Can't Touch This

I do seem able to find stories with a high eww factor, don't I?

Landmark Transplant Patients to Meet - Yahoo! News: "Denis Chatelier, who has lived six years with new hands, said he will offer encouragement that only a fellow transplant patient can give.

'I'm not a psychologist, I'm not a psychoanalyst,' Chatelier told The Associated Press in an interview Thursday. 'But what I want to do is show her that later in life, she can be happy.'

The 39-year-old father of five said his hands now function at 80 percent. He can shave, drive, brush his teeth, write, dial a telephone, hold his children's hands and feel sensations like pain and temperatures.

He still has one hour of physical therapy a day, but said his life is nearly back to normal after a long, tough path.

Beyond encouragement, Chatelier will deliver a caution about the hardships lying ahead for the face transplant patient — a 38-year-old French woman who, because of privacy laws, is identified in France only by her first name, Isabelle.

Among the problems are news media attention and stares from strangers, he said. And there is a lifetime of potent anti-rejection drugs, which initially left Chatelier shaky, sweaty, dizzy and suffering from frequent stomach flu."

Talk about your elective surgeries! Given a choice I would have chosen prosthetics. Some transplants aren't worth the continued upkeep and you might die earlier of some type of organ failure from the medications. Organs yes, limbs no. But that's just me. Feel free to do what you want. Of course I'm the type of person who pick a broken ankle over a trick knee. Short term pain over long time aggravation.