Spider Woman and Conjoined Oddities

[johnleeknoefler]

diamondsmiles got me interested in this topic so here are a few of the odd things I found.

Spider Woman is the oddest. I can't wait for the comments on this one.


Xray of conjoined twins. Not sure if it's the one(s) above.


These two babies should be easy to separate.


Pretty sure this one didn't survive. It actually looks dead here in this photo.

For the medically minded you might know this type of conjoined twin as"Syncephalus (connected in the facial region)

Just about everyone has heard of Abigail And Brittany Hensel. The lastest update is that they have a boyfriend and are engaged. Whoo hooo!. What a lucky guy.

Further update, They got married:


Conjoined twins "factoid"

Conjoined twins are a rare event in the world's delivery rooms. They occur about once in every 50,000 births, but 40% are stillborn, and, curiously, 70% are female. Conjoined twins are always identical: the product of a single egg that for some unknown reason failed to divide fully into separate twins during the first three weeks of gestation. In the U.S. there are perhaps 40 live cases each year; ordinary identical twins are 400 times as common.

A wonderful skeleton specimen.



Tatiana and Krista Hogan Sharing a Brain

This is one of the most surprising and awesome tales ever told in the history of medicine. These twins are Tatiana and Krista Hogan. Their brains and sensory systems are networked together, but they have separate personalities. Their story defies belief. So much, in fact, that Tatiana and Krista Hogan shouldn't be alive at all. Their chances of surviving the pregnancy, birth and first months of life were almost zero. Surprisingly, they turned four on October 25, and they are still healthy and happy, as you can see in the photo above.

They play Nintendo Wii games against each other, they fight for toys and they share food and physiological functions. But they also share their senses. For example, one can pick an object out of her field of view, while the twin looks at the object.
Most importantly, however, they can share each other thoughts, like their grandmother—Louise McKay—describes:

They share thoughts, too. Nobody will be saying anything, and Tati will just pipe up and say, Stop that! And she'll smack her sister.

Scientists are nothing short of absolutely amazed. Here you have two kids, completely different from each other, with their own distinct personality, but with connected brains and sensory systems. Dr. Douglas Cochrane—neurosurgeon at Vancouver's Children's Hospital—has tested their networking abilities:

Their brains are recording signals from the other twin's visual field. One might be seeing what the other one is seeing.

Nobody can possibly imagine how this may work and feel for them. And since they haven't developed their full verbal skills yet, scientists can't ask them about it. I don't know if they will have a lot of answers for them, however. If they ask me how I see or smell things, there is no way that I could accurately describe it. These actions just happen. Like you and me, they have no other point of reference. Their life is the only one they know. For them, sharing thoughts and senses is the only way things could be.

But whatever the implications for science and philosophy are, their mother is just happy and grateful for every day with them. She also believes they're here for a reason but, "we just don't know the reason yet."

I don't know what that reason could be, but the mere fact that they are alive, happy, loving and being loved, is enough for me.

Their mother:

[Ismibeg]

Awesome thread!

[Faline]

Second one is this

http://www.documentingreality.com/fo...d-spine-88025/

Good thread, i always find these cases fascinating.

[NutNurse]

Great post johnleeknoefler

[**butterflylove**]

interesting, its always a good deal when you can get two for one

[rrrr_reubs]

Definition of disgusting: 2 Siamese twins joined at the mouth and they vomit

[collaredgirl65]

Good post. Enjoyed reading it.

[witchhazel]

awesome post! i didn't know Brittany got married, thanks for the update!

[Dodger712]

I am so happy for Abigail and Brittany. They deserve happiness. I read a book about a year ago about twin boys joined like these girls (Two heads/one body) and it brought up some interesting ethical and moral questions. In the book one twin fell in love and married. The other was there during sex but tried to stay out of it. HE was gay... and fell in love with his sister-in-law's brother. How the twins worked it all out was.. interesting to say the least.
I recall also that one of the more objectionable scenes in "Freaks" had either Violet or Daisy Hilton kissing her boyfriend and the other twin reacted to the kiss. That scene was called obscene at the time. LOL. We've (hopefully) come a LONG way!

[tattufreak]