Headache.Ouch! When doctors examined this X-ray image--formed by high-energy waves--they spotted the cause of 23-year-old Patrick Lawler's aching head: a 10 centimeter (4 inch)-long nail. How did the nail get lodged in Lawler's skull? Last January in Breckenridge, Colorado, the experienced carpenter was working with a powerful nail dispenser. All of a sudden, the tool recoiled, or jerked backward. It whammed Lawler in the face, knocking him unconscious to the floor. Even worse, unbeknownst to Lawler, the tool had launched a nail through the roof of his mouth. The hurling nail thrust up through Lawler's facial bones facial bones, n.pl the bones of the face, which include the frontal, nasal, maxillary, zygomatic, and mandibular bones. , before passing through his eye socket eye socket n. See orbital cavity. , or cavity where the Ping-Pong-ball-size eyeball sits. Says Dr. Sean Markey, a neurosurgeon neurosurgeon a physician who specializes in neurosurgery. neurosurgeon A surgeon specialized in managing diseases of the brain, spine and peripheral nerves Meat & potatoes diseases Brain tumors, spinal cord disease Salary $245K + 15% bonus. : "It ended up penetrating the brain's right frontal lobe frontal lobe n. The largest portion of each cerebral hemisphere, anterior to the central sulcus. Frontal lobe The largest, most forward-facing part of each side or hemisphere of the brain. (area behind the forehead) approximately one-and-a-half inches." How could the nail's piercing journey go unnoticed by Lawler? "The pain from the [nail dispenser] impact was so great that he didn't feel the nail enter his mouth," says Markey. After six days of facial swelling and a toothache Toothache Definition A toothache is any pain or soreness within or around a tooth, indicating inflammation and possible infection. Description A toothache may feel like a sharp pain or a dull ache. , Lawler visited a dentist. There, the tooth doctor X-rayed Lawler's skull and found the throbbing throb intr.v. throbbed, throb·bing, throbs 1. To beat rapidly or violently, as the heart; pound. 2. To vibrate, pulsate, or sound with a steady pronounced rhythm: culprit. At the nearby Littleton Adventist Hospital, Markey performed a delicate, two-part surgery. First: "The removal required pulling the nail out through the mouth," he says. Second: Markey cut an incision from ear to ear across Lawler's head. That way, he could pull back the scalp's skin to stop any bleeding in the brain. Luckily, the doctor found no brain damage that would affect Lawler. Markey expects the carpenter to fully recover within six months. Another good fortune: Lawler's sight was undamaged. "The nail missed Lawler's optic nerve (bundle of cells that carries signals from the eye to the brain) by millimeters," explains Markey. Now that's a close call. |
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