Andi Edwards was born conjoined to her sister, Brandi Edwards.
History[]
Separation Surgery[]
Brandi and Andi were born conjoined, facing opposite directions. Arizona had been treating them since birth. When their parents decided to allow the doctors to separate them, they were offered every pro bono dollar that the hospital could give them. The two teams of surgeons, one for each baby, practiced their parts many times before the time came for them to operate.
Lexie continuously updated the parents throughout the surgery, talking to them about each step.
When the time came to separate the colon, they discovered that Andi had the bulk of the blood supply, so Arizona performed an ileoproctostomy. Then the babies were flipped so the surgery could continue and it went well.
While they were separating their spines, they struggled to decide how to proceed without paralyzing Brandi. They made a decision and after the separation was complete, they stimulated each girl to test nerve function. Andi responded immediately, but Brandi needed much more stimulation for her feet to move.
Brandi was then moved to a separate gurney and taken to a separate OR while Andi stayed in the original OR for her surgery to be finished.
Kidney Transplant[]
Gretchen and Charley were briefly allowed to see Andi before she had to be taken back into the OR to retrieve one of the kidneys left in her body to transplant into Brandi, whose kidney had failed unexpectedly. The transplant went well and both girls were stable in the PICU after their surgeries.
Relationships[]
Familial[]
Andi was born conjoined to her identical twin sister, Brandi. They were separated in a day-long surgery. While they were in surgery, the parents were very concerned for their safety. When the surgery went well and they were both stable post-op, their parents were relieved that everything had gone well.
Notes and Trivia[]
- She and her surgical team were labelled with green bands and led by Derek.