That's not a toothache... you have a nail in your brain...

by Elsewhere 23 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Elsewhere

  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4179877.stm

  Toothache man finds nail in skull

  A Colorado man who went to the dentist complaining of toothache found he had a 4-inch (10cm) nail in his skull.

  Patrick Lawler had been suffering pain and blurry vision since a nailgun backfired on him at work, AP news agency reported.
  

  The machine sent a nail through a nearby piece of wood - but little did Mr Lawler realise another nail had shot into the roof of his mouth.

  The nail was embedded 4cm into his brain - barely missing his right eye.

  Six days after his 6 January work accident, Mr Lawler decided to visit the dental clinic where his wife Katerina works because painkillers and ice failed to stop the pain.

  "We all are friends, so I thought the [dentists] were joking... then the doctor came out and said, 'There's really a nail,'" Mrs Lawler said, according to AP.

  "Patrick just broke down. I mean, he had been eating ice cream to helpthe swelling."

  Mr Lawler remains in hospital following a four-hour operation to remove the nail.

  Mrs Lawler says her husband is thankful despite having no medical insurance and being faced with hospital bills of at least $80,000.

  "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."

  Doctors at the hospital said it was the second time a patient had failed to notice a nailgun had fired a nail into their heads.
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  Xena

  Well..

  A. W/C should pay the bills

  and

  B. How the heck can you not figure out you have a nail in your mouth???
• 

  Incense_and_Peppermints

  owies...
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  seeitallclearlynow

  Doctors at the hospital said it was the second time a patient had failed to notice a nailgun had fired a nail into their heads.

  Amazing! Glad he's all right. Construction is such a dangerous environment!! The stories I've heard.
• 

  Incense_and_Peppermints

  my brother shot himself in the thigh with one of those...he actually just pulled it out and went right on working! i am positive if that happened to me i would pass out from fright - i hate the sight of blood... especially my own.
• 

  Elsewhere

  http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/01/16/nailgun.accident.ap/index.html

  Nail embedded in man's skull for 6 days

  LITTLETON, Colorado (AP) -- A dentist found the source of the toothache Patrick Lawler was complaining about on the roof of his mouth -- a four-inch (10-centimeter) nail the construction worker had unknowingly embedded in his skull six days earlier.

  A nail gun backfired on Lawler, 23, on January 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 1 1/2 inches (4 centimeters) 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."
• 

  Brummie

  nails belong in wood huh *checks head for rusty nails*
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  Elsewhere

  I"m still trying to figure out how the nail went straight up in his mouth without hitting anything else.

  Are the x-ray pics showing up for everyone?
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  Brummie

  I can see the xray, I have no idea how he didnt know that had gone through his mouth, unless he was yawning. lol

  I had to have a metal pipe through my mouth and up to the back of my nose last year, and though it was painful where the stitches where, I couldnt feel the pipe at all.

  Brummie
• 

  Elsewhere

  I had to have a metal pipe through my mouth and up to the back of my nose last year

  That would certainly explain that funny expression on your face!