Saving Private Ryan
A supreme court justice and his wife accept a generous and kind invitation from a dear Texas billionaire friend to go bird hunting. The Texan owns an expansive range where he stocks game pheasant and, more importantly, he always offers his private jet plane to the busy justice to travel. (Everyone knows that private jet transport eliminates any security risks for the justice.) On the day of the appointed hunt, the justice is assigned a spot approximately 20 yards in front of the Texan before the dogs are set free to activate the pheasants flight in fear from the canines and hunters. The justice, an amateur birder, commits the unpardonable action of turning his gun to his rear to shoot the spooked covey. The justice fires, grazing the billionaire’s face with birdshot. The billionaire feels a small sting on his face (birdshot is the size of a BB, 4.6 mm in diameter), but says nothing in the confusion. Others in the hunting party immediately see a small dribble of blood on the billionaire’s face, but he continues to insist that he feels nothing and wishes to continue with the hunt. The justice, fortunately, does abstain from shooting his gun again and is “nolo contendere” about his guilt.
That evening, after dinner, the shooting party watches the classic film Saving Private Ryan, and during the dying scene of the captain, not a single dry eye is present among the group, except for the billionaire, something that the others sense as strange. He is known to be a huge fan of Tom Hanks. His lack of crying is in marked contrast to his emotional state and his words describing how moved he was by the film. It is early Spring and on the billionaire’s return trip to Washington, D.C., he notices that he no longer suffers from the runny nose that he typically experiences every time he is in D.C. to lobby congress for huge tax breaks for his corporations. The physician that travels with him begins to suspect that the BB shrapnel may actually have injured the billionaire. Given his sudden onset of deficits –absence of tearing and runny nose- which of the following nerves was likely injured by the bird shot?
Select your answer from the labeled nerves/structures.