The head of the charity that brought conjoined twins Krishna and Trishna to Melbourne for surgery has described the sight of the girls in separate beds as "beautiful".
"To see them in two little cots - I can't tell you what it looks like!" Margaret Smith, chief executive of the Children First Foundation, told Radio 3AW, an Australian radio station on Wednesday morning.
"After seeing them in a V-shape as we're used to seeing them and now they're not, they're separate... These two little long bodies in the bed, it's just magnificent."
Smith said the Bangladeshi girls were in a serious condition but were "as good as can be expected".
"We've just got to take heart from that to be patient, at least for another 48 hours anyway to see where they are at."
Smith said the girls' beds were placed near each other to help minimise the shock of separation when they awoke, but because of the equipment needed for both children the beds are not adjacent.
"In that sense they're fairly close but not right next door to one another," she said.
Smith said there have been positive signs since the operation was finished.
She said Krishna had not been using her kidneys for some time. Her sister's body had been doing the work for both of them. But soon after the operation Krishna began producing urine.
"Krishna's brain has kicked in and she is now urinating for herself, and that is really wonderful, wonderful news that there is no need for dialysis," she said.
Staff at the hospital gave freely of their time to plan and carry out the complicated surgery, the hospital's head of surgery said on Wednesday.
Leo Donnan, the hospital's head of surgery, said a lot of the preparation for the marathon operation had ''been done in their own time''.
''That's been given freely and not only from our own staff but from colleagues around the world we've asked advice from.''
Donnan said there were costs involved in delicate and time-consuming surgery of this kind, but he said the hospital was able to do it in a ''very programmatic way and a very sensible way''.
On the current condition of the girls, he said they were ''remarkably good''.
''They're obviously in an intensive care environment and heavily sedated, but from a point of view of how they are coping with it they've done very well overnight,'' he said.
Donnan said hospital staff were monitoring the adjustments being made by the three-year-olds' bodies.
''With their blood pressures, with the way their kidneys work, the way their stomachs and their whole bodies work - we're really (monitoring) how that recalibrates.''
He said there was a wide variety of medications and support being provided by the medical staff which would be withdrawn gradually as the girls learn to function independently.
While there was a feeling of relief at the hospital, Donnan said there was also pride at the way everyone has worked.
''There's a feeling around the hospital of immense pride at how the team has worked and how well it went.''
Donnan confirmed staff had applauded surgeons at the completion of the surgery on Tuesday. He also acknowledged the case had garnered international interest.
Danielle Noble, the volunteer aid worker who first brought the two little girls to the attention of the Children First Foundation, said she found news of the separation "surreal".
"Yesterday when I saw the headlines flash up on the news - Twins Separated - I don't think I have really been able to process the information," Noble told 3AW.
"Until I see the two little bodies on two little beds it's all going to seem a little bit beyond belief."
Source: bdnews24.com
