MILWAUKEE (AP) — A Wisconsin man who had accidentally shot a nail into his heart calmly drove himself to the hospital and even parked his truck in the lot before walking into the hospital.

Upon arriving in the emergency room, Doug Bergeson told a security guard: “If you could find someone, that would be great. I’m just going to sit down.”

Doctors say Bergeson, 52, came perilously close to death on June 25.

He was working on framing a fireplace at his house in Peshtigo when his nailgun misfired, sending a nail ricocheting off some wood and into his chest.

“I thought it just nicked me. I looked down. I couldn’t see anything,” Bergeson said Tuesday in an interview with The Associated Press. “I felt OK. I wasn’t worried about the injury. I couldn’t feel any pressure or blood building up.”

But as he tugged at his sweatshirt, Bergeron said, he realized he was seeing about an inch of the 3½-inch nail sticking out of his chest.

“It was kind of twitching with every heartbeat,” he said.

Common sense, he added, told him not to pull the nail out.

He was more annoyed than worried. He knew he had to go to the ER. “I was frustrated because I knew I wasn’t going to get home until late, and I couldn’t get anything done,” Bergeson said.

So he washed up, hopped in his truck and made his way to Bay Area Medical Center in Marinette, about 10 minutes away. After parking his truck and walking into the emergency room, Bergeson said he started to feel more pain and summoned the security guard for help.

Still thinking he would soon be on his way home after a little medical attention, Bergeson texted his wife, Donna, to bring him a new shirt because medical staff had cut off the one he was wearing.

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Intruder arrested twice at same downtown Santa Cruz business After X-rays were taken, Bergeson was rushed by ambulance to Aurora BayCare Medical Center in Green Bay. “I offered to drive myself, but they wouldn’t let me,” he said.

Dr. Alexander Roitstein confirmed the nail hit Bergeson’s heart, saying it was also a sixteenth of an inch from a major artery.

He commended Bergeson for not pulling the nail out. “It shows the great composure this gentleman had after a very bad day’s experience,” Roitstein said Tuesday.

Bergeson spent two days in the hospital and has been recovering at home. He will be able to return to work this week at the Village of Lena waterworks plant. He also has a vegetable farm and a construction business.

“I feel pretty good. I’m back to doing things carefully,” he said. “It was a pretty awakening experience.”