“Mannerless.” Su Yun huffed.
Zheng Ren smiled, unaffected.
If he was an ordinary person visiting a clinic, given the choice between a young doctor and an old doctor, he knew he would go for a senior doctor.
Experience was an important part of medicine.
Therefore, the patient’s family was not wrong in their decision. Their response was just overly dramatic and straightforward, eliciting some discomfort in others.
Zheng Ren did not take their words to heart. He gave them a polite smile, then turned to leave.
“You are being too nice,” Su Yun muttered unhappily.
“And you have a temper. No wonder you don’t want to be a doctor.” Zheng Ren chuckled.
A moment later, Zheng Ren’s phone rang.
Before he could answer the call, a few figures appeared at the office door. Leading the group was the square-faced old man with ruddy cheeks.
The old man stared Zheng Ren down. Doubts swam in his eyes.
“You called?” Zheng Ren asked as he waved his phone.
“Chief Pan gave me your number?” the old man said incredulously.
“You mean Old Chief Physician Pan from the emergency department? If so, then yes,” Zheng Ren said with a nod.
“…”
The old man had rang up Old Chief Physician Pan but he was in an important meeting with the hospital administration to negotiate for more staff, resources and support.
Old Chief Physician Pan spared only a moment to hear the old man’s request about an appendectomy and directed him to Zheng Ren.
The old man’s heart sank when he heard the name, Zheng Ren.
It was the same last name in the same emergency department. There could not be two Dr. Zhengs, right? It was possible but not probable.
Still, the old man dialed the number with optimism.
A phone rang from the office.
Now…
This was awkward.
“Dr. Zheng, Chief Surgeon Pan recommended you,” the old man said gingerly.
After the previous commotion, the old man would not blame the doctor if he refused to take their case.
He misjudged the young man.
Now, he had to swallow his pride and ask this man to save his granddaughter.
“I see. Where’s the patient?” Zheng Ren asked.
Zheng Ren’s question prevented Su Yun from sneaking in a few snide comments. Su Yun shot Zheng Ren a glare.
“Her father is bringing her over now.”
“Let’s head over to the treatment room. We’ll do a simple check up first,” Zheng Ren said calmly.
A few minutes later, a middle-aged man arrived with a small figure by his side. The man’s face was etched with worry while the child clutched at her abdomen.
The elders were outraged at the scene.
The girl had a determined look on her face, unlike her father who was visibly worried.
“Yaya…” The elders fussed over the girl.
The old man with the ruddy cheeks turned to the father. “How could you let Yaya walk here?”
“She wouldn’t let me carry her…” Yaya’s father said in defense.
“Grandpa, I can walk. It doesn’t hurt as much.” The young girl had pigtails that gave her a cute, playful vibe. Her voice was soft and sweet, very likable.
“That’s not acceptable.” The elders started to argue and complain about what they had witnessed.
At the top right corner of Zheng Ren’s vision, the System showed the little girl’s diagnosis, acute appendicitis.
It was a simple case.
Pain was subjective to each person. Some people could suffer from a perforated appendix and endure the pain to the point of developing gangrenous appendicitis but this young patient looked like she was on the verge of giving up.
The patient was in her teens, likely fifteen or sixteen years old[1].
She laid on the hospital bed, face scrunched up in pain. Her body was curled up like a prawn as she clutched her abdomen.
She was a strong girl. Even in pain, she tried her best to smile. She maintained her smiling face in hopes the elders would calm down.
“Little miss, could you lie flat on the bed for me?” Zheng Ren asked with a kind smile. He wanted to establish a good first connection with the patient.
“Okay,” the pigtailed girl uttered. She did her best to turn over in the bed.
A fetal position lessened the pain felt in the abdomen. Hence, when she tried to extend her body, the pain hit her hard.
Her eyebrows knitted together as she gritted her teeth, trying not to make any sounds.
‘This child is trying to stay strong for the family. Such a good child,’ Zheng Ren thought.
These days, children like her were a rare find.
“Yaya, slow down.” The elders crowded around the hospital bed to help the girl but she rejected their assistance.
With a grim smile, she slowly shifted her body so that Zheng Ren could perform the check up.
Zheng Ren palpated her abdomen and her legs instinctively curled up.
There were signs of point tenderness and rebound tenderness at the lower right quadrant of the abdomen but no muscle guarding.
Based on the medical report provided by her father and the symptoms described by the patient, his diagnosis of acute appendicitis was correct.
Although he had the System’s guidance, Zheng Ren still preferred to base his diagnosis on the clinical data.
After all, it was a matter of life and death.
If the case was not life-threatening, a thorough assessment never hurt.
“Am I very sick?” the pigtailed girl asked Zheng Ren.
“Just a little,” Zheng Ren replied with a smile. “We just need to do a short surgery, then you’ll be back to normal.”
“Oh. Okay,” the girl continued in a serious tone, “I searched for my condition and it should be appendicitis. There are invasive and non-invasive treatments, but I think surgery would be a better choice. I don’t want to deal with chronic pain.”
‘What a bright child,’ Zheng Ren thought.
The girl was wise beyond her years.
It was commendable that she did not make a fuss over the pain. She could even make an educated guess about her condition and decide on the treatment plan.
“Little girl, be careful when you’re searching online. Some information on the web is false,” Zheng Ren replied in a teasing manner.
Self-diagnosis was a phenomenon that irked many doctors. For the sake of financial gains, many search engines’ top results were sites that required some form of payment.
As these sites prioritized profits, they often contained false information to misdirect their readers.
One had to screen through the sites to identify the legitimate ones.
“I know how to differentiate the site, don’t worry,” the pigtailed girl said knowingly.
She was an independent and smart girl despite her child-like appearance.
Zheng Ren gave her a smile. He brought her father to process her admission and left the elders to fuss over the child.
The diagnosis was confirmed and the pigtailed girl was admitted to the hospital.
The girl had started fasting beforehand and once the admission procedure was complete, Zheng Ren ordered the nurses to prepare the patient.
The preoperative skin preparation and intravenous line set up was done swiftly.
Su Yun ferried the girl up to the third floor in a stretcher trolley while Zheng Ren brought the informed consent documents to the family members. He watched their faces pale as he detailed each step of the procedure.
[1] Based on the patient’s mannerism, I believe the author meant to say five or six years old.
