A man outside of Boston is warning people against using earbuds while falling asleep after health care workers had to remove a wireless earbud from his esophagus.
Worcester, Massachusetts resident Brad Gauthier detailed his bizarre experience in a Facebook post saying that he went to bed Monday listening to music. He woke up Tuesday, shoveled snow for about an hour, and then went inside to take a sip of water. But the liquid wouldn't go down, and he had to lean over to drain it from his throat.
Gauthier also noticed he was missing one of his two wireless earbuds, which he said he usually uses while falling asleep.
Gauthier's son suggested that perhaps his father had swallowed the earbud, which is exactly what an X-ray at a local emergency room revealed. The small plastic device was lodged in his lower esophagus.
Doctors removed the earbud during an emergency endoscopy. Gauthier said he never experienced more than minor discomfort. Still, he cautioned others not to sleep with their headphones because "you never know where they'll end up."
"It never occurred to me that [falling asleep with headphones] could be a safety hazard. I was really quite lucky," Gauthier told local station WWLP-TV.