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American Morning
Doctors in Dallas Keeping Watch Over 2-Year-Old Boys
Aired October 14, 2003 - 08:23 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Doctors in Dallas are keeping an hour to hour watch over the 2-year-old boys who were separated by surgery over the weekend. Ahmed and Mohamed Ibrahim are in separate rooms, spending just the second night of their lives apart last night.
Ed Lavandera is live for us in Dallas this morning.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
The latest on the two boys is that they are still in critical, but stable condition. The latest brain scan tests also show that there has been no hemorrhaging and minimal brain swelling, all good signs. But this is still a very delicate situation and doctors say it's way too early to rest on their laurels.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAVANDERA (voice-over): Mohamed and Ahmed Ibrahim are resting in separate rooms. They've never been this far apart. After their 34 hour separation surgery, doctors say so far so good.
DR. JAMES THOMAS, CHILDREN'S MEDICAL CENTER: Both boys appear to be in truly remarkable condition considering the ordeal that they had just come through.
LAVANDERA: Both boys will remain in a medically induced coma for another three days. Doctors are worried about infection and brain swelling, as the wounds on their heads begin to heal. Months before the surgery, a balloon like instrument was put in the head of the boys to expand their skin. That skin was used to cover the wound after the separation. Doctors say there was enough skin to cover all of Ahmed's wounds but Mohamed will need some future skin grafting to cover the area around his temples.
Despite the initial excitement that both boys survived the surgery, doctors say it's still too leery to predict what will happen to them in the future.
THOMAS: It's really an hour to hour, almost moment to moment situation right now. We -- I think it's really impossible to prognosticate about the future.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAVANDERA: As you might imagine, these two boys are very popular at Children's Medical Center. They're being held at the -- in the intensive care unit right now, where they're only allowed two visitors at any time. So their parents have been spending a lot of time with them, as you might imagine. There are also two nurses that came with the family from Egypt and they also have been getting a lot of time with the boys, we understand -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Ed, a quick question for you. About this drug induced coma the boys will be in for a couple of days, give me a little more information on that. How long will they be in there and how will they bring them out?
LAVANDERA: Well, it's medication that's given to them, barbiturates, to kind of put them in this coma state. And they say that this is the best way for them to control the vital signs of these boys, to reduce the swelling of the brain and possible stroke, many things that they're worried about at this point because it is such a delicate situation. In the next couple of days, they will start weaning them off of those -- off of that medication to bring them back to consciousness. And at that point we might imagine it would be another major test for these boys just to see how they handle the situation they're in. It's still very delicate.
O'BRIEN: Delicate, and, of course, we're all rooting for them.
Ed Lavandera for us in Dallas this morning.
Ed, thanks.
LAVANDERA: You bet.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired October 14, 2003 - 08:23 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Doctors in Dallas are keeping an hour to hour watch over the 2-year-old boys who were separated by surgery over the weekend. Ahmed and Mohamed Ibrahim are in separate rooms, spending just the second night of their lives apart last night.
Ed Lavandera is live for us in Dallas this morning.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
The latest on the two boys is that they are still in critical, but stable condition. The latest brain scan tests also show that there has been no hemorrhaging and minimal brain swelling, all good signs. But this is still a very delicate situation and doctors say it's way too early to rest on their laurels.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAVANDERA (voice-over): Mohamed and Ahmed Ibrahim are resting in separate rooms. They've never been this far apart. After their 34 hour separation surgery, doctors say so far so good.
DR. JAMES THOMAS, CHILDREN'S MEDICAL CENTER: Both boys appear to be in truly remarkable condition considering the ordeal that they had just come through.
LAVANDERA: Both boys will remain in a medically induced coma for another three days. Doctors are worried about infection and brain swelling, as the wounds on their heads begin to heal. Months before the surgery, a balloon like instrument was put in the head of the boys to expand their skin. That skin was used to cover the wound after the separation. Doctors say there was enough skin to cover all of Ahmed's wounds but Mohamed will need some future skin grafting to cover the area around his temples.
Despite the initial excitement that both boys survived the surgery, doctors say it's still too leery to predict what will happen to them in the future.
THOMAS: It's really an hour to hour, almost moment to moment situation right now. We -- I think it's really impossible to prognosticate about the future.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAVANDERA: As you might imagine, these two boys are very popular at Children's Medical Center. They're being held at the -- in the intensive care unit right now, where they're only allowed two visitors at any time. So their parents have been spending a lot of time with them, as you might imagine. There are also two nurses that came with the family from Egypt and they also have been getting a lot of time with the boys, we understand -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Ed, a quick question for you. About this drug induced coma the boys will be in for a couple of days, give me a little more information on that. How long will they be in there and how will they bring them out?
LAVANDERA: Well, it's medication that's given to them, barbiturates, to kind of put them in this coma state. And they say that this is the best way for them to control the vital signs of these boys, to reduce the swelling of the brain and possible stroke, many things that they're worried about at this point because it is such a delicate situation. In the next couple of days, they will start weaning them off of those -- off of that medication to bring them back to consciousness. And at that point we might imagine it would be another major test for these boys just to see how they handle the situation they're in. It's still very delicate.
O'BRIEN: Delicate, and, of course, we're all rooting for them.
Ed Lavandera for us in Dallas this morning.
Ed, thanks.
LAVANDERA: You bet.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
