Twin gets kidney

The bladder reconstruction that urologist Dr. Patrick Cartwright did in August to prepare for a kidney transplant had held up well, too. And Dr. Eric Scaife, a transplant surgeon who was part of the team working on Erin, said the donor kidney was healthy and had a single artery and a single vein, which makes implantation much simpler. Everything went smoothly removing the kidney from Erin, "with zero blood loss."

Surgeons had also worried that space in Maliyah's abdomen would be a problem, since the two girls had shared one abdomen only slightly larger than that of a normal child. Although it was tight, it was adequate, helped in part by the fact that the kidney Erin donated was slightly small for an adult kidney.

The surgical team for Maliyah included two transplant surgeons, a urologist, a plastic surgeon and an anesthesiologist. Erin's team included two transplant surgeons and an anesthesiologist. Each team also had a registered nurse and an operating room tech, and another of each helped as needed.

Although a kidney transplant is typically a little harder on the donor initially, Scaife said Erin, who is 26 and healthy, should recover quickly and will likely be hospitalized less than a week.

Maliyah will be drifting in and out for a couple of days and will likely have a breathing tube for a short time, as well. She could be hospitalized for a couple of weeks or longer. Although the kidney is working well, she'll be closely watched for signs of infection and her lab values monitored as doctors adjust immuno-suppressant medications to see that she doesn't have a severe kidney rejection episode.

"This is going to have a happy ending," predicted a beaming Meyers, "and happy endings are wonderful."

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E-mail: lois@desnews.com