In a I'm writing a story with semblance of cartoon realism in it (don't @ me) and in the beginning moments of the main character's introduction, he's in the post apocalypse wasteland and starts gaining consciousness after having thawed out of a block of ice and has a metallic icetray lodged in his head, I want some advice in how he's suppose to go about the process in removing it as he would show reasonable pain in trying to do so, suffer from inability to completely function mentally speaking and have repercussions from taking it out (i.e. bloody head leaving him susceptible to diseases of the wasteland and potentially just leaving longer lasting effects of hallucinatory visions.)
There's a certain stretch to how far unrealistic can go when it can have realistic effects. Cartoon: propelling one's self with dynamite into the air without dying. Realism: suffering severe injuries upon landing.
When you say, lodged in his head...does that mean the tray has penetrated the skull and is in contact with the brain? If so, how far embedded/lodged, and where? Rather than removal? Would hack-sawing or trimming it flush with the skin, leaving the rest in, maybe be a better option? Just yanking it out, bleeding and leaving a hole in the skull and the brain exposed...pretty bad, especially if there are real life consequences. Also, he'd be in pretty weakened shape, having just emerged from being frozen for a period of time.
I'd like to say lodged in his head to hit his skull but not penetrate it, so it could be reasonably assumed it's responsible for head injuries but wouldn't cause of brain damage, at least not directly
I think you may need to think of a smaller object, if you're going with the idea that it's penetrating the skin, but not the skull. A metallic ice tray, just seems too unrealistic. Unless, of course, you're going REALLY cartoonish. But if that were the case, I wouldn't worry about his pain and focus more on the goofy antics that you'd see in classic cartoons; something like him taking a pliers to it and having it stretch his head as he fails to pull it out. Hope this helps?
