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Texas Home Improvement Job Puts Nail in Woman's Head
Aired August 06, 2003 - 15:36 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, the next story is going to make you wince. A Texas woman was doing a little home improvement when a nail gun sent a two-inch fencing nail into her skull.
John Hammarley -- no pun intended -- with CNN affiliate KDFW brings us the details. Now a word of caution here -- we shouldn't be laughing -- the video you're about to see is a bit graphic.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN HAMMARLEY, KDFW CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Good fences make good neighbors, and that's exactly what Roxann Kirtley was building Sunday until something went terribly wrong.
ROXANN KIRTLEY, INJURED BY NAIL GUN: I was putting up a fence and I bent over and when I stood up, a nail got shot in my head. Well, I kind of blacked out immediately so -- and then I came to and realized what had happened because, like, I got a real bad headache.
DR. JOHN TOMPKINS, RHD MEDICAL CENTER: The problem with this is that there is a huge vein that runs right down the center of the head and this nail looks like it's sticking into it.
HAMMARLEY: After neurosurgeons took as many different X-rays and CT scans as they could, it was time to see if they could surgically remove it.
Surgeons first shaved Roxann's scalp near the nailhead. And the neurosurgeons, John Tompkins and Brett Morgan (ph) delicately drilled and then cut away a small square of skull that surrounded the two-inch fencing nail.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The plan is going to be to get all the holes drilled, get all the bone cut to separate the covering of the brain away from the bone and then rapidly remove the nail and the bone flap out together as one.
HAMMARLEY: A plan which, luckily for Roxann, is exactly what happened.
(on camera): Roxann will be in the hospital for the next couple days and then she'll be home to recuperate, hopefully to see somebody else complete that fencing job.
I'm John Hammarley.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: John Hammarley. That was a little more than I wanted to see.
PHILLIPS: Yes, I didn't expect the chunk on the nail.
O'BRIEN: Yes. For those of you on the West Coast eating lunch, we apologize.
PHILLIPS: Sorry.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired August 6, 2003 - 15:36 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, the next story is going to make you wince. A Texas woman was doing a little home improvement when a nail gun sent a two-inch fencing nail into her skull.
John Hammarley -- no pun intended -- with CNN affiliate KDFW brings us the details. Now a word of caution here -- we shouldn't be laughing -- the video you're about to see is a bit graphic.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN HAMMARLEY, KDFW CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Good fences make good neighbors, and that's exactly what Roxann Kirtley was building Sunday until something went terribly wrong.
ROXANN KIRTLEY, INJURED BY NAIL GUN: I was putting up a fence and I bent over and when I stood up, a nail got shot in my head. Well, I kind of blacked out immediately so -- and then I came to and realized what had happened because, like, I got a real bad headache.
DR. JOHN TOMPKINS, RHD MEDICAL CENTER: The problem with this is that there is a huge vein that runs right down the center of the head and this nail looks like it's sticking into it.
HAMMARLEY: After neurosurgeons took as many different X-rays and CT scans as they could, it was time to see if they could surgically remove it.
Surgeons first shaved Roxann's scalp near the nailhead. And the neurosurgeons, John Tompkins and Brett Morgan (ph) delicately drilled and then cut away a small square of skull that surrounded the two-inch fencing nail.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The plan is going to be to get all the holes drilled, get all the bone cut to separate the covering of the brain away from the bone and then rapidly remove the nail and the bone flap out together as one.
HAMMARLEY: A plan which, luckily for Roxann, is exactly what happened.
(on camera): Roxann will be in the hospital for the next couple days and then she'll be home to recuperate, hopefully to see somebody else complete that fencing job.
I'm John Hammarley.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: John Hammarley. That was a little more than I wanted to see.
PHILLIPS: Yes, I didn't expect the chunk on the nail.
O'BRIEN: Yes. For those of you on the West Coast eating lunch, we apologize.
PHILLIPS: Sorry.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
