Separated Twin Girls to Spend the Holidays in U.S.

The formerly conjoined twins who were separated in a marathon operation at UCLA will probably not return home to Guatemala in time for Christmas, hospital officials said Monday.

The 16-month-old twins, Maria de Jesus and Maria Teresa Quiej Alvarez, have had their return date pushed back several times since the operation in August to separate them at the skull.

The hospital is aiming for them to return home to continue their recovery in a Guatemala City hospital in early January, which means the twins will probably spend Christmas and New Year’s at UCLA’s Mattel Children’s Hospital.

“We still do not have a date,” spokeswoman Roxanne Moster said.

The twins’ plastic surgeon, Dr. Henry Kawamoto, suggested last month that they might be home for the holidays. But the hospital announced in late November that Maria de Jesus’ scalp wound from surgery was taking more time than expected to heal. Surgeons used skin grafts to cover the girls’ exposed brain tissue.

Although tests on the other twin, Maria Teresa, have shown that she is hearing-impaired in one ear, officials said the twins are recovering steadily.