was discovered, doctors asked Wright if he had suffered headaches, sinus problems or other symptoms. But the only effect was he struggled to hear himself speak.
"Everybody would say, ‘Why don't you lower your voice?'" he said. "Now, when I went to the barber shop , they said, ‘You're not talking loud like you used to.' I notice I can hear myself better."
Wright, who's had his ears checked a few times over the years, was stunned no one found the pearl until now.
One of the first things he did was call his sister.
"She said, ‘You're kidding me, I thought they got that thing out. I said, ‘No, there were two.'
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