Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The operating theater of the Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Center.
Ling Ran clasped his hands behind his back and leaned forward to look at the operating field under the shadowless lamp. His face was full of longing.
If it had not been for the sufficient distance between Ling Ran and the surgical field, Xue Haochu would have really been worried about Ling Ran salivating.
“Doctor Ling, why don’t we go back to the hotel to rest first?” Xue Haochu asked in a fuss.
“They’re doing a hip replacement surgery now, huh?” Ling Ran simply ignored him and watched Ji Tianlu’s actions until his neck was strained.
In the Orthopedics Department, hip replacement surgeries were the highest form of surgery.
The most epic part of the orthopedics field was reflected in hip replacement surgery. For example, the surgical opening was super large, the prosthesis was super large, and the perioperative period was super complicated…
The only way for a surgeon to show how epic he or she was through any other surgery other than hip replacement surgery was endoscopy.
However, Ling Ran did not know how to do hip replacement surgeries or use an endoscope.
In comparison, the surgeries he knew were more in line with the identity of an intern. Both the finger replantation technique as well as Achilles tendon repair technique were relatively simple and straightforward surgeries. The M-Tang technique was even more so. These surgeries could be perceived directly through human senses.
Hip replacement surgeries and endoscopies were not so straightforward. They were usually divided into two directions in a hospital’s Orthopedics Department. If a director in a hospital could perform an open surgery well and if the person was young, the deputy director would be better off learning arthroscopy and splitting the department into two.
Of course, the Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Center was equivalent to a large department. There were plenty of internal positions in there, so it was possible to a retain high-ranking director and elite doctors such as Ji Tianlu. However, the flow rate of resident doctors and attending physicians was extremely high because the competitors they faced were not only a dozen peers in the same hospital. There were also postgraduate students and even visiting doctor from all over the country who went there for knowledge exchange and in-service training. Positions such as “associate department director” were likely to be taken by doctors who had worked in the United States.
For Ling Ran, such hip replacement surgeries were not commonly sighted, because the Orthopedics Department in Yun Hua Hospital rarely carried out the operation. Their skills were focused on hand surgery and arthroscopy.
As a young man in his twenties, it was quite rare for him to see such an operation directly.
Xue Haochu was a little anxious from waiting. He was the small butler in the Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Center. He often did a lot of work on behalf of Zhu Tongyi, and he could not spend his entire time in the operating theater.
“Doctor Ling, Academician Zhu has gone to Beijing. He can’t come over today. So he asked me to take care of you. Why don’t we go and take a rest first?” Xue Haochu urged Ling Ran to move again.
Ling Ran turned to look at him and said, “I’d like to perform surgery.”
“Ah… about that… Today’s not suitable.” Xue Haochu forced himself to chuckle. The number of beds was actually enough, but he was still a little afraid that something would come up. Besides, it would be more difficult to manage the patients if there were more people in the ward. They would need to leave some room for visitors who would come later.
Ling Ran sighed helplessly. “Then forget it, I’ll just have a look.”
Ji Tianlu looked up and stared at Ling Ran. He found the situation a little amusing, so he shook his head before he peered down to work again.
He was also planning to use the hip replacement surgery that day to show off at the conference. In China, if such a surgery could be done neatly, people would give him the thumbs-up.
“Doctor Ling…” Xue Haochu called out to him again.
Ji Tianlu felt a little annoyed as he listened, and he said, “Young Xue, you may leave if you have something to do. You won’t be able to persuade Ling Ran.”
Xue Haochu was stunned. “Yes, I guess I was too full of myself.”
“Aren’t you?” Ji Tianlu laughed out loud a few times and lowered his voice. “If Doctor Ling didn’t constantly have the urge to perform surgeries, how would he have managed to get his skills, you think?”
Ji Tianlu’s logic was so straightforward that Xue Haochu was immediately convinced.
In the blink of an eye, Xue Haochu became a little embarrassed. He had made all those excuses to urge them forward, but in the end, he just wasted Ling Ran’s time.
When he saw the yearning look on Ling Ran’s face while Ling Ran watched the operation, Xue Haochu could not bear the sight anymore and opened his mouth to say, “Doctor Ling, why don’t we—”
“Young Xue.” As a chief physician, although Ji Tianlu was young, he was also a genius with a sharp eye. He knew what Xue Haochu had in mind. Ji Tianlu had to remind him and say, “Don’t be too full of yourself.”
“Huh?” Xue Haochu was a little confused. ‘I was going to change tactics because of your suggestion, you know?’
Ji Tianlu snorted and said, “Do you still remember the speed at which Doctor Ling performed his surgeries before this? If you let him loose, you’d best believe that he’ll stuff the beds full with patients.”
Xue Haochu heard him and understood what he meant. He immediately felt guilty.
The Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Center had a total of one hundred and eighty beds, and now, there were less than eighty left. It was not because the remaining one hundred beds were filled, but Zhu Tongyi had completely revoked the three-person rooms in order to reflect a good medical environment. Half of the remaining rooms were single-person rooms.
Therefore, the research institute did not have many beds at that point. If Ling Ran performed at full capacity using the Achilles tendon repair technique, he could complete an Achilles tendon repair surgery in thirty minutes…
Xue Haochu shuddered.
If Ling Ran filled up all the ward beds, Zhu Tongyi would definitely kill him when he returned. Xue Haochu could not let that happen.
Xue Haochu shook his head repeatedly. He did not dare speak.
Ji Tianlu looked at Ling Ran and smiled. He said, “Doctor Ling, have you ever performed a hip replacement surgery before?”
“No, this is my first time seeing it,” Ling Ran told the truth.
“Would you like to give it a try as my assistant?” Ji Tianlu’s own assistant was the attending physician of the research institute. He was at a normal level, where his skills were normal, his looks were average, and his drive was non-existent.
Ling Ran immediately nodded. Even if he understood the system, he was still a young doctor. It was normal for him to be an assistant. Of course, if he had the chance to be the chief surgeon… He certainly would not dare perform a hip replacement surgery, but for operations that he understood, he was naturally willing to be the chief surgeon. For now, he had no other choice but to become an assistant.
“I’m going to wash my hands.” Ling Ran slid out of the operating theater.
When Ling Ran came back, Ling Ran had his hands up and his scrubs on. He was so handsome that he looked like he had a halo behind him.
The original first assistant was replaced and became the second assistant. The second assistant had to stand by the side as an audience member.
In truth, the original first assistant was not an expert. At best, he was a general practitioner who had tagged along with a chief surgeon to perform several surgeries. Although he was reluctant to give up his position, he did not dare resist.
He had witnessed the scene in which Ling Ran showed his invincible might around two weeks ago in the demonstration room. And he knew his status was lower than Ling Ran’s, because in the hospital, the positions of people with low skill were determined solely by their professional titles. Doctors who were capable and possessed potential would always be one level higher than them.
“What should I do?” Ling Ran stood in the position of first assistant. He spoke as if he was unskilled.
Ji Tianlu was amused. “Perform liquid aspiration first…” he said in a friendly manner.
It was a situation where two people would try to work with one another. Ling Ran followed Ji Tianlu’s orders and did what was requested. He even slowly came to understand the steps involved in a hip replacement surgery.
The feeling of standing by the sidelines and participating in the field was different, hence the reason why so many doctors rushed to perform surgeries hands on. Even if they only did menial jobs, their speed in learning the surgery would be faster and more accurate. It was also much easier to look at the operating field from the assistant’s position instead of craning his neck.
In Mayo Clinic—one of the earliest places to launch the hip replacement surgery project and currently the best in the world for that surgery—the resident doctors from its Orthopedics Department would start to perform hip replacement surgeries after a short period of getting to know each other. That was exactly what Ling Ran was doing at the moment.
There was no other reason behind it. The most common surgery done by Mayo’s Orthopedics Department was the hip replacement surgery. If they did not allow resident doctors to perform that surgery, no one else would be able to.
All complicated surgeries and high-end surgeries were not really that complicated and high-end once the doctor participating in it stood in the position of a first assistant.
A first assistant participating in a high-end surgery could do both high-level and low-level tasks. It all depended on how the chief surgeon arranged the tasks.
Ling Ran was currently doing low-level tasks, but he did them with exuberance.
Xue Haochu stood next to him and watched. As he observed, he gradually became envious of Ling Ran.
Being a doctor whose only concern was treating people was always a dream for doctors. Xue Haochu was no exception. However, being a doctor whose only concern was treating patients was also the hardest thing to do.
There were too many temptations on the path of being a doctor.
It may be easy to be a pure fool, but if someone wanted to be a doctor who only needed to treat others, he or she would require total commitment, excellent technique, a lot of resources, and good luck…
Xue Haochu looked at Ling Ran and could not help but think, ‘Being a doctor like Ling Ran must be very relaxing, unlike being me. I have to deal with all kinds of leaders every day. I need to constantly rub shoulders with some administrative department director from other tertiary grade A hospitals and be called their younger brother. But in truth, I only get to be friends with them because of Academician Zhu Tongyi’s might. Ling Ran’s life… is indeed very comfortable.’
As Xue Haochu contemplated, he unwittingly perked up. He thought, ‘When I’m independent and I become a hospital director in the future, I’d like to recruit a doctor like Ling Ran, who’s simple, pure, and principled…’
“The king asked me to patrol the mountains…”
Ling Ran’s phone rang.
“Do you mind helping me pick up my phone?” Ling Ran had his body bent over while he performed his tasks. His eyes were fixed on Ji Tianlu’s movements. He did not budge in the slightest.
The circulating nurse was pleasantly surprised, and she immediately approached Ling Ran’s pocket.
“In my coat pocket,” Ling Ran said.
“Oh.” The young nurse’s eyes shone when she took out Ling Ran’s phone.
“Use hands-free,” Ling Ran spoke as if he was in his own operating theater.
The young nurse hesitated, but still put it on hands-free.
“Doctor Ling, Doctor Ling, I got the medal. I’ve won the bronze medal in the National Track and Field Championship! I’ve won the medal, I don’t have to leave the team!” The voice of the young female discus thrower, He Xiufang traveled of the microphone and was deafening to the ears.
Ji Tianlu stopped performing the surgery as well. Ling Ran was the chief surgeon for the Achilles tendon repair for He Xiufang, and Ji Tianlu was his assistant. Therefore, Ji Tianlu knew about the status of He Xiufang’s Achilles tendon. He could not help but ask, “It recovered so quickly?”
Ling Ran, however, was not surprised. He said, “He Xiufang’s Achilles tendon wasn’t completely ruptured, so her recovery will be better. Hmm… He Xiufang, is your Achilles tendon well?”
Liu Weichen was already ready to participate in competitions, so it was not unusual for He Xiufang to have competed in tournaments too.
On the other end of the phone was He Xiufang’s weeping voice. “My Achilles tendon is good, incredibly good, even better than before.”
Athletes had to bear with heavy load training over a long period of time. It was common for them to compete while injured. But after undergoing surgery, He Xiufang had enough rest, and her training was also holistic.
“He Xiufang, if you have time, you can come to our center for a check-up,” Ji Tianlu suggested.
“Yes! I won’t be the only one coming, my teammates will want to come along too. My coach told the leaders that the whole city’s track and field team had to go!” He Xiufang said and sobbed. “I’ve won the medal. I don’t have to leave the team anymore. My teammates and I will come together!”
