A Brazilian man had a knife lodged in his skull for three hours before he realized he was injured, CNN reported.
Doctors believe alcohol played a factor in 39-year-old Juacelo Nunes de Oliveira not realizing there was a knife stuck inside his head following a violent argument at a bar in the Piaui state city of Agua Branca.
Oliveira was stabbed three times in the torso during the Dec. 28 altercation, resulting in a perforated lung, CNN reported. He was stabbed once more in the head.
The motorcycle taxi driver was initially taken to a local hospital but was eventually transferred to the Emergency Hospital in the city of Teresina, which lies 62 miles away. The blade, apparently a kitchen knife, was lodged in his skull up to the handle the entire time.
"It took him nearly three hours to arrive here at the hospital," Dr. Gilberto Albuquerque, the hospital director, told CNN.
"He had the knife lodged in his head for this whole period but he was not aware of it," the doctor said. "We believe the shock and a bit of the drinking may have helped him not to understand the knife was still in his head."
It took two and a half hours for surgeons to remove the knife that was behind his optical nerve and extended all the way to his lower jaw. Any mistake during the surgery and Oliveira could have bled to death, the doctor said.
"He could have been blinded and could have lost his senses of smell and taste, but none of that happened and he is alive and healthy," Albuquerque told CNN.
The weapon was successfully removed and Oliveira was released after five days in the hospital. He did not suffer any permanent injuries and is expected to live a normal life.
