91 Year old woman operated for a tumor reveals a stone fetus which she carried for 61 years

2The shocking surprise

The fateful injury to Estela made doctors perform scans on her and one of the scans found something so rare in her stomach lump that the doctors were actually astonished and Estela was not only surprised but also became emotional. The lump that the doctors thought was a tumor turned out to be fetus. Estela had been carrying the remains of her baby who died in the womb and became calcified for 60 odd years. Her husband Manuel died in January of 2016 at the age of 91 and was a fisherman and boater in the town. Estela says that the only regret of the couple was that they were unable to have children. The condition is known as lithopedion or stone baby and it occurs when a pregnancy goes wrong and a layer of calcium forms around the fetus to protect the mother from its dead tissue. This dead fetus was the reason why Melendez couldn’t have children for the rest of her life. She says that she doesn’t remember being pregnant. The doctors decided against operating on Ms. Melendez due to her age and the fact that the fetus wasn’t harming her in any way.

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