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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Doctors upgraded the condition of separated conjoined twins Kendra and Maliyah Herrin from critical to serious but stable Sunday afternoon.
The 4-year-old girls born fused at the mid-torso were separated in a 26-hour surgery that ended Aug. 8 at Primary Children's Medical Center. They were removed from ventilators helping them breathe on Saturday.
Doctors waited to upgrade the twins' condition until the girls spent 24 hours breathing on their own, hospital spokeswoman Laura Winder said.
"They've made it 24 hours now, so the odds that they'd need to go back on ventilators is less," she said. "So far they are doing great."
The girls remain on heavy pain medication in the hospital's pediatric intensive care unit. Winder said they have opened their eyes, but it's unclear how aware they are about what's going on around them.
But she said she saw the girls Sunday morning and they "looked beautiful." Following their surgery, nurses twisted the twin's sandy blonde hair into french braids, tying them in purple and yellow ribbons -- their favorite colors.
Before the surgery, the North Salt Lake girls shared not only a torso, but a liver, kidney, bladders, a single pelvis and two legs, one controlled by each girl.
A team of six surgeons separated their bodies, liver and bladder, and reconstructed their divided pelvis. Each girl kept one leg and Kendra kept the kidney, which was in her body.
Maliyah is on kidney dialysis and is expected to undergo transplant surgery in three to six months. Her mother, Erin Herrin, is the planned donor.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
