Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
“The patient has a typical intrahepatic bile duct structure. After discovering the presence of gallstones in the bile duct, the patient took medicine inconsistently. Then, he went out to work, and he just ate painkillers to solve the problem.” After the patient was anesthetized, Professor Huang briefly introduced the patient’s background to Ling Ran.
This was how he always did it.
Although Professor Huang was an expert specializing in trauma care, that was his path for a professional title and a position in a hospital. Deep down, he was still doing work as a traditional Chinese practitioner.
The patient before was actually a patient he had treated when Professor Huang was young. But the patient’s condition kept recurring, and in the end, it reached a state where he had to remove the liver lobe.
Professor Huang sighed and said, “Based on the preoperative examination, the patient’s left lobe has already atrophied. We’re not sure if it has affected the liver segment.”
Ling Ran heard Professor Huang’s tone. Ling Ran did not immediately start the surgery like how he usually did. Instead, he waved at Scrub Nurse Wang Jia who was by his side before he turned around and said, “Professor Huang, it’s not your fault if the patient has stopped the treatment.”
“I know… I’m just being slightly sentimental.” Professor Huang chuckled and said, “Honestly speaking, I really go way back with this patient.”
Ling Ran cooperated and hummed to show his acknowledgment.
He did not like to comfort other people, but on the operating table, he hoped all the members in his surgery group could have stabler emotions.
Ling Ran would pay more attention to doctors like Professor Huang whom he was not very familiar with.
As the number of surgeries that Ling Ran participated in increased and as he racked up his experience in freelance surgeries, he paid more attention to such situations.
To Ling Ran, the accidents on the operating table were mostly caused by the doctors. The patient just lay on the bed. If the preoperative checking was sufficient, while accidents might still happen, it would not happen very often.
On the other hand, the doctors who stood by the operating table could encounter accidents due to many reasons. Either their hands slipped, they were too tired, hungry, had hangovers, was divorced the day before yesterday, their son came out as gay, the cat litter was finished, their favourite pharmaceutical sales representative slept with other people, or other such problems. These seemed to be common small problems encountered by normal people, but humans would still be affected no matter what.
Ling Ran was not entirely about Professor Huang’s condition, but he would still like to spend a few minutes before the surgery to chat with him and reduce his stress.
Professor Huang did not want to start the surgery immediately. When he saw that the chief surgeon was willing to chat, he looked at Ling Ran and spoke with a reminiscing tone, “Speaking of which, I was still an attending physician when I first treated this patient. At that time, he said something that had left a deep impression in me.”
“Hmm?” Ling Ran’s tone was very perfunctory.
Since Ling Ran was good looking, Professor Huang continued and said, “At that time, this patient did not trust me. I tried to convince him to receive surgical treatment, but he wasn’t willing to listen, and he insisted on finding the director.”
“Oh?”
“Of course, the director transferred him back to me. I convinced him to go for surgical treatment, but he still refused and insisted on looking for the director. Then, he went for the treatment, caused trouble, caused even more trouble, and came for treatment again. After that, he always despised me as an attending physician, and later, he went to work. We haven’t met each other for ten years, but when I saw him, I can still immediately recognize him.” Professor Huang sounded as if he missed those good old days and was even a little proud.
Ling Ran suddenly got a bit excited. “So, why did he go to you again?”
“Because I’m already a director,” Professor Huang replied naturally.
Ling Ran understood and said, “He’s a patient who still acts the same way, I see. Wang Jia, pass the scalpel to Director Huang, let him make the first incision.”
Professor Huang was stunned and laughed. “Okay, I’ll finish what I started. Thank you so much.”
As he spoke, Professor Huang took the scalpel and cut along the drawn line.
After the incision, Professor Huang’s emotions became stable. He put away the scalpel, and he silently took a step back, giving Ling Ran command of the operating table.
Similarly, Ling Ran accepted it without saying anything. After opening up the abdomen, he confirmed the location of the bile duct in the liver step by step without showing off his skill or causing any problems.
Professor Huang also remained silent as he worked as an assistant.
When it came to surgeries, Professor Huang focused on trauma care. As he grew older and his interests changed, he spent more time on diagnostics.
However, there were only a few doctors who specialized in diagnostics. The University of Traditional Chinese Medicine did not have the ability to equip Professor Huang with surgeons and internists in the related field. His level was not up to standard too.
Therefore, most of the time, Professor Huang looked for suitable doctors and hospitals himself.
In this regard, Professor Huang was like a high class family doctor in foreign countries who could handle emergency wounds while making reasonable diagnoses. Then, he would transfer the patient to specialists. The difference was, during this process, he used his personal actions and personal relationship network to make connections.
Li Xiaoning and her husband and her family of doctors were once part of Professor Huang’s personal relationship network. Now, Ling Ran was also beginning to be included in this relationship network.
If Ling Ran’s surgical skills were good and stable, Professor Huang will still appreciate this kind of surgeon.
From Professor Huang’s perspective, the surgeons that he collaborated with also needed to be changed regularly too.
For example, the two surgeons in the Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery that he used to work with was now fifty-six years old and fifty-four years old respectively. Their surgical volume decreased by the year. On average, it was considered good if they could perform around ten cases per month. They also participated in an increasing number of activities, which made it even more difficult to use them.
As for the other three middle-aged doctors in the backup list, their level and Ling Ran’s… No, they were totally not comparable to Ling Ran.
Professor Huang watched Ling Ran flip his hands, and at the next second, the liver was already in his hands. His own liver could not help but tremble for a while.
Ling Ran’s movements were incredibly gentle. But during the incision, his cuts were firm…
As Professor Huang helped in the operation, he also felt tense. That kind of feeling was like walking on a wall with a width of 3.28 feet. If he walked on a flat surface, this width would not be any problem. But if he walked on a wall that was between 3.28 feet to 6.56 feet tall, his legs would subconsciously tremble.
At least, Ling Ran performed at a high speed, and he completed the surgery after a short while, which saved Professor Huang from being nervous.
“Be careful with the aspiration.” Ling Ran reminded Professor Huang. Surgeries like these were still far off from reaching the level of bloodless surgical fields.
“Okay,” Professor Huang replied. Then, he laughed and said, “Doctor Ling, your operating theater is really quiet.”
“You can talk to each other.” Ling Ran exercised his neck and looked at the abdomen. Then, he casually said, “Just don’t get too excited.”
“Okay. Let me start a topic.” Professor Huang suddenly felt nervous. He knew he could not put his expectations on the young Ma Yanlin. He thought about it and said, “How about this? Let me talk about this patient. He can be considered as a legend. He was one of the first to get 10,000 RMB!”
“By that, do you mean he has 10,000 RMB in his house?” Wang Jia asked curiously.
“It’s more than that,” Professor Huang said, “The real deal are people who earn 10,000 RMB a year. At that time, our salary was only a few hundred RMB, and the patient already had a salary that was equivalent to ten years our salary. He’s good, right?”
“Then, he must be at an advantage when it comes to buying houses.” Ma Yanlin pulled the retractor hard. He said, “There are so many rich people nowadays.”
“He’s not rich.” Professor Huang laughed and said, “I asked him before, he earns around 10,000 RMB nowadays too.”
“Really?” Ma Yanlin was surprised and tightened the retractor.
“In his words, every year, he only yearns 10,000 RMB.” Professor Huang shook his head, “It’s quite rare, actually. If he was in a better financial condition, even if his symptoms did not get any better, he would at least not have reached this stage.”
“So, did he really get only 10,000 RMB even if he went to work?”
“He couldn’t get his salary, was cheated, lost his wallet, and was robbed. If you don’t treat him now, then you will probably be performing retraction on a ghost now.”
Ma Yanlin trembled. “From what you’ve said, it’s really scary…”
“No problem. If the surgery is successful, he can become a better man. If it fails… there is nothing else we can say,” Professor Huang said while looking at Ling Ran.
“How about his family? Do they have a bad financial situation as well?” Ling Ran broke the silence and asked.
“They’re not any better. The family came to me because they wished to save up on the postoperative medicine cost and are trying to claim medical insurance for everything.” Professor Huang sighed and said, “Now, it’s not easy for some people to live.”
“If the patient is having financial difficulties, he could stay fewer days in the ICU,” Ling Ran said and continued to perform the surgery quietly.
Professor Huang laughed when he heard this. If the surgery was good enough, it was definitely natural that the period of time for the patient staying in the ICU to be reduced. If the cost on this side was reduced, it could reduce the patient’s burden greatly.
However, it was not something that could easily be controlled by the doctor.
