“Zheng… Boss, let me do it,” Professor Rudolf Wagner said meekly, like a child who had made a mistake.
It did not matter to Zheng Ren who ought to be pressing on the wound. As he was about to turn down the offer, he remembered that he had an emergency to attend to as well.
“You take over, then,” he said.
Only then did the professor proceed to put pressure on the wound to stop the bleeding, relieved. This time, he did not go on about surgical supplies in Heidelberg that could have reduced the time required for hemostasis.
Zheng Ren left the operating table and went to the changing room, keeping on the lead apron until he reached the operating console room.
“What condition is Su Yun dealing with?”
As he said that, Su Yun entered the room. “Hmm? You’re finished?”
“What kind of patient was it?”
“Acute appendicitis, laparoscopic appendectomy. I brought along Yang Lei and finished the surgery,” Su Yun said as he approached the operating bench, examining the images from the surgery.
“Boss Zheng, your temple is too small for its deity,” he teased, “I bet Professor Rudolf hasn’t done such chores for several decades.”
Through the leaded glass, Zheng Ren glanced at the professor in the operating room diligently applying direct pressure for hemostasis, and felt nothing out of the ordinary.
It was just a normal task that needed to be carried out by hand.
The professor was also human; there was nothing fantastic about him.
More importantly, the professor’s skill… there was nothing exceptional.
Fifteen minutes later, the bleeding stopped and some of them transferred the patient carefully onto the stretcher trolley. As his family members held the elevator open, Chu Yanran sat on the trolley and pumped the breathing bag all the way to the ICU.
The patient would be in much less pain after post-surgery acute ischemic necrosis.
Even the pain of ischemic necrosis was incomparable to the fourth-grade agony of adenomyosis.
Zheng Ren was finally relieved, having completed all the surgeries at hand.
From the ICU, he went to the gastroenterology department to check on the TIPS surgery patient, who was recovering well with no hematemesis since the night before. There was only a slight increase in blood ammonia levels but no signs of hepatic encephalopathy.
His condition was promising. Zheng Ren decided to practice another round in the System’s operating room before the next scheduled TIPS surgery.
Practice was not affected by luck points, which made it a true reflection of his basics. Successful training surgeries in the System meant that he would perform better in reality.
He returned to the emergency ward. It was as if the whole world had quietened down.
Zheng Ren sat on a chair and recalled the events of the past few days. He did not feel any less busy with flexible shifts.
From this point onward, he would probably be called from “home” to perform surgeries every day.
Such was life.
…
The patients in the ward were all stabilized. Zheng Ren went for lunch and had a 30-minute nap before waking up to read.
At 3.30 p.m., he brought Su Yun to the emergency department to check on the observation unit.
Zheng Ren decided to leave work on time if it was not too busy and there were no misdiagnoses. He was still deciding whether to treat Xie Yiren to dinner or a movie…
Whenever he thought of movies, Su Yun’s story resurfaced and haunted him.
New Year’s Day was around the corner. There had been an outbreak of influenza over the last few days and the emergency ward was filled with patients.
Zheng Ren heard a doctor from the emergency internal medicine unit complain about running out of Tamiflu.
This was beyond the pay grade of a chief resident. Zheng Ren decided to report it to Old Chief Physician Pan.
Suddenly, the high-pitched ring of the 120 emergency call began to blare, but Zheng Ren did not pay it much heed.
There was a special 120 emergency team with specifically assigned paramedics.
A nurse picked up the phone right as the bell pierced the air.
A few seconds later, a doctor and nurse came running from the office with an emergency toolkit, heading for the side door. There was a 120 ambulance parked outside it at all times like a soldier poised to charge into battle.
Wondering wha patient it would be, Zheng Ren walked to the chief’s office.
As he raised his hand to knock on the door, it suddenly opened and Old Chief Physician Pan rushed out with a serious expression on his face, shouting down the corridor, “120 dispatch, hold on!”
Zheng Ren froze.
The 120 ambulance had to adhere to a strict schedule. They had to be dispatched within three minutes of a call.
What was Old Chief Physician Pan trying to do?
“There’s an accident in the No. 9 Elementary. They reported someone with serious injuries. The city council called and requested specialists join in with the emergency rescue,” Old Chief Physician Pan said sternly, “I was about to, but since you’re here, you should go.”
“Yes!” Zheng Ren replied immediately.
He turned and sprinted to the side door.
No. 9 Elementary was the ninth elementary school in Sea City. 120 command had contacted the hospital just as Old Chief Physician received orders from the city council.
They had bypassed the hospital’s top management to save time. Zheng Ren could feel the tension in the atmosphere.
As for what had happened, Zheng Ren dared not and did not want to guess.
A few years back, there had been brutal assaults in kindergartens and elementary schools in other cities. Zheng Ren despised such people; no one had the right to take revenge on society by attacking those places.
These people were scum, cowards who were too afraid to attack adults and chose to lash out at children instead!
Zheng Ren rushed to the 120 ambulance and jumped in, closing the door behind him and saying in a commanding tone, “Turn on the sirens and drive as fast as you can!”
“Okay!” the driver answered, and the siren began wailing.
“Is the ventilator functioning properly?” Zheng Ren began checking on the ambulance’s equipment.
“Yes, we check them daily,” a nurse replied.
Ambulances in the city had been standardized a year ago. They were all Mercedes-Benz, equipped with aspirators and oxygen supplies.
“What about the others?”
“There are designated staff to check the endotracheal intubation packages, surgical kits, central venous catheter puncture kits, dextrose and emergency drugs,” the nurse answered immediately.
Under normal circumstances, medical staff would usually joke around before receiving patients.
However, the nurse could clearly feel that something was not right.
Old Chief Physician Pan’s unnatural orders and Zheng Ren jumping on board were signs of a serious emergency.
Zheng Ren did not slack and continued checking the equipment and supplies.
It was as the nurse had told him: everything was in order, from emergency medication to machines like aspirators and ECG monitors.
The caterwauling siren sent Zheng Ren’s heart rate over 100 beats per minute.
After a few minutes, he had checked through everything and finally relaxed a little, sitting down and closing his eyes to conserve energy.
He was like a soldier resting during an intermission, cautiously waiting to return to the front.
Suddenly, the ambulance turned abruptly, causing Zheng Ren to stumble.
He frowned. Could there possibly be traffic obstructions ahead? Every minute, every second was crucial. It would be disastrous if they were held up in such a situation.
He stood up, trying to look out of the small window, but the ambulance made another sharp turn and almost sent him flying.
What was happening?
After altering course twice, the ambulance gradually slowed to a halt.
…
…
[This incident was a mashup of two current events.]
