Formerly conjoined twins doing well
One year after a neurosurgeon separated them by cutting through a section of brain, Carl Aguirre says Wow! as he whizzes a toy truck off the tray of his high chair and his brother Clarence holds his nose to let his mother know his diaper is dirty.
After starting their life over, the formerly conjoined 3-year-old Filipino boys have been amazingly free of significant complications, doctors say. Clarence is about to take his first steps and therapists say Carl will soon follow.
When they emerged from the OR as separate boys, it was almost as if that was their second birth, said Dr. Robert Marion, the boys pediatrician. Their motor skills are what youd expect of a 1-year-old. Theyre starting to walk. Theyre playing appropriately in the way that a 1-year-old would. Their speech, also, is like that of a 1-year-old.
Until last Aug. 4, when they underwent the fourth in a series of major operations at the Childrens Hospital at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, Carl and Clarence had been unable to sit up, stand straight or see each others face. Joined at the top of their heads, they were limited to lying on their backs, which stunted their development and subjected them to chronic pneumonia caused by inhaling food.
They were going to die, Marion said. And now seeing them with unlimited potential, its the most gratifying experience Ive ever had in medicine.
The boys and their mother, Arlene, came to New York in 2003, when Montefiore agreed to take the boys case for free it has cost more than $3 million so far and the Blythedale Childrens Hospital in Valhalla agreed to donate housing and therapy.
The Childrens Hospital team of neurosurgeon Dr. James Goodrich and plastic surgeon Dr. David Staffenberg separated the boys in a gradual staged approach, pushing apart their brains and dividing the blood vessels in four operations from October 2003 to August 2004. In between, the boys were given time to heal. It was a departure from the more common single marathon operation.
During the final operation, the surgeons found that the boys brains, which scans had indicated were abutting but separate, were actually shared and seamless at one point. Dreading whatever complications he might cause, Goodrich studied and consulted and finally found a place to cut where veins seemed to go in opposite directions.
I am not a religious person, Goodrich said last week. But I do think there was something guiding us along there.
Marion said Carl suffered some seizures in the month after the separation, but Goodrich said his principal fears neurological problems and liquid on the brain did not develop.
During a reporters recent visit to Blythedale, Clarence walked proudly, holding onto a therapist with one hand and pushing his stroller with the other. He was so energetic that at one point he stepped out of his pants and staffers had to find him a belt.
Meanwhile, Carl stood, a bit unsteadily, to play a bead game on a table.
Later, the boys laughed as they tumbled down a padded slide together. Though their skulls have not yet been reconstructed doctors dont want to interrupt their therapy and specially designed plastic helmets havent fit well, the doctors say the boys heads are protected well enough by their bandages even for horseplay.
Arlene Aguirre tried to hide while she watched her sons therapy session, because when they see her the boys want to do nothing but cuddle.
Both of them want my attention all the time, she said. But its very exciting that I have to deal with two children. ... Before the separation, I was thinking: Will I ever see them again?
She said she is encouraged when she hears Clarence say yogurt and call his brother by name. Carl says walk and mama and both boys use sign language to convey such phrases as please more eat.
Aguirre said she expects to move from Blythedale soon and set up a household with the boys, and hopes to eventually return to the Philippines.
My friends and family, I want to share the boys with them, she said. It will be so exciting to go back there, holding one boy with each hand.
The success of the operation has brought honors for Goodrich and Staffenberg, although Goodrich says the best prize hes received is a Montefiore parking space. They are constantly invited to speak or write about the procedure, which has been published in journals for neurosurgery, plastic surgery and anesthesia.
He said he initially tried to keep an emotional distance from the boys, but confessed you cant go through something like we did and not get attached. You cant be around them and not love them.
Staffenberg said he recently came up behind Clarence, who was walking down a hallway while holding a therapists hand.
Clarence turned around and looked at me and put his other hand out for me, Staffenberg said. I dont think at any point during all the surgery I would have imagined that kind of situation. When you get the moment when they reach out for your hand, its unbelievable.
2015年6月四级翻译备考专项练习:银行和邮局的工作
2015四级翻译专项练习汇总
2015年6月英语六级翻译题型策略指点
2012年英语六级考试翻译冲刺专项训练(1)
2012年12月英语六级考试翻译练习(1)
2015年6月英语四级翻译备考专项练习:改革开放
2012年英语四六级翻译提高必备短语总结
2015年6月英语四级翻译习题及参考译文:茶文化
2012年12月英语六级翻译练习与解析(2)
2012年6月英语六级考试翻译试题
2015年6月英语四级翻译练习及解析:京剧
2015年6月四级翻译备考专项练习汇总
2015年6月英语四级考试翻译预测题及译文:家庭暴力
四级翻译最新预测(下)
2011年12月英语六级考试翻译答案
2015年英语四级非谓语动词翻译练习
2012年12月英语六级翻译练习与解析(3)
2015年6月英语四级翻译预测题及译文:毛笔
2015年6月英语四级翻译习题及参考译文:光棍节
2015年英语四级虚拟语气翻译练习
分享2012年6月英语六级翻译答案
2012年12月英语六级考试翻译练习(2)
2015年英语四级分词翻译练习
2015年6月英语四级翻译练习及解析:教育公平
四级翻译题最新预测(上)
2015年英语四级名词从句翻译练习
2015年英语四级不定式翻译练习
2015年6月英语四级翻译习题及参考译文汇总
2012年12月英语六级翻译练习与解析
2015年6月英语四级考试翻译预测题及译文:毕业后结婚
不限 |
英语教案 |
英语课件 |
英语试题 |
不限 |
不限 |
上册 |
下册 |
不限 |