Xu Yongchang carefully put on a set of thermal underwear. He then slipped a pair of wrist protectors onto his aching wrists and adjusted his cap before settling back into the hospital bed.
Another patient in the same room pretended to read his book but was actually observing the newcomer. At this moment, he flashed a slight smile and started a conversation. “You look like you are often admitted into the hospital.”
“At our age, everyone goes in and out of the hospital all the time.” Xu Yongchang crossed his fingers and rested them on his belly with his back against the elevated back portion of the bed. He closed his eyes to show the other party that he intended to sleep.
The other party sized Xu Yongchang up and said, “You only look around fifty. Who frequents the hospital at the age of fifty?” He had deliberately lowered the age he reckoned Xu Yongchang was.
Xu Yongchang said indifferently, “I am forty-seven this year. I get sick all the time since I was young. There’s nothing I can do about it.”
The other party did not expect to overestimate Xu Yongchang’s age even after he lowered the figure. He licked his lips and was too embarrassed to continue the conversation.
There were more than one and a half hours of silence in the room before a nurse walked in with a record book. She went in front of Xu Yongchang’s hospital bed and said, “Bed 42, please confirm your name.”
“Xu Yongchang.” His lips felt a little dry. He took the thermos beside him and sipped some warm water. He then closed the thermos and asked, “What are we doing now?”
“I need to draw two vials of blood from your vein and two vials of blood from your artery for a routine examination.” After the nurse said that, she passed him a plastic container the size of a walnut and said, “Later, when you need to defecate, put some of your feces inside. Also, here’s a tube. Collect some of your midstream urine tomorrow morning.”
As she spoke, she placed the items on the bedside table of Bed 42.
Next, the nurse looked at Xu Yongchang with a scrutinizing gaze and asked, “Do you know what midstream urine means?”
“I do. The urine that comes out when I’m urinating halfway.”
“Yup. Take the sample when you urinate for the first time after waking up tomorrow morning. Start taking the sample after urinating for a few seconds.” The nurse explained the procedure to him before taking out a booklet, which had a white cover. She passed the booklet to Xu Yongchang and said, “Since you’re Doctor Ling’s patient, you’ll have to take a test before and after the surgery. It’s a requirement for all of Doctor Ling’s patients.”
“Test?”
“If you are unable to pass the preoperative test, the surgery will be postponed. And if you fail the postoperative test, your discharge will be delayed.” The nurse emphasized how important the tests were before saying, “The tests are very simple. The answers to all the questions can be found in this booklet. They’re about the things that you need to pay attention to before and after the surgery, and are beneficial to your treatment and recovery. These are the knowledge that you must master.”
When Xu Yongchang heard this, his tone became slightly more serious. “He can postpone the surgery even after it’s scheduled already?”
“Of course,” the nurse said very solemnly, “The test questions are very easy. You’re an intellectual. You just need to read through everything to past the test.”
“What if he encounters an illiterate patient or someone who just doesn’t have a good memory?”
“One of the patient’s family members will take the test on the patient’s behalf,” the nurse said.
Xu Yongchang furrowed his eyebrows. “What if the patient’s family member fails the test?”
“Up until now, we have not encountered such a situation yet.” The nurse furrowed her eyebrows too. “You can take a look at the content of the test first. As long as you study properly for the test, it’s impossible to fail it. They’re just simple standard precaution for patients, which both patients and their family members need to know about.”
Xu Yongchang hesitantly took the booklet from the nurse and opened a random page. There was a sentence printed in an extremely large font. [Patients need to notify the nurses before leaving their room. YES/NO]
Below the sentence, some words were printed in a slightly smaller font. [YES. Because the treatment process is pre-planned by the doctor, and the act of leaving the ward suddenly would mess up the treatment plan and affect the patient’s condition.]
Xu Yongchang’s expression became extremely scornful. “Do we even need a test on something like this?”
“Well, you’ll be fine as long as you pass.” The nurse skillfully put on a pair of gloves as she spoke. She then took out the full set of instruments that were used to draw blood.
“You guys are even wearing gloves when drawing blood nowadays?” When Xu Yongchang lowered his head and saw the gloves the nurse wore, he suddenly felt rather emotional.
The nurse nodded and said, “In the Emergency Medical Center, the Ling Treatment Group is extremely stringent in the matter of infection control.”
“Oh.” As Xu Yongchang gazed at the nurse, he suddenly felt rather relaxed. He turned, flashed a smile, and said, “I feel like I’m slightly feverish today, can you take the blood sample tomorrow?”
“No. It’s a rule for us to take a patient’s blood sample upon admission.”
“I really don’t feel good today.”
The nurse hesitated for a moment and said, “We can’t make arrangements for your surgery if we don’t take your blood sample, and the doctor won’t be able to provide consultation to you either.”
Xu Yongchang coughed a few times. He then said, “I always feel very cold after my blood is drawn. And I don’t feel too good to begin with.”
The nurse complied with his request after thinking about it for a while. “Then, I’ll take note of this and take your blood sample tomorrow morning. It might be very early in the morning. Don’t forget to keep your stomach empty.”
After the nurse left, Xu Yongchang clutched his collar tightly and drew a long breath before lying back down on the bed.
“Bro, who’s your connection in this hospital?” The patient who spoke to him just now became curious once again.
Xu Yongchang opened his eyes to glance at the other party before saying, “Do we need to make use of our connections to seek treatment in the hospital?”
The moment Xu Yongchang said that, the other party knew that he did not depend on any connection. His tone immediately became casual. He raised his book again and said with a smile, “But it’ll still be good if we make use of our connections in the hospital, right? People nowadays do this all the time. Even though a lot of people say that there’s no need for that, in truth, in the end, they would still rely on connections to do things.”
“What benefits can you gain by utilizing connections to in the hospital?” Xu Yongchang asked.
“You can cut the queue. Besides, you get to ask the doctors questions that they would otherwise be unwilling to answer. Another thing is that you can get your results immediately for some of the checkups, so you don’t need to wait with bated breath.”
Xu Yongchang chuckled a few times and closed his eyes again.
The other party froze for a moment and pursed his mouth. ‘Another loser.’
…..
Ling Ran brought Yu Yuan and Zuo Cidian with him as he inspected the patients who chose to receive their surgery tomorrow.
As usual, he did not really like to talk, so Yu Yuan did most of the talking with Zuo Cidian chipping in every now and then.
The ward team soon reached Bed 42.
Xu Yongchang was woken up from his nap.
“Your operation is scheduled for tomorrow evening.” Yu Yuan notified the patient as she held Xu Yongchang’s medical record.
When Xu Yongchang heard that, his eyelids twitched. “Wasn’t it supposed to be carried out this evening? Why is it postponed again?”
“Who told you that it was supposed to be carried out this evening?” Yu Yuan answered his question with another question.
Xu Yongchang froze for a moment. When he saw Ling Ran, he quickly pointed at Ling Ran and said, “Doctor Ling, you said that you could arrange for me to receive surgery within a day, right?”
Ling Ran nodded and took the medical record from Yu Yuan while he was at it. He scanned through the medical record very quickly.
“Your blood sample was only taken today when it was almost noon, so the report will only be out in the evening. We had no choice but to reschedule the operation for tomorrow.” Ling Ran quickly came out with an explanation.
Xu Yongchang froze for a moment before flashing an even more dissatisfied expression. “The taking of the blood sample was delayed because I was not feeling well yesterday. You guys are messing up my plans by rescheduling my surgery like this.”
“We need to see the results of the blood test to know why you were feeling ill yesterday. This is so that we know if you’re well-prepared for the surgery…” Yu Yuan tried her best to explain.
Xu Yongchang shook his head nonstop. “I really want the surgery. The pain in my knee is killing me. I want the surgery.”
“We will operate on you. It’s just delayed by one day…”
“I want the surgery today.”
Xu Yongchang’s tone was so firm that Yu Yuan did not know what to say.
“We will take all factors, including your request, into consideration.” Zuo Cidian stood forward and said before grabbing Yu Yuan by the hand and dragging her away from Bed 42.
As expected, Xu Yongchang could not react in time.
When Xu Yongchang saw that the three doctors were leaving, he immediately crawled up and yelled, “Doctor, doctor, it’s extremely hard for me to get sick leaves. I really have no time to waste, and I really don’t want to delay this anymore. Can you please operate on me today?”
Yu Yuan could not help but look at Ling Ran.
Ling Ran thought about it and said, “Then, we will schedule it for tonight.”
“Alright.” Xu Yongchang nodded nonstop.
“Prepare for his surgery,” Ling Ran said as he exited the room and said, “Ask the Medical Laboratory Department to expedite the results and get the report from them before night falls.”
“Alright.”
Yu Yuan turned and called the Medical Laboratory Department. If Yu Yuan were to count her personal connections in Yun Hua Hospital, the Medical Laboratory Department would be one of them.
After Yu Yuan returned to the office, Yu Yuan thought about the patient in Bed 42 again. She could not help but switch on her tablet to look for the patient’s information. She then started reading it.
After she read the first few pages, which were the part of the medical report filled in by the patient, she looked at the patient’s test report.
Yu Yuan simply swept past the first and second page before she fixed her gaze on a photograph of a black fecal sample.
“Ah, it’s black.” As Yu Yuan looked at the fecal sample, all kinds of guesses immediately appeared in her mind.
After she stood up and thought for a moment, Yu Yuan picked up her mobile phone again and gave the Medical Laboratory Department a call. “Hello, this is regarding the patient I mentioned just now, the one in Bed 42 of the Emergency Medical Center. You guys have not started his four classic transfusion-transmissible infections test[1], right? Yes, please hurry up.”
After Yu Yuan hung up the call, she went to the nurses’ station and gave them a few instructions. She then returned to the office.
