That's it, reyn. As soon as they start giving brain transplants, I intend to get one (if it doesn't cost much over two hundred dollars).
edgarblythe wrote:As soon as they start giving brain transplants, I intend to get one (if it doesn't cost much over two hundred dollars).
Maybe it'll go on sale? Or coupons?
I just pray that the woman's body will not reject the transplant. She has been through so very much already. I read in the paper that the transplanted face looks pretty much like she did before.
First, I have to find a donor.
edgarblythe wrote:First, I have to find a donor.
Are you fussy about it being human?
Has anyone seen the picture of the woman that had the transplant? I am rather skeptical that it is a real picture. There appears to be hardly any swelling, bruising, etc. It looks like the surgery was done weeks ago instead of days.
http://video.msn.com/v/us/v.htm?g=e4ac1398-78a0-4985-b36e-29d676115a47&t=&f=34/64&p=
That is the link to the video. I am curious to see what everyone thinks. Has medicine progressed so much that the obvious effects of a major surgery wouldn't show?
I can't see those msn video links, something with my funky computer. I suppose they could get the swelling down in 72 hours or so. Bless her heart, she has been quite a brave person.
Osso,
Well, from the picture, she is going to look just fine. The only scar was the outer edges where the actual stitches seem to have been made. It's almost like they took a mask and put it there.
Ok, I can accept the swelling going down in 72 hours, but no bruising? I mean none whatsoever appears.
Here is the CNN link. You have to click on the title. Hopefully, you can access this one.
http://www.cnn.com/
I saw the photo earlier. I think if you got a real good close up you would see something more.
Switching subject ever so slightly, did anyone read David Reiff's article about his mother's last cancer battle, a bone marrow transplant the failed? It was in today's New York Times Magazine section. I'll be back with a link. His mother is Susan Sontag, one of the intellectual lights of the twentieth century, who I admit to not entirely understanding. Smart, brave, ballsy woman, who beat back stage 4 breast cancer in the seventies (I think) while writing, at the same time, On Photography, and Illness as Metaphor. Then she beat back another one in her sixties, a uterine sarcoma, and I don't think that's a lightweight diagnosis either. This time she didn't make it, though she pulled out the stops.
Reiff is to be admired, by me at least, for dispassionately but not unfeelingly, describing it all, and also bringing up the larger question of "is such heroic effort available only to the rich", quite thoughtful on that.
back with a link.
Thank you edgar. I am trying to find a still photo so I can get a better look. It does look rather amazing though, doesn't it?
Osso,
Anxiously awaiting. Sounds very interesting.
Osso,
Thanx. What an amazing woman she was! Truly inspiring.
Edgar (or anyone),
I can't find a still picture of the lady that had the transplant. Does anyone of know any?
You may have to register, it's no big deal, they just add a cookie for you, as many other sites do. Articles tend to be available for a week, and then to get one from the archives one has to pay. At least that 's not right away, like some places..
I'm not a big cut and paster - I feel a little odd as someone wrote this article, but do part of articles sometimes, to give a flavor. In this case, I wanted to read the whole thing and think it doesn't do it justice to cut it up.
edgar,
Thanx so much! I am absolutely amazed. The doctors did a wonderful job. I am so happy for this woman.
Oh, well, I'll see it sometime.
I think rejection would be traumatic both psychologically but also physically - hard for me to imagine, but I can barely imagine the first injury - so they better have explained it all to her - and I presume they have. I bet the psychologists can barely imagine the first injury either, though the have read the details. She has been through it, and the surgery, and said Merci. She's tough. I hope people - newspapers, et al - leave her alone. She will need adjustment time even if everything proceeds well and apace.
And she could presumably, maybe I'm wrong, have the surgery again with a closer match.
The first picture is her face before?
Osso,
I really hope she is not hounded by the press. Yes, this is a medical breakthrough, but I think the woman's state of mind will have a lot to do with how well she recovers.
I believe that is her before the injury. I did hear it said on the news that her new face did look remarkably like her original one.
