“How’s the situation now?” Captain Chu displayed what little remained of his lovely personality when he was a child. He tried to act cute by squeezing his eyes together, as though he was trying to get rid of the goop in his eyes.
Department Director Huo sighed. “Captain Chu, didn’t we come to an agreement just now? It’s already against the rules for you to stay here and watch the surgery. If you still want to talk, it will not be suitable to the situation.”
“Just one last sentence.” Captain Chu was so anxious that his eyes almost became red.
“That’s why I said that other than being angry and anxious, the patients’ family members will serve no other purpose when they watch a doctor’s surgery?” Huo Congjun angrily scolded Captain Chu before he said, “Now, we’re watching the left edge of the hepatoduodenal ligament, and soon, we will cut the hepatogastric ligament.”
“What happens after you cut it?”
Huo Congjun said in resignation, “After we cut it, we can look for the common hepatic artery. Anyway, now, we are at the stage where we sever the connection between the stomach and liver, understand?”
“No…” Captain Chu was not in a good mood. “If I understood, why would I ask you?”
“Anyway, now we have to cut the connection between the stomach and liver. Then, we can remove the stomach.”
“Didn’t you say that you would cut only a portion of his stomach?” Captain Chu became worked up.
Huo Congjun shook his head. “We’re just removing a portion of the stomach.”
“But you just said that the surgeon will be removing the stomach.”
“It’s just a slip of the tongue.”
Captain Chu looked at Huo Congjun skeptically before he said, “If you want to remove the whole stomach, let’s stop with the surgery.”
“What? Why?” The surgeon by the side could not bear to listen to the conversation anymore.
Huo Congjun waved his hand and stopped the surgeon from speaking. He said, “Catch the main point. He has no right to decide how much of the stomach we cut and whether we want to remove it or not.”
Once he finished his words, Huo Congjun turned his head around. He did not want to bother himself with this blockhead.
Captain Chu could not accept the answer and said, “What do you mean, I can’t? I’m his immediate superior, so why can’t I decide the matter? Before Old Xu went in, he asked me to take a look for him. Don’t you doctors know how torturous total gastrectomy is? You can’t perform it, no way…”
“If no surgery means death, what would you choose?” The anesthetist by the side was angry.
Huo Congjun waved his hand again. “Please catch the main point, okay? It has nothing to do with him whether we want to perform the surgery and how much of the stomach we remove. Captain Chu, do you have the full power of attorney?”
Captain Chu was stunned a little. Then, he shook his head and said, “I don’t need that thing. I can decide.”
“Got it.” Huo Congjun confirmed his status as a blockhead again, and he was too lazy to make any further explanations.
Captain Chu had no choice but to be quiet.
A few minutes later, Captain Chu opened his mouth again. This time, he spoke slowly, “Um… Old doctor, excuse me. I was a little short-tempered earlier. Just do whatever you should do. I just want a good outcome, but I just did not know how to make it a good outcome.”
As he spoke, he also sighed heavily, and he moved to the chair behind him as if he glided there.
The young doctor who was originally sitting on the chair could only give up his seat.
Huo Congjun had been scolding people for a long time, so he also knew how to balance his words between scolding and comforting someone. Regardless of whether he was sincere or not when he admitted to his mistake, it was already not easy for him to say this in front of so many people. Huo Congjun then lowered his voice and said, “It’s just like what you said, it’s useless to blow your temper over these things. And from our perspective, there’s no need to hurry. The surgery is going smoothly, so you don’t need to be anxious, right?”
Captain Chu silently nodded.
“Do you know what surgery Doctor Ling performs most nowadays?” Huo Congjun explained from another perspective.
Captain Chu shook his head.
“Hepatectomy, and it’s several times more difficult than this surgery.” Huo Congjun did not care if there were still a few doctors from the General Surgery Department in front of him. Perhaps it was precisely because there were other doctors from the General Surgery Department that Huo Congjun had all the more reason to say this. “Look, the most difficult part for the surgery today is to cut off the part connecting the stomach and the liver before performing lymphadenectomy. But do you know how Ling Ran usually performs hepatectomy? He needs to cut off the connection between the liver and most of the other organs. Therefore, it’s not a mistake to say that the most complex organ in the abdominal cavity is the liver, yes?”
When he said the last phrase, Huo Congjun thought that it would still be for the best to provoke the director of the General Surgery Department.
Their relationship was actually good after all these years of working together. After all, they usually worked together to beat up other people. However, when they argued against each other, they would not be courteous to each other at all.
The director of the General Surgery Department was also used to it, so he replied just as rudely, “Don’t miss the pancreas.”
Huo Congjun then chuckled.
Captain Chu looked at them, and he did not want to ask any further questions.
The operating theater at the lower floor was still quiet and operated in an orderly manner.
Compared to the doctors in the visitation room at the upper floor, the doctors in the operating theater were even more focused and behaved more cordially.
For Ouyang Kan, the stomach cancer specialist, if he had been a little arrogant in the beginning because of his experience serving as his protective cover to make sure that he could provide cover for Ling Ran during the stomach cancer surgery, after being tortured for more than an hour, that protective cover had already been torn apart.
This was especially so when they approached the liver, Ouyang Kan’s arrogance was completely extinguished, and he stood aloof to all worldly desires now.
Regardless of whether the doctors of the General Surgery Department wanted to admit or not, once any surgery in the abdominal cavity involved the liver, the difficulty level would be increased by leaps and bounds. If stomach cancer surgery under laparoscopes was not good to work with because of the rich blood supply in the stomach, then liver cancer surgeries were even harder, because their blood supply was even greater.
For average doctors, if they did not undergo professional training, then when they encountered the liver, the first thing that came up to their minds would be to avoid it as much as possible.
However, how could abdominal surgeries avoid the liver?
When Ouyang Kan performed stomach cancer surgery, even if it was open abdominal surgery, he would pay extra attention to the liver. He even had some experiences unique to himself when it came to avoiding the liver, and he would earnestly execute those methods to avoid the liver.
However, Ouyang Kan did not see Ling Ran avoiding or carefully handling the liver in his maneuvers.
Ling Ran just performed according to the standard operating procedure. He solved whatever problem that appeared and handled the entire operation with brute strength.
Ouyang Kan wanted to say something at the beginning, but after he hesitated for a few minutes, he did not have the intention to talk anymore.
Ling Ran, who had performed thousands of liver surgeries, possessed his own effective strategy in handling the liver, and in this strategy, whatever that Ouyang Kan thought that was stupid might be the better or safer choice Ling Ran discovered after polished his skills repeatedly.
Naturally, it could possibly be a stupid choice, but considering Ling Ran’s great records and experience, as well as Ling Ran’s familiarity towards the liver, Ouyang Kan dared not recklessly point out what he thought was foolish.
“Do you want to have someone else take your place so that you can rest?” Ling Ran suddenly asked.
Ouyang Kan was stunned. He suddenly realized that he did not hold the laparoscope well. But as the person in charge of his treatment group, he had not held a laparoscope for someone else for a long time.
“No need, I’m alright. Apologies for the mistake.” Ouyang Kan kept apologizing as if he had suddenly returned to the past when he was a junior doctor.
“Okay,” Ling Ran answered, then he said calmly, “The surgery time is longer, so you can just tell me if you want to take a rest. In between, you can also have a meal.”
“Alright,” Ouyang Kan quickly answered.
“We’ll continue if you don’t want to have someone take your place.”
“No need, let’s continue.”
“Let’s eat steamboat tonight.” Ling Ran took some time to make this decision before he happily continued the surgery.
Captain Chu at the upper floor did not know what expression he should show now.
