By By Anne Sewell Mar 22, 2013 in Odd News Yellowknife - Ever had a really annoying itch? You know, the kind that you can't stop scratching? Well, this Yellowknife man finally got to the root of his problem, by finding a knife blade embedded in his back. It had been there for three years. “I jumped in a cab and went straight to emergency,” McNeely says. But it seems that somehow the doctor missed that one blade while stitching him up. The story does sort of make you wonder why, after having the itch, pain and burning sensations for three years, McNeely didn't sort of cotton on to the fact that he really had a problem. McNeely told the Finally, earlier this week McNeely was scratching at a lump on his back and suddenly found something sharp. “My nail caught a piece of the tip of the blade that was underneath the skin and made a little sound, so that worried me,” he said. "My girlfriend got up and she started playing around with it and she maneuvered my back in a certain way and the tip of a blade poked out of my skin," he added. He was then rushed to the local hospital, where doctors found a 7cm (2.8") long blade stuck in his back. According to McNeely, the doctors who stitched him up in 2010 never ordered any X-rays, which is how the blade was missed. While McNeely is happier now that the blade has been removed, he is a tad upset about the fact that it was left in his body for so long. "They should've X-rayed right off the beginning in case there was internal damage," McNeely told He did say that he visited doctors and nurses, describing his problem, but that nothing was really done. “I walked around for close to three years with this thing in my back,” he said. “They brushed me off.” And thinking back on it now, McNeely recalls setting off metal detectors without knowing why. “I've done some jail time in the past. The guards rub over you with a metal wand detector, and every time it hit my back in the jail it went off,” he said. He is now, apparently, contacting a lawyer and is considering filing a lawsuit against the local health system. “I'm kind of upset with the health system," he said. "They should've X-rayed right off the beginning in case there was internal damage,” he said. Turns out Billy McNeely, 32, from the appropriately named city of Yellowknife, got the knife blade stuck in there in 2010 during a fight, when attending a birthday party in his honor. During a heated arm-wrestling contest he apparently got shanked five times and went for treatment at the hospital.“I jumped in a cab and went straight to emergency,” McNeely says. But it seems that somehow the doctor missed that one blade while stitching him up.The story does sort of make you wonder why, after having the itch, pain and burning sensations for three years, McNeely didn't sort of cotton on to the fact that he really had a problem.McNeely told the Canadian Press , "I always had back pains, there was always a burning feeling with it."Finally, earlier this week McNeely was scratching at a lump on his back and suddenly found something sharp.“My nail caught a piece of the tip of the blade that was underneath the skin and made a little sound, so that worried me,” he said."My girlfriend got up and she started playing around with it and she maneuvered my back in a certain way and the tip of a blade poked out of my skin," he added.He was then rushed to the local hospital, where doctors found a 7cm (2.8") long blade stuck in his back. According to McNeely, the doctors who stitched him up in 2010 never ordered any X-rays, which is how the blade was missed.While McNeely is happier now that the blade has been removed, he is a tad upset about the fact that it was left in his body for so long."They should've X-rayed right off the beginning in case there was internal damage," McNeely told CBC He did say that he visited doctors and nurses, describing his problem, but that nothing was really done.“I walked around for close to three years with this thing in my back,” he said. “They brushed me off.”And thinking back on it now, McNeely recalls setting off metal detectors without knowing why.“I've done some jail time in the past. The guards rub over you with a metal wand detector, and every time it hit my back in the jail it went off,” he said.He is now, apparently, contacting a lawyer and is considering filing a lawsuit against the local health system.“I'm kind of upset with the health system," he said. "They should've X-rayed right off the beginning in case there was internal damage,” he said. More about Canada, Yellowknife, Itch, knife blade, shank More news from Canada Yellowknife Itch knife blade shank Billy McNeely Pain