It’s the type of thing you’d only hope would happen in horror movies, but one Mississippi man found himself rushing to a hospital last Sunday after his lawnmower picked up a slim metal rod and shot it into his face.

Thirty-four-year-old Bill Parker, of Gulfport, Miss., is lucky to be alive after the 6.5-centimeter-long (about 2.6 inches) piece of metal shot out of the lawnmower and into his nose. “At first I thought a rock had flew out and hit me and struck me in the face,” Parker told the Sun Herald. “It threw me back a little bit and it hurt real bad. I felt my face but I didn’t feel any disfiguring or anything. I saw blood, so I knew I got a bloody nose.”

Parker decided to visit the hospital after about 15 minutes of consideration, and really only believed he had a broken cheekbone. But a CT scan showed the metal, which he said was “as thick as a heavy duty nail,” had managed to lodge itself in between various nerves and blood vessels. In fact, it came within a millimeter of hitting his jugular vein and carotid artery.

Rather than being in and out of the hospital with only some painkillers, like he had expected, Parker ended up undergoing quick surgery to remove the metal piece. Doctors made an incision in his upper lip and within 20 minutes they were able to maneuver the rod out.

Parker is expected to make a full recovery with no long-lasting effects. He returned to work on Wednesday as a restaurant chef. But when it comes to mowing, at least for today, he said he’ll leave the it to someone else.