Florida resident Katie Holley experienced something traumatic that can only seem plausible in a horror movie. She awoke to an odd sensation in her left ear and discovered a live roach lodged inside the deep recesses of her ear canal, twitching about.
The 29-year-old sales and marketing manager from Melbourne, Florida, recounted the horrific incident for Self that resulted in a trip to the emergency room, where things didn't go efficiently as planned.
It all started after she and her husband hired an exterminator to periodically spray around the house to combat flying palmetto bugs that typically plague humid locations like Florida.
Then the invasion occurred early on April 14.
I shot up out of bed, disoriented, and stumbled to the bathroom. I could feel that my ear was not right. I grabbed a cotton swab and gently inserted it into my ear to see what was up and I felt something move.
Holley was only able to extract a leg and felt the remaining creature writhing inside. So her husband took her to the hospital where the attending staff were able to remove the cockroach piece by piece.
However, after leaving the hospital, the nightmare wasn't over. It was about to get much worse.
Because of residual pain and numbness a week later, she consulted her physician and briefed her about the invasive palmetto. When the physician took a peek inside Holley's ear to look for wax buildup, she noticed some blockage.
The PA flushed her ear out four times and discovered a spiky leg inside.
My physician proceeded to remove the leg and flush my ear again, only to examine it and see even more remnants. She ended up pulling out six more pieces of the roach's carcass—nine days after the incident took place.
The poor patient went to an emergency ENT appointment the same day, where the final pieces of the roach were removed.
Using a tool that looked like very large scissors, he extracted THE ENTIRE HEAD, UPPER TORSO, MORE LIMBS, AND ANTENNAE. I just sobbed. This go-around, without a numbing agent, I could feel every extraction and hear a lovely crunching sound as the pieces were dislodged. The ENT assured me that he got all of the remaining pieces of the roach.
Holley is now roach-free and won't be sleeping without ear plugs anytime soon.