Separated Twins
Recovering Well
Since they were born 27
months ago, Yurelia and
Fiorella Rocha-Arias,
are apart, in opposite
beds Tuesday afternoon,
recovering from the rare
surgery that separated
the once-conjoined
twins.
The two experienced no
complications, but were
in critical condition
after the risky,
nine-hour surgery
overseen by a team of 60
medical professionals at
Lucile Packard
Children's Hospital at
Stanford.
Yurelia will require
additional surgery,
expected to be performed
on Friday to repair
congenital
malformations.
Their parents, Jose Luis
Rocha and Maria
Elizabeth Arias,
declined to talk to
media, saying through a
spokeswoman they would
only do so once they
know their girls are in
the clear.
Lead pediatric surgeon
Dr. Gary Hartman said
the surgery to separate
the two - who were
connected at their
hearts and livers -
"went exactly as we had
planned."
"Barring any
complications, we expect
them to have normal
lives," said Hartman,
adding that there are
still several hurdles,
including another
operation for Aurelia
over the next few days
to correct a heart
problem.
If all goes well, the
girls - the 10th and
11th children of Arias,
a cookhouse cleaner, and
Rocha, a security guard
- will stay at the
hospital for the next
four weeks to recover
from the surgeries.
Their parents would be
asked to stay in the
area for as many as six
weeks after their
release to stay under
observation before they
permanently return to
Costa Rica.
"We can't believe it -
it's gone so well," said
Cris Embleton, executive
director of Mending Kids
International, a Santa
Clarita-based non-profit
paying for the girls'
transportation and
housing.
Embleton has been in
constant contact with
the girls' parents,
having introduced them
to the Lucile Packard
medical team this year
after they had been
turned down by another
hospital.
Hartman - who has done
four similar operations
in his career - felt he
had the right team for
the job and agreed to
take on the separation
of the girls.
The surgeries started at
6:30 a.m. Monday - the
culmination of three
months of planning that
included diagnostic
imagery, CT scan of
their bodies,
implantations of
balloons to stretch
their skin and three
mock surgeries with
models.
The team of specialists
knew based on their
planning exactly where
the girls were linked,
but didn't know how they
functioned until they
were on the operating
table, Hartman said.
The riskiest part of the
surgery wasn't the
initial incision, but
clamping the girls'
hearts where they were
connected and possible
bleeding from the
separation of the liver.
Once the team hurdled
those obstacles with no
problems, Hartman said
he "knew the separation
would go well."
Embleton sat with the
girls' parents
throughout the surgery,
with Arias on edge until
someone came out of the
operating room before
noon to tell her that
her girls were separated
for the first time.
The girls, whose
postures were bent as a
result of their
condition, were then
taken into separate
rooms, where teams of
doctors also worked to
fix the malformations.
Fiorella's surgery -
leaving a scar 20
centimeters long - was
finished, and her
abdomen closed at about
3:30 p.m. Yurelia's
surgery wasn't entirely
completed because she
must still undergo heart
surgery.
Hartman remains
optimistic about their
recoveries but says
there are still
significant obstacles.
Fiorella, for instance,
will likely have ongoing
respiratory problems as
a result of one lung
being bigger than the
other.
The girls remained
heavily sedated late
Tuesday - wrapped in
bandages, hoses and
tubes - as they begin
their separate
recoveries.
"We are very pleased,"
said Dr. Carlos
Esquivel, a lung surgeon
who took part in the
girls' separation. "The
surgery was risky, but
we didn't run into any
problems."
Of the family, Esquivel
said they are: "Calm,
patient and waiting for
what's next." |
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