BS: TWINS

Subject: TWINS
From: little john cameron
Date: 26 Jul 00 - 07:19 PM

Now folks,this is a very delicate subject so i am writing this in all seriousness.I would appreciate it if we could keep it on that level as the subject is wide open for jokes.
Anyway,last Sunday i watched about the last 15mins of a tv show on the discovery channel about a child,girl, who had two heads.Now this is where it gets tricky.
Please excuse me as i find it difficult to explain this without it seeming like i am trying to be funny.
It seems that there were two separate children here sharing the same body.One child had control of the right arm and leg and the other the left.
All the rest of them was normal i,e, one heart,one set of lungs etc.
They seemed to be about 7 or 8 years old and went to school normally.They went swimming and rode there bike.Obviously it took a great deal of co-operation in order to do this.
They seemed to be very well adjusted and were laughing and playing like other chidren of that age.They even sang twinkle,twinkle little star together.
I have seen other "siamese" twin before but never two heads and one body.
I am wondering if anyone else saw this program.
Anyway, that's it.Noo ah dinnae want ony "flamers"on this post. Ye don't want tae get me mad. LJC

Subject: RE: BS: TWINS
From: SINSULL
Date: 26 Jul 00 - 07:45 PM

Yes,
There have been several programs recently about conjoined twins. In fact, one twin performs on the Country and Western circuit while her sister stands in the background. The part I found most fascinating was the constant repetition by all that each wants to be seen as an individual, something most people take for granted. And yes, several conjoined twins in the documentaries, I have seen, attend regular schools, have regular friends and lead regular lives. I expected to get a heavy dose of tearful parents and bitter children. It was just the opposite. Proud parents, well adjusted children, schoolmates and teachers who accepted them as individuals.

Subject: RE: BS: TWINS
From: Helen
Date: 26 Jul 00 - 07:50 PM

I saw a programme on Australian TV a year or two ago which wasmainly about an Irish set of conjoined (Siamese) twins and the operation that their parents were deciding whether to have done to separate them. They went ahead with the operation but one of them died. (I think the doctors said that she may have died anyway because of heart trouble and this would have put the other twin at risk anyway.)

As part of the process of showing the dilemma of which is the right decision there was a part of the show devoted to the two girls you referred to - they sound like the same girls. The live in a rural area of the USA somewhere and their parents decided not to go ahead with any operations. I thought the girls were amazing.

Another pair of twins were featured in one of the episodes of a British TV show all about Twins hosted by a man whose name escapes me. These two women looked about mid to late 30's. One can walk and is adult sized but the other is a lot shorter and has to be wheeled about on a trolley by her sister. They are joined at the crowns of their heads. They are American too. Their personalities, interests and sense of humour were completely different. I was impressed with them too.

Helen

Subject: RE: BS: TWINS
From: Helen
Date: 26 Jul 00 - 07:53 PM

Sinsull,

I think the C&W singer is the shorter of the adult twins I just wrote about. I agree with your summing up of the situation too - pride, individuality, not bitterness & tears.

Helen

Subject: RE: BS: TWINS
From: Noreen
Date: 26 Jul 00 - 08:07 PM

I didn't see the programme, ljc, but I have read an article and seen photographs of these twins, which is what they are(rather than a girl with two heads). Each is obviously well aware of what is hers and what belongs to her twin, which to me is fascinating- they can teach us a lot about our sense of 'self'.

Noreen

Subject: RE: BS: TWINS
From: Mrrzy
Date: 26 Jul 00 - 08:44 PM

I saw a FASCINATING documentary on how they do those separations. Apparently you have to spend a lot of effort trying to figure out whose the third leg is, and so on, or you might try to separate them and end up giving an organ to one child when its innervation or vascularization comes from the other. VERY interesting. No chance on separating that pair that looks like a 2-headed girl, they share too many vital organs. In fact, if one needs medicine she doesn't like, the other one can take it!

Subject: RE: BS: TWINS
From: GUEST,Banjo Johnny
Date: 27 Jul 00 - 11:49 AM

What do they do when one of them wants to be married? == Johnny

Subject: RE: BS: TWINS
From: Peter T.
Date: 27 Jul 00 - 11:59 AM

There is a new novel out called Chang and Eng, about the original Siamese Twins in the 19th century who worked for P.T. Barnum. They were quite happily married to two (separate) women, had a number of children. The great crisis of their life was the fact that one of them, I forget which, was weaker (also a drinker I think) than the other, and when the first one died, the second one died a few hours later, though he was healthy. There was some hope at the time that there could be an operation, but the brother refused to let it happen -- the general consensus is that he would have died anyway because of the nature of what they shared (and we are talking about the 1880s).
yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: BS: TWINS
From: Whistle Stop
Date: 27 Jul 00 - 12:40 PM

I saw the program about the two conjoined little girls, too. Really makes you reexamine your assumptions -- I would have thought it impossible that these two little girls could be as happy and well-adjusted as they appear to be. Amazing, and a great credit to their parents for trusting their own instincts.

Subject: RE: BS: TWINS
From: Kim C
Date: 27 Jul 00 - 12:48 PM

I have seen those two little girls and let me tell you, I just fell in love with them. I had seen a magazine article about them some time before and was a little weirded out by it. But when I saw them on television, I forgot that I was looking at what some consider a freak of nature. They were beautiful and sweet and had personality. I guess the key is, they don't think it's a big deal, so why should anyone else? Plus they have a set of loving parents, something that unfortunately, not every child gets.

Subject: RE: BS: TWINS
From: SINSULL
Date: 27 Jul 00 - 01:31 PM

Johnny,
They marry. Having grown up together sharing everything from beds to bathrooms, they have established their own rules for privacy. I wonder how I would react if my son chose to marry a conjoined twin. I hope the same as I would to any other marriage choice - if they love and respect each other, then trust his judgement.
Mary