Ara Damansara Trip and CSF Leak Surgery

As stated in my earlier post, my other half is due for a (minor) surgery to treat her CSF leak on 3rd May 2023. So we have booked a hotel room at Z-Hotel again for a few-day stay (at the time, we did not know how long).

Apart from my youngest( who is at the college), all of my sons were there to accompany my other half for her treatment with our third son, Izhar, who had just moved to a new place of stay, joining us at the hotel, only at late night.

Before travelling to Ara Damansara, we had our (special) lunch at Hard Wood Cafe that we have not visited for a long time. It has a traditional decor, with the dishes served like a traditional Malay meal shared together with the whole family.

For dinner (after arriving in Ara Damansara), we treat ourselves at Onde Onde Restaurant in Cita Mall.

The special lunch and dinner is to let my other half enjoy meals before she switches to a restricted diet after the surgery.

The next morning, we arrived early at Ara Damansara Medical Centre. My other half was already fasting to prepare for her surgery. She had to go for Covid Test before getting her ward admission.

Sometime in the afternoon, the doctor and anesthesiologist came to explain about the surgery she will undergo just an hour after that. All the surgery will be done through a scope into her left nose. Some fat will be removed from her tummy for use to mend the leak (together with an adhesive). She was advised to do jamak prayers before the surgery as she will be unconscious for a long period. She was wheeled away to the operation theater almost immediately after she finished praying.

During the surgery, I waited in the ward for any news on how the surgery went. 

The few hours that we spend waiting seems so long and I was already nervous after two hours. There was a procedure of injecting dye through her spine to easily locate where the leak is, that we were told had to be omitted due to fear of myelopathy complications. So, the extended surgery hours was expected. Slightly before 4pm, my sister in law from Bandar Tun Hussein Onn came to see her thinking that the surgery will be over but my other half was not back in the ward yet. It was just before 6pm, that my other half was wheeled back to the ward and was in an unconscious state. Her face was slightly swollen perhaps due to the surgery wounds within. She was conscious momentarily just before 7pm and I could see tears rolling down her cheek (I can't imagine the pain she was in). I was told by the nurse that she must not go to the toilet (which is problematic) and that her head cannot be tilted beyond 30 degrees. Since I was supposed to stay with her in the ward, I took a self RTK test to show that I was Covid negative. However the hospital insisted that I go for a swab test at the hospital, and which I did around Maghrib time and it is negative. For the night, I rented a collapsible bed-chair. My sister-in-law came briefly before the visiting hours ended but my other half was unconscious.

During the night, routine checks by nurses were made and also intake of pain killers for my other half. The next morning, my sons briefly took me out for breakfast and left my other half in the ward for a while (she was already conscious during the night and that morning). Note that we had to go out as the hospital's cafeteria was closed that morning since it was a public holiday (Vesak day). After breakfast, the doctor came to see us and he explained what had happened in the surgical procedure. He said that besides the leakage point, there was a crack in the layer that helps protect the brain. So, more repair was needed and that probably explained the longer surgical procedure. The hospital staff had given us a pen drive that contained the recording of the surgery. It seems that the recording was nearly four hours long and the two files was roughly around 4 gigabytes.

Before the surgery, we had already asked whether my other half could be discharged earlier, if there is no complication. So the doctor agreed to discharge my other half that day provided extra care is given. He said coughing and sneezing should be avoided and even climbing stairs should be avoided, This is in order for the wounds and the repaired leaks can heal properly.

So by noon, we left the hospital and went straight home, Initially, my other half stayed in the room downstairs. But then she realised that she had to walk far to the toilet and most of her clothes are upstairs. Thus, my sons helped her walk upstairs to stay in our room (the master bedroom with attached bathroom). Izhar went back to his new place (separately from us), while Ihsan took leave until the following Monday where his shift was during the night.

It is now already past a week since the surgery and the antibiotics she was on, has already finished. We probably replenish this tomorrow at a local clinic. She had to be on a specific antibiotic since other antibiotics had some side effect for her. Also, it seems that nose had bled a little. Hopefully it is not serious but only comes from the surgery wounds. We are set to have a follow-up on the 18 May and we hope that the healing process is in place and quick.