Sorry if this has already been posted, but I saw this on the news last night and it blew my mind (and gave me the willies):







Man discovers four-inch nail embedded in skull six days after accident
Patrick Lawler didn't realize a nail had become lodged in his brain until days after the nailgun mishap.
By The Associated Press
(01/16/05 - LITTLETON, CO) — A dentist found the source of the toothache Patrick Lawler was complaining about on the roof of his mouth: a four-inch nail the construction worker had unknowingly embedded in his skull six days earlier.


A nail gun backfired on Lawler, 23, on Jan. 6 while working in Breckenridge, a ski resort town in the central Colorado mountains. The tool sent a nail into a piece of wood nearby, but Lawler didn't realize a second nail had shot through his mouth, said his sister, Lisa Metcalse.

Following the accident, Lawler had what he thought was a minor toothache and blurry vision. On Wednesday, after painkillers and ice didn't ease the pain, he went to a dental office where his wife, Katerina, works.
"We all are friends, so I thought the (dentists) were joking ... then the doctor came out and said 'There's really a nail,"' Katerina Lawler said. "Patrick just broke down. I mean, he had been eating ice cream to help the swelling."

He was taken to a suburban Denver hospital, where he underwent a four-hour surgery. The nail had plunged 11/2 inches into his brain, barely missing his right eye, Metcalse said.

"This is the second one we've seen in this hospital where the person was injured by the nail gun and didn't actually realize the nail had been imbedded in their skull," neurosurgeon Sean Markey told KUSA-TV in Denver. "But it's a pretty rare injury."

Lawler was recovering Sunday in the hospital, where he was expected to spend several more days.

Despite his lack of medical insurance and hospital bills between $80,000 and $100,000, Katerina Lawler said her husband is in good spirits.

"The doctors said, 'If you're going to have a nail in the brain, that's the way you want it to be,"' she said. "He's the luckiest guy, ever."

(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

I hate it when that happens.

Stax said:

dude, that is a fucked up story!

This guy deserves a Darwin Award

How can he not have noticed ?!
[Edited 1/17/05 14:19pm]

He must have been pretty wasted to have shot himself in the face with the nailgun and not have noticed. The really funny part is that he owes over $80,000 in medical bills and he has no health insurance. I hope he doesnt think that Im going to pitch in for this less than noble cause! What an asshole.

seriously. how could he have NOT noticed? there must have been quite a thump when it hit him, there must have been blood. makes ya wonder. ..


i'm glad he's ok though

XxAxX said:

From what I gathered on the report I saw, he thought that the nail he'd found in the wood had hit his cheek, then exited. He assumed all the blood and pain came from that one, not realizing he had one lodged up inside his head!

My question is.. how do you NOT know you have a nail in your skull???

BabyCakes said:

Read the post above yours. Either way...owie!

BabyCakes said:

Apparently, he just thought the initial pain was from the nail he thought tore his cheek. He then thought that the pain he was feeling all over his friggin' head was a toothache. That would be one mother of a toothache!

JediMaster said:

dreamfactory313 said:

Dude, that's the sad part.

dreamfactory313 said:

It's this kind of compassion for strangers that makes me keep coming back to the Org day after day.

Warm Fuzzies

How could someone not know? Well for one thing I imagine a nail gun punches a nail out pretty fast, and if you're directly above it you wouldn't see it.
Also I've heard stories about people walking down the street with knives coming out of their backs and not knowing it and other situations where people didn't realize they had serious injuries. Apparently if an injury is very major your body assumes you know and turns off a lot of the pain reflex so you can deal with the injury.
[Edited 1/18/05 14:25pm]

dreamfactory313 said:

Umm clearly you have no idea about how the human body reacts to these situations but it is telling that you would choose to be so callous in your judgement of him.

sweetserene said:

VERY true. Once, I got a cut on the hand that was pretty deep. I didn't even know I had been cut until my glove fell in two pieces and blood gushed out. I still didn't feel a thing until I got to the doctor and they stuck my hand in iodine (then I REALLY felt it)

Yikes

I guess our bodies adapted to us being majorly hurt by something like a lion or other prey/predators, where we would certainly be aware of the injury. Our bodies aren't used to our complex world.