A Christchurch woman is breathing a sigh of relief after having a toy tiddly wink disc removed from her nose.

The 44-year-old has had it stuck up her nose since she was eight years of age.

Hannah Webster told Chris Lynch when her sister Mary McCarthy was a child, she inhaled the tiddly wink disc, but never told anyone for fear of getting in trouble.

“Now fast forward 35 years later, Mary got a covid test.”

Soon after the test, she started developing a “dripping nose and sinuses.”

“She had to go to multiple doctors and no one knew or could see anything.”

Then finally after going to the Emergency Department on Wednesday at 10pm, in severe pain, she had a CT scan. – but doctors still couldn’t see anything.

Thankfully, an ear nose-and-throat specialist had looked over the scan and discovered the tiny disc.

Mary had surgery at Christchurch Public Hospital yesterday and doctors managed to removed the inhaled tiddly wink, from the early 1980s still intact.

It’s thought the Covid test dislodged it.

Hannah said her sister is in pain, but she’s doing okay and resting at home.

“She’s glad it’s over now and is feeling relieved that doctors finally found what was causing the pain for her.”