Foot found in newborn baby's brain

[Watser?]

Dr. Paul Grabb, a pediatric brain surgeon, said he discovered a small foot growing inside the brain of 3-day-old Sam Esquibel.

The appendage threatened the newborn's life.

When Grabb performed the life-saving surgery at Memorial Hospital for Children in Colorado Springs, he was in for another surprise: he also found what appeared to be parts of an intestine in the folds of the infant's tiny brain, in addition to another developing foot, hand and thigh.

Here's a pic, not suitable for watching while eating:

show spoiler

Colorado Doctor Finds Foot In Newborn's Brain - Staying Healthy News Story - KMGH Denver

[livius drusus]

I'm just going to assume it's a rick roll under that spoiler and step away from the thread.

[ChuckF]

[Master Taran]

[Smilin]

I'm so not clicking that and will take your word on it Watser...

[Leesifer]

Wow! That's pretty amazing.

[wildernesse]

Do not click that.

It is a neat picture, but I have to not think about it too much.

[Legs]

and I thought the Holiday Hamster thread was bad.

[curses]

Whoa, that's pretty cool. I was watching a show a few nights ago about twins that never fully developed. Essentially a person would have an extra organ or even extra sets of organs, but no feet in brains.

[LadyShea]

Parasitic Twins are amazing, and gross, and to me says in neon letters "Intelligent Design my ass"

[Ensign Steve]

Originally Posted by LadyShea

Parasitic Twins are amazing, and gross, and to me says in neon letters "Intelligent Design my ass"

Exactly. Whenever I see shit like this, my first reaction is, "Where is your God now?"

[ChuckF]

My first reaction is to consider exploratory brain surgery.

[erimir]

This doctor is evil.

Brain-baby abortion is evil.

This brain-baby could have been the next Athena! Now we'll never know...

[lisarea]

Originally Posted by LadyShea

Parasitic Twins are amazing, and gross, and to me says in neon letters "Intelligent Design my ass"

The navel part of navel oranges are parasitic twins. They're not gross. They're adorable!

They said the brain foot might just be an unusually intricate teratoma, though. I don't know any kind of common fruit mutation with terratomas. Maybe turnips.

[livius drusus]

You are the worst person in the universe.

[LadyShea]

I thought teratomas were specifically ovarian, and any other organ or hair or teeth bearing tumors were parasitic twins.

Now I'm all confused.

ETA: lisarea you allowed me to be confused, all because you wanted to torture liv and it wasn't even a serial post? Bitch, see if I renew our BFF contract this year.

[Legs]

Originally Posted by lisarea

Maybe turnips.

[Watser?]

Enormt gesiicht in 3, 2, 1...

[The Lone Ranger]

Um, why was it surprising to find other body parts? It's not like the foot is the only part of a parasitic twin that would have developed. What would have been surprising is to have gone in to do the surgery and not found additional body parts.

Cheers,

Michael

[Ensign Steve]

Originally Posted by lisarea

The navel part of navel oranges are parasitic twins. They're not gross. They're adorable!

All the navel oranges are clones of the original mutation.

[Garnet]

I clicked.

Now I'm squicked.

[lisarea]

Originally Posted by LadyShea

I thought teritomas were specifically ovarian, and any other organ or hair or teeth bearing tumors were parasitic twins.

Now I'm all confused.

ETA: lisarea you allowed me to be confused, all because you wanted to torture liv and it wasn't even a serial post? Bitch, see if I renew our BFF contract this year.

NO! Torturing liv was just gravy.

GOD. I should sue you for hurting my feelings.

I was trying to figure out about that, and I started reading some weird stuff on wikipedia, and now I'm also more confused, and I don't want to read about this any more now.

I think it says that fetiform teratoma are kind of only fuzzily differentiated from parasitic twins, and that is often just a matter of opinion or something. I thought that teratoma were just freaky looking tumors, and that parasitic twins were little malformed humans or oranges or whatever.

And I guess I always assumed that there was a clearer and more absolute distinction between human beings and tumors.

It doesn't bother me as much with the oranges, though. That I can live with either way.

[Clutch Munny]

That is very cool.

I am feeling very clever for having kept my own brain and feet so usefully far apart by comparison. It's a personal lifestyle choice that reflects well on me, IMO.

[LadyShea]

I guess I always assumed that there was a clearer and more absolute distinction between human beings and tumors.

Word

[The Lone Ranger]

Originally Posted by lisarea

And I guess I always assumed that there was a clearer and more absolute distinction between human beings and tumors.

Nope. It's a bit disquieting, isn't it?

All the cells in a person's body are genetically-identical, of course, because each of us developed from a single cell (a fertilized ovum, or zygote). [Actually, the gametes we produce aren't genetically-identical, and some white blood cells can actually reorganize their own genetic codes to some extent, and mature red blood cells don't even have genetic material -- but to a first approximation, all the cells' that make up one's body are genetically-identical.]

A cell that begins to divide and forms an undifferentiated mass inside your body forms a tumor. If some differentiation occurs, it's a parasitic twin. If, very early in your development, you divide in two, but the two halves remain attached, you have a conjoined twin. If the two halves separate, you have an identical (non-conjoined) twin.

It's pretty-much just a continuum, really ...

Cheers,

Michael