Man Finds Nail In Skull Six Days Later

[MOVIEGEEK]

January 16, 2005 10:48 PM EST

LITTLETON, Colo. - 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 1 1/2 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."

[bazooka]

How in the hell do you not notice you have a nail in your head?

[shelbyGT]

perhaps he just had a really really long hangover?

[ViRaL1]

Got hammered the night before?

[jimmalenko]

Got hammered the night before?

[ZAPPER]

I work construction and could see someone being that stupid (no mirror jokes please) As luck would have it your brain, the organ, does not feel much if any pain when damaged. But you would think that the guy would have felt the pain at the entrance point. I seem to recal reading or hearing that brain injuries like this are not all that uncommon. I mean the person hot realizing that they have actually penetrated their skull.

On a side note I have some weird metal in my body that I don't how it got there. What looks to be a sewing needle in my left foot. A letter "S" in my jaw. I mean a perfect, looks like it was printed on the X-ray letter S. complete with serifs, and not a blem on the X-ray, a veiwable from different angles kind of object. Every doctor that rediscovers them makes the wise crack about aliens implanting them and I have to find a different doctor. The needle in the foot looks like it would hurt like hell but I have tried to feel it and no matter what I do I can't find it or make it hurt. Go figure

[shelbyGT]

I have a centimeter of a coat hanger wire in my right calf muscle. Ran over a hangar in some tall grass with the lawn more some years back, and BAM it shot through the rubber wheel and into my leg.

[canadateck]

[MackemX]

$80,000-$100,000 costs?????, paying that would hurt me more than a nail in the brain

[Capmaster]

That's why my wife gets nervous when I'm using power tools in the garage. I rarely come back in the house without some sort of injury ....a cut hand, smashed thumb, etc. But she has the phone handy just in case. She knows the drill

She also gets nervous when I'm on the roof of the house hanging Christmas lights or something. The kids too. 911 is on speed dial, and they listen for the scream and the thump

[VCDHunter]

911 is on speed dial

surely the digits 911 are pretty much speed dial.

[Guest]

How in the hell do you not notice you have a nail in your head?

Homer has had a cayon in his brain for years.

[MackemX]

not as speedie as 999

quickest way could be to move next door to a hospital then you could walk in

[VCDHunter]

How in the hell do you not notice you have a nail in your head?

Homer has had a cayon in his brain for years.

No, homer had a crayon in his brain - have you had a x-ray ? :P

[Capmaster]

911 is on speed dial

surely the digits 911 are pretty much speed dial.

Figure of speech