Chapter 162: Indestructible Trust
Zheng Ren instantly panicked upon hearing Xie Yiren’s despairing wail. His heart rate skyrocketed to 145 beats per minute, and his systolic pressure shot up to nearly ten centimeters above his height.
“Calm down, what’s wrong? Speak slowly.” He forcibly suppressed his discomfort and consoled Xie Yiren.
“Zheng Ren, Miao Xiaohua is dying. Please come quickly!” said Xie Yiren, her speech disorganized and her logical thought process in disarray as she continued to wail regardless of whether Zheng Ren could understand her.
He was aware that Miao Xiaohua was Xie Yiren’s best friend who had previously been hospitalized in the Sea City General Hospital gastroenterology department due to acute pancreatitis secondary to binge-eating.
If he was not mistaken, the extravagant group had coincidentally met with Miao Xiaohua when they had gone for a barbeque a few days ago.
Had she not been discharged from the hospital? Why was she on the brink of death now?
However, judging from Xie Yiren’s simple explanation, Zheng Ren presumed that Miao Xiaohua had most likely gotten sick rather than fallen victim to kidnapping or other bizarre accidents.
If an emergency case was sent to the hospital and treated in time, its mortality risk would decrease drastically.
Medical facilities and various advanced equipment such as ventilators had gradually become standard in the current medical world. Even terminal patients could survive for another three days when connected to a ventilator.
“Slow down, where are you? I’m coming over now!” Even though his nerves were slightly soothed, he still cut to the heart of the matter immediately.
“The gastroenterology…” Xie Yiren’s mental state was presumably in tatters as she immediately burst into tears after managing to squeeze the address out of her throat.
Zheng Ren quickly ran out of the emergency ward. When he passed the doctor’s office, he instructed Yang Lei to keep an eye on the house and call him in case of an emergency.
Not caring if Yang Lei had clearly heard his instructions, Zheng Ren tried his best to console Xie Yiren through the phone as he sprinted straight to the gastroenterology department in the second admission building.
Was it an acute exacerbation of pancreatitis or another disease? Numerous thoughts whizzed through his mind as he tried to figure out the situation.
A few minutes later, Zheng Ren reached the gastroenterology department, out of breath.
Patients with hematemesis were often admitted to the gastroenterology department, which was why a resuscitation room was built specifically for them. At this moment, Xie Yiren was kneeling beside the bed, weeping silently while holding Miao Xiaohua’s hand firmly.
The font on the System panel on the upper right corner of Zheng Ren’s vision was painted red as if fresh blood would splatter onto the floor then and there.
A ruptured pancreatic pseudocyst complicated with hemorrhagic shock.
Uh… It was a pancreatic pseudocyst!
This uncommon disease momentarily stunned Zheng Ren.
Clinical manifestations of a pancreatic pseudocyst were mainly based on the stages of acute or chronic pancreatitis.
Pseudocyst secondary to acute pancreatitis was characterized by pyrexia, upper abdominal pain and tenderness, abdominal mass and distention, gastrointestinal dysfunction and so on; various compilations could occur in severe cases.
Recurrent chronic pancreatitis-induced pseudocysts were usually smaller, and their main clinical features paralleled the manifestations of chronic pancreatitis such as upper abdominal and lower back pain, lipid metabolism disorder, hyperglycemia and many more. Splenomegaly and upper gastrointestinal bleeding were pathognomonic of this disease.
However, there was another special complication—intracystic hemorrhage!
That was what caused Miao Xiaohua’s ruptured pancreatic pseudocyst.
An enlarged pancreatic pseudocyst could incorporate adjacent blood vessels—around the pancreas and upper abdomen—into its wall.
This included the splenic arteries and veins, along with the left and right gastric arteries and veins.
Activated pancreatic enzymes and infection could erode blood vessel walls and cause a sudden rupture and hemorrhage. Patients could develop severe persistent abdominal pain, increasing abdominal mass, signs of inflammation and also clinical manifestations of internal bleeding that would soon escalate to a state of shock.
This was a fatal condition! A series of thoughts flashed past Zheng Ren’s mind, his body automatically secreting a large amount of hormones, breaking down ATPs and releasing stored chemical energies within high-energy phosphate bonds, normalizing his heart rate at the same time.
His mind was now prepared to perform emergency resuscitation.
The nurses in the gastroenterology department had completed venous cannulation and blood sample collection in a short period of time, proving their professionalism.
Miao Xiaohua’s coat had been cut open as no one cared about its brand. No matter how expensive clothes were, were they more valuable than a life?
Her blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory rate and blood oxygen saturation displayed on the ECG monitor had dropped to a critical level.
“Central venous line kit,” said Zheng Ren in a deep voice.
The nurse from the gastroenterology department was stunned for a brief moment and then immediately reacted.
It was difficult to locate a vein using a needle with a larger diameter in a patient with hemorrhagic shock, which was why they had managed to use a smaller bore needle to establish a venous channel, barely keeping her alive.
That was the best they could do. After all, if blood was transfused through a cannula with a small internal diameter, the patient would be dead before the blood bag was fully used up.
Zheng Ren’s voice shocked Xie Yiren. With misty eyes, she turned around to make sure that she was not hallucinating and dived into his embrace, crying out loud at the same time.
She had just witnessed her bestie suddenly collapse before her.
From a lively, carefree, youthful, beautiful girl…
To an ashen-faced, critically ill patient at the end of her life.
Xie Yiren had witnessed the whole process in less than ten minutes and had now completely collapsed as well.
This was different from resuscitating patients. Regardless of how one treated the patients like family, the most they could feel was empathy. One’s reaction would vary hugely when relatives or friends were involved.
Fortunately, there was still a large difference. If all medical personnel mentally collapsed like Xie Yiren in rescue operations, how many people would perish?
Xie Yiren found some closure in her unfaltering trust in Zheng Ren, and his broad chest provided her an infinite sense of security.
“Ding-dong!”
The System’s mission alert rang out unexpectedly in Zheng Ren’s mind after its long hibernation.
[Continuous Mission: Indestructible Trust.
[Task: Fulfill Xie Yiren’s wish.
[Reward:
[1. Passive ability—unlimited Charm. Each successful surgery grants a chance to gain others’ admiration that can be used to increase Charm. Charm is related to Toughness and Reliability.
[2. 100 skill points, 1000 experience points and a gold chest.
[Time: 2 hours.]
Zheng Ren ignored the System. In fact, he did not even hear the mission alert as his mind was currently focused on how to pull Miao Xiaohua from the brink of death in this urgent rescue operation.
Moreover, there was a delicate softness in his embrace…
Patting Xie Yiren’s soft, furry head in silence, Zheng Ren brought her to the side and asked her to quietly stay put. After that, he quickly turned around, took a pack of sterile gloves from a nurse’s hands, tore it open and proficiently put the gloves on.
“Open the central venous line kit,” Zheng Ren instructed as he approached Miao Xiaohua.
During resuscitation, anyone who gave medical instructions would be the backbone of the rescue operation, but it was a risky task due to the tremendous stress one had to endure.
A happy ending would follow a successful resuscitation, but the backbone would have to take the fall if the operation ended up in failure.
Once the sterile kit was opened, Zheng Ren first disinfected the area of the skin over the planned insertion site before holding the hollow needle in his right hand while searching for a vein with his left finger.
Zheng Ren had demonstrated his impressive capability during the nitrite poisoning rescue operation. Focusing his entire attention in the moment, he pierced the needle through the skin and immediately noticed a flashback of blood.
“LMW Dextran at full speed!” Zheng Ren barked, attaching the infusion drip.
