Surgery to separate girls set for May in Cleveland

The larger of the two toddlers will also require a kidney transplant.
CLEVELAND (AP) -- The parents of 3-year-old conjoined twins said Friday that they are worried but hopeful as they await high-risk surgery to separate their daughters.
"It's kind of an anxious time," the Rev. Alin Dogaru, a Byzantine Catholic priest, said in an interview with The Associated Press while sitting hand-in-hand with his wife, Claudia, a nurse, in a hospital lounge. Both are 31 and are from Romania.
Claudia Dogaru said she savors each day with the twins, realizing she might not have them someday.
"Our faith is strong. I cannot say I don't cry sometimes. I have my worries, but any mother has," she said.
The top of Tatiana's head is attached to the back of Anastasia's. A team of up to 50 doctors and nurses will separate the girls in four stages over several weeks at Rainbow Babies & amp; Children's Hospital in Cleveland.
Before the interview, Claudia Dogaru gently lifted up the girls -- Anastasia in a blue dress was held in her mother's left arm and Tatiana with a pink dress in her right arm -- and placed them in a two-seat stroller.
"It's hard on my back because they are two. I have to pick them up -- two, not one, at a time," Claudia Dogaru said.
Back pain wasn't her first reaction to the twins and their condition. "It was tough at the beginning. I was scared to pick them up. Actually, my husband picked them up first. He's more courageous than I am," she said.
How they get around
Walking toward the stroller, the father held Anastasia's right hand and mother held Tatiana's left hand, with Anastasia grasping a doll in her other hand and Tatiana with a plastic toy. Down the hospital corridor, a janitor pushing a cart glanced over his shoulder.
"Most of the time they grab both hands for both of us," father said. "Dad on one side, mom on one side."
"When they don't want to carry dolls or toys, they always give you two hands," he said.
The twins, who were born in Rome, arrived in Cleveland several weeks ago after 21/2 years in Dallas.
Possible risks of the surgeries tentatively scheduled for late May include brain damage, stroke or a fatal amount of blood loss. Anastasia, the larger twin, also requires a kidney transplant; she has no kidney function and relies on Tatiana's kidneys.
Twins born joined at the head -- called craniopagus twins -- are extremely rare, occurring in about 1 in 2.5 million births.
The girls have distinct personalities and won't even drink from each other's glasses.
If their drinks get mixed up, one girl passes it to her sister. "Over the shoulder, around the bodies, they have ways," Alin Dogaru said.
Their 6-year-old sister, Maria, loves and protects the girls, Claudia Dogaru said. "She's acting like a normal big sister. She fights with them."
Maria wants her sisters to have the surgery. "If we ask her, she says that she wants them to be separated," her father said.
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