Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
It was early in the morning.
The sky started to become bright.
Cheers could be heard constantly from the courtyard of Guozheng Charity Hospital. Some people shouted loudly in Portuguese and English, while laughter and screaming were also heard.
Ling Ran rubbed his eyes while walking out of the waiting room. Then, he took a look at the weather outside and could not help but feel relieved.
The rain stopped.
“I heard that the southern region is still raining, but there should be a short period where there is no rain.” A Chinese girl who came from Cuba Town was sitting in the corridor. When she saw Ling Ran coming out, she quickly stood up and told him about the situation as she observed Ling Ran’s facial expression.
Ling Ran nodded and asked, “Will there be any helicopters coming over?”
“I heard that we will need at least two hours of no rain before the helicopter can come, so the earliest will be tomorrow,” the girl quickly answered before she asked, “Doctor Ling, do you want to have your breakfast? You can eat in the restaurant, but if you want to, we can also deliver your meal here.”
Ling Ran touched his tummy; he was slightly hungry. Unlike the others who rested very early at night, even if Ling Ran did not have surgery at night, he was still willing to take an Energy Serum and quietly read a book or do something else.
A week was enough for him to know a little bit about anesthesiology. This alone allowed him to surpass most surgeons.
However, this habit also made Ling Ran have his breakfast very early, and he would eat a lot.
“I’ll eat on the balcony.” Ling Ran had not seen the sun for a few days, so he was quite happy when he saw the sun.
“Sure.” She did not ask anything else, but just spoke into the walkie talkie for a while. Then, some people ran up to set things up on the balcony.
Soon, when Tian Qi came up to the floor, a small square table with eight dishes, one sauce, and two bowls of soup were placed there.
Ling Ran and Tian Qi sat across each other. They looked at the sun beside them, and they both felt good.
“It’s still better when the sun is around.” Tian Qi put on a blue hat and wore a tailor-made dress. She looked a little mischievous and elegant.
Ling Ran still wore a rather crude-looking scrub. He naturally spread fruit jam on the bread. Even though the passage in Cuba Town was opened, only trucks can somewhat pass through it, so the food in the hospital was not that much better.
A breakfast with eight dishes almost covered most of the types of food.
Ling Ran passed a slice of bread with well-spread jam to Tian Qi and said, “If helicopters come tomorrow, you can go back first. Three seriously wounded patients need to undergo surgery as soon as possible, but the helicopter can still be fitted with a few more people.”
Tian Qi took the slice of bread, smiled sweetly, and said, “I’m not in a hurry to go back. The hospital is very safe, and the resources here are also sufficient. In fact, it’s not very safe for the helicopter if it needs to go back and forth during the period where there is no rain.”
Her reason was very sufficient. Tian Qi also did not try to convince Ling Ran to let her stay.
There were at least one hundred patients in Guozheng Charity Hospital now. Their injuries varied in degrees of severity, but they could not completely leave Ling Ran. Meanwhile, just as Tian Qi mentioned, coming back and forth with the helicopter was not completely safe.
Flight during the period with no rain was in itself a risk. It was not very dangerous, but there were still risks involved. If they were not in a hurry to leave, they should just stay for a few days more and wait for the storm to stop. At that time, even if the land transportation was still not convenient, taking the helicopter to come back and forth was still safer and more comfortable.
Guozheng Charity Hospital had taken in consideration of storms and deluge when it was first designed. The location did not face the risk of mudflows, and it was just slightly inconvenient for them to carry out their daily activities if they stayed here.
Ling Ran did not think too much about it. He just nodded and said, “Then, just stay in the hospital and contact those you need through the satellite phone.”
“Okay.” Tian Qi nodded repeatedly. She then bit down gently on the slice of bread with fruit jam and smiled with satisfaction.
Ling Ran continued to spread fruit jam on a slice of bread for himself. The method he used was similar to him spreading bio-gel after a hepatectomy. He could easily check whether it was even as well, and it was simple and brought him great comfort.
His only regret was that bread covered in fruit jam did not taste good enough.
..…
In the afternoon, the people who stayed in the hospital and Cuba Town started to discuss about who should leave first. The atmosphere during the discussion was not very tense. After all, the carrying capacity of a helicopter was limited, and they had few helicopters, so most of the people could only leave after the roads on land were opened.
For the residents of Cuba Town who were made to stay here, they would still be homeless even if they left with the helicopter, so they would just wait for the rain to stop.
It was different for Naldo, who had three toes amputated and had his hemorrhoid rupture. He shouted in pain in the ward, and when he saw Ling Ran coming for a ward round, he screeched even more, “I can’t make it anymore, hurry up and send me to Rio de Janeiro…”
“If your emotions are not stable, it’ll be very easy for your toes to go through necrosis.” Ling Ran first reminded him of this before he came forward to perform a physical examination.
In just a few days, the number of physical examinations that Ling Ran performed reached the number he performed in the previous month.
When he was in Yun Hua Hospital or performed freelance surgeries in other hospitals, if the patient required an examination in the ward, they would get the instruments like ECG monitor to help them, and they did not even need to consider problems like electricity supply.
However, Guozheng Charity Hospital was in the midst of a flood, and it was only natural that it did not have such facilities.
Things including the measuring of blood pressure were done by the medical staff, and the number of medical staff in Guozheng Charity Hospital was much smaller compared to Yun Hua Hospital.
There were many times where Ling Ran needed to perform a physical examination before he could judge the patient’s condition.
Naldo was eager to get down the bed when he shouted, but when Ling Ran checked him, he instantly became quiet as he was also worried that his body will suffer through necrosis.
After Ling Ran performed a simple physical examination, Naldo then shouted again, “I want to go to Rio de Janeiro…”
“If you queue up now, you’ll probably wait until the day after tomorrow before you can go.” Ling Ran did not oppose it.
While Selena translated, she also helped explain the situation to Naldo, “There’s only one helicopter coming back and forth today. There will be two helicopters tomorrow, but we’re not sure if they can make two rounds or not.”
“Two helicopters, and it’s still not my turn?” Naldo shouted.
“Your toes have already been connected, so now you only have the problem with your hemorrhoid. You’re queued at around thirty.” Ling Ran reported the order to him in a straightforward manner.
Naldo felt like he was sitting on a cactus plant. He raised his head and looked at Ling Ran. “I’m only ranked at around thirty with this condition? What should I do to make it to the front?”
“You’ll need two more finger amputations or an perform orchiectomy.” Ling Ran directly answered Naldo’s question.
Naldo was furious, “I’m in so much pain, and I still can’t go yet?”
Ling Ran nodded. “Even if you leave Guozheng Charity Hospital, when you reach Rio de Janeiro, you will still be in pain.”
“I can undergo surgery when I reach Rio de Janeiro!” Naldo almost went crazy.
Ling Ran calmly said, “You can still get surgery in Guozheng Charity Hospital.”
Even though Ling Ran did not want to perform hemorrhoid surgery for Naldo, he would also not mind it if the patient requested it. After all, it was still a surgery. Although there was slight discrimination against it because of its lack of class, he could not regard it with too much discrimination.
Naldo wanted to say he could persevere through the pain, but the ‘goose egg’ at the bottom part of his body did not agree to it.
“Perform the surgery for me, please. I can’t wait for three days.” Naldo knew that even if he had a hemorrhoid, he could not just get his surgery done because he wanted it when he reached Rio de Janeiro.
When he reached a place where he could get surgery, the Emergency Department will be the only place that will allow him to jump queue if he were in a life or death situation. Aside from that one department, the patients could only keep queuing up for surgery.
The medical system in Brazil implemented the westerners’ doctor cultivation system, which meant doctors were rare resources. To cover up for the shortage of doctors, Brazil needed to spend money to “buy” the favor of about twenty thousand Cuban doctors to help them every year.
For a reporter like Naldo, he could not afford a private doctor, so when he got to a big city, he could only wait in pain. Therefore, he should just get his surgery done here.
However, after the hemorrhoid surgery, he might not be able to have the chance to loiter around and take pictures in Guozheng Charity Hospital.
Naldo stared at the white ceiling, and his desire to move up his career seemed to change like the blood in his stool.
