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CNN Live Event/Special

Update on Condition of Separated Twins

Aired August 07, 2002 - 16:15   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.
JOHN KING, GUEST HOST, "INSIDE POLITICS": We want to take you live now to the University of California Los Angeles Medical Center in Los Angeles, an update on those two twins conjoined until surgery yesterday.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I-C-I-A-A-L-V-A-R-E-V. As I said, it's been a very difficult time for them. They very much appreciate everything that's going on here and they've -- are happy to come down here but the questioning will be very brief with them. I think you'll understand.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And they have nieces with them and then afterwards, we'll turn it over to our pediatric doctor and our nurse.

QUESTION: How are you feeling now that your daughters have been taken such good care of?

THROUGH TRANSLATOR: They thank you for the questions. They said that they give thanks to God that the children are doing well.

QUESTION: Is there thoughts about the future at this point?

WENCESLAO QUIEJ LOPEZ, FATHER (through translator): He feels that the future looks very bright now that the children are separated.

TRANSLATOR: The press had asked if they had seen their children. And they said that yes, they had. And how did he see them? He says that they looked very different now that they are separated.

QUESTION: How have you spent the last days?

QUESTION: Does Guatemala know how the girls are doing?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One question at a time. We're going to translate now.

LOPEZ (through translator): He said that he was just very happy that the children were separated. He again thanked God that the children were doing well. And they're just very happy these last couple of days.

QUESTION: How do your girls look to you? LOPEZ (through translator): He can't - he says they obviously look very different and he has trouble recognizing their features, because they still do have several bandages on their head. It kind of covered their face.

QUESTTION: How's this, back in your home country, how is this being treated media-wise and (UNINTELLIGIBLE) you got a lot of calls and things from people back home?

LOPEZ (through translator): He knows that the press is very involved in disbursing information in Guatemala and he hopes that they're well informed, because obviously we are here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One last question.

QUESTION: Have they opened their eyes?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll talk about whether or not they are awake.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I said, what was your reaction when you saw the girls separated for the first time?

LOPEZ (through translator): Again, he is very happy that his children are separated, because it was very difficult to take care of them when they were attached. So he is just happy that they made it through the surgery and that everything is going well so far.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's it. Thank you very much. As the days progress, if mom and dad are willing to come down, we'll try to bring them down again to see you folks. But I think we have to understand the amount of stress that they are under.

We're going to introduce two other members of the team here. You've met the surgical team. This is the team from the pediatric intensive care unit. Berta (ph), who was doing the translating. Costa (ph) is actually working with the children as a nurse. And Andy (UNINTELLIGIBLE)

DR. ANDY MEDIKIANS, PEDIATRIC PHYSICIAN, UCLA: That was good enough.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... Medikians is the pediatric intensive care physician who is responsible for the children on a minute to minute basis. And these two folks can best answer your questions about how things are going up there.

QUESTION: Have the girls opened their eyes?

MEDIKIANS: Not yet. We have them heavily sedated and we are using some muscle relaxant so they don't move much. So at this point, they haven't opened up their eyes yet.

QUESTION: Are they still in critical condition?

MEDIKIANS: Yeah, they're still in critical condition, but everything seems to be going well. They're pretty stable as far as their vital signs and stuff like that are concerned.

QUESTION: When will they be out of danger?

MEDIKIANS: Well, it depends on what you mean by danger. But as far as how they're recovering from surgery, they are doing pretty good recovering from surgery. After such an extensive surgery, it takes, first 48 hours or so, will be more critical than as time goes on, things become, you know, a little bit more stable. But for now, things are OK.

QUESTIONS: ... open their eyes and respond to you?

MEDIKIANS: Well, what our plan, as things have been progressing, is that we will stop the paralytic agent so they can start moving around. We'll still keep them heavily sedated for now, as far as managing their pain and their ventilator issues are concerned. So hopefully maybe as, you know, we lighten up on the sedation a little bit, they'll start opening up their eyes.

QUESTION: Are they -- are still on the vent?

MEDIKIANS: They're still on the ventilator, yeah.

KING: We've been listening here to a medical update from the UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles on the remarkable surgery performed yesterday on two one-year-old twins from Guatemala joined at the head since their birth, separated now. The father of the children saying he believes the future is bright. The doctors saying right now the two girls are stable, still in intensive care, still critical condition. We would like to bring in our Dr. Sanjay Gupta joining us in Atlanta.

Doctor, you're a neurosurgeon. You listened to the medical prognosis there. What is your assessment and what are the danger signs looking ahead over the next day or so?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, John, no question, everyone's very optimistic. Heard from the parents as well, optimistic as well as the doctors.

It's not surprising that they're still under heavy sedation, both twins after that many hours of operating, muscle relaxants, pain killers. All those things can sometimes make it very difficult for the babies to breathe on their own and that's why they're still on the ventilator. John, they mentioned they hadn't opened their eyes yet. That also is not surprising because of pain medications and also just because of the swelling.

John, looking at some of those pictures you get a sense of just how swollen, how much larger their heads are from all the fluids and all the operating that's been done on their heads. It may take some time before their eyes open. They keep listing the babies as critical but stable. That's more than just a term. While their vital signs are stable, they are in critical condition, meaning that they could change really at a moment's notice, which is why they're in the intensive care unit, which is why they are on ventilator and which is why they have so many people looking after them, John. KING: And Doctor, quickly from a neurological standpoint, how many days do you need to know whether there's normal activity, whether they can recover, not only just recover but lead a healthy life?

GUPTA: Right, so the first few days I think still the critical condition making sure they don't have any life threatening things happen to them.

Probably within a week or two before you know whether there was any brain damage, so to speak. You'd look for weakness on one side of the body or the other, difficulty with speech, difficulty with movement of the face, things like that. Again, John, looking at everything that we've been hearing from the neurosurgeons that operated, it doesn't sound like any of those things would happen.

And I should add as well that being one year old, whatever damage to the brain that did occur because of the operation, they may be able to repair as the brain is still pretty elastic.

KING: All right, Dr. Sanjay Gupta joining us from Atlanta. Thank you for your insights. A remarkable story. We will continue to follow in the days and weeks ahead.

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