I know that they say "just like in the movies" but I have to believe they aren't Hollywood movies like we see but "movies" made just for the island, similar to the instructional videos.

As for the injection through the sternum, "just like in the movies", I figured they were talking about the scene in Pulp Fiction where a drug is administered to the heart to revive someone who's OD'd.

Thank you LIBrenda for the further examination of the x-ray. Only we in the medical field can be so non-chalant about graphics!! I am wondering if Jack saw the full view version of this x-ray, as there were more x-rays on the light screen. This particular x-ray on this web site does not completely show the pelvic region, although the iliac crest of both L and R bones do appear slim. It all in the writers' words for the show!

First- let me say that I am a registered radiologic technologist with 18 years experience. From looking at the x-ray above- you CANNOT tell if its a man or woman......the only way to tell would be if the whole pelvis was included on the x-ray.
The marker (the R) at the top of the film is correct...the 2 small BB's in the circle show that the patient is lying down- if the patient had been standing, the BB's would be at the bottom of the circle. To me, even the "tumor" in this x-ray is questionable.....there are significant pockets of feces that are showing up on the film....feces shows up as a "mottled" or splotchy patch on the film. This person could just be constipated...lol.
Anyways- it will be very interesting to find out who this x-ray belongs to......I wonder how long they'll make us wait?

Now, off of the medical stuff ( dang, that last post felt too much like work! )
Wouldn't it be something if that was Sarah's x-ray? (wasn't that Jack's wife's name?) She was brought to the island too? Maybe she was in Australia to meet with Jack's father before he died. But, she's not 40 or male. It would have added an interesting twist to the story! Since jack thought they were having an affair anyway. I think that would make too much sense for the show!
I guess we'll find out this week.

May I first say that I am NOT an expert!! LOL I am just a registered nurse, who loves LOST and happened to have stumbled into the radiology field!! I only had a question about the x-ray because I KNOW that Jack said the tumor was in L4 and the x-ray shows the tumor being in L2!! That questions my trust in the medical writers of the show!
As I repeatedly will say, I am no expert, but I hope that I can not only clear some of the show's medical questions, but also educate for real life circumstances.

Emilio: The "smokey looking stuff" in the background of the x-ray is probably artifact, like a crumpled sheet the person was lying on. Tissue, such as skin, muscle, organs, etc, does not show up on a regular x-ray. Other scans are for tissue examination ( CT scans, MRIs, Ultrasounds, Nuclear Medicine scans, PET scans)

Kristo: Juliette IS a real doctor. She just happened to have specialized in fertility. The type of doctor one would go to for in-vitro fertilization. That may be another explanation why Claire was captured while she was pregnant. I am wondering if they find out that Sun is pregnant, if they will capture her also. Or... did they do something to her or Jin ( who I think was the one with the low sperm count) already, that we don't know about, since she was able to conceive on the island, but couldn't on the mainland????????
In regards to the "sternal injections". To my professional knowledge, the only time that a needle is injected into the sternum is for a bone marrow biopsy. NOT to inject medication. Sedating medication ( to put people to sleep) is ALWAY given intravenously ( in the vein). That is another reason why I question the show's writer's. ( My guess is that anyone can Google a topic. LOL).

Dimples: Again, I thank you for the compliment, but I am NO expert by any means!! LOL ( I thought that was cute! ) Let me clarify that the tumor IS in the lower back. It is around the waist area. In reality, spinal cancer usually spreads ( metastasizes) upward to the skull and brain, depending on the type of cancer. In this x-ray, it appears that the tumor may be localized ( in one spot) within the vertabrae and has not spread. Though, again, further testing would be needed for that. Without getting too medically technical, for now, the tumor looks to be only in the 2nd Lumbar vertabrae ( altho I still argue with the writers!! LOL)

Rebel: A spinal tumor would NOT cause the loss of use of a limb. It could be debilitating to the use of a limb, because of pain, pressure of the nervous pathways, but not direct loss of use. In this case, the loss of use of a limb would be a leg because of the location of the tumor. As far as loss of eyesight? I would spectulate that would only happen if the tumor was cancerous, would spread upward, settle in the occipital lobe of the brain on one side of the head.
In reality, brain cancer that has spread from a different part of the body has a poor prognosis. It is different from a brain tumor which has originated in the brain ( which may be operable). Again, in reality, this particular x-ray could require tumor removal with adjuvant ( additional treatment) chemotherapy and/or radiation ( and not the type of electromagnetic radiation on the island!!).
Then again, this x-ray tumor may not even be cancerous. That is why the show is called LOST!!!
I am wondering if the x-ray may belong to someone we haven't seen yet??? But someone who has significant purpose for the Others.
I hope I have cleared up a few questions you may have had.

Unfortunatley Im not an expert in these medical issues and so was wondering if this type of tumor could cause the loss of a limb or maybe the use of a limb.
I am thinking about the orientation guy, Marvin Candel (sp?) as we saw in a later video he looked to have lost the use of an arm.
Now I know he would probably be older than 40 years old, but maybe he is on the island. Its been suggested that he lost the arm, or the use of it, in 'the incident' but this may put another spin on it.
Also could a tumor of this type cause the loss of an eye? You know where I am going here.... so I will leave it at that.

I still beleive it is Ben who has the tumor, although the preview seems too obvious (Jack stating that the tumor will kill him as he is show on screen). It makes most sense as it is Ben who makes Jack the offer and I think once operated on Ben would take Jack back to the US although if Ben has lived on the island all his life (40 years or so) he may have trouble settling into the 'real world'.

I am now thinking that Jack is there to perform the surgery, Sawyer is there to con Jack into doing the surgery if Jack declines the offer and Kate is there to 'persuade' Sawyer to 'con' Jack if Sawyer refuses his task....

I am sure after this weeks show my theory will have been smashed to pieces.... ???

That wouldn't make any sense though. The point is he's the one that's supposed to operate on it. It's ironic enough that he's a spinal surgeon and there's someone with a tumor on their spine.

Don't forget that irony is a big player in this show. That x-ray is Jack's back.

I am bothered about the x-ray. I am no expert like Rn, and I loved your post about the tumor, perhaps, being close to the head, rather than down lower on the back. Yep, that could make the "patient" nuts ;).

I am no expert, but when having x-rays, I noticed that the technician always marked, not only left and right, but top and bottom. The x-ray we see has no such marks except for the "left" marking.

That's why I like an expert's opinion...like Rn,...it helps me to make sense of what I am looking at.

An other thing that bothers me, is the general consensus that the island has healing powers. I don't think it does. It's just my opinion, but I think something else is going on,....it may be the food they are ingesting, it may be a type of mind control (you know..mind over body thing), it may be hypnosis.

As far as Locke being healed, and in-touch with the island, I doubt it. Locke is a "Survivalist",..as shown in the hippy commune scenes, and his in depth knowledge of living off the land. He believes the island is talking to him, but it's only his inner-self doing the talking.

He's in touch with what he has learned, over the years, and it's coming in handy for him, and his buddies. IMO.

Benry can't be healed by the island, because the island is not the source of healing. He knows that the healing the Losties have experienced, is coming from within, or a source, to which Benry has no access, or just does not subscribe to (believe in).

These are just my opinions. I hope I have not insulted anybody with them, but I've lived long enough to know better :). In advance,....I am sorry. :)

To add to what Rebel 3:16 said... Perhaps the reason why Henry did go to the island was to get cured. We still dont know what he was doing there. All he seemed to do was check out the Losties, but he seems to have already known everything, so that cant be it.

My friends and I saw the whole Sawyer injection thing as sort of a training exercise. Tom was trying to get the kid to get the right place by telling him "it's like in the movies."Like they were teaching that kid to give this injection to the people, but what were the injections?? Was that to put him to sleep so they could make him think that they put that thing in his heart??

Well, may be if it isn't a tumor, then Jack just bluff 'cos Juliette isn't a real doctor and she can't understand if he' lying . And he knows that if the Others depend on him he can escape and save Sawyer and Kate ...

It's not a tumor ....

It had to of been me.

Nice. That would definitely make a whole lot more sense.

Here's a theory: It is Ben's x-ray. He knows about the tumor but doesn't exhibit symptoms because of the island.

He wants off the island too, but he knows that he can't leave this place without the tumor kicking in. So, he has to have Jack fix him first -- and in return he'll take Jack with him back to civilization.

------

Also, as for it being Locke's x-ray -- certainly not a recent one. When would anyone have had an opportunity to x-ray Locke without his knowledge? If it's an old x-ray (from when he was 40-ish if he's approaching 60 now), then frankly, why would the Others care about saving Locke?

I realize it could still be someone else's x-ray but I think it being Ben's is the most interesting. Col's husband is just, well, uninteresting. Any other male Other is also uninteresting. And any male Lostie would make no sense because the Others don't have a stake in saving any of them from tumors.

The "smokey looking stuff" in the background of the X-ray is the rest of the guys body. Tissue like skin and muscle look like that. I'm pretty sure the "symbols" at the bottom are his hips.

I dont know what that smokey looking stuff is in the backround of the xray but if you look at the xray where the tumor is it looks like a skull is there

Also it looks lower as if there are symbols in the smoke that i cannot see due to letters blocking it. If anyone has any luch post

Also did you guy's notice that when those guy's were about to give Sawyer the shot one of them said something to the effect of "no its in the sternum like in the movies" that and their inability to save Col with out jack's help kinda shows an obvious lack of physical medical knowledge don't cha think? sorry about lack of punctuation. :-\ :-\

Hello all I am long time listener first time caller and I just wanna say you all make some very good points. But I just wanna ask if Ben/fenry once mentioned a "him" and we see someone with a eyepatch in the scenes in next weeks preview why assume that the x-ray is Ben's when it could be his? I just ask out of curiosity and with all due respect.

It's a shot in the dark, but I decided in my own mind that the magnet was the healing source of the island. Perhaps pressing the button was what kept it working.

Maybe now that the failsafe was turned, the healing properties aren't necessarily working. They were talking about how it had been two days since the sky turned purple...

It sounds ridiculous as I write it, but since I have no other explanations...

As with most of the mysteries of Lost they get analysed and sometimes over analysed as the case may be here.
I would think 99% of viewers initially though it was Bens x-ray, myself included, and I have seen nothing to suggest it isnt his. I mean he is about 40, he is male and if he has been on the island his whole life, exposed to the radiation, theres a good chance he could have a tumour.
It would also make a great plot, get a spinal surgeon on the island to operate on him. I though this was the first major question answered on the show so far. I mean Locke said at one point early on that everyone was brought to the island for a reason (or words to that effect) and we have eventually found out why Jack was brought to the island.......
Now we just need to know how he was brought to the island, yes we know he was on a plane but how did they make sure he was on the exact plane that Desmond, if we are to believe his not pressing the button caused the crash, brough down.
I dont think everyone on the plane was brought to the island for a reason but the main players, Jack, Kate, Sawyer for sure and maybe a couple of others. Now theres suggestion Sawyer is there for his con job skills, we just need to know why the others, Kate for instance, are there, what is their purpose and how come none of them dies in the crash?

I have a concluded that the X-ray can be that of "Henry"..LOL

Creflo-That's a good point, I never thought about the small wounds that don't heal.

If they didn't mislead us, then I wouldn't be LOST...

The preview for next week's episode reveals whose X-ray this is.

Well, at least it appears to. It could easily be a case of cunning and deliberately misleading editing but if you take it at face value then it's pretty clear whose x-ray this is.

That would make sense. Maybe he feels he got his life back when he got to the island thus the term, "my whole life." That comment has been buggin' me ever since he said it.

I think the island is selective in who it heals. There is obvious something intelligent about the island.

The island does not provide Wolverine-like regeneration. Some things (scars, gunshot wounds, TNT accidents, etc) don't heal at all and other things are slow to heal.

I'm thinking that if it's Ben's tumor, he's only alive because he "lived on this island his whole life". The island keeps him going (where he'd otherwise die in the outside world) but doesn't completely reverse the cancer.

Heck, maybe the island doesn't heal things that are caused by its own EM radiation.

PS isn't it bizarre that Rose had an illness... (cancer?) and it is now subsided/gone however the island has not had an affect on this tumor....

I believe it is Lockes x-ray. Even if he is older than 40ish as Jack's said, we don't know how old the x-ray is. The xray could be years old. '

The symbol was the hydra station symbol

It was a little far away, but is there any idea as to what the symbol was on Julite's lab coat? It seemed unfamiliar....

To Optimus J: I stated in my original posting that the xray is apparently correct. The rib cage is at the top of the picture. My confusion comes that Jack said the tumor was at L4 ( the 4th Lumbar vertabrae). To me, as I am only a radiology nurse, and not a radiologist, is that the tumor seems located at L2. Perhaps the writers or Jack, himself messed up the line! Although, there may be some type of degenerative changes at L4 because it is directly sitting on top on L5. In any event, whoever's xray it belongs to, I haven't seen anyone exhibiting any excruciating pain. Of course, it's TV! ( I think I am looking into too much reality for this show!!!)

I originally thought it Locke's xray, as soon as I saw it, then I realized that was probably not right, when they showed Ben in the commercial, it seemed too obvious that it would be him, so I'm going to take a wild stab in the dark, and say...

The X-ray belongs to Juliette.

That is my wild guess. So, if this turns out to be right, I want someone to put up a little quote thingy on the main page that said I called it. I'm thinking Jugdish.

Anyone see the preview for next week's episode? Jack looks as though he's talking to Ben and saying "if you don't have it operated on you will die." I'm thinking that means it's Ben...

Doesn't look upside-down for me.
See how the vertebrae are larger on bottom?
Besides the bones on the upside have rib conformation.
Hips have more closed angle to say the least.

anyone else wonder if it is Ben, they make it look like it is him? locke is older than 40. maybe coleen's husband has the tumor and now he is dying as well and maybe he was so pissed because of her dying that he never told her that he is dying as well...just a thought

i'm thinkin it could be locke - they could have gotten his xrays from before. would explain why he's better on the island - tumor's been radiated - and maybe it's growing again due to implosion and jack can operate on him and fix him b4 he gets worse...

I am confused! Jack said the tumor was at L4, but according to the xray, it looks like it is in L2. I thought perhaps the xray was upside down, but at a closer look it's apparent that the rib cage is at the top of the picture. If the tumor is at L4, then there is probable metastatic disease to L2. No matter what vertabrae the cancer is, brain metastasis is inevitable. That can explain why Ben is so crazy!! LOL

looks like benry to me