Nail embedded in man's skull for 6 days

Monday, January 17, 2005 Posted: 7:48 AM EST (1248 GMT)

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."

Photo of X-Ray at:

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