The Surgeon's Studio c1-799

by Black Ursa Prime

  At this moment, Old Chief Physician Pan walked in. Upon noticing the tense mood building up in the office, he began to ask for what exactly had happened.

  When he understood it to be a disagreement over the patient's diagnosis, he waved his hands and said, "The patient is getting an abortion soon, is getting a thyroid function test too much to ask? Chief Surgeon Su, we'll be taking our leave now; there is still another patient waiting to be transferred over to the ICU."

  After he was finished, he left Chief Surgeon Su's office with Zheng Ren in tow, and as usual, Su Yun followed closely behind Zheng Ren like a ghost.

  "Chief Physician Pan…" Zheng Ren hesitated.

  "Don't worry, be a little stronger, alright? From your display of confidence, they will go through with the test." Old Chief Physician Pan cracked a subtle, sly smile on his face.

  This was the confidence of an experienced man. A single statement was enough to completely shatter any doubt or hesitation; saying anything more would be excessive.

  Thus, Zheng Ren simply followed Old Chief Physician Pan to the ICU. On their way there, Zheng Ren felt nothing but pure admiration toward the single gesture earlier. The more he thought about it, the more he respected the man.

  He was only a junior doctor and all he did was to offer the Chief Surgeon advice, nothing more. It would be a complete joke to expect a senior chief surgeon to take anything he said seriously.

  The patient who had undergone liver restoration surgery and splenectomy yesterday was in the ICU, being prepped for extubation as he was now stable with a very mild fever.

  It would not be an issue because as long as he was stable, the patient would be allowed to transfer out of the ICU.

  Liver restoration and splenectomy were viewed as simple general surgeries, like appendectomies. This was merely a minor ailment.

  The only problem was ICU Chief Qian bearing an extremely bitter look on his face when he noticed Su Yun.

  Still, it was merely a stare of resentment and not one of betrayal.

  However, when he looked at ICU Chief Qian, Zheng Ren could somehow feel... a significant, menacing aura directed at him.

  Zheng Ren wanted to explain to ICU Chief Qian that he, too, never wanted Su Yun to shadow him like a ghost.

  'You assumed I accepted that willfully?'

  However, ICU Chief Qian could not read his mind.

  Su Yun seemed completely oblivious to ICU Chief Qian's glare as he casually tailed Zheng Ren, his bangs swaying back and forth.

  After a single inspection, the trio returned to the intensive care ward at the same time as the nurses. Chang Yue was busy typing her progress notes for the day at a computer.

  Upon noticing Zheng Ren and Old Chief Physician Pan's return, Chang Yue cracked her usual smile, which was different to that she had whenever she was in a patient's ward.

  As he felt his heart strings tighten, Zheng Ren knew for a fact that it was impossible that her smile was directed at him. He wondered what exactly this little moth was planning.

  As he recalled everything Su Yun had told him, he assumed that being a persuasive speaker, Chang Yue was responsible for convincing Old Chief Physician Pan to demonstrate the surgical method of interventional embolization for hepatocellular carcinoma.

  However, before Chang Yue could speak, Old Chief Physician Pan revealed a piece of hard, red paper that resembled a wedding invitation card.

  "Zheng Ren, this is for you, just prepare for it later." Old Chief Physician Pan gave Chang Yue a gentle nod before handing the card to Zheng Ren.

  "This is…"

  After accepting it, he realized it was not an invitation; written on that paper was 'National Preachers of Emergency Care Tour. Sea City Stop'.

  "Emergency care doctors are dwindling and there are plenty of hospitals below the second grade that have closed their emergency care departments." Old Chief Physician Pan continued, "Hence, the emergency care lecture pioneered by the old Cui Group has been implemented into a tour with a series of talks. This was spearheaded by a man famous around the country in order to teach everything about emergency care."

  Zheng Ren shook his head in response.

  Could the main reason for the lack of manpower in emergency care be due to the lack of promotions?

  No.

  It was because of low wages and hazardous environments. There were emergency treatments almost every day, causing fluctuating adrenaline levels that were extremely straining and detrimental to a person's overall health.

  The low wages were also another factor. A single appendectomy cost two hundred and thirty four yuan even seventeen years ago. Zheng Ren could not be bothered to think about the pay stagnation that had happened since then.

  In other words, how could two thousand yuan be reasonable? An extremely minor general surgery such as simple appendectomy would require two surgeons and at least one anesthesiologist, scrub nurse and circulating nurse respectively.

  A total of five people working tirelessly for an hour for a meager two hundred and thirty four yuan.

  There was a woman who had arrived in the middle of the night with her dog. A heated argument occurred after she was told that her dog was not allowed in a hospital.

  The veterinary hospital near Sea City General Hospital had hung up their emergency contact number for later hours… Since this was an emergency, the starting fee would be around two hundred yuan. If a dog had eaten a sock by accident, surgical removal of the sock would cost at least five thousand yuan.

  Hence, there was a time when Zheng Ren considered being a veterinarian.

  However, after much deeper thought and knowing how much he had struggled to study all those years, simply ending up a veterinarian would be dissatisfying to him.

  This was especially since there was now a wave of interest nationwide that reeled in plenty of professionals from everywhere between the northern and southern coasts.

  The existence of medical personnel with much higher pay made Zheng Ren envious and bitter.

  About half a year ago, a private hospital from another city offered Zheng Ren an annual salary of three hundred thousand yuan after tax. However, after contemplating it for a long time knowing he was merely a junior doctor, he decided to turn the offer down.

  It was never about the wages, but his personal safety and wellbeing.

  Within days of his arrival to the emergency care department, he had nearly been beaten twice. Luck had come to his aid later, but he knew that it was only a matter of time before he would be forced to endure abuse.

  If he came across a "professional" who knew how to inflict pain without causing permanent harm, it would still hurt, but it would be manageable; were he to encounter an amateur, though… crippling injuries were to be expected.

  The pediatrics department were significantly worse, as being a pediatric nurse was known to have the highest career risk in the entire medical field!

  The pediatric emergency care department in Sea City General Hospital was currently half-crippled. There was a rumor that another pediatrician was transferred over but resigned immediately and headed straight for the southern coast.

  In that moment, a wave of concerns flooded Zheng Ren's mind as he pondered them all. Holding onto that invitation in his hands tightly, he felt its red color somehow assault his eyes.

  Upon noticing Zheng Ren was completely lost in thought, Old Chief Physician Pan said, "Learning how to socialize isn't that bad."

  "Alright." Zheng Ren was like a patient who had just received a business card, taking it with a single glance. Since this was two months away, he proceeded to toss the invitation onto one of his shelves and would likely forget about it in a few minutes.

  Chang Yue frowned as her oversized double eyelids twitched slightly; she was even more adorable than a cartoon character.

  The old chief said, "I will take the wheel outside, take care of the patients here, alright?"

  After that, he left with both of his hands on the back of his head.

  Up
on noticing this, Chang Yue chased after him.

  However, after a moment, she returned with a strange look on her face.

  "Hey, what on Earth are you planning?" Su Yun asked after noticing her troubled expression.

  "I asked Old Chief Physician Pan about something earlier," Chang Yue replied after contemplating her answer.

  "About what?" Zheng Ren and Su Yun needled at the same time.

  Both of them were exceptionally smart, the only difference being that one of them was indescribably, life-threateningly handsome, while the other was average-looking.

  "Oh, you know, Sister Yun's surgery." Chang Yue was clearly troubled by it as her voice lowered. She continued, "Chief Physician Pan said he would think about it. Tell me, guys, what is there to think about?"

  Chapter 104 - Delayed Onset Postoperative Hemorrhage A Month Later

  Thus, the emergency care department progressively became busier as the days went by.

  Within the span of a week, Zheng Ren managed to perform sixteen appendectomies and seven acute cholecystitis surgeries. On top of that, he also saved a patient from a knife wound that required a splenectomy.

  Emergency care was like this every day: overwhelmingly busy.

  Due to Old Chief Physician Pan's hard work at the right time, manpower had increased in the department.

  The entire first general surgery department was greatly reshuffled after Chief Surgeon Liu fully recovered and was discharged.

  Cen Meng had resigned and taken a job in Harbin Medical University Affiliated Second Hospital. Zheng Ren's friend Yang Lei, who had been his source of information within the first general surgery department, had taken the initiative to apply for a transfer over to the emergency care department.

  However, with just one additional doctor, the entire nursing staff had inadvertently grown a lot livelier.

  The entire nursing department seemed extremely chaotic of late.

  There were ten or more applications to transfer to the emergency care department.

  Zheng Ren knew this was all thanks to Su Yun. The man was like a walking, breathing citrus fruit… a mistake for any woman to consume.

  However, this had successfully gotten the emergency care department back on track.

  As a sad and bitter chief resident, Zheng Ren's job only became more arduous as more patients were admitted.

  Fortunately, every procedure was successful and completed perfectly. No postoperative side effects occurred or he would not have been able to even take a decent nap.

  The weather was becoming gradually colder, but as cloudy as the sky was, it did not snow. This caused everyone to slightly be on edge.

  However, it did not bother Zheng Ren as the dull and quiet System had been especially inactive lately, with no new assignments given to him. Hence, he simply relied on five of his mainline tasks, gaining fifty skill points and five thousand experience points in total.

  His general surgery skill had increased from 3161 to 3185 points. His data storage skill had acc.u.mulated to a total of 1789 points, in addition to his total of 88626 experience points. In addition, he had gained three silver c.h.e.s.ts.

  Zheng Ren felt that with his current progress, with enough surgery and plenty of reading, he would be able to improve his skill in general surgery to a Master rank in a month's time.

  Managing everything major and minor in the whole ward fell on Chang Yue and Yang Lei's shoulders. It was thanks to the both of them that everything was in order.

  All Zheng Ren had to do every day was perform surgery and read a few books. Doing so was enough to satisfy him. He enjoyed calming days like these; however, the only problem was Su Yun still shadowing his every step like a ghost. This had earned him plenty of hate-filled stares.

  Still, he had gradually gotten used to it as Zheng Ren knew he was not gay and could not care less what others might think of him.

  Today, Zheng Ren was busy reading the huge, thick Sciences of Hepatopancreatobiliary book; the moment he reached the very last page, the emergency care department received a phone call, requesting they assist in a consultation in the urology department.

  Zheng Ren was unwilling to go the instant he heard what department it was.

  His reluctance was not due to it being in urology, which involved the lower half of the human body, but rather his lack of experience in it, as his only brush with it had been during his internship for a whole month several years ago. He severely lacked the knowledge needed for that field.

  There were two theory books available, but although these books were written by specialists, they would never exceed the standards of the chief surgeon of the urology department. Since he was never able to truly learn or gain any professional experience in the field, it was inconsequential if Zheng Ren decided to go or not.

  However, since it was a medical or possibly even an emergency consultation, he would be required there in five minutes.

  Left without a choice, Zheng Ren proceeded to close his book and rushed to the urology department.

  "So what kind of patient do you think it'll be?" As usual, Su Yun followed closely beside Zheng Ren, gleefully chuckling as he spoke.

  "I'm not God." Zheng Ren's replies to Su Yun had become simple and brutally blunt. Not even Zheng Ren himself had realized the sudden change in attitude.

  "Way to insult my IQ now." Su Yun sighed as he continued, "You're not even well-versed in the field of urology; the only reason they sought you out for consultation and gave you full liberty to carry out the surgery is nothing more than your credibility in interventional embolization."

  That alone was obvious to Zheng Ren; however, he was unable to bear looking at Su Yun's superbly handsome, smug face. There was an eighty percent chance of him turning back while this man walked alongside him. He would undoubtedly be the hideous wingman if any group of girls were with them.

  Unfortunately for him, Su Yun was like stubborn caramel candy. No matter how hard he tried, he could not get rid of him.

  Thus, their entire walk toward the urology department continued in silence.

  The assistant director of admission, known as Chen, was standing by the hallway. He was anxiously glancing at the clock on his phone while staring at the door.

  As Zheng Ren's silhouette appeared, his expression turned to relief.

  "Chief Zheng, there is a patient that requires your attention," Assistant Director Chen frantically called out.

  "Which patient?"

  "A male patient in his youth with a confirmed diagnosis of a left renal carcinoma. He had undergone a surgery to remove the tumor from his kidney twenty-nine days ago in Imperial City General Hospital. The patient had his upper pole renal segment removed from his left kidney. Hematuria has persisted for five hours since this morning. Hemostatic drugs have proven ineffective. It was speculated that his upper pole renal segment is currently bleeding." Assistant Director Chen explained the patient''s medical history in great detail.

  His explanation of the patient's history was clear as day with no contradictions.

  Due to the patient's young age, his left kidney could still be preserved.

  However, human kidneys were known to be quite fragile anatomically. Any sutures or ligation made could not guarantee that the kidney would not bleed post-surgery.

  If such tools were used on any other organ, full recovery was common within twenty-nine days. However, the human kidney...was different. This sudden, severe bleeding could be caused by a rupture in any of its blood vessels.

  "The patient's family has provided us with the surgeon's contact number, and two different methods for this patient were proposed: an interventional embolization that could stop the bleeding, or surgery without interventional embolization, which only means completely removing the patient's left kidney." Assistant Director Chen let out a huge sigh after the long explanation.

  Zheng Ren gauged that stopping the bleed with interventional embolization was not too difficult.

  "Can you do it, Chief Zheng? You are also
aware of the current state of our hospital, and I heard that you had performed two emergency procedures to stop bleeding before, which is why I wanted to try asking for you," the assistant director frantically pleaded after noticing Zheng Ren contemplating something in silence for a brief moment.

  His words were tinged with extreme caution.

  However, since this involved a patient's kidney, one could not blame him for being extremely frantic and on edge.

  "I'll take a look at the patient." Zheng Ren never made promises hastily. He simply offered to check on the patient for a better assessment.

  When they arrived at the intensive care unit, the System's diagnosis was simple. The patient was losing blood solely due to the removal of a segment from the patient's left kidney; based on this, all this patient seemed to need was an interventional embolization to stop the bleeding.

  "Has the patient had enough time to fast?" Zheng Ren asked.

  "Ye, he has," Assistant Director Chen answered confidently.

  "Have the patient's family come to me for a preoperative briefing. You can wheel the patient into the intensive care interventional operating theatre. Prep 10 U of blood and some plasma from the blood bank."

  A spark of hope was lit in the extremely anxious hearts of the patient's family, who had been standing on the sidelines, listening in on the conversation.

  "I'll have the family members directly related to the patient sign here," Zheng Ren said casually.

  A young woman in her twenties, presumably the patient's girlfriend, along with two older people who were not yet in their sixties followed Zheng Ren to the ICU.

  Zheng Ren proceeded to explain the situation to the patient's family in a straightforward and concise manner, since they had already been forewarned about possible post-surgery complications before the operation in Imperial City General Hospital, especially regarding postoperative hemorrhaging, which was serious enough to warrant repetition.

  On that, they were nearly as informed as doctors were, with even some understanding of the development of the disease and no further need for a more detailed explanation.

  When they had decided on removing a segment of the kidney, they had prepared themselves mentally for postoperative hemorrhaging.