tekkmortal
Active Member
- Joined
- Nov 27, 2003
- Messages
- 1,534
- Reaction score
- 0
Twins' recuperation exceeds expectations
By MELISSA KLEIN
THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: August 10, 2004)
NEW YORK — As her twin sons continued to make unexpectedly swift progress four days after their separation surgery, Arlene Aguirre thanked their medical team yesterday and said she was amazed at the thousands of strangers who have sent messages of support.
Aguirre said she knew from the beginning that the surgery to separate 2-year-old Carl and Clarence, who were joined at the tops of their heads, would be risky and that she could lose one of her boys. But it never stopped her from wanting to go forward.
"My dream's come true," Aguirre said at a morning news conference at Montefiore Medical Center's children's hospital in the Bronx.
Aguirre, a 31-year-old single mother from the Philippines, said she now was looking forward to walking with one boy on each side of her and finally being able to hold Carl and Clarence separately.
"That's one thing that I really want, to hold them one by one," she said.
Doctors were able to remove Clarence's breathing tube yesterday afternoon, and he no longer was under heavy sedation. The hospital said he looked up at his mother for a few minutes and then had "a real good cry." Carl still was sedated, and his breathing tube could come out today.
"Their recovery has been, I think, beyond our best expectations," said Dr. David Staffenberg, the head of pediatric plastic surgery at the children's hospital and co-leader of the surgical team.
The boys have not had seizures or fevers and have shown no sign of infection. Carl had developed some fluid around his brain, an early sign of a potential problem, but Dr. James Goodrich, the head of pediatric neurosurgery at Montefiore and the surgical team's leader, said it may resolve on its own. If not, doctors could put in a shunt, or drain, to direct the fluid into his abdomen.
All along, doctors have been more concerned about Carl's prognosis because, although the larger of the twins, he did not have a fully developed system of veins in his head. Carl was able to gradually develop that system as doctors divided shared blood vessels in the boys' heads in a series of operations begun last year that were a departure from the more traditional approach of separating conjoined twins in one long surgery.
A CT scan done on Carl on Sunday showed no signs of complications, such as strokes.
"All of us were impressed at how well his brain looks," Goodrich said.
Goodrich said he attributed Carl's good condition to the fact that he underwent a gradual separation rather than a quick "take apart."
"By doing that, I've not put an undue shock or harm into his system," Goodrich said.
Both brothers have been doing so well that there has been no need as of yesterday to take them back to the operating room for any reason, something the doctors said was likely a first for a separation surgery.
The 17-hour surgery, which began Wednesday morning, did hit one unexpected glitch when the team discovered a small area of the boys' brains actually was intertwined, rather than merely abutting. The area, in the posterior parietal lobe, is a part of the brain involved in mathematical functioning, among other things, and is near the section that controls motor skills. The surgical team was able to tease the brains apart after about two hours of discussion on how to proceed.
Goodrich said the boys did not display any neurological deficit — the brothers are moving their arms and legs, know their mother's voice, and Clarence even opened his eyes briefly Friday to give the surgeon what Goodrich described as a "look of death." Goodrich said it was as if Clarence was saying, "What did you do to me?" Beyond saying a few words, Carl and Clarence don't talk but appeared to have their own internal communication, and Goodrich wondered what role their linked brains may have played in that.
"I would love to know what information they were transmitting back and forth," he said.
Goodrich said he expected the boys to remain at Montefiore for two or three weeks and then return to Blythedale Children's Hospital in Valhalla, where they will continue therapy, this time with the goal of walking. The boys and their mother have been staying at Blythedale since arriving in New York last September. The boys also face reconstructive surgery down the road to rebuild their skulls.
Aguirre yesterday described the shock she felt when Staffenberg emerged from the operating room Wednesday night to tell her she now had two separate boys. She said she had to ask her mother to repeat what the doctor told her, just to be sure.
She said as they came out of the operating room in two separate beds, she almost could not tell them apart, and she was amazed afterward to see the boys sharing a room, but not a bed.
On Sunday, Aguirre faced a decision she has never had to make before. As doctors took Carl for the CT scan, she had to choose which son to be with.
"For the first time in many, many, many months, she knows what it's like to be the mother of twins," Staffenberg said.
Aguirre said she now is able to sleep some five hours a night, instead of just the two or three she got in the weeks before the surgery. Although she said she had made many friends in New York, it was a comfort to have her mother, Evelyn, with her. She said she now was waiting for the next milestone — when the brothers see each other for the first time. "For me, it's the most emotional part, for the first time seeing them with one another," she said. "I think they're really wondering, who's this boy — I know him. Oh, he's the one who usually hits my head."
The twins are finally separated and doing well after surgery!
By MELISSA KLEIN
THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: August 10, 2004)
NEW YORK — As her twin sons continued to make unexpectedly swift progress four days after their separation surgery, Arlene Aguirre thanked their medical team yesterday and said she was amazed at the thousands of strangers who have sent messages of support.
Aguirre said she knew from the beginning that the surgery to separate 2-year-old Carl and Clarence, who were joined at the tops of their heads, would be risky and that she could lose one of her boys. But it never stopped her from wanting to go forward.
"My dream's come true," Aguirre said at a morning news conference at Montefiore Medical Center's children's hospital in the Bronx.
Aguirre, a 31-year-old single mother from the Philippines, said she now was looking forward to walking with one boy on each side of her and finally being able to hold Carl and Clarence separately.
"That's one thing that I really want, to hold them one by one," she said.
Doctors were able to remove Clarence's breathing tube yesterday afternoon, and he no longer was under heavy sedation. The hospital said he looked up at his mother for a few minutes and then had "a real good cry." Carl still was sedated, and his breathing tube could come out today.
"Their recovery has been, I think, beyond our best expectations," said Dr. David Staffenberg, the head of pediatric plastic surgery at the children's hospital and co-leader of the surgical team.
The boys have not had seizures or fevers and have shown no sign of infection. Carl had developed some fluid around his brain, an early sign of a potential problem, but Dr. James Goodrich, the head of pediatric neurosurgery at Montefiore and the surgical team's leader, said it may resolve on its own. If not, doctors could put in a shunt, or drain, to direct the fluid into his abdomen.
All along, doctors have been more concerned about Carl's prognosis because, although the larger of the twins, he did not have a fully developed system of veins in his head. Carl was able to gradually develop that system as doctors divided shared blood vessels in the boys' heads in a series of operations begun last year that were a departure from the more traditional approach of separating conjoined twins in one long surgery.
A CT scan done on Carl on Sunday showed no signs of complications, such as strokes.
"All of us were impressed at how well his brain looks," Goodrich said.
Goodrich said he attributed Carl's good condition to the fact that he underwent a gradual separation rather than a quick "take apart."
"By doing that, I've not put an undue shock or harm into his system," Goodrich said.
Both brothers have been doing so well that there has been no need as of yesterday to take them back to the operating room for any reason, something the doctors said was likely a first for a separation surgery.
The 17-hour surgery, which began Wednesday morning, did hit one unexpected glitch when the team discovered a small area of the boys' brains actually was intertwined, rather than merely abutting. The area, in the posterior parietal lobe, is a part of the brain involved in mathematical functioning, among other things, and is near the section that controls motor skills. The surgical team was able to tease the brains apart after about two hours of discussion on how to proceed.
Goodrich said the boys did not display any neurological deficit — the brothers are moving their arms and legs, know their mother's voice, and Clarence even opened his eyes briefly Friday to give the surgeon what Goodrich described as a "look of death." Goodrich said it was as if Clarence was saying, "What did you do to me?" Beyond saying a few words, Carl and Clarence don't talk but appeared to have their own internal communication, and Goodrich wondered what role their linked brains may have played in that.
"I would love to know what information they were transmitting back and forth," he said.
Goodrich said he expected the boys to remain at Montefiore for two or three weeks and then return to Blythedale Children's Hospital in Valhalla, where they will continue therapy, this time with the goal of walking. The boys and their mother have been staying at Blythedale since arriving in New York last September. The boys also face reconstructive surgery down the road to rebuild their skulls.
Aguirre yesterday described the shock she felt when Staffenberg emerged from the operating room Wednesday night to tell her she now had two separate boys. She said she had to ask her mother to repeat what the doctor told her, just to be sure.
She said as they came out of the operating room in two separate beds, she almost could not tell them apart, and she was amazed afterward to see the boys sharing a room, but not a bed.
On Sunday, Aguirre faced a decision she has never had to make before. As doctors took Carl for the CT scan, she had to choose which son to be with.
"For the first time in many, many, many months, she knows what it's like to be the mother of twins," Staffenberg said.
Aguirre said she now is able to sleep some five hours a night, instead of just the two or three she got in the weeks before the surgery. Although she said she had made many friends in New York, it was a comfort to have her mother, Evelyn, with her. She said she now was waiting for the next milestone — when the brothers see each other for the first time. "For me, it's the most emotional part, for the first time seeing them with one another," she said. "I think they're really wondering, who's this boy — I know him. Oh, he's the one who usually hits my head."
The twins are finally separated and doing well after surgery!
They weren't even 30 yet.
