By Dave Goosselink and Thomas Mead
A Dunedin woman directed emergency services to her home through a lengthy series of grunts and taps overnight, after accidentally gluing her mouth shut.
The 64-year-old, who spoke to 3 News on the condition on anonymity, says she made the mistake while fumbling for a tube of cold sore cream in the middle of the night.
Blocked up with a cold, she grabbed a yellow tube that she thought held the cream – but it turned out to be super glue.
“I got into bed and I could feel this tingling on my lips, so I thought I’d get the cold sore cream," she says.
"I have all my ointments in a tray in the cupboard, so I get out of bed and I dived into the tray and I couldn’t smell it because I was blocked up.
"And then I got into bed and thought, 'what have I put on my mouth?'.”
By the time the woman realised what she had done, it was too late. Dialling 111, she discovered her mouth was glued shut.
"I couldn’t speak on the phone so I couldn’t tell them where I lived, I couldn’t tell them my phone number," she says.
"The communication was 'Do you live in Dunedin?' and I grunted 'mmm', and then the lady went through all the suburbs and then all the streets, she was very, very patient.
“I had to tap on the phone, one tap for no and two taps for yes, and then it took a long time to narrow down the streets and then all the numbers too."
Eventually directed to her home in the suburb of St Kilda, officials initially sent a police dog handling team to the house as they believed she may have been gagged and the victim of a violent attack.
The woman was later taken by ambulance to Dunedin Hospital, who used a paraffin oil to remove the glue.
She is now back at home.
3 News
source: newshub archive
