(CBS/AP) Nearly a week after surgeons removed the extra limbs from an 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.

Swathed in blankets and lying on her father's lap, the girl, named Lakshmi, appeared before reporters without the extra limbs which had led some people in her rural village to revere her as an incarnation of the four-armed goddess she was named after.

Looking healthy and alert, Lakshmi had both of her legs in casts while her arms were free. After sitting for photographs, her parents quickly ushered her off the stage without speaking to reporters.

Lakshmi's doctors were encouraged by her progress and said she was responding well enough to treatment to leave the hospital's intensive care unit.

Everything seems to be working right -- cardiac, the nervous system, respiratory system, and her G.I. system, reports Dave Price of CBS' The Early Show.

"She is coping very well and she is stable," said chief surgeon Dr. Sharan Patil. "Lakshmi is safe at the moment."

Lakshmi had a 25 percent chance of not even surviving the surgery, reports Price.

Lakshmi was born joined at the pelvis to a "parasitic twin" that stopped developing in her mother's womb. The surviving fetus absorbed the limbs, kidneys and other body parts of the undeveloped twin.

A team of more than 30 surgeons finished a 24-hour operation last Wednesday at a hospital in the southern city of Bangalore. They removed the extra limbs, transplanted a kidney from the twin and reconstructed Lakshmi's pelvic area.

Lakshmi has begun eating solid food again and has been off her respirator since Friday, Patil said.

But despite her swift progress, Patil cautioned that Lakshmi still had a long way to go toward a full recovery.

Lakshmi will need further treatment and possible surgery for clubbed feet before she will be able to walk. Her wounds from surgery are still healing and Patil said they will continue to monitor her closely.

The casts on her legs are intended to keep her inverted feet straight and the legs together.

Children born with deformities in rural India like the remote village in the northern state of Bihar where Lakshmi comes from are often viewed as reincarnated gods.

Her father, Shambhu, who only goes by one name, had told reporters that her family had been worried for her future before the operation and that he was looking forward to seeing her with "a normal body."

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On the website:

Videos:

Baby Lakshmi Recovering

A little girl born with four arms and four legs in India is recovering well from surgery. Harry Smith speaks about Baby Lakshmi with Dave Price, who is in India.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/11/13/world/main3493648.shtml#

Complex Surgery Explained

Hannah Storm interviews Dr. Sharan Patil, chief surgeon for baby Lakshmi, explains the difficulties his team of 30 doctors encountered while removing the 2-year-old’s parasitic twin.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/11/13/world/main3493648.shtml#

Update!

India

http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/07/11/11/10166684.html

Two-year-old Lakshmi before she underwent the marathon surgery at Sparsh Hospital in Bangalore to remove her parasitic conjoined twin.

Baby Lakshmi recognises parents

IANS
Published: November 10, 2007, 21:07

Bangalore: Two-year-old Lakshmi, who underwent complex surgery to have her parasitic conjoined twin separated, on Saturday recognised her parents and doctors, indicating her sensory organs are functioning normally.

A doctor at the Sparsh Hospital in Bangalore said: "Lakshmi is cheerful and her condition is stable."

"She was able to recognise her parents - Shambhu and Poonam - when they were allowed to meet her in the intensive care unit (ICU). She also waved to the doctors," chief anaesthetist Yohannan John said.

Lakshmi slept well after being taken off the ventilator on Friday and woke up early on Saturday, trying to move her arms and stretch her legs slowly.

"Though she is on a liquid diet and is being fed intravenously, she is able to sip water orally. Her body is also responding to the drugs being administered to stabilise her condition and prevent any infection," John said.

Lakshmi was born with a parasitic conjoined twin fused together at the pelvis. She was admitted to a hospital in Bangalore on October 3 after her parents were unable to afford treatment in New Delhi.

Taking up the rare case as a challenge to paediatric surgery and medicine, Patil and his 30-member medico team in Bangalore offered to treat Lakshmi free. The procedure would have otherwise cost about Rs3 million (Dh281,613).

"Every movement or gesture of hers is a sign of progress for us. She is able to remain awake longer and is conscious of things in the ICU. She also responds with facial expressions to nurses," John said.

Bio-chemical and blood tests reveal her vital parameters are within limits. The toddler is also being injected with painkillers to provide relief from the painful surgery.

"We intend to keep her in ICU for another couple of days to heal her wounds and to help her recover fully from the marathon surgery she underwent.

For the impoverished parents, who hail from a village in north Bihar, it was a Diwali with a difference.

Though Lakshmi was born on Diwali in October 2005, her parents celebrated this year's festival of lights at the hospital to mark the successful operation with prayers for her speedy recovery.

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