A man who was too shy to approach a doctor about blood in his urine attempted to identify the cause of his illness at home by inserting a stainless-steel chopstick into his penis. The man, identified as Chen, was then forced to undergo surgery to remove the 7-inch long object after he rammed it so far into his gentials that he could not remove it, Asia Wire reported.

Chen reportedly told doctors he thought his urethra was broken, so he inserted the chopstick to investigate. Scans at the hospital showed that the chopstick had reached the man’s rectal wall, Asia Wire reported. Doctors said if it had been pushed any further upward it could have proved fatal.

Doctors successfully removed the chopstick from his penis and Chen, who resides in Hagzhou City’s Uhang District, in the capital of East China’s Zhejiang Province, is recovering in the hospital.

The report did not indicate whether he would suffer any long-term damage.