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American Morning

Separated Twins

Aired October 20, 2003 - 09:17   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: Once conjoined, now separated, the 2-year-old Egyptian twins continue to make progress a week after their marathon surgery.
Joining us this morning from Dallas with an update on the boys' condition is Dr. James Thomas. He is the critical care director at Children's Medical Center.

Thanks for joining us Dr. Thomas. It's nice to see you.

DR. JAMES THOMAS, CHILDREN'S MEDICAL CENTER: Good to see you.

O'BRIEN: Thank you very much.

Let's continue with the progress that the boys have been making. I know it seems that Ahmed has been maybe responding a little more slowly, maybe struggling a little bit more. Can you tell me how he is doing today?

THOMAS: He's doing well. He's not really struggling. He's just following his own recovery pace. It's been a bit slower than Mohammed. But they're doing -- they've both done well.

O'BRIEN: Tell me how Mohammed is doing. Where is he right now as far as his recovery is concerned?

THOMAS: Well, Mohammed came off the mechanical ventilator yesterday, and has had a pretty good night. And we're going to probably try and restart feeding on him today.

O'BRIEN: There were some reports that Ahmed maybe was having seizures. Were those accurate? Is that the case? And have you been able to control those?

THOMAS: He's had a total of three seizures so far, And it -- they're relatively easily controlled. And we're in the process of trying to determine whether it's due to the postoperative course or if it has to do with the encephaly (ph) that both boys have.

O'BRIEN: I heard that the boys have been responding to voices and to touch. Can you elaborate on those things for us?

THOMAS: Well, they clearly are able to hear the voices of the nurses that have been caring for them, the Egyptian nurses that speak Arabic, and Mohammed in particular is actually responding to commands. He can grasp a ball with his left hand and release it when he's asked to. O'BRIEN: So give me a sense of how impressed you are by that progress when you see it. Or do you feel like this is sort of a standard, what you expect, or are you sort of impressed by how well they're doing?

THOMAS: Well, I mean, you know, we're used to seeing progress, and in the ICU, but when we take a couple steps back and think where these boys started and where they are now, it's really quite remarkable.

O'BRIEN: The last couple of days you've been talking a lot about infection. Are you still primarily concerned with that?

THOMAS: Very much. It's a risk as long as they're in the ICU, as long as they have IV lines in place, and drains in place, that's -- it's something we worry about constantly.

O'BRIEN: And let's talk a little bit about, before I let you go, about the prognosis for the boys. Obviously, as we've seen from the videotape, with their heads fused together, they've never walked independently or crawled independently or sat up independently. Will they be able to do those things, do you predict, soon?

THOMAS: You know, it's really hard to predict that. They're going to need a lot of therapy and rehabilitation following their surgery. And if all goes well, they may be able to do that. But we can't predict that. That requires a crystal ball.

O'BRIEN: No crystal ball. But we're certainly all crossing our fingers for you, which I'm sure helps a little bit, we hope.

THOMAS: It certainly does.

O'BRIEN: Dr. James Thomas, it's nice to have you. Thanks again, and best of luck not only to your team, of course but to the boys and their family members who are here in the United States. We certainly appreciate your time.

THOMAS: Thank you.

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 20, 2003 - 09:17   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Once conjoined, now separated, the 2-year-old Egyptian twins continue to make progress a week after their marathon surgery.
Joining us this morning from Dallas with an update on the boys' condition is Dr. James Thomas. He is the critical care director at Children's Medical Center.

Thanks for joining us Dr. Thomas. It's nice to see you.

DR. JAMES THOMAS, CHILDREN'S MEDICAL CENTER: Good to see you.

O'BRIEN: Thank you very much.

Let's continue with the progress that the boys have been making. I know it seems that Ahmed has been maybe responding a little more slowly, maybe struggling a little bit more. Can you tell me how he is doing today?

THOMAS: He's doing well. He's not really struggling. He's just following his own recovery pace. It's been a bit slower than Mohammed. But they're doing -- they've both done well.

O'BRIEN: Tell me how Mohammed is doing. Where is he right now as far as his recovery is concerned?

THOMAS: Well, Mohammed came off the mechanical ventilator yesterday, and has had a pretty good night. And we're going to probably try and restart feeding on him today.

O'BRIEN: There were some reports that Ahmed maybe was having seizures. Were those accurate? Is that the case? And have you been able to control those?

THOMAS: He's had a total of three seizures so far, And it -- they're relatively easily controlled. And we're in the process of trying to determine whether it's due to the postoperative course or if it has to do with the encephaly (ph) that both boys have.

O'BRIEN: I heard that the boys have been responding to voices and to touch. Can you elaborate on those things for us?

THOMAS: Well, they clearly are able to hear the voices of the nurses that have been caring for them, the Egyptian nurses that speak Arabic, and Mohammed in particular is actually responding to commands. He can grasp a ball with his left hand and release it when he's asked to. O'BRIEN: So give me a sense of how impressed you are by that progress when you see it. Or do you feel like this is sort of a standard, what you expect, or are you sort of impressed by how well they're doing?

THOMAS: Well, I mean, you know, we're used to seeing progress, and in the ICU, but when we take a couple steps back and think where these boys started and where they are now, it's really quite remarkable.

O'BRIEN: The last couple of days you've been talking a lot about infection. Are you still primarily concerned with that?

THOMAS: Very much. It's a risk as long as they're in the ICU, as long as they have IV lines in place, and drains in place, that's -- it's something we worry about constantly.

O'BRIEN: And let's talk a little bit about, before I let you go, about the prognosis for the boys. Obviously, as we've seen from the videotape, with their heads fused together, they've never walked independently or crawled independently or sat up independently. Will they be able to do those things, do you predict, soon?

THOMAS: You know, it's really hard to predict that. They're going to need a lot of therapy and rehabilitation following their surgery. And if all goes well, they may be able to do that. But we can't predict that. That requires a crystal ball.

O'BRIEN: No crystal ball. But we're certainly all crossing our fingers for you, which I'm sure helps a little bit, we hope.

THOMAS: It certainly does.

O'BRIEN: Dr. James Thomas, it's nice to have you. Thanks again, and best of luck not only to your team, of course but to the boys and their family members who are here in the United States. We certainly appreciate your time.

THOMAS: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com