I was there..

elis the kid 

Did my first on call in UMMC yesterday. When i came in in the morning , I was surprised to find Elis's name on my list. I would have thought she would be done as an elective case.. but noo.. they had to put her in the emergency list. It was not a major Op as the papers reported , instead it was just a minor Ventriculoperitoneal (VP ) shunt.My Specialist on call assigned me to assist him in the OT. Haks.. talk about being involved with a "high profile" kid.

In the news..

I was glad that UMMC did not allow the cameras to air the surgery live. They followed her from the ward until the OT entrance. We received her and I'm not sure whether I was on air live then ..but I was wearing my mask.. so takde la nak cari glamour.. heks..

Anyway , Prof Vicky ( The Neuro surgeon) wanted minimal personnels in the OT.

" This is One shunt i can't afford to have it infected... "

Elis's problem was simple. * according to Prof Vicky laa..* She has a malformation of the ventricular system which causes her face disfigurement.An atypical hydrocephalus.In layman's term : The container of the Cerebro Spinal Fluid ( brain fluid ) seems to be not well developed causing it to fill in the space in between her eyes. Thus, causing the ugly big buldge that disfigured her nose . Her eyes position went lateral and that made her unable to close her eyes properly.The brain CT scan was interesting to look at as it showed a funny anatomy which was assymetrical.

As anaesthetists , we were worried if the disfigured anatomy affects the airway. Looking at her physique , it did not seem to be difficult. When we held mask on her face , Alhamdulillah there was no problem but it was a bit tricky as the fluctuating buldge on her nose was really dodgy. We didn't want to cause any "bursting" problems.
Intubation was a piece of cake.

What Prof Vicky did was just to divert the excess fluid from the brain into the abdominal cavity. A "bypass". It is an everyday and basic neurosurgery procedure and can be done anywhere if you're well trained. Prof Vicky was not keen on doing a major Op just yet - He wanted to see if this works and within minutes , the buldge dissapeared. haks.. It was a short procedure , but we discharged her to the ward late because we sort of overdosed her with morphine ! haks.. She remained stable but was a bit on the "high" side when we woke her up.