Man’s bowels fall out of his body after coughing and sneezing

A man was sitting in a diner minding his own business when he noticed his bowel protruding out of his body.

So, the short version of this story is that a man's bowels fell out after he coughed and sneezed.

The long version, as detailed in the American Journal of Medical Case Reports, is that a 63-year-old man was sitting down for breakfast with his wife.

Fifteen days earlier, he'd been through a successful cystectomy, a surgical procedure which removes some or all of the urinary bladder, with the entry incision held together by staples until it healed sufficiently.

Just before the breakfast the man had been in a urology clinic where his staples had been removed and he'd been deemed to be in good health.

Just to give you an idea of the 63-year-old's condition. (American Journal of Medical Case Reports)

Going off for breakfast to celebrate the good news with his wife, the man 'sneezed forcefully' and coughed, then he felt a 'wet sensation' and pain in his lower abdomen.

Uh oh.

Looking down he saw 'several loops of pink bowel protruding from his recent surgical site', otherwise known as his bowels falling out of his body.

It seems as though his sneezing and coughing tore open his surgical cut and his bowels had managed to fall out of his body.

Quite understandably, this guy had no idea what he was supposed to do in the event that he accidentally disembowelled himself by sneezing too hard, so his first course of action was to pull his shirt down over his exposed bowels.

In general, it's considered polite not to leave your bits hanging out.

At first he wanted to drive himself to the hospital with his guts hanging out. His wife called an ambulance. (Getty Stock Photo)

Of course what you should do in the quite unlikely event of your guts hanging out of your body is go to hospital as soon as you possibly can.

The man decided this was the right idea, and thought he'd better scoop himself up and drive himself to hospital.

His wife rather sensibly called an ambulance and told them her husband's bowels had fallen out of his body.

When paramedics arrived they spotted a three inch long laceration with 'large amounts of bowel' hanging out, and even she was initially unsure of what to do.

She thought about maybe putting the 63-year-old's bowels back inside his body, but was worried this might damage them.

Fortunately, paramedics arrive within four minutes, kept his bowels moist and got him to hospital where he went in for surgery.

Fortunately, besides the obvious affliction, he was otherwise unharmed and six days after surgery he was allowed to return home.

Let's hope he doesn't sneeze too hard again.