Tony Hayhurst had heard just about every sound that a drilling rig could make. And the noise that was coming from the rotary table at his feet was an odd one. Mr. Hayhurst was an old hand at the oil business. He started working for his father’s drilling company when he was just 15 years old. Now 59, he still lived in the same town he was born in — Dudley, about 20 miles southeast of Abilene. He still worked for the same company, Hayhurst Drilling, driving each day through ranchlands to whatever rig needed his attention, his dog Susie riding alongside him. And while his lifetime of experience gave him an easy familiarity with the job, it was tempered by a healthy sense of caution. “It is dangerous,” he said. “But you just keep your wits about you and do your business and take care of other people, as well as yourself.” He and a co-worker crawled under the rig to find out where the noise was coming from. Mr. Hayhurst wore his hair long but under a hard hat, with a ponytail tucked into the back of his shirt. Despite those precautions, the driveline of the rig somehow snagged his hair. And the force of the machinery ripped the scalp off of his head to the bone, from the nape of his neck to his eyebrows — including his ears. It threw him several feet backwards, where he landed on his knees. He never lost consciousness. His coworkers helped him into a pickup and drove him toward the nearest hospital in Eden, about 20 miles away. The driver was frantic and speeding, and Mr. Hayhurst — alert throughout — tried to calm him down. That proved to be a bit challenging when they ran into a stretch of road construction where they had to wait for a pilot vehicle to escort them up the one open lane. At the hospital in Eden, a doctor quickly made the decision to fly him to University Hospital. The co-workers had the presence of mind to bring along his scalp, and the doctor thought a big, academic hospital would have a better chance of reattaching it. That proved to be impossible. There was too much damage to the tissue and blood vessels to reattach it. But over the next two months, Mr. Hayhurst underwent a slow and deliberate process in which plastic surgeon Dr. Amita Shah, assistant professor of surgery at UT Health San Antonio, created a foundation of collagen and glycosaminoglycans that would bind to a skin graft. She created tiny holes in his skull to allow new blood vessels to grow. A special suction cap removed excess fluid as it healed. After many weeks, Dr. Shah performed a skin graft using skin from his legs. Mr. Hayhurst’s graft was 1,300 centimeters. Dr. Randall Otto, professor and chair of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery at UT Health, implanted bone anchors for his prosthetic ears. Mr. Hayhurst’s wife, Shawna, became the model. “They molded my ears and elongated them a little bit,” she said — adding with a laugh: “They didn’t improve his hearing any.” Today, Mr. Hayhurst is back home and going to work each day — with a few limitations. He can’t wear a hard hat — only soft material as his scalp is thinner. And he can’t tolerate too much heat. Unlike most people, his head doesn’t release heat efficiently. But retirement isn’t an option at the moment. “I’m one of those old working Joes,” he said. “We’re doing OK. It will be all right.” And the Hayhursts are grateful that he survived his severe injury, and for the care he received. “I’m so thankful to still be here with my wife and my family.”