Waking up to a new life after twin separation
Newly separated twins Trishna (Left) and Krishna picutred here with their Australina guardian Moira Kelly in Melbourne. The pair are expected to make a full recovery. Photo: Reuters
Friday November 20 2009
One of the girls who was separated from her conjoined twin during a marathon operation woke up yesterday and is making a strong recovery, her surgeon said.
Trishna is already talking and receiving cuddles from Moira Kelly, her guardian, who has maintained a bedside vigil since the surgery.
Trishna's sister, Krishna, remained in an induced coma. However, doctors were expected to wake her gradually last night.
The twins, who were rescued from an orphanage in Bangladesh two years ago and taken to Australia, were joined at the top of their heads and shared blood vessels and brain tissue. They were separated in a 32-hour operation that began on Monday at the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne.
Wirginia Maixner, the neurosurgeon who led the team, said the toddlers were doing well but that Krishna would need longer to recover.
"I believe we've brought them through safely," she said. "Of the two twins, Krishna is the one that has to adjust more. We will plan to wake her up this afternoon. Trishna looks brilliant. She's talking; she's being Trishna; she's behaving the way she normally did."
She said that the toddler was aware that she was no longer attached to her sister.
It is not known if the girls, who turn three next month, suffered any brain damage during the operation. Ms Maixner said that scans indicated that everything was normal. However, Ms Kelly, the twins' guardian and founder of the Children First Foundation, said yesterday that she had a personal test to decide if the girls were functioning normally. "My little Krishna, this is what she does all the time, she (blows) me a raspberry (kiss) . . . that's when I will know she's neurologically sound."
The girls, who were abandoned soon after birth, had been given a 25pc chance of both making a full recovery. (© The Times, London)
- Sophie Tedmanson
Irish Independent
