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Post by maggiethecat on Apr 7, 2006 18:59:10 GMT -5
I know they never said specifically in the show the reason Jim Dunbar lost his sight. Someone speculated that the optic nerves were severed. I wasn't sure that was possible, as it looks like the optic nerve runs from behind the eyeballs, back through the center of the brain. The only reason I bring this up is we just got new brains in the library and I've been playing with them. They're not squishy like the old ones, but they come apart! It's like playing Cootie... And we have some paint-by-number spots on the models, which correspond to certain functions on the cheat sheet. Sight is controlled by this tiny itsy bitsy bit at the very back, near the base of the brain. I just thought that was interesting, so I thought I'd share. Such a big part of our life is controlled by this minute section of the brain. I'm still unsure on what damage was caused to Jim. If the bullet actually entered the brain, it would have caused all sorts of problems, and probably killed him. There's even a chance that, falling backwards as he did, he could have caused the damage then, to that little bit back there, having very little to do with the actually bullet he took. Any doctors on the board? --GB PS. the new brains smell kinda funky. |
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Post by maggiethecat on Apr 7, 2006 19:01:13 GMT -5
I know they never said specifically in the show the reason Jim Dunbar lost his sight. Someone speculated that the optic nerves were severed. I wasn't sure that was possible, as it looks like the optic nerve runs from behind the eyeballs, back through the center of the brain. The only reason I bring this up is we just got new brains in the library and I've been playing with them. Okay, greenbeing, am I the only one here who is totally creeped out by the image of you playing with brains that "smell kind of funky"? Yuck. That said, my vote always went for bone fragments. Look at the track the gunman's bullet scored across Dunbar's temple -- that sort of wound had to implode inward, and, as such, bone splinters could easily have severed his optic nerve. And eye injuries are "sympathetic," in that the damage travels from one eye to the other (see James Thurber). Bone splinters. Works for me.  |
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Post by maggiethecat on Apr 7, 2006 19:03:41 GMT -5
I haven't seen the pilot episode since it first aired on the telly last year, so I can't really weigh in. But I did listen to the audio description. So awesome. I think the 'bone splinters' theory is plausible. I quite like it. As said previously, its also plausible that his blindness is related less to being shot and more with his head smacking back on the ground. However, I don't think this is the case, because when people ask him how he went blind, he tells them he was shot, not 'I was shot and I smacked my head on the ground'. Go with the bone splinters.  |
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Post by maggiethecat on Apr 7, 2006 19:05:49 GMT -5
Totally and completely plausible and without question the best explanation to date. GB, I can think of many things I would like to play with - pickled brains would not be one of them! |
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Post by maggiethecat on Apr 7, 2006 19:09:08 GMT -5
GB, I can think of many things I would like to play with - pickled brains would not be one of them! Oh dear oh dear oh dear! I thought I said it was a model! It's plastic! Eep! Although we do have wax sculptures from mid-century medical classes and WWII diseases and injuries, we do NOT have any pickled body parts in the library! I can't vouch for the labs, but the med students practice more on cadavers, so my guess would be, no, we don't have anything like that! Eeep, eep, eep! I'm so sorry! Plastic, plastic, plastic. The bone fragment theory is new to me, but sounds plausible, Mags. Which James Thurber work am I supposed to check out? Deepest apologies, but I'm surprised this is the first time one of my posts has gotten out there without all the necessary elements--being at work, I'm constantly interrupted. --GB |
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Post by maggiethecat on Apr 7, 2006 19:11:49 GMT -5
The bone fragment theory is new to me, but sounds plausible, Mags. Which James Thurber work am I supposed to check out? is Thurbers's autobiography, and, as you would expect, riotously funny. When he was a kid, he and his brother were playing William Tell in the back yard, and an arrow went through one eye. The doctor, being soft-hearted, refused to remove young Jamie's injured eye, but the damage eventually traveled sympathetically to the other eye -- this caused a lifetime of eye problems, and Thurber's eventual blindness. So glad -- and relieved -- to know those brains are plastic! |
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Post by maggiethecat on Apr 7, 2006 19:13:47 GMT -5
At the risk of being thought of as a really sick person, I think it would be cool to play around with a model of a brain. Not so sure about a real one, but I like medical shows so I'm not sure what that means. |
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Post by maggiethecat on Apr 7, 2006 19:15:38 GMT -5
Hi, not a doctor but I have done a little neurology in my time and I believe you are right. A shot to the temple is not blinding type injury as far as I am aware. N |
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Post by maggiethecat on Apr 7, 2006 19:17:35 GMT -5
Hi, not a doctor but I have done a little neurology in my time and I believe you are right. A shot to the temple is not blinding type injury as far as I am aware. N "Done a little neurology in my time?" You can be a part-time neurologist? Dear God, what a terrifying concept! I still vote for bone splinters doing the damage. Beyond that, hey, it's . . . um . . . fiction. Not real. That shot to the temple made for a stunning image, so maybe it was an artistic decision that was just believable enough to work. |
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Post by maggiethecat on Apr 7, 2006 19:19:44 GMT -5
However, I don't think this is the case, because when people ask him how he went blind, he tells them he was shot, not "I was shot and I smacked my head on the ground." Karma to you, spoony, for not only paying attention but for addressing the question with common sense. |
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Post by maggiethecat on Apr 7, 2006 19:22:21 GMT -5
"Done a little neurology in my time?" You can be a part-time neurologist? Dear God, what a terrifying concept! Ha! Love it! Nearly as controversial a statement as my playing with the brain... And BJObsessed, it is fun to dismantle the models and look at what all the little bits do. It's like Tinker Toys or something. The most fun thing to play with is our skeleton. I have one at both of my jobs, and we always dress them up for holidays and such. I did always wonder about that. If it might just be because a shot to the temple would be a very small reminder, whereas a shot to the back of the head where the sight part of the brain is, that would be awfully gruesome, and would cause more damage than was necessary for the show. A shot that would destroy the optic nerves with the bullet, that would be very disfiguring. I've always been curious to find out what things are written in because they sound good but have no basis in reality, just so I know how much I can get away with on my own ;D --GB |
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Post by maggiethecat on Apr 7, 2006 19:24:45 GMT -5
Hi, not a doctor but I have done a little neurology in my time and I believe you are right. A shot to the temple is not blinding type injury as far as I am aware. N I recently saw a story on the local news about a woman who was blinded by a gunshot to the temple. |
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Post by maggiethecat on Apr 7, 2006 19:28:15 GMT -5
And I remember reading not so long ago (can't remember where) that in gunshot wounds, a substantial part of the damage is caused not by the actual bullet, but by the explosive pressure released, which literally destroys tissue. That sounds like a very plausible scenario! Of course, they couldn't do anything that would interefer with RE's good looks.  The itty bitty scar we could all live with, a huge disfiguring one, yuck. Still ,when you think about one sharp shard (oops alliteration!) to the brain, ouch! |
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Post by maggiethecat on Apr 7, 2006 19:39:04 GMT -5
Since we are playing at being neurologists, I did a search and came across this: =========== Traumatic vascular lesions can occur after severe or even the most mild of head and cervical trauma. . . Traumatic vascular injuries can be broadly classified into traumatic aneurysms, dissections and occlusions and fistulae of the carotid or vertebral arteries. . . . The mechanism of injury can suggest a probable type of vascular injury, e.g. a traumatic aneurysm should be suspected following a gunshot wound to the head . . . Blunt head injury can result in TICAs [traumatic intracranial aneurysm] because of the differential velocity between the brain and the skull. . . . In these cases, a TICA must be suspected in the presence of a neurological deterioration, delayed subarachnoid hemorrhage, cranial nerve palsy (especially blindness), cavernous sinus syndrome and epistaxis. ============ So, if I'm getting anything out of this  , another possibility is that, even if the bullet made a glancing blow to the skull, the brain could basically bounce around inside the skull, resulting in an aneurysm that could cause blindness. Or not. |
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Post by mlm828 on Apr 7, 2006 21:08:49 GMT -5
Since we are playing at being neurologists, I did a search and came across this: =========== Traumatic vascular lesions can occur after severe or even the most mild of head and cervical trauma. . . Traumatic vascular injuries can be broadly classified into traumatic aneurysms, dissections and occlusions and fistulae of the carotid or vertebral arteries. . . . The mechanism of injury can suggest a probable type of vascular injury, e.g. a traumatic aneurysm should be suspected following a gunshot wound to the head . . . Blunt head injury can result in TICAs [traumatic intracranial aneurysm] because of the differential velocity between the brain and the skull. . . . In these cases, a TICA must be suspected in the presence of a neurological deterioration, delayed subarachnoid hemorrhage, cranial nerve palsy (especially blindness), cavernous sinus syndrome and epistaxis. ============ So, if I'm getting anything out of this , another possibility is that, even if the bullet made a glancing blow to the skull, the brain could basically bounce around inside the skull, resulting in an aneurysm that could cause blindness. Or not. My medical knowledge is limited and sketchy at best, but this seems plausible to me. I had a case a number of years ago in which the patient (later the plaintiff) had a vascular problem (a carotid-cavernous sinus fistula, which can be caused by trauma) which caused extremely high pressures within the eye, resulting in an almost-total loss of vision in that eye in a matter of hours. If something like this occurred, it might explain why Jim lost his sight without suffering brain damage or being disfigured. |
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The itty bitty scar we could all live with, a huge disfiguring one, yuck. Still ,when you think about one sharp shard (oops alliteration!) to the brain, ouch!
, another possibility is that, even if the bullet made a glancing blow to the skull, the brain could basically bounce around inside the skull, resulting in an aneurysm that could cause blindness. Or not.
