A freak accident that could have resulted in serious or fatal brain injury appears to have had no lingering consequences. An Orland Park man thought he had hit himself in the head with his nail gun while working in his garage. He even took a picture of what he called a minor scratch with his cell phone.

It turned out, however, that he had shot a 3 ½ inch nail into his brain. His injury was discovered when he went to the hospital the next day complaining of nausea and a terrible headache. The surgery has left him with a mesh patch and titanium plate in his head, but that may be all. Surgeons report that the damage to the brain tissue was minimal. So far, there is no evidence that he has lost any function, vision or memory as a result of the accident.

The intrusion of the nail into the brain was not accompanied by fragments, often the real cause of damage in such accidents. Moreover, the nail's flat head kept it from going too deep and moving around once in the brain. Although it is possible that some loss of function may develop later, the prognosis right now is very positive.

His surgeon said, "I can't wrap my brain around the fact he had a nail in his (brain)."

Source: Chicago Tribune, "Nail Removed from Man's Head," by Peter Nickeas and Andy Grimm, Jan. 20, 2012.