Illinois Man in Good Spirits After Doctors Remove 3-inch Nail from His Brain
- Posted on January 21, 2012 at 4:38pm by
Christopher Santarelli
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(AP)Gail Glaenzer still can’t believe that her fiance unknowingly shot a nail into his skull, let alone that he posted a picture of the X-ray on Facebook during his ambulance ride between hospitals for surgery.
But she was joking about the circumstances Friday, a day after doctors successfully removed the 3 ΒΌ-inch nail from Dante Autullo’s brain.
“Dante says, ‘I want it to make a necklace out of it,’” Glaenzer said.
Glaenzer sat Friday in the lobby of Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn. where Autullo, 32, of Orland Park, was listed in fair condition in the hospital’s intensive care unit. She was still trying to process just how lucky the father of her four children was.
“He feels good. He moved all his limbs, he’s talking normal, he remembers everything,” said Glaenzer, 33. “It’s amazing, a miracle.”
Autullo was in his workshop using the nail gun Tuesday when it recoiled near his head, Glaenzer said.
He felt what he thought was the point of the gun hit his head. But what really happened was that when the gun came in contact with his head, the sensor recognized a flat surface and fired, she said.
“I looked at it when he got home, and it just looked like (his head) was cut open,” she said.
With nothing to indicate that a nail had not simply “whizzed by his ear,” as Autullo explained to her, she cleaned it with peroxide.
While there are pain-sensitive nerves on a person’s skull, there aren’t any within the brain itself. That’s why he would have felt the nail strike the skull, but he wouldn’t have felt it penetrate the brain.
Neither thought much about it, and Autullo went on with his day, even plowing a bit of snow. But the next day when he awoke from a nap, feeling nauseated, Glaenzer sensed something was wrong and suggested they go to the hospital.
At first Autullo refused, but he relented after the two picked up their son at school Wednesday evening.
A couple hours later an X-ray was taken, and there in the middle of his brain was a nail. Doctors told Autullo and Glaenzer that the nail came within millimeters from the part of the brain that controls motor function. He was rushed by ambulance to the other hospital for more specialized care.
Hospital spokesman Mike Maggio said the surgery took two hours, and the part of the skull that was removed for surgery was replaced with a titanium mesh. The surgeon didn’t want to put that part of the skull back in place, fearing it might have been contaminated by the nail, he said.
Glaenzer said that while Autullo hasn’t really talked about how scared he was about what might have happened, he did express a recognition about coming close to death.
“He was joking with me, (after surgery), ‘We need to get the Discovery Channel up here to tape this,’” she recalled him saying. “‘I’m one of those medical miracles.’”
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gb2
Posted on January 22, 2012 at 4:13am“illinois man in good spirits” i would be too with the pain meds they probably have him on
Report Post »Tim Law
Posted on January 22, 2012 at 12:53amI‘m a carpenter and use these tool’s often. From the looks of the x-ray the nail entered from the back of the head. I can understand being hit by the gun from recoil, in the face or the side of the head. But for the nail to enter the back of the head by accident, that is a far stretch. What work could you possibly be doing that you would have a tool that size with an air hose attached to it above and behind your head. For one thing we human‘s have our eye’s in the front of our heads, how could he see what he was doing? There is more to this story!
Report Post »ADNIL
Posted on January 22, 2012 at 4:02amWe also have those tools and I can’t figure out how someone could do this to themselves, either.
Report Post »sacwoodpusher
Posted on January 22, 2012 at 4:12amI use nailguns, and there are adjustments you can do to them, like making it unnecessary to pull the trigger, ie just bumping the gun against what WILL be nailed.
I have decided long ago not to make that adjustment, for safety. Things happen when working in less than ideal conditions, ladders slip, ground gets slippery, the mind wanders. Lets be careful out there.
Report Post »jzs
Posted on January 21, 2012 at 11:10pmI can‘t swear it’s true, but some are saying that the guy was liberal until he got the nail in his brain. After surgery, he’s now a conservative. I don‘t know if that’s true or not. But that‘s what the blogs are saying about the doctor’s report.
Report Post »DD313
Posted on January 22, 2012 at 8:08amYou nailed it JCS!
Report Post »gemmeri
Posted on January 21, 2012 at 10:54pmGives a whole new realm of possibilities to hitting the nail on the head… Or vice versa. One more thing on the list of Things My Mother Told Me Not To Do. No running or funning with the nail gun, please…
Report Post »SIGNOFTHETIMES
Posted on January 21, 2012 at 8:54pmThank GOD he was unharmed and didn’t loose the ability to nail his head again in the future. No brain cells to loose I guess.
Report Post »ddg7
Posted on January 21, 2012 at 6:56pmAt least he was in good spirits until they showed him the bill.
Report Post »TXPilot
Posted on January 21, 2012 at 7:22pmI have a good idea what this guy was going through, since my ex-wife used to screw with my head all the time.
Report Post »Armyof One
Posted on January 21, 2012 at 5:59pmI’m still baffled how the hell he managed to get the gun…which is a large tool…so far behind his head, then manage to keep his finger on the trigger AFTER the safety was depressed by his skull.
Perhaps…… deliberate?
Well, at least it seems he had an—iron will—to live :)
Report Post »MrMagoo
Posted on January 21, 2012 at 6:46pmIt sounds so painful….whew!
Report Post »MrMagoo
Posted on January 21, 2012 at 5:55pm..he posted a picture of the X-ray on Facebook during his ambulance ride between hospitals for surgery…
Technology.What a World in 2012! So much to worry about,and so much to be amazed at!
Now if we could all just agree to get along and ‘do the right thing’. Trouble is,FREE people allowing tyranny to thrive isn’t the right thing.Watching a perfectly good Country wither away like a neglected heirloom is WRONG and demands to be RIGHTED.
Live long and prosper Dante Autullo!
Report Post »I hope we do better in 2012,politically.
HawkEyeTx
Posted on January 21, 2012 at 5:53pm#
Question: Did the nail ricochet into his scull or did the nail gun recoil back toward his head and the safety came in contact with his skull and he still had his finger on the trigger?
None the less he’s one cool cat with 8 lives left to test.
Report Post »randy
Posted on January 21, 2012 at 5:52pmSomeone please get the nail out of Obamas head. :)
Report Post »Baddoggy
Posted on January 21, 2012 at 5:32pmObamabots cannot be stopped!
Report Post »Detroit paperboy
Posted on January 21, 2012 at 5:15pmHe got the point…..
Report Post »jakartaman
Posted on January 21, 2012 at 5:08pmYes but does he drool a lot!
Report Post »MrMagoo
Posted on January 21, 2012 at 5:05pmThis is what I love about the Blaze.Just when I think all is lost(on politics),one of these uplifting stories of seeming miracles popup.Fate or miracle,its a terrific story of human anomalies.And a testament to the expertise of American doctors!
Report Post »Detroit paperboy
Posted on January 21, 2012 at 5:04pmDid they use a claw hammer to remove it ???
Report Post »Psychosis
Posted on January 21, 2012 at 4:53pmmust be a liberal …………………since it didnt damage anything one would concur that there was nothing in there to damage to begin with
Report Post »RightThinking1
Posted on January 21, 2012 at 5:08pmYou may have nailed it.
Report Post »But seriously, the guy is HUGELY lucky. On the other hand, he was foolish in his handling of the gun. The only ones that I have used require a mechanical/physical latch to be depressed against the workpiece. It is pesky now and then, but perhaps safer than whatever he was using, it seems.