Talk:Never-Ending Millipedes/@comment-37138398-20190401143813/@comment-24101790-20190401153735

While I appreciate your insight, I'm sorry, but I have to disagree with you on a few things here. This is mainly stuff dug up while in a neurological program for my DVM and research I did while writing this.

1: I would refer you to the case of Phineas Gage and mention that neurology is a medical field that is still working on all the intricacies of the brain. Given that it's not a complete excision and sections of the frontal lobe are still intact (see: left and right hemispheres), we can't really say with 100% certainty the exact behavioral response predicated by trauma as it's more case-by-case. The frontal lobe is responsible for judgement and patients with frontal lobe trauma have experienced a loss in judgement faculties which are reflected by the protagonist telling the Doctor about his fate and his decision to 'lobotomize' himself.

2: Here are some statistics/a study about SIGSW noting that while gunshot wounds to the head are frequently fatal (see trajectory below), not all result in death. Of note is: "The orientation of the gun also appears to play a role in that missiles traveling in the sagittal direction are less lethal than ones traveling in the coronal direction." Gunshots to the brainstem are frequently far more fatal than ones to the cerebrum (due to the brainstem regulating a majority of physiologic important roles like respiration). It's also of note that the article discusses flinching ("The use of handguns may lead to a reflex jerk that also extends the neck, causing a similar pathway") and its role in possible explanations why people survive SIGSW to the head.

3: A majority of lobotomies were performed trans-orbitally after work by Dr. Walter Freeman and Dr. James W. Watts proposed the method. The protagonist goes through the sphenoid bone and does have a prosthetic eye that could be used afterwards to form a seal protecting from some airborne pathogens. Given that the implements are sterilized, the major risk would be contaminants in the air, which, while a serious challenge doesn't instantly mean infection (think of most times when you got a cut, a majority of the time, they didn't progress to infection due to the lack of pathogenic infiltration and post-trauma care). As for "How do you poke your brain with a screwdriver!?!", I'd suggest looking up Hugo Bart Huges who trepanned himself in 1965.

4: Not sure what you mean here as the protagonist does get taken to the hospital afterwards where they would likely debride the area and likely do their best to get bone to mend (please also note that the optic nerve (CNII) as well as the oculomotor (CNIII) and the abducen (CNVI) to name a few do pass through the orbital socket to the eye and connect to the brain) and resolve any hemorrhaging/leaking with seals/ligations/etc.

I hope that answered some of your concerns.