Eight-limbed Indian girl now doing fine with four

Eight-limbed Indian girl now doing fine with four
In this photograph provided by the Sparsh Hospital, Poonam, right, holds her daughter Lakshmi inside a ward of the Sparsha Hospital in Bangalore, India, Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2007. Nearly a week after surgeons removed the extra limbs from the Indian girl born with four arms and four legs, the bright-eyed 2-year-old made her first public appearance Tuesday after leaving the hospital's intensive care unit. (AP Photo/Sparsha Hospital)BANGALORE, India (Reuters) - An Indian girl born with fourlegs and four arms appeared in public for the first time onTuesday since a grueling operation to remove her extra limbs.
Two-year-old Lakshmi Tatma, who was named after thefour-armed Hindu goddess of wealth, was carried in her father'sarms at a press conference, looking somewhat subdued, her legsin a blue cast.
"I am happy to announce that she will be out of intensivecare today," Dr Sharan Patil, who lead a team of around 30 inLakshmi's surgery, told reporters at the Sparsh Hospital inBangalore, southern India.
"We have taken her off all the monitoring. She is copingvery well."
A week ago, doctors operated for more than a day to removewhat amounted to Lakshmi's headless identical twin sister, whowas joined at the pelvis and who did not develop and separateproperly in the womb.
The rare birth defect is known as a parasitic twin.
As well as cutting off the extra limbs, doctors alsoremoved extra internal organs and corrected a deformedskeleton.
She had since been under intensive care at the hospital. DrPatil said she was now eating semi-solid food and her woundswere healing.
"She recognized us as soon as she became conscious afterthe operation." said Lakshmi's father, Shambu, a poor laborerfrom a village in the eastern state of Bihar. "We are veryhappy to see her recovering.
Lakshmi will still need another operation to correct herclub feet, doctors said, but she will probably not be wellenough for more surgery for at least a couple weeks.
(Editing by Jonathan Allen)