Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
“Mom, let’s go over now.”
“Is it time now? Oh, let’s go.” The district mayor’s wife, Cao Lu, sat up. She felt dizzy as she gazed at the white wall and people that filled the room.
Her son, daughter-in-law, daughter, son-in-law, as well as her nephew and his wife, were all here. Besides, her cousin from her maternal home who was close to her family also kept her company all the way.
Although she was surrounded by a lot of people, Cao Lu did not feel at ease.
Synovitis itself was not severe, but her synovitis had been something that had been going on for more than thirty years. She always adopted conservative treatment, and during those times, there were multiple times where the results were not good, and she could not get up. This time, she finally could not heal on her own anymore.
When she thought about the scenario where she might need to lay on the bed for the rest of her life, how could Cao Lu feel at ease?
Regardless of how many people surrounded her and how convenient the wheelchair was, walking on her own was still the most comfortable. Besides, the room was full of people, and there were even more people who could not squeeze in. But Cao Lu knew that once her husband stepped down from his position as district mayor, it would not be easy for her daughter and son to come frequently.
“Aunt, we worry about you. We have Academician Zhu helping us now, right? If he takes care of you, you’ll be able to use your legs with ease after resting for a few days.” Her nephew’s wife had a sweet mouth, and she always liked sweet-talking, so she was considered a descendent whom Cao Lu rather liked.
But today, Cao Lu’s mood could not become any better no matter what she said. She only said gloomily, “Academician Zhu is very good at treatment, but it’s a fact that I have fallen sick. Sigh… Tell me why it just had to happen to my kneecap? It doesn’t matter to me if I have one arm less.”
“Mom, if worse comes to worst, we can have Academician Zhu perform surgery for you, after that, we can go back and rest for a few months, and you will be recovered.” Her son always agreed on performing surgery, but Cao Lu felt scared.
This time, Cao Lu stopped being stubborn. “If I recover, it’ll be good.”
They came all the way to the Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Center in Shanghai to enquire about the surgery, or else, why would Cao Lu need to get out of Changxi Province? If she were in the province, especially in Yun Hua, it would be extremely easy for her to get an expert if she had anything inconveniencing her.
But this time, she would not have been able to not contact Academician Zhu if the Water Conservancy Bureau did not help her. To be honest, Cao Lu looked forward to this.
This was how a famous doctor should act. If he treated every patient who came to him, how many patients would he have to treat in a year? If he could not even let down a district mayor of Cangping District because he did not want to embarrass him, then as the district mayor’s wife of Cangping District, Cao Lu did not believe in his capabilities.
Academician Zhu quietly sat in the treatment room while he held a book and read in a relaxed manner.
In truth, Academician Zhu was really busy. He went around the country and even all around the world throughout the year, and he even went back and forth between the hospital, school, and government body every day. He also needed to keep the senses in his hands active for surgery, guide the students, read up research papers, perform experiments, and write up research papers…
However, Academician Zhu actually had free time between his heavy workload.
Just like now. He could take his time to read a book while he was waiting for a patient.
He was already someone in his seventies. Although he was very healthy and could still perform surgeries in the operating theater, it was still impossible for him to walk quickly and perform surgeries one after another like a young man.
What Academician Zhu did was to reduce the number while increasing the quality of his surgeries.
For example, he only performed around 100 surgeries in a year, and that included guided surgeries. He also controlled the number of patients he consulted strictly.
However, Academician Zhu did try his best to increase his quality.
For example, even though he had a lot of work to do now, Academician Zhu would be willing to wait for the patients in the consultation room than let his patients wait for him.
Only those young doctors in their forties and fifties would think that cutting down on treatment time for each individual patient so that they could treat more patients was the correct way to do so.
When he got older, he knew cutting down on the individual consultation time would bring himself into more trouble, make him offend more people, and affect doctor-patient relationship.
No patient would care about how many patients you treated per day or how many extra patients you consulted over your quota on that day. Even if the patient himself benefited from the consultation, he would not really care about the number of patients the doctor treated.
The patients only knew one thing for sure, if you were hasty in your treatment and reduced their consultation time, increased their waiting time, and lowered the chances for them to be treated…
Cao Lu sat in a wheelchair and was pushed in by her son.
“Coming.” Academician Zhu put down the book in his hand when he heard the door opening.
“Academician Zhu.” Cao Lu immediately greeted.
Her son, her attending physician who accompanied her, and the resident doctor in charge of her stood behind her.
A ward round by a normal chief physician and the treatment by Academician Zhu were obviously two different concepts.
Academician Zhu did not care about the doctors, but he behaved cordially to Cao Lu. He patted the examining table in front of him and said, “Sit up here. Can you get up by yourself?”
Cao Lu stood straight with difficulty. At last, she lay on the examining table with help from her son.
At this moment, the two doctors who followed behind her put all types of scans into the lightbox.
With the current system in the hospital, all types of scans could be transferred between hospitals.
The system in the Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Center was the most expensive one, and the effect was astounding.
However, for an old doctor like Academician Zhu, he still preferred looking at scans in the traditional manner. The doctors who worked under him could only follow his instructions and prepare the lightbox as well as physical scans for him.
“You’ve performed an MRI scan, CT scan, and X-ray on her… Hmm, let me do a simple check first.” Academician Zhu had already glanced through Cao Lu’s medical images. Now, he glanced through them again and started a physical examination.
Cao Lu looked at Academician Zhu nervously.
She had been ill for so many years, and she read and understood much related information. Cao Lu had always wanted to seek treatment from Academician Zhu since a few years ago, but she failed to do so.
This time around, she had put all her hope on Academician Zhu.
“You’ve only received conservative treatment over the past few years?” Academician Zhu did not focus on the patient’s condition.
The illness was clear, and the treatment plan had also been set in stone, but the patient’s attitude was the decisive point.
“I’ve received different treatments. I tried Western medicine, traditional Chinese Medicine, injections, and taking medicine.” Cao Lu explained uneasily, “My knee wasn’t in that much pain in the past. With some medicine, it’s fine for me to walk for a distance. Later, it became worse, and then, I let the driver pick me up, and I tried to get more rest…The main issue now is that my knees are too painful, so much so that I almost cannot take care of myself.”
“Okay. So, what do you think now?”
“Will conservative treatment work?” Cao Lu asked tentatively.
Academician Zhu smiled. “It’s hard to tell. The dose must be increased, and the side effect will be greater. The effect might not be good.”
“How about going through surgery? Will I become better?”
“It will be impossible for you to recover to the point where you were when you were young. But it’ll be easier for us to help you get to the point where you can walk on a daily basis and take care of myself.”
“But I have heard that the knee joint will still be useless after a few years.”
“Maybe.” Academician Zhu nodded, smiled, and said, “But judging from your current situation, the motor ability in your knees are really bad now. So anyhow, you will still benefit a lot from the surgery.”
Cao Lu hesitated.
Her son could not help but said, “Mom, why are you still worrying since Academician Zhu is here?”
Cao Lu had been blinded by her own worry, but at that moment, she snapped out if. She quickly said, “Academician Zhu, I’m sorry. I’m just a bit scared about the surgery. But if you think that I should truly go through the surgery, I will just do it.”
Academician Zhu nodded. “Synovitis is quite simple, so it can be performed using arthroscopy. The wound is smaller and the recovery is faster.”
“Then… Academician Zhu, can you perform it for me?”
“I can do that too.” Academician Zhu stopped for a while before he asked, “But why didn’t you ask Ling Ran for surgery? He does a better job than me in regards to arthroscopy.”
Since the birth of the Zhu-Ling Achilles Repair Technique, Academician Zhu did not hesitate to praise Ling Ran.
He was almost seventy. It would be pointless for him to boast about his surgical skills anymore. Compared to it, Academician Zhu was more willing to praise Ling Ran.
And Ling Ran was worthy to be praised and elevated to a higher status.
Cao Lu and her son were slightly stunned. They said doubtfully, “Doctor Ling seems to be quite young.”
“Performing surgery is not just based on experience, but also talent and intelligence. Liu Weichen was my patient previously. After setting up the surgery plan, the surgery was performed by Ling Ran.” Academician Zhu smiled and said, “So, you can go and get more of an understanding about the situation first. If you really want me to perform it for you, I will do it. If you have any other plans, we will talk again, is that okay?”
