A New Zealand triathlete has described the moment a cockroach crawled into her ear canal as ‘the worst experience of her life’.
Sophie Corbidge, a former elite sprint champion, first realised something was wrong when she woke up in terrible pain about 11pm on Tuesday.
While Ms Corbidge, 26, said wasn’t entirely sure what had happened, she said she’d felt something crawl into her ear.
‘I woke up screaming and in excruciating pain’, she told Daily Mail Australia.
Sophie Corbidge, a former elite sprint champion, first realised something was wrong when she woke up in terrible pain about 11pm on Tuesday
Her partner and flatmates rushed to her aid in an attempt to help, improvising using a hairpin to try and removed the unwelcome intruder.
Next, she recalls they attempted to suck the critter out with a vacuum cleaner, but this too was to no avail.
‘I was in a bit of a state. I was in agony every time it moved,’ she said.
Ms Corbidge with the remains of the creepy critter specialists extracted from her ear
After being admitted to Waikato Hospital’s emergency department, Ms Corbidge said doctors did all they could to kill the culprit, eventually managing to drown it with oil.
‘They next tried to fish it out, then flush it out using a water gun but it was in too deep.
‘I got sent home with painkillers and told to come back to the ear specialist.’
Ms Corbidge said she had luck the following day, although hospital staff struggled after seeing the length of the creature lodged deep within her ear.
‘The ear specialist doctor put me on the bed and looked in my ear with a special camera.
‘She then jumped back and said “I don’t think I can do this, I don’t like bugs”.’
Even the specialist turned squeamish after seeing the three centimetre bug lodged in Ms Corbidge’s ear
When Ms Corbidge was told she had a cockroach in her ear she said she ‘started bawling’.
But she does give credit to the specialist though, who she said ‘manned up’ and managed to extract the three centimetre long bug using medical tweezers.
Although Ms Corbidge is fine now, she said the experience was like ‘starring in my own horror film.’
And while she admits she’s a ‘bit paranoid still’ she said ‘Mortien is now my new best friend. I would not wish this on anyone.