Teh One Who Knocks
11-30-2012, 11:45 AM
Boy expected to make full recovery
KMBC-TV 9
KANSAS CITY, Kan. —
An 18-month-old Gardner, Kan., boy is expected to make a full recovery after a freak accident caused part of a meat thermometer to sever an artery in his brain.
Christian Hernandez Jr. was holding the thermometer in late July when he fell. It went into his skull just below his eye and he pulled the device out himself. The device missed his eyeball and the nerves in his eye socket.
Family members said the only symptom he had was a black eye and some eye irritation. But no one realized that the device had caused an injury that was making his brain bleed.
When doctors realized something was wrong, they scheduled surgery this week to repair the damage.
Surgeon Dr. Koji Ebersole said it was a one-in-a-million case.
"To have an object penetrate that deeply into the skull of a young child and essentially get through it after treatment with no trouble, I'm not going to see that again," he said.
"We didn't know it was a big deal until three weeks ago, four weeks ago," said his father, Christian Hernandez Sr. "He's fine now, thank God."
If doctors hadn't found the aneurysm, they said he might have had only another month or two before it popped. They said that could have killed him.
After the surgery, Christian is expected to go home from the hospital Thursday night with no brain damage and no damage to his eyesight.
"I guess I'm the most lucky guy in the world," said his father. "I can't describe what I'm feeling right now to see my kid fine and like nothing ever happened with him."
KMBC-TV 9
KANSAS CITY, Kan. —
An 18-month-old Gardner, Kan., boy is expected to make a full recovery after a freak accident caused part of a meat thermometer to sever an artery in his brain.
Christian Hernandez Jr. was holding the thermometer in late July when he fell. It went into his skull just below his eye and he pulled the device out himself. The device missed his eyeball and the nerves in his eye socket.
Family members said the only symptom he had was a black eye and some eye irritation. But no one realized that the device had caused an injury that was making his brain bleed.
When doctors realized something was wrong, they scheduled surgery this week to repair the damage.
Surgeon Dr. Koji Ebersole said it was a one-in-a-million case.
"To have an object penetrate that deeply into the skull of a young child and essentially get through it after treatment with no trouble, I'm not going to see that again," he said.
"We didn't know it was a big deal until three weeks ago, four weeks ago," said his father, Christian Hernandez Sr. "He's fine now, thank God."
If doctors hadn't found the aneurysm, they said he might have had only another month or two before it popped. They said that could have killed him.
After the surgery, Christian is expected to go home from the hospital Thursday night with no brain damage and no damage to his eyesight.
"I guess I'm the most lucky guy in the world," said his father. "I can't describe what I'm feeling right now to see my kid fine and like nothing ever happened with him."