Having battled the impossible, Jaga and Kalia, the once conjoined twins from Odisha’s Kandhamal, will for the first time usher in a New Year separately, albeit from a hospital ward.
It’s been two months and five days since the twins, who were joined at the head, underwent a marathon 21-hour-long separation surgery after which their lives hung in the balance for almost a month.
Taken off ventilator
While Jaga kept making steady progress, Kalia’s road to recovery has been a bumpy one with his condition deteriorating on quite a few occasions to the extent that his survival seemed uncertain.
But the steely determination of the doctors and the unflinching faith of the parents bore results and Kalia has been off ventilator now for the last three weeks.
Dr. Randeep Guleria, Director of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi where the surgery was carried out, said Kalia is also showing improvement now.
“He is being fed via ryles tube and is also taking in liquids orally in small amounts. He often smiles at parents and probably understands things too,” Dr. Guleria said.
Battling death
While the children battled death and eventually conquered it, life has been almost as challenging for their parents, who turned near permanent residents at AIIMS since July 14 so as not to miss any opportunity to be with their recuperating sons.
“Jaga and Kalia are the two halves of my heart. If either of them breaks, my heart would be shattered,” said Pushpanjali Kanhar, mother of the two-years-eight-month old twins. “It is my faith that they will soon be fine and we all shall return to our village Milipada in Odisha,” she said.
The first phase of the surgery was performed on August 28 when the doctors created a venous bypass to separate the veins shared by the babies that return blood to the heart from the brain.
The final separation of the duo was performed by a team of around 30 specialists from the institute’s neurosurgery, neuro-anaesthesia and plastic surgery departments on October 25.
