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Ed Yeates Reporting Be careful what you wear for Halloween. You might not be able to take it off!
That's what happened to a 28-year-old man from Pleasant Grove.
How many times have you used false vampire teeth as part of a Halloween costume? Well, guess what happened to Josh Anderson when he put a vampire tooth in his mouth 12 years ago?
Josh, who draws blood now as a phlebotomist at a University Health Center in Orem, accidentally swallowed a fake vampire tooth when he was 16 years old. Though this tooth had lodged in his airway, an x-ray at his home town E.R. in Albuquerque, New Mexico showed nothing.
Josh Anderson: "The tooth is a glow in the dark. It's plastic. So it's pretty much see-through. And so I said, 'Are you sure there's nothing you can find in there?' And he said, 'Absolutely nothing. There's nothing in your lung.'"
From there - years of miscalls. Walking pneumonia. Maybe asthma, cystic fibrosis, even emphysema.
Finally, in February, Dr. Antonio Salud at the University of Utah Hospital takes a CT scan from the sid and finds a lump in his lung. Perhaps cancer?
No, look closely! It's that vampire tooth shrouded in tissue that had grown around it over the years.
From his hospital bed, he called his lifelong friend who was with him 12 years ago.
Josh Anderson: "First thing out of his mouth, 'This has nothing to do with the tooth, does it?' I said, 'Yeah, it does.'"
After laser surgery, the airway is now clear. And, at home..
Josh Anderson: "I go to bed and I'm fine. I don't have a wheeze at night. My wife loves me again. She loves the fact that she doesn't hear all that wheezing and all that clearing of the throat."
For Josh, no more playing a vampire - ever! And when he has children?
Josh Anderson: "Small objects are definitely staying away from my kids, definitely."
