An amateur tattooist, obviously not a very good one, who lost a half-inch needle in his arm was surprised to find it 40 years later—in one of his big toes.

Ulf Bergström of Mala, Sweden, says he lost the needle while tattooing himself in 1974. He was worried enough to seek medical attention, The Local reports, but X-rays didn’t spot the needle. “After the needle didn’t ‘get in touch’ I completely forgot about it,” says Bergström, who’s now 63.

That changed last month when he felt an excruciating pain in the big toe of his right foot. His wife found a big lump there—a blood-filled pimple—which she pricked and “squeezed out a lot of pus” and other unsavory stuff, he says. Lo and behold, she pulled out the trusty old needle.

“It’s been in my body for 40 years,” he says. “The only question is which route it has taken, that is something I would like to know.” And that big toe? He says it still hurts.