Oops.

This one tickles me to this day.

I was in trauma bay x-raying some unfortunate soul who had been in a car accident, when EMS brought a new patient into the bed next to me.

I nearly passed out when I saw that this man had a pencil rammed almost completely up his left nostril. The guy had been stuck in 5:00 rush hour traffic, driving his good ol 'pickup, when he thought it would be a good idea to pick his nose....

...with a pencil.

Things would have gone well, had he not been rear-ended by the person behind him; driving the pencil up into his skull.

We all found it amusing that no brain matter was involved in this (we figured he'd have to aim pretty well to hit brain in the first place), but the pencil was lodged in his frontal sinus...right in-between the eyebrows....and he needed surgery to remove the wood splinters, etc.

Thankfully, he was alright. As much of a gore hound as I am, I still don't like to see someone suffering.

I just wish I could have been there to hear the guy calling his boss/wife/etc. and explaining why he needed surgery.

Moral: Stick to your fingers when it's time to pick a winner.