After 12 hours in surgery, twins Love and Price Zalte of Mumbai were finally resting comfortably in separate beds for the first time in their 15-month-old lives.
Born September 19, 2016, the brothers were conjoined from the lower part of the chest and shared a liver, intestine, bladder, and pelvis. As the Daily Mail reported, a robust team of 20 pediatric and orthopedic surgeons, anesthetists, and other doctors at Bai Jerbai Wadia Hospital in India began operating at 4 a.m. local time on Tuesday and continued for nearly the rest of the day. The boys emerged in “stable” condition.
In order to ensure Love and Price got the proper care and attention, the hospital closed seven of its operating rooms for the day. The hospital’s CEO, Dr. Minnie Bodhanwala, told reporters that the boys’ resilience in the wake of such invasive procedures is remarkable and they will remain in the intensive care unit under close observation for several days.
“At [the] tender age of one year and three months, Love and Prince underwent this complicated surgery… they will be under observation for few days which will be followed by multiple surgeries to ensure they are healthy and fit to survive,” the doctor told the Daily Mail. “The most challenging part of the surgery was to provide skin to cover both the children.”
To compensate for the lack of skin, doctors reportedly used an artificial membrane to cover the children’s abdomens post-surgery.
The twins’ mother, Sheetal Zalte, first learned of her sons’ condition about six months into her pregnancy and, nearly two years later, is thrilled to finally be able to hold her boys.
“It is hard to express in words how happy I will be to hold my children in both my arms,” she said.
(H/T: Daily Mail)