As of 11 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 28, both Maria Teresa and Maria de Jesus Quiej Alvarez remain in serious condition with stable vital signs in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at UCLA’s Mattel Children’s Hospital.

Maria de Jesus is scheduled for a non-emergency surgery on Thursday, Aug. 29. A detailed inspection of all the post-surgical wounds will be made, as well as any repairs that might be needed. Thursday’s procedure will be the first time Maria de Jesus will return to the operating room since the initial separation surgery.

Maria Teresa, who underwent a planned surgery Aug. 22 to remove blood from a subdural hematoma that occurred during the initial separation surgery, was taken off a ventilator on Tuesday, Aug. 27.

Doctors remain cautiously optimistic about the long-term prospects for recovery of the twins. The one-year old Guatemalan girls, who were born conjoined at the head, were separated at UCLA on Aug. 6 in a nearly 23-hour surgery.

For more information, please visit www.healthcare.ucla.edu .