Back in time, 55 years ago: a little girl falls down while holding a pencil. Terrible accident, the dastardly pencil gouges her near her eye and over 3" of it becomes so thoroughly embedded in her head that it can't be removed. So the doctors leave it in there, fix her up, she recovers from the accident and life goes on... life with a 3" pencil jammed in her head, that is:"Margret Wegner fell over carrying the pencil when she was four. It punctured her cheek and part of it went into her brain, above the right eye.
The 59-year-old has suffered headaches and nosebleeds for most of her life."
Headaches? Well, no shit Sherlock. I got a headache just reading about it. I'm amazed that the woman was able to stay alive with that kind of injury. And weren't pencils made of lead back then? Eeeeeyikes! It reminds me of the guy who, after an unsuccessful suicide attempt with a nail gun of all things, ended up walking around with 12 nails jammed in his noggin -- he too went to the doctor complaining of a headache. It's astonishing that people not only survive these kinds of injuries, but walk around happily with the offending items lodged in their skulls -- the tenacity of the human body is incredible sometimes. The happy ending to the pencil woman's story is that the perfidious pencil was removed this week, and along with it, her lifelong headaches. The moral of the story: as always, pointy side down!
(via pharyngula)
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