Doctors removed portion of Roy's skull (the tiger attack)

USA Today ^ | 10/16/2003

[traumer]

LAS VEGAS (AP)

[finnman69]

Jeez, 1/4 of his skull removed. Serious stuff.

[Dog Gone]

And they have cut his abdomen open again to fetch the piece of his head they stuffed in there?

Ouch.

[deannadurbin]

Oops, he must be brain dead. Time to remove his feeding and water tube and let him starve to death. </sarcasm>

[Serb5150]

I had no idea they placed your skull in your abdomen... pretty amazing stuff.

[Wright is right!]

They take out the piece of skull and "store" it in a pouch in his abdomen. Later, they replace it where it was after the pressure goes down.

Local (and syndie) DJ Gerry House here in Nashville had the zack-same procedure recently when he had an aneurism. Said it felt really weird being able to touch his abdomen and feel his skull in there. He's now back on the job, but he did an interview on TV before his hair grew back. From the locations of the incisions, they took a pretty sizeable piece of skull.

Michael

[Jaded]

What exactly caused his brain to swell?

[traumer]

I don't understand the part about implanting(?) part of his skull into his abdomen either...
Can any Freeper Doc. enlighten us?

[kenth]

The article said "until it can be replaced", but I think they mean reinstalled, er... something like that.

I guess they stick it in his gut for safekeeping and to keep it alive until they can stick it back in his head.

Yow, I never knew they did that.

[gracie1]

They implant the skull flap in the abdomin to keep the bone tissue viable for later reimplantion. The bone will absorbe nutrients thru the surrounding blood supply. Also, by keeping it in the abdomin, you reduce the risk of "losing" it if he is transfered to a rehab facility before they place it back.

[Cyman]

The temporary placement of a portion of the skull in the abdomen is used to preserve the viability of the bone so that it can be re-implanted when the brain edema subsides. It is a litle more trouble then freezing but it alleviates the possibilty of thermal injury, mishandling and loss( yes, things get misplaced in hospitals).

[jwfiv]

Gawdamighty...incredible what the MDs can do.

Poor Roy...I never knew anything about them until this, but they so obviously love the cats, him and Siegried...a couple of cool cats themselves.

I sure hope he recovers fully, but it's sure dicey.

[mikegi]

Said it felt really weird being able to touch his abdomen and feel his skull in there.

It's neither weird nor uncommon. Millions of Democrats feel the same thing when they touch their ass.

[Born Conservative]

I've never seen this before, but I know a lot of Democrats who have their skull south and posterior to the abdomen...

[dawn53]

Also, by keeping it in the abdomin, you reduce the risk of "losing" it if he is transfered to a rehab facility before they place it back.

LOL!!!

[Zathras]

An old girlfriend of mine had a brain injury in a car crash.
Unfortunatly, she didn't have access to this type of operation and went into a coma she never recovered from.

I miss you, Dee.

[JG52blackman]

According to the casino mogul who built and still runs the Mirage, this was NOT an ATTACK or a MAULING. If the tiger had intended to do any such thing, Roy would have been killed immediately. The instinctive thing that the tiger DID do was to CARRY Roy much like he would have carried a cub-by the scruff of the neck. Unfortunately, the tiger PICKED UP Roy from a lying-on-his-back position, so Roy's weight was on the back of his neck. This caused both of the tiger's lower jaw fangs to puncture Roy's skin, one of which severed the vertebral artery, causing the stroke. I got the following article from a place that was linked-to by the Drudge Report (sorry I didn't save that part).

(Oct. 8) -- Casino mogul Steve Wynn is one of the people who know Siegfried and Roy best. He is one of the duos closest of friends and hired the illusionists when he built The Mirage in 1990. He even built a special theater just for their show.
Wynn gave an exclusive interview to Eyewitness News Anchor, Gary Waddell on Wednesday. He says that, "What happened Friday night was a fluke, something that never should have occurred. And something that no one could have foreseen." He continued to say, "That even as Roy was being carried off stage by the tiger, he was saying he didn't want anything to happen to the cat."
Even though Wynn was in Idaho on Friday night when the incident happened on stage, he was one of the first people called. He flew home Saturday morning and went staright to the hospital to visit Roy. He then began the task of trying to figure out how something like this could happen.
Wynn said for sure that Montecore did not attack Roy Horn. He said that reports that Roy was attacked are false. A string of unfortunate events led to the tiger carrying Roy off stage as if he were a cub. "Montecore would never attack Roy. In a way, the tiger was trying to protect him."
Wynn spoke to many people who were on the scene and pieced together the following new information:
"As Roy was leading Montecore out to stage front on a leash, the cat became fascinated and distracted by woman with a big hairdo in the front row. Instead of Montecore going down facing forward with Roy, he did a 90-degree turn and faced sideways towards the woman with the big hairdo. For whatever reason, Montecore was fascinated and distracted by the guest sitting ringside."
"Montecore got down on all fours and puts his 26-inch head four inches away from of the woman. She thinks this is adorable and part of the show and reaches out to try and rub him under his chin. Roy is talking and sees this move. That's way wrong all the way around. As usual the heroic fellow that he is, Roy jumps between the woman and the tiger."
At that point, Roy tried to get the tiger's attention by pulling back on the leash and saying, "No, no, no, no. Come on, get up". Montecore, as if to say, "No, I'm not ready yet" does not respond. Roy continued to command him to get up.
"The tiger gently reached up and grabbed Roy's right arm with his jaws between Roy's elbow and wrist in a very gentle way."
Roy did not receive so much as a scratch on his arm, nor was his costume torn.
"That's how gentle Montecore's grip was on Roy."
This behavior is similar to how a housecat or a dog might react -- as a gentle warning -- without hurting the person it loves.
"Roy loudly commanded the cat to release its grip by saying, "No, no, no, no. Release, release," several times. He had to whack him with the rubber microphone several times to try and get the tiger to release the grip. This didn't hurt the tiger, but it did make a loud noise."
"Roy continued to pull on Montecore's leash not realizing that the cat had put its big paw behind one of his legs. Roy falls backwards on stage over the paw of Montecore lying flat on his back. Four stagehands rush out and jump on the cat. Montecore gets confused; he's supposed to be with Roy walking off stage. What's going on?"
"Roy is lying down in front of him with his feet towards the audience, his head towards the curtain. Montecore gets up and as cool as a cucumber, leans over and picks up Roy like a cub on the right side of his neck. Not a bite, not an attack. He picks him up."
"There was no damage to Roy's neck, but there were two puncture wounds and one of those teeth went through Roy's vertebral artery. Severed it, the one behind his neck that's what caused the stroke and massive bleeding putting him in a near death situation."
"Montecore picked up Roy with all the excitement and walks with perfect blocking according to the act. Does his exit at the right speed, right off stage left and goes into his cage, which is where he goes to get transported home."
"He goes into the cage and tries to bring Roy in with him. Stagehands backstage used a technique that made Montecore release Roy. They closed the door on Montecore and Roy lay on the floor bleeding."
Roy was then rushed to UMC.
Wynn underscores that Montecore was acting to protect Roy. He explained that during a lethal attack, a predator's instinct is to violently grab its prey by the neck, vigorously shakes its head snapping the neck of its prey. This is not what happened.
While Gary Waddell was with Steve Wynn today, he got a call from Bernie Yuman, Siegfried and Roy's manager. Yuman said that they had just brought Roy's dog to visit him in the hospital and that Roy had responded by petting the dog.
That's good news. And probably pretty good therapy for a man whose life's work has been loving and caring for animals. Wynn also says he's been told that they are starting to ween Roy off the life support systems in order to let his body function on its own. If that's successful, that will be a very big step in Roy's recovery.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

On top of it all, the cat tested positive for HIV. Dang.

[Hatteras]

I had a friend who, back in the late '70s, was fooling around with explosives (pipe bombs, etc...) and one detonated while he was holding it. He lost 4 fingers on one hand and two on the other. The fire department found the fingers in different areas of the garage and packed them in ice and shipped them to the hospital where the doctors then cleaned them up and sewed them in a little pouch inside his abdomen also.

After letting the hands heal for a few weeks they then were able to reattach the fingers. They successfully reattached the two on one hand and 3 of the 4 on the other. I last saw this guy about 10 years ago and you could tell his fingers were not normal but he could tie his shoes and pick his nose like nothing had ever happened.