i’ve got twenty four hours to go

The miracles of technology mutate and change every single freaking day. It’s gotten to the point where it’s not only about computers anymore, although it’s the computers that really allow us to make those great strides forward in the things we do. For instance, the face transplant. Yes, a facial transplant of human tissue onto another living human being. This doesn’t involve a pig or monkey at all. It’s straight up, taking the flesh of some one else’s face and surgically applying it to someone who might be in need of filling in some parts of their face.

If you haven’t heard, it’s already been done. A woman in France was the first candidate for this previously unthinkable procedure. For the most part, it has been a resounding success story. The woman was mauled by a dog, had injuries to her face that could not be repaired through plastic surgery, and had difficulty with doing everyday things such as eating and speaking. There were some issues regarding her psychological state that concerned some, believing the depression she was suffering put her at risk for a poor healing process. Regardless, a picture perfect case for this type of experimental, never done before, procedure, don’t you think?

This is France, however, and the woman, recovering better than most had hoped for and is fully venturing into public with her new look, has taken up smoking. At 38 years old, she still has plenty of life to live yet. It’s not like she was near death and close to taking her last breath. She had an injury to her face that was beyond repair only to be selected for this ground breaking opportunity to restore her opportunity to live the rest of her days normally after a fairly traumatic event. Now she’s smoking. A habit that is disgusting in the first place, but also puts her “new face” at risk while it’s still healing just a few weeks after the operation. That’s insane.

Europe in general has a different approach to smoking tobacco, and the french have this way of smoking in their culture that nearly makes me crave a good cigarette. Maybe all the depression was due to nicotine withdrawal. Whatever the reasoning, the skin takes time to heal, yet alone the skin that is on your face that doesn’t even belong to you in the first place. Or just maybe, it’s like that episode of the Simpsons where they transplanted Snake’s hair onto Homer, thus making Homer become “possessed” by Snake’s “spirit”. Now that seems more plausible. Mmmmmm… tobacco flesh.