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It is not an exaggeration to say that people stopped preparing dinner that day as the impassioned doctor laid out the surgical plan and timetable his team has prepared for the twins. The sight of the frail and wasted Alberto and Roberto made the viewers remember their bank savings after which they started performing mental calculations in their heads on how much they can draw against it so they can send in their donations. The producers of the show burned in the charitable institution's account number on the left bottom corner of the TV screen to make it even easier for the undecided to get up from their couches and troop all the way to the bank.

The intense attention the media has focused on the twins' plight has elevated this otherwise isolated public service announcement into a national issue with the foreign press slowly catching up to report it in their own countries because everybody knew this kind of surgery has never been tried anywhere in the world before. Now everyone is confused. Are they sending their cash to help the twins or they are just curious, in an almost obscene manner, if this kind of surgery could be performed, at all? The shocking thought that these brilliant team of pediatric surgeons can actually gather enough courage to propose this "impossible" operation turned off most of the viewers. The very idea strikes them as cold-blooded and self-serving. But for those who eventually wrote checks and sent in their cash it is the heartwarming thought that this bold undertaking is being considered based on the noble intent to save Alberto and Roberto.

On December 4, 2002, a Wednesday, everyone watching the whole surgical proceedings cringed as Alberto, labeled and color-coded Havana Blue, and Roberto, labeled and color-coded Vermillion, underwent their first of a series of MRI's and ultrasounds and angiograms. The "impossible" surgery they said
could never be done disrupted regular programming. Field reporters closely monitored the event from start to finish. The terror induced by watching the progress of the operation coupled with nausea for some seemed to mount at every turn. But after more than fourteen hours everyone cheered as Dr. Selim
emerged from the OR with five of his Surgical Team, all beaming and glistening behind their reddened, wet faces. Dr. Selim glanced at his team before staring directly at the cameras and the surge of flashing bulbs before him.

"After much agonized debates and deliberation we finally decided to operate on the twins. Now, we are very happy to announce that this very daring operation everyone said could never be done was a success. We should see the twins going back to school in a few month's time!"

Everyone in the room started cheering and drowned the rest of Dr. Selim's words while the rest of the surgical team collapsed from exhaustion and hugged each other.

A few weeks later, at exactly 3:00 PM, Alberto and Roberto waved at the crowd gathered outside the King Elgammal Medical Center. If you look closely, the difference between their original point of union and the present one is very difficult to establish and can only be settled by a precise micrometer to be about .57 mm. But their difference from the other kids on the block is easier to spot - after suffering from an extreme case of separation anxiety, they were rejoined via their rib cages and are once again walking on all fours.

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