heres a link, http://www.pulse24.com/News/Top_Story/2 ... 5/page.asp

Patrick Lawler is lucky to be alive and he has a toothache to thank for the knowledge.

When he went to a dentist complaining about the pain, he discovered there was a 10-centimetre nail he’d unknowingly put in his skull six days earlier.

His nail gun backfired on him as he worked in Breckenridge in the central Colorado mountains. One nail flew into a piece of wood, but Lawler didn’t know another had gone through his mouth.

After it happened, he thought he was just suffering from a small toothache and blurry vision. When he finally went to the dentist, he learned the truth. The nail had gone four centimetres into his brain and just missed his right eye.

He had a four-hour surgery Sunday, and remains recovering in hospital, where he’ll be for a few more days. And even though Lawler has no medical insurance and is facing hospital bills that amount to between $80,000 and $100,000, his wife says he’s feeling good.

“The doctors said, 'If you're going to have a nail in the brain, that's the way you want it to be,'" said Katerina Lawler. "He's the luckiest guy, ever.”


January 17, 2005

people like this are why medical bills are so high