Chicago man shoots a nail into his brain without realizing

GlobalPost

A Chicago man accidentally lodged a 3 1/2-inch nail into his brain this week, and didn't realize it until the following day.

Dante Autullo, 34, was working in his shed on Tuesday when his nail gun accidentally fired, The Chicago Tribune reported.

Autullo's wife Gail Glaenzer told reported that her husband's tool fires when the sensor at the head of the gun flattens against a surface. Autullo saw a small wound on his forehead, but thought it came from his contact with the nail gun. He was sure the nail went past his head.

It wasn't until the following day, when Autullo felt nauseated and had a headache, that Glaenzer took him to the hospital. An X-ray showed that a nail had in fact entered Autullo's skull, coming within millimeters of the part of the brain controlling motor function, the Los Angeles Times reported

"When they brought in the picture, I said to the doctor `Is this a joke? Did you get that out of the doctors joke file?"' Autullo told the Times. "The doctor said `No man, that's in your head."'

Mike Maggio, the spokesman for Advocate Christ Medical Center, where Autullo had his surgery on Thursday, told the BBC that the part of the skull was removed for surgery had to be replaced with a titanium mesh because it may have been contaminated by the nail.

“All things considered, he’s doing 100 percent,” Glaenzer told the Chicago Tribune. Autullo is expected to remain in the hospital for another three days.

Although there are pain-sensitive nerves on a person's skull, there are none within the brain itself, according to the BBC.

“I can’t wrap my brain around the fact he had a nail in his,” Glaenzer said.

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