A Pea Sprouted in a Man's Lung: No Kidding

"Plant sprouts in man's lung"
CNN (August 13, 2010)

"How can a pea grow in a man's lung? That's been a water cooler topic for the better part of this week. It happened to 75-year-old Ron Sveden, who had a half-inch-long sprout removed from his lung, which was first reported by a 20-year-old news intern at the Cape Cod Times on August 8....

"...Sveden was expecting to learn he had lung cancer. Instead, he tells a Boston television station: 'I was told that I had a pea seed in my lung that had split and had sprouted.'..."

"...As for the likelihood of something sprouting inside the body, experts say it’s not impossible. Walter Reeves, a horticulturist, author and radio host in Atlanta, Georgia, says it's conceivable if a seed gets lodged in a lung.

" 'Isn't that what happens when a seed is underground and gets moisture and warmth? They [seeds] don't need light' he adds, at least not for the first two or three days...."

Dr. Jeff Spillane removed the sprouted pea - after sorting it out from damaged lung tissue. Apparently folks get stuff stuck in their lungs fairly often. Plants sprouting? That's rare - possibly because the pea, bean, or peanut would have to be raw for that to happen, and not many Americans eat raw peas.

"...Dr. Steve Georas, a pulmonologist in Rochester, New York, agrees. He says people inhale things into their lungs frequently, probably because the trachea and the esophagus are so close to each other. 'We had a similar case at the University of Rochester where I practice. A patient had a pea wedged in his bronchus - it didn't turn into a plant.'..."

Something I didn't know, that was in the article: children accidentally inhale peanuts from time to time - and this can be fatal.

Which is, I suppose, a good reason to chew your food carefully.