It felt like a dream came true when Xiang Xueming stood in front of the operating theater.
Under the green and blue draping was a patient who was still alive and breathing. The anesthetist was real, and the number on the life-support machine was real too…
“It’s real surgery.” Xiang Xueming took a deep breath. This was it. There was fresh air in the operating theater and no pungent smell of formalin at all.
“Student, please help me add another footstool.” Yu Yuan came in slightly late, and the height of the operating table had been increased by Ling Ran to the extent where Yu Yuan could not reach even with one footstool.
Yu Yuan did not even bat an eyelid when she saw that she needed another footstool. After all, she needed a footstool as well when she operated with other normal doctors. There was no difference between putting one or two footstools next to the operating table.
Zheng Jun who was right behind Yu Yuan was still sizing up the operating theater when Yu Yuan ordered him. He quickly bent his back and immediately went to collect the footstool.
“You, come over and help too.” Yu Yuan glanced at Guan Fei. She spoke quickly, and her tone was straightforward.
Guan Fei blinked. She was a little reluctant to do so because she was a girl.
“Hurry up.” The interval between Ling Ran’s order and Yu Yuan’s order was extremely short, and they did not give Guan Fei any time to think.
Yu Yuan was now a chief resident in the hospital. Any doctor who got that position would change tremendously. It was not due to the authority that the position entailed, but it was due to the heavy duties that came with this position.
Staying in the hospital for twenty-two hours a day, seven days a week was not something new for any chief resident in any hospital. The other two hours were meant for the chief residents to go back to shower and change their clothes, but even that was just something in name. The chief residents in the Surgery Department did not even need to go back home and shower. The shower area in the operating area was there for their use. They did not need to change as well. The scrubs in the operating area were more than enough, and all of them were even sterilized under high temperature.
Although the scrubs may have made them look like Goku from Dragonball, no matter how they wrecked the scrubs, there were always new scrubs to replace their old ones.
In summary, a normal chief resident in the hospital did not need to go back home, so he or she normally stayed in the hospital for twenty-two hours, and that was the life of a chief resident.
If chief residents wanted to survive through that period of their career, they would not be relying on their salary of a few thousand RMB per month, but the satisfaction they gained when they heard the continuous moans of their patients and when they saved lives.
Moving from one operating theater to another was like moving from one battlefield to another. Regardless of success or failure, once the chief resident poured all his or her attention into the surgeries, the time within a day would gradually disappear.
Additionally, when anyone stayed in the position for a long time, their orders would develop an imposing flair, and those orders would also sound very powerful.
Even if Yu Yuan was only four feet nine inches tall, she would have the strength of a mountain gorilla when she was up against a little macaque.
Guan Fei looked as if she had been wronged when she followed Zheng Jun to carry the footstool over and set it for Yu Yuan.
“Go and wash your hands.” Yu Yuan gave another firm order.
Zheng Jun immediately turned around and washed his hands. Guan Fei hesitated for a while, peeked at Ling Ran, and exited the operating theater with her head bent.
Ling Ran had his hands up the entire time.
Although the time his assistants spent working together was short, the number of surgeries they performed was very high. So, he was no longer needed to manage all those miscellaneous things in the operating theater anymore. His assistants would start to help on their own in the operating theater.
Ling Ran looked at the clock and said, “We’ll start our surgery now. Yu Yuan will work as the first assistant, and Xiang Xueming will become the second assistant.”
“Okay,” Yu Yuan agreed.
Xiang Xueming tried to be a copycat and shouted, “Okay.”
After he said that, Xiang Xueming realized that his voice had been too loud. He used his hands to close his mouth immediately.
“Go and wash your hands.” When Yu Yuan saw Xiang Xueming’s actions, she chased him out of the operating table without room for argument.
Xiang Xueming was stunned, and he sighed in resignation. He left the operating theater in a dejected manner.
His dream surgery experience did not look like that.
In fact, before he entered the operating theater for the first time, Xiang Xueming had searched for a lot of information and enquired a few seniors who had begun their practice. He even secretly contacted them a couple of times so that he would not be caught making beginner-level mistakes.
Yet, he still made a beginner-level mistake, and it was even a cleanliness issue, which was the greatest taboo in an operating theater.
In the bathroom, Guan Fei and Zheng Jun casually asked Xiang Xueming a few questions before they left in a rush.
Xiang Xueming knew that they were hoping to take his position.
And the most frustrating thing was that they may even be successful.
Xiang Xueming had no choice but to stand in the bathroom and wash his hands using the seven-step procedure. He blamed himself, ‘It’s not easy to finally get a chance to join a surgery, but now, I can only join half of it, perhaps even less, and who is to blame for this?’
After he washed his hands, Xiang Xueming looked at himself in the mirror and kept motivating himself. ‘If you’re ugly, you need to study more. If you’re ugly, you need to study more…’
When he finished checking his outer appearance, Xiang Xueming went back to the operating theater with a smile.
“We’ll start the surgery then…” Ling Ran still had his hands held up. When he saw Xiang Xueming come in, he quickly spoke, as though he was fighting against time.
Xiang Xueming was rooted to the spot. “You haven’t started yet?”
“Hurry up and get over here,” Yu Yuan spoke in a very strict manner. Her skills in surgery were normal, which was why she cared a lot about small details throughout the surgery.
Xiang Xueming immediately nodded and stood in the position of the second assistant. Guan Fei and Zheng Jun watched from a spot not far away.
“Achilles tendon repair technique,” Ling Ran said another sentence before he extended his hand. “Scalpel.”
The scrub nurse that day was Wang Jia. She immediately placed the scalpel in Ling Ran’s hands at the perfect level of strength. Its position was strategic, and her timing was good.
Ling Ran dragged the scalpel over the patient’s skin, and an incision of 5.9 inches was open.
The incision could be beautiful, but it could also mark the end of a person’s beauty.
Ever since Ling Ran started to do research on sports medicine, Ling Ran did not like small wounds anymore.
It was especially so for surgeries like Achilles tendon repairs. Right then, they already had very advanced minimally invasive surgeries available. But if the patient did not choose to go for minimally invasive surgeries and instead opted for open surgery, then, their demands about the incision length would be quite clear.
At most, when Ling Ran performed the sutures, he would use the intradermal suture and heavy reinforcing suture to make up for the large incision.
Ling Ran had performed the procedure at least two hundred times. And even Yu Yuan had participated in over one hundred Achilles tendon repairs. She was very familiar with Ling Ran’s operation, but the main problem was that she could not do it herself.
Ling Ran skillfully found the patient’s Achilles tendon, separated it from the rest, and continued with the suture…
Xiang Xueming felt dazzled as he watched.
He felt as if he was watching a new game or a beautiful martial art being executed. He looked like he could understand what he was watching, yet he was not too sure what he was watching. Worst of all, the player controlling the game or the martial artist executing those moves was an expert among experts, which caused Xiang Xueming to be at a loss.
In Xiang Xueming’s mind, there was only a voice.
“Pull it!”
He grabbed the retractor with both hands and kept pulling and pulling…
After around ten minutes, Xiang Xueming returned to his senses. He raised his head and looked at his classmate, Ling Ran.
Xiang Xueming was not too certain how many times he had gotten so close to Ling Ran. Maybe it was the third time, but he had definitely never been that close to Ling Ran for four times…
Even if they were coursemates in the same specialization and in the same class year, Xiang Xueming did not usually have a chance to be near Ling Ran.
Xiang Xueming suddenly realized that even if he might know many things about Ling Ran, he still did not really understand Ling Ran.
Who would have ever thought that within a year, Ling Ran would become a chief surgeon in the hospital?
Most importantly, he now had a surgical method that was unique only to him.
For a medical student, that was something only possible in the future.
“The ruptured end is like a horsetail.” Yu Yuan lowered her head to take a look and told Ling Ran her observation.
Ling Ran nodded without saying anything, and he continued the surgery.
Yu Yuan knew what he meant. It meant that they were to perform the surgery according to the fixed plan.
That was the easiest part. Yu Yuan used the technique she had practiced multiple times to cooperate with Ling Ran as well as she could.
Of course, her duties as an assistant were few. It was just the parts that she could handle within her limits.
Meanwhile, Xiang Xueming’s arms became number the longer he performed the surgery.
Pure retraction was highly taxing to the human mind, and it was especially so when Ling Ran did not like to chat.
“Yes, it’s almost complete.” Ling Ran’s words brought everyone’s attention back to the operating theater.
Xiang Xueming’s mind even became alert.
Ling Ran checked the suture twice back-to-back before he performed the wound closure personally.
Once the heavy reinforcing suture was completed, and the intradermal suture was done halfway, Ling Ran asked Xiang Xueming, “Do you want to suture?”
“Huh? Yes, I want to suture!” Xiang Xueming was very excited.
Ling Ran said, “I’ll let you suture five needles. If you don’t know how to perform the intradermal suture, just use the simple interrupted suture technique.”
While Ling Ran spoke, he gave up his spot.
Xiang Xueming valued the chance to stand in Ling Ran’s position greatly. He even asked someone to lower down the operating table before he started to suture.
After two needles, Yu Yuan could not help but turn her head to the side to look at the patient’s face. Then, she released a sigh of relief, as though a great burden had been removed from her shoulders.
