Ill. Man Didn't Know He Shot a 3 1/2 inch Nail in His Head
An Illinois man who accidentally shot a 3.5 inch nail through his skull and into his brain was unaware for more than a day. The 32-year-old had thought that he dodged needle that was fired from the nail gun he was working with when in fact it was lodged deep in his brain.
Dante Autullo was on a ladder in his garage when he accidentally dislodged some nails which caused the nail gun to recoil towards his head with his finger still on the trigger which shot off another nail, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
Autullo said that he thought the needle had whizzed past his head and he assumed that the wound on his forehead might have been caused by the gun recoiling. He said he thought nothing of it and carried on walking, talking and even going to work for the rest of the day plowing snow.
He had been fine on Tuesday when the needle went into his head. However when Autullo went to work on Wednesday he experienced nausea and headaches and went home to take a nap, according to the Sun-Times. His fiancée Gail Glaenzer, who he had four children with, asked him to go to the hospital.
Doctors performed an X-ray on Autullo and were surprised to find a nail was just a few millimeters away from a crucial portion that controls all motor functions.
"All things considered, he's doing 100 percent," Glaenzer said to the Chicago Tribune. "I can't wrap my brain around the fact he had a nail in his."
In a four-hour surgery, doctors removed the nail and replaced a part of Artullo’s skull with a titanium plate and patch of mesh, and he is currently recovering at home, the Tribune reported.
"It's a miracle," Glaenzer told the Naperville Sun. "Un-freaking-believable."