# This week's bizarre medical odditiy. Man turning into a tree.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-weeks-bizarre-medical-odditiy-man-turning-into-a-tree/426369
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [November 14, 2007, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-weeks-bizarre-medical-odditiy-man-turning-into-a-tree/426369 "2007-11-14T14:41:53Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 4
### Author:  [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2007, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-weeks-bizarre-medical-odditiy-man-turning-into-a-tree/426369/61 "2007-11-14T22:20:49Z")
[QUOTE=Eyebrows 0f Doom]
Has anyone been able to find when it will air on Discovery? I didn’t see a single mention of it on their website.
[/QUOTE]
It looks like it’s only [broadcast in the uk](http://www.discoverychannel.co.uk/myshockingstory/index.shtml)
---
### Author:  [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2007, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-weeks-bizarre-medical-odditiy-man-turning-into-a-tree/426369/62 "2007-11-14T22:24:23Z")
[QUOTE=Kuboydal]
Maybe it’s been banyanned from broadcast.
[/QUOTE]
I think you mean, maple it has been banyanned… now that he’s famous, do you think he’ll branch out? I just can’t leaf this alone.
These pics are so gross and disturbing that I am sick to my stomach. His um, effected parts don’t look treelike to me, they look furry, like mold. Which is grossing me out all the more.
RE the sex with the bicycle story…[Wayne Campbell] Schwinn![/WC]
---
### Author:  [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2007, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-weeks-bizarre-medical-odditiy-man-turning-into-a-tree/426369/63 "2007-11-14T22:28:29Z")
I hope he didn’t have any pain in the lumber region.
---
### Author:  [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2007, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-weeks-bizarre-medical-odditiy-man-turning-into-a-tree/426369/64 "2007-11-14T22:29:26Z")
Oh, and I think we are all just laughing at the horror, not at him.
---
### Author:  [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2007, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-weeks-bizarre-medical-odditiy-man-turning-into-a-tree/426369/65 "2007-11-14T22:49:55Z")
[QUOTE=The New and Improved Superman]
As bizarre & disturbing as that story - and that picture - was, I was even more put off by the [link](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=UXDXXBXIQKAWDQFIQMFSFGGAVCBQ0IV0?xml=/news/2007/11/14/nbikesex114.xml) on that page to this headline: “Man who had sex _with bicycle_ sentenced.”
With a BICYCLE???
[/QUOTE]
Maybe he just got confused about what it meant to be a bisexual. 🙂
And the OP? Tell me it Ent happenin’!
---
### Author:  [@scotandrsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotandrsn)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2007, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-weeks-bizarre-medical-odditiy-man-turning-into-a-tree/426369/66 "2007-11-14T23:03:17Z")
[QUOTE=OneCentStamp]
…a sure early warning sign of barfage for me.
[/QUOTE]
What about early signs of foliage?
---
### Author:  [@bbs2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bbs2k)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2007, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-weeks-bizarre-medical-odditiy-man-turning-into-a-tree/426369/67 "2007-11-14T23:14:34Z")
I have unintentionally created a thread of bad puns. More than I can beat off with a stick.
---
### Author:  [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2007, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-weeks-bizarre-medical-odditiy-man-turning-into-a-tree/426369/68 "2007-11-15T00:24:07Z")
[QUOTE=bbs2k]
I have unintentionally created a thread of bad puns. More than I can beat off with a stick.
[/QUOTE]
Well, if the poor guy wanted to beat off, he have to do it with a stick.
---
### Author:  [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2007, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-weeks-bizarre-medical-odditiy-man-turning-into-a-tree/426369/69 "2007-11-15T01:18:57Z")
Note to self: Don’t ever have sex without a condom again, ever, not ever, not for any reason, no matter how much birth control she’s on. Not ONCE.
I mean, holy shit. AIDS I could deal with. But this…?!
---
### Author:  [@Fetchund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fetchund)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2007, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-weeks-bizarre-medical-odditiy-man-turning-into-a-tree/426369/70 "2007-11-15T01:50:45Z")
[QUOTE=simster]
How long before this shows up on House?
[/QUOTE]
Oh, soon - as soon as he can be cut down to some 2 x 4’s for the framing…
---
### Author:  [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2007, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-weeks-bizarre-medical-odditiy-man-turning-into-a-tree/426369/71 "2007-11-15T01:52:12Z")
[QUOTE=OneCentStamp]
Or a _really_, really slow-paced Kafka story.
[/QUOTE]
Is there any other kind?
---
### Author:  [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2007, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-weeks-bizarre-medical-odditiy-man-turning-into-a-tree/426369/72 "2007-11-15T02:40:40Z")
[QUOTE=fetus]
Note to self: Don’t ever have sex without a condom again, ever, not ever, not for any reason, no matter how much birth control she’s on. Not ONCE.
I mean, holy shit. AIDS I could deal with. But this..?!
[/QUOTE]
Yup. And I showed the pics to both of my teens and told them about the HPV. I dont’ care that the guy has a rare genetic disorder that caused the HPV to do this–I wanted to drive home the condom usage message. #1 son-no idea if I got through. Daughter? Asked when she could get the Gardasil shots…
:eek:
Does it look like fur and feathers to anyone else or am I the only one who keeps imagining his “hand” brushing against mine and me screaming, traumatized for life? I’ve seen a lot of bad stuff in my years as a nurse, but this is in a category of its own.
---
### Author:  [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2007, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-weeks-bizarre-medical-odditiy-man-turning-into-a-tree/426369/73 "2007-11-15T02:45:55Z")
[Oh my God, Daphne wasn’t kidding!](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daphne)
---
### Author:  [@notthatagain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notthatagain)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2007, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-weeks-bizarre-medical-odditiy-man-turning-into-a-tree/426369/74 "2007-11-15T02:48:18Z")
And to think it all began when his father’s seed got past his mother’s bush…
yeah, I know. I’m goin’ to hell too.
---
### Author:  [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2007, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-weeks-bizarre-medical-odditiy-man-turning-into-a-tree/426369/75 "2007-11-15T02:49:10Z")
[QUOTE=Kythereia]
[Oh my God, Daphne wasn’t kidding!](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daphne)
[/QUOTE]
She wasn’t supposed to get Apollo turned into a tree! Just her own self…
😃
---
### Author:  [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2007, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-weeks-bizarre-medical-odditiy-man-turning-into-a-tree/426369/76 "2007-11-15T02:54:33Z")
[QUOTE=Otto]
Sure, people like the tree man now but once this clears up he’ll be much less poplar.
[/QUOTE]
Leaf here, now.
---
### Author:  [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2007, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-weeks-bizarre-medical-odditiy-man-turning-into-a-tree/426369/77 "2007-11-15T03:14:04Z")
[QUOTE=fetus]
Note to self: Don’t ever have sex without a condom again, ever, not ever, not for any reason, no matter how much birth control she’s on. Not ONCE.
I mean, holy shit. AIDS I could deal with. But this..?!
[/QUOTE]
Not to freak you out, but:
“Condoms offer little protection against HPV since any skin-to-skin contact can result in transmission of the virus.”
[http://www.health-science-report.com/alotek/topics1/article51](http://www.health-science-report.com/alotek/topics1/article51)
---
### Author:  [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2007, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-weeks-bizarre-medical-odditiy-man-turning-into-a-tree/426369/78 "2007-11-15T03:42:22Z")
[QUOTE=ivylass]
And why does this stuff always seem to happen in Indonesia, or the mountains of Peru?
[/quote]
Because in Europe, Australia, Japan, and even the US as well as a lot of other places people get treatment for this sort of thing before it gets this far. It’s called modern medicine, it’s pretty useful at times.
> [@](#):
>
> Hell, that 8-legged girl was born in India (not that India is a backwards country, but you never hear of stuff like that happening in Illinois or Paris)
Well, it’s not Illinois, but a couple of years ago there were conjoined twins born in northern Indiana. And there are the Hensel twins in Minnesota (well, OK, they don’t have 8 legs, just 2)… stuff like this happens all over the world, but because in wealthier areas people can usually get care without exploitation and before things get hideously advanced, babies get surgery shortly after birth, and so forth you don’t as often find folks living in misery with untreated problems.
---
### Author:  [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2007, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-weeks-bizarre-medical-odditiy-man-turning-into-a-tree/426369/79 "2007-11-15T03:56:26Z")
I think he’s a Changeling.
---
### Author:  [@Slypork](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slypork)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2007, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-weeks-bizarre-medical-odditiy-man-turning-into-a-tree/426369/80 "2007-11-15T15:38:38Z")
I wonder how he looks in the fall when the leaves change? And is he concerned about termites?
[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-weeks-bizarre-medical-odditiy-man-turning-into-a-tree/426369.md?page=3)
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-weeks-bizarre-medical-odditiy-man-turning-into-a-tree/426369.md?page=5)