Ling Ran could not wait for the elevator, so he ran down the stairs quickly through the fire exit.
Although he had been performing surgeries for almost a year, the temptation provided by appendectomies was still present to him.
In fact, for surgeons, appendectomies were practically a sign and a good omen.
If surgeries were a sign of modern medicine, the appearance of fully-developed appendectomies represented the establishment of modern scientific surgery. Meanwhile, the development of appendectomy was the result of the advancements made by researches in the field of modern scientific surgery.
Many of the interns’ first surgery were appendectomies on acute appendicitis.
Ling Ran had not performed any appendectomies before. Instead, he started off with orthopedic surgeries. In truth, this development threw him slightly off-course on the road to become a surgeon.
Of course, he was still on the path. This was just like how normal children learned how to count from one to ten while the child who got off track learned to count from ten thousand to nine hundred thousand.
At the emergency room, two young people snuggled with each other and whispered to each other. If one did not look at them closely, they would have thought the two were kissing.
A few medical staff from the Emergency Department who were single looked at them with jealousy, to the extent that they would rather suffer the pain from the appendicitis than look at them.
“Are they the two patients?” Ling Ran arrived behind Doctor Zhou without any sound. He saw the two individuals laying side by side on the hospital bed and kept whispering to each other without bothering about the people around them.
Doctor Zhou was so startled he yelped. He patted his chest, “Doctors fall to sudden death far too easily, you know? Please pay some attention to the health of my heart, okay?”
“Is your heart not good?” Ling Ran looked at Doctor Zhou’s chest curiously and pondered. He felt that with his current progress, he could have the chance to learn the skills related to the heart before Doctor Zhou encountered a heart attack. At that time, maybe he could even have a chance to open up Doctor Zhou’s chest.
“Your gaze is a little fierce, you know?” Doctor Zhou felt fear as he watched Ling Ran’s expression. He quickly said, “The ones suffering from appendicitis are the couple who are going full-ham on PDA right there.”
Ling Ran nodded. “Are they receiving on the drip now? They should be sent straight to the operating theater, right?”
Doctor Zhou chuckled and said, “They’re satisfied as long as they have each other. This is what we call high-tier show offs.”
While he spoke, Doctor Zhou increased his volume and said, “Hello, have the both of you finished your discussion? Doctor Ling is here.”
The two young people increased their voices too.
“You do the surgery first.”
“No, you do it first.”
“You do it first, I’ll do it after you.”
“No, I’ll do it after you finish!”
The discussion between these two people agitated the surrounding doctors so much that they shuddered.
“Are they still discussing who will go first?”
“We have two operating theaters, right?”
“They’re doing this on purpose, right?”
Doctor Zhou waved at Ling Ran and said, “This is the situation right now. Both of them are still arguing about who will do the surgery first. They haven’t signed their informed consent forms yet.”
“Which is more severe?” Ling Ran asked.
“Should be the girl.” Doctor Zhou looked at that girl who looked calmer, and said, “This woman can endure pain. Her appendix must be removed. For the man, theoretically, he can still receive conservative treatment.”
Ling Ran frowned and asked reluctantly, “Do you want to take the other surgery? Then, we can perform both surgeries at the same time.”
“I told them. They want the surgery to be performed by the same doctor.” Doctor Zhou paused for a moment before he said, “Do you want to know the reason?”
“What is it?”
“They think that the incision and sutures carried out by the same doctor will be similar. So, they want to get the same doctor to perform the appendectomy in order to get a ‘couple-incision.’” Doctor Zhou felt disgusted as he spoke.
Ling Ran breathed a sigh in relief, “I get it. Then I’ll perform the surgeries. I’ll promise to give them an identical incision.”
After he said that, Ling Ran moved forward and said, “Hi, I’m Ling Ran. I’ll be performing surgeries on the both of you. Allow me to do a physical examination on both of you first.”
Ling Ran separated the young couple and physically examined them. He also did the rebound tenderness[1] test at the McBurney point[2]. He was quickly relieved.
When medical imaging was not available, when regional pain and rebound tenderness could be determined at the McBurney point, doctors could then be certain that the patient had appendicitis.
Ling Ran continued the physical examination to ensure there were no other symptoms that would link them to associated illnesses linked to appendicitis. At the same time, he also asked them this question. “Do you want to have a small incision or laparoscopy?”
Ling Ran had Master Level Appendectomy. As a skill obtained from a Basic Treasure Chest, the scope of the skill was limited. So, it would only be effective on appendicitis.
However, even if it was just appendectomy, Ling Ran had a very creative mind that made up multiple plans at the same time.
Of course, some plans such as appendectomies with large incisions were too old-fashioned, and there was no longer any meaning to use them. Now, basically no one who would choose to use those methods.
The boy looked at the girl and said, “You choose it.”
“You choose it.”
“I’ll let you choose this time. I’m a man, I don’t mind any type of incision.”
“I…” The girl hesitated for a moment before she asked, “What’s the difference?”
“Let me explain.” Doctor Zhou knew that Ling Ran did not like to communicate with patients directly. He came forward and said, “Ling Ran, you can go and get ready first.”
Regardless of whether it was small incisions or laparoscopies, they were all considered as minor surgeries for a hospital like Yun Hua Hospital. There was no need for any preoperative guidance for the surgeons before the surgery.
Ling Ran asked, “Are you entering the operating theater with me?”
“Yes. I have to go in.” Doctor Zhou sighed and explained to the two patients on the differences in the modes of surgery.
Ling Ran felt a little more secure.
Although he had obtained the skill for appendectomies, he had never used it before. Also, when compared to surgeries involving the four limbs, the risks in abdominal surgeries were much greater.
Ling Ran only knew about appendectomies in theory, so he really needed a more experienced doctor to guide him throughout the surgery.
Despite the fact that Doctor Zhou was very lazy, he was still quite good when it came to emergency treatment.
Ling Ran turned back to the Operating Area, showered, changed his attire, and put on scrubs.
Then, he entered back to the operating theater and waited patiently. A female patient was wheeled in.
“Small incision. The lady goes first,” Doctor Zhou said to Ling Ran, and he looked at the list in his hand. He asked, “Your name?”
“Mei Qiaoqing.” The girl cradled her abdomen and appeared to be somewhat in pain.
“Yup,” Doctor Zhou replied and looked at Ling Ran.
“Put her under.” Ling Ran had his hands held high while he waited by the side.
The anesthetist used the routinely used epidural anesthesia, or what was commonly known as spinal anesthesia.
Meanwhile, with curiosity brimming in his heart, Ling Ran watched Doctor Zhou and the nurses finish the draping.
After two minutes, Ling Ran studied the exposed McBurney point.
If the appendix was considered a useless clump of tissue in the human body, then in the field of modern medicine, appendicitis would be the harbor for departure and a bridge connecting surgeons to a new world. It was the surgery that would open the gates of the world of surgery to them.
“Scalpel.” Ling Ran voice was firm and clear.
*Slap.*
The sound of the scalpel placed in his hand was a bit louder than usual. It was because the scrub nurse was a bit nervous.
Ling Ran did not even frown. The scalpel was pushed into skin with the Fiddle Bow Hold, and Ling Ran cut along the line over the McBurney point on the abdomen.
Doctor Zhou had always been confident in Ling Ran, and when he saw this, he became even more at ease. He smiled and started a new conversation, “Miss, is that your boyfriend who is waiting for you outside?”
“Yes…” The voice of the patient was weak.
“Is this your first time receiving an incision?”
“Yes…”
“No worries. If you need to give birth later on, you may need Caesarean section anytime. With this experience, it’ll be easier next time for you.”
The patient answered with silence.
Doctor Zhou knew that Ling Ran did not chat a lot, so he could only chat with the patient, “You had buffet yesterday? What did you eat?”
The patient lay on the operating table and did not understand the reason the doctor asked this. She replied laboriously, “We ate greasyback shrimp, scallops, abalone, and salmon sashimi.”
“You even ate sashimi? The buffet that you ate must be expensive.”
“299 RMB per person.” The girl nodded while feeling her heart clench in pain for the amount of money she used.
“299 RMB? Then you couldn’t have just eaten so little, right?”
“I also had crayfish, roast beef, roast pork chops, and fried chicken.”
“Anything else?”
“Sea urchins, raw oysters, crabs, big red prawns, and we also drank beer…” The girl slowly got used to reciting her list and started to recall what she ate in a voice as if she was chanting, “Roasted ox tongue, cooked edamame, mantis shrimp, lotus slice, custard, tofu, Enoki mushrooms, onion rings, clams, river snails, chocolate cake, butter cake…”
Doctor Zhou listened she recited her list for two minutes. He sighed and said, “It’s worth it.”
“Huh?” The girl did not hear him the first time.
Doctor Zhou coughed and asked, “Which restaurant is it?”
