Melbourne: One of the formerly conjoined Bangladeshi twins, Trishna on Thursday was awake and looks fantastic after 31-hour long marathon surgery and was cuddled by her Australian guardian.
According to Royal Children's Hospital's director of neurosurgery, Wirginia Maixner, "Trishna is awake and she looks absolutely fantastic, I’m really, really pleased."
Maixner, who led the operation said that the other girl "Krishna is still asleep but that's deliberate, we've kept her that way and we plan to wake her up today but she’s very stable and she looks really good."
Maixner said Trishna’s condition was so good she could be moved out of intensive care but the hospital staff wanted to keep the girls together, the Age reported today.
"I am very, very positive - Trishna, I think, will sail through," she said.
Krishna still has a few little things ahead of her because ...the more serious part of the surgery was done to her and she’s the one who really had to cope with the change in circulation a lot more than Trishna did, so we’ve deliberately kept Krishna asleep for a little bit longer but I'm really positive she’ll come through it fine."
Trishna was being cuddled by her guardian, Moira Kelly of Children First Foundation. Maixner said Kelly had told Trishna that her sister was sleeping and staff would start addressing the girls’ separation with them once both were awake. She said brain scans taken yesterday to assess the surgery had been positive and allowed her to begin to relax but she would not be completely comfortable until Krishna was awake, which should be later today.
"We can do all the scans in the world and we can get a feel for what it’s like but until you see their personalities shine through it's delightful to see them come back," she
said.
Experts at the Royal Children's Hospital took a series of brain scans yesterday to assess the success of the surgery. The twins spent yesterday in a stable condition in intensive care at the hospital, kept unconscious as they recovered from 31-hour surgery to divide their heads. There were no early signs of brain damage, though it is still the major fear of doctors and carers.
Yesterday's MRI scans will not directly indicate brain activity, but they will reveal the state of the reconstructed blood vessels in the twins' heads, and pinpoint any potential problems such as swelling or bleeding.
Bureau Report
First Published: Thursday, November 19, 2009, 11:04