On a red-eye flight Tuesday from Guangzhou to New York, a doctor came to the aid of an elderly Chinese man who was unable to relieve himself and at risk of a ruptured bladder, reported Sixth Tone’s sister publication The Paper.

Six hours before the plane was due to land, Zhang Hong and Xiao Zhanxiang, both vascular surgeons at hospitals in China, had to think on their feet when a fellow passenger found himself unable to empty his very full bladder. Zhang and Xiao determined that the man was holding in about 1 liter of urine — more than twice the normal daytime capacity — that needed to be drained immediately.

Though the doctors only had access to a first-aid kit, they were able to fashion a makeshift catheter using straws and a tube from an oxygen mask. However, the difference in air pressure prevented the urine from flowing out freely. So Zhang took matters into his own mouth, sucking on the open end of the tube until over half a liter of urine was extracted.

“Actually, I felt like vomiting when I took the second mouthful, because it indeed smelled bad. At the same time, I was afraid of contracting diseases,” Zhang told The Paper in a separate interview, adding: “I don’t regret it one bit.” (Image: China Southern Airlines)