Twins leave intensive care unit
Exactly three weeks after a team of surgeons made the first cuts that would divide the girls, who were born joined at mid-torso, they're neighbors — but still best friends, their father said.
"Their spirits are very high," dad Jake Herrin said during a media briefing outside the hospital Monday afternoon. "They're happy as can be."
In fact, the playful girls, 4, passed part of the morning squirting dad, the ICU nurses and each other with water-filled syringes.
Herrin said the most surprising thing about the post-surgical journey — which he described as "emotional," "spiritual" and miraculous" — has been the lack of surprises. "Thinking back, it seemed like getting to this point would be forever." Instead, he said, it has gone fast. "I thought there would be bigger bumps in the road."
The bumps he referred to include problems Maliyah had with some of her medication, forcing doctors to make adjustments, and the need to replace her dialysis catheter and take her back into surgery once to clean her wounds, which are now healing nicely. She was quiet and not feeling well for much of her stay in intensive care, while Kendra was feeling better and was playful much sooner.
They haven't been able to hold Kendra yet because her wounds are still too delicate. When the surgery was completed Aug. 8, lead surgeon Dr. Rebecka Meyers said they'd been worried they would not have enough skin to close Kendra's wounds. They had to stretch it tight, she said at the time.
Each girl still has a feeding tube and a device called a "wound vac" that basically sucks up the old skin cells and fluids to promote healing. Maliyah is also on dialysis every other day because the kidney they shared is Kendra's and she lost access to it when they were separated.
The move brings the girls back to the part of the hospital where they lived in the weeks leading up to the marathon operation. They became in-patients when doctors implanted 17 balloons that were filled weekly with small amounts of saline to stretch their skin. Maliyah's new room is the room they shared then, while Kendra is next door. Jake Herrin said he thought the girls would be happy to see their old nurses and be in that familiar area, with fewer machines attached to monitor them, and more freedom to move a bit.
Best of all, the move means the girls can see their baby brothers, 14-month-old twins Justin and Austin, who were too young to visit in intensive care. Sister Courtney, 6, has been a regular visitor since the surgery, but now they'll all be able to play more. Some of their young playmates may be able to visit soon, as well. And the hospital staff has created a play area just for them.
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