For my next trick OH GOD GET IT OFF OF ME

[Dis]

in case anyone is interested, the animal rights activists are out in force in my city now.

http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2003/Oct-12-Sun-2003/news/22351789.html

[The Mad Monk]

Roy awaits surgery to restore his skull


By JOELLE BABULA
REVIEW-JOURNAL





Magician Roy Horn is awaiting surgery in which doctors will return a portion of his skull that was removed after he was bitten by one of his trained tigers, a local neurosurgeon said Wednesday.

Shortly after the Oct. 3 attack during a performance of Siegfried & Roy at The Mirage, surgeons removed one-quarter of Horn's skull, Las Vegas neurosurgeon Lonnie Hammargren said.

The piece of skull, taken from the right side of Horn's head, was then stored in his abdomen, Hammargren said.

The doctor said it was not clear when Horn will undergo the surgery to return the skull portion. Horn remains in critical but stable condition at University Medical Center.

Hammargren didn't perform Horn's surgery, but said he has talked extensively with Horn's surgeon, Dr. Derek Duke, about his treatment.

Hammargren previously has refused to disclose any details regarding Horn's treatment. He agreed to provide some specifics to correct misinformation reported by other media outlets.

"Dr. Duke did exactly the operation he should have. Otherwise, Roy would be dead," he said.

A portion of the skull is often removed following brain surgery, trauma, stroke or other medical problems that cause the brain to swell. Removing the skull allows the brain to expand.

The removed portion of the skull can then be stored either in a pouch in the abdomen or even in a freezer for safekeeping until it can be replaced, said Hammargren, a former Nevada lieutenant governor.

"I've been told Roy's skull has been put in a pouch in his abdomen," he said.

The New York Daily News, citing an unnamed source quoted in a tabloid newspaper, reported Wednesday that Horn underwent a "radical procedure called a hemicraniectomy on Oct. 4."

Hammargren said the procedure performed on Horn was not radical, nor was it a hemicraniectomy, which involves removing half of the skull.

Doctors instead performed a large decompressive craniectomy, which involves removing only one-quarter of the skull, Hammargren said.

Hammargren said he's been performing about one craniectomy a year for the past 30 years.

"He didn't have that big of an operation," Hammargren said, referring to the hemicraniectomy. "That means the whole side of his head would have been taken off. It has a very poor prognosis. Roy had half the size of a hemicraniectomy and it is not a radical operation."

The 59-year-old entertainer also suffered paralysis on his left side following the attack.

Hammargren said such paralysis can be temporary, but it's hard to determine Horn's prognosis at this point.

"Paralysis can get better after, but he had a pretty big stroke," he said. "We just don't know yet. Fortunately, the stroke didn't hit on the side where he talks, thinks and remembers. He can still comprehend things and do things."

http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2003/Oct-16-Thu-2003/news/22382569.html

Yeah...no biggie...they just REMOVED A QUARTER OF HIS SKULL, that's all...

[Jon Miller]

this same sort of thing (storing a part of the skull in the abdomen) is being done to the cousin of one of my housemates/friends

I didn't even know they did that, but apparently it is the thing to do right now

Jon Miller

[SuperSneak]

I think I'm going to puke.

[st_swithin]

Is Roy the brunette or the blonde?

[The Mad Monk]

He's the exposed brain at the moment.

[st_swithin]

Doesn't help me. Mr. Semi-trepanned is wearing that part of his skull next to his spleen. What colour's the sh1t growing out of his scalp? Or what colour's it been dyed?

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

The removed portion of the skull can then be stored either in a pouch in the abdomen or even in a freezer for safekeeping until it can be replaced, said Hammargren, a former Nevada lieutenant governor.

"I've been told Roy's skull has been put in a pouch in his abdomen," he said.

I wonder if the "Abdomen pouch" approach was adopted because people's skulls kept being made into soup?

[st_swithin]

Surely not with the rich availability of freshly-amputated oxtails.

[The Mad Monk]

Two words: freezer burn.

[st_swithin]

Kinda brings new light to the term 'brain freeze' when they put that sucker back in.