Twins Clear for Trip Home

Twins girls who arrived in Los Angeles six months ago with their skulls fused at the top have been cleared by doctors to return to Guatemala.

However, the sisters, Maria Teresa and Maria de Jesus Quiej Alvarez, will end their journey much differently than they began it: as independent youngsters.

Not only did doctors at UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital succeed in separating the conjoined twins, but the girls have shown signs in recent weeks that they are coming into their own.

Doctors say Maria Teresa, who has struggled the most since the surgery and was recently fitted with a hearing aid, now turns her head, follows people with her eyes and even cries.

“There’s a lot more emotion,” said Dr. Henry Kawamoto Jr., the lead plastic surgeon for the medical team.

The pediatric neurosurgeon who coordinated the separation, Dr. Jorge Lazareff, said, “Before, we had Maria de Jesus and her sister. Now we have two individuals, Maria de Jesus and Maria Teresa.”

A feeding tube has helped Maria Teresa gain weight.

“She’s a little butterball right now,” Kawamoto said.

When the girls and their parents, Alba Leticia Alvarez and Wenceslao Quiej Lopez, will fly home is up to Guatemalan officials, who have requested more time to prepare for their arrival, Kawamoto said.

Lazareff said he expects the girls, who are 17 months old to return home the first or second week of January. They are likely to stay in a Guatemala City hospital for a few weeks before the family moves into an apartment.

In Guatemala, the girls will undergo physical therapy to learn to crawl, sit and balance themselves. They also face the prospect of future medical procedures to stretch their scalps so that they may eventually have full heads of their thick, dark hair.

Nonetheless, Lazareff said that by the end of next year there may be no significant differences between the twins and other children.

Still, Lazareff said he’s holding his breath for a while.

“Any time one of my patients leaves the hospital, I always wonder: Will they go back to school? Will they play soccer? Will they learn?” he said. “Only when I see those things will I close the book on them.”