Pretty Amazing...

[Amy]

This stuff just amazes me...

http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/11/06/in ... index.html

[Apoptosis]

I saw that on the news this morning... said the worshiped her because she had eight limbs... HELLO - four were from her dead headless twin... meh

[Amy]

well, I'm pretty sure the Hindu texts probably don't specify exactly what the limbs of the Goddess looked like or how she acquired them...I think it makes perfect sense why they would see her as the reincarnate...

[stev]

Amy,

I sure can see what your mind is on lately. My DW was the same way for the first two children; always looking things up dealing with new births.

Keep your rest, breath easy, drink plenty of fluids and eat very healthy.

Stev

[moon111]

By the sounds of it, her parents are pretty cool. For such poor people, selling her must of been a temptation.

[Amy]

True...there are a lot of parents that sell their daughters into prostitution and such...

I think it's incredible that the hospital is footing the $200,000 bill!!

[ibleet]

By the sounds of it, her parents are pretty cool. For such poor people, selling her must of been a temptation.

I don't care how poor you are...it's barbaric to even consider selling your own child! Her parents aren't cool, they are just decent human beings, doing what any decent human being would do. If selling your own child is even a temptation, then I feel sorry for that child.

I know there are people that place the value of money over human life, but at some point, those people are in for a rude awakening!

/rant off

[stev]

Some time in the future, it would be nice to see how the little girl made out from all of this.

[Amy]

I hope the hospital is paying for the rehab and future complications and not just the surgery...

[Apoptosis]

so did the surgery already happen?

[Amy]

When I posted the original article, she had already been in surgery for a while -- they had separated the spinal cords at that point.

An Indian toddler born with four arms and four legs was recovering in the intensive care unit early Wednesday after surgeons in India successfully completed a mammoth 27-hour operation to remove her "parasitic twin," head surgeon Dr. Sharan Patil said.

Speaking to reporters, Patil said although 2-year-old Lakshmi Tatma is being monitored closely after a team of some 30 surgeons removed her four additional limbs, she is "stable and sound."

The operation was conducted by specialists in pediatrics, neurosurgery, orthopedics and plastic surgery. Without it, doctors say, Lakshmi would be unlikely to survive beyond early adolescence.

"Every step of it was successful," Patil said of the operation. "There was no set back what so ever. The team worked through the night relentlessly."

Later in the day the girl's parents are slated to visit her, he said. Her parents have been given regular updates but were not allowed to see their daughter during the operation.

...

"We are quite optimistic," Patil told CNN earlier. "We do expect that she should be able to walk normally and lead a normal life."

CNN

[Amy]

FoxNews had a bit more to say:

The girl, Lakshmi, was being kept sedated in the intensive care unit at a hospital in the southern Indian city of Bangalore during what doctors said was a critical 72-hour period following the operation.

"Lakshmi has moved her toes and hands for the first time and opened her eyes briefly," Dr. Sharan Patil, the head surgeon, told reporters.

"She is progressing in the right direction," he said.

Patil said doctors were slowly reducing the amount of sedatives, but she was still breathing on a respirator.

Doctors were still cautious, however.

"She is a 2-year-old girl who has undergone massive surgery, we have to watch and wait," said Dr. Mamatha Patil, a Sparsh Hospital spokeswoman.

Lakshmi, who has been revered by some in her village as a reincarnation of the four-armed Hindu goddess she was named for, was born joined at the pelvis to a "parasitic twin" that stopped developing in her mother's womb. The surviving fetus absorbed the limbs, kidneys and other body parts of the undeveloped fetus.

On Wednesday, a team of more than 30 surgeons conducted the operation _ which lasted more than 24 hours _ removing the extra limbs, transplanting a kidney from the twin and reconstructing her pelvic area in the hope she would be able to lead a normal life.

Lakshmi will need further treatments and possible surgery for clubbed feet before she will be able to walk, Sharan Patil said.

...

[stev]

I would agree that this was massive surgery for this little girl. Just the transplanting a kidney from the undeveloped twin can be hard enough.

[Apoptosis]

A 2-year-old Indian girl born with four arms and four legs regained consciousness Friday, wiggled her toes and smiled at her parents, 48 hours after massive surgery removed the extra limbs, doctors said. On Wednesday, a team of more than 30 surgeons concluded the 24-hour operation, removing the extra limbs, transplanting a kidney from the twin and reconstructing Lakshmi’s pelvic area.

Okay now that is amazing... http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21706402/

[slugbug]

She might have grown up to be an amazing soccer player. I hope after all the surgery she can grow up to have a normal life.

[Amy]

When I watched the video of her on CNN before surgery, it didn't appear that she had any control of the extra limbs. She wasn't able to walk because the torso/limbs were in the way of her legs -- that's why her legs were at odd angles. I doubt she would have been a soccer player in that state -- especially since the doctors were predicting such a short life expectancy the way she was...maybe NOW she can be a soccer player (assuming her culture allows that in the next 15 years?)

[Illuminati]

CNN has a follow-up article saying the little girl is 'doing very well'... here's the link:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/11/13/in ... index.html

[stev]

That's a good report!

"...Several of her doctors, all of them smiling, described her recovery over the past week "very steady and good progress," one saying she is "out of the woods" as far as serious medical issues are concerned. ..."