The Surgeon's Studio c1-799

by Black Ursa Prime

  Surgeons and boxers shared a common trait—experience and physical fitness never occurred together.

  The peak period for surgeons was when they were between forty to fifty years old. This was when they had both significant amounts of experience and were still in a good physical form—not yet assailed by blurry vision or trembling hands.

  The heights of surgical proficiency would be reached within this age group.

  However, this did not account for wunderkinds.

  For example, in the last decade of the twentieth century, a cardiothoracic surgeon reached the pinnacle of his career in his thirties. Unfortunately, he was excluded from Fuwai Hospital in Imperial Capital due to his lack of sociability. Thus, he returned to his hometown in the northeast and established a specialty hospital for cardiovascular disease.

  In just a few years, the hospital became the best hospital in the country.

  There were many incredible stories surrounding this legend. A few years later, he became a secretary in a medical department at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

  After his retirement, he suffered tachyarrhythmia and required surgical intervention.

  However, he trusted only himself as he was the best cardiothoracic surgeon in the country, and therefore other surgeons' skills and experience were simply inferior to his...

  Thus, he laid on the operating table with a screen suspended above his head.

  Looking directly at the screen, he guided a doctoral student through his own operation.

  Ventricular fibrillation had occurred intraoperatively. After successful resuscitation, he continued guiding the doctoral student through the surgery.

  In the end, the surgery had been successful!

  Of course, it was merely an anecdote, but the main point was that he was indeed a demon who had reached the pinnacle of his career at thirty-five years old.

  Mu Tao felt ashamed of his inferiority, but did his master mean that… the host surgeon in Xinglin Garden was of the same mold?

  "Perhaps one of my old friends taught him, who knows?" Old Wu smiled and continued, "Pay attention to this live broadcast room. By the way, save this video to a USB flash drive and inform everyone that we have a training session this afternoon." Usually refers to the master's favorite student who trains separately from normal classes and has the luxury of learning the master's secret techniques.

  Chapter 107 - Corporate Outreach

  They were in the emergency interventional radiology suite in Sea City General Hospital.

  "Zheng Ren, save me a copy of the angiographic footage," said Su Yun as he took off his lead apron; the patient, whose puncture wound had stopped bleeding, was being transferred to a stretcher trolley. A urological surgeon would take over the patient from here.

  "Sure," answered Zheng Ren without questioning the man's motives.

  Su Yun, who was not in a rush to change his attire, quietly stood behind Zheng Ren and watched him edit the surgery video and save every important clip.

  Approximately ten minutes later, Zheng Ren completed his work and passed a printed image to Deputy Chief Shen of the urology surgery department.

  It was simply a typical imaging film. Despite his lack of knowledge in interventional radiology, Deputy Chief Shen could still explain the procedures behind the surgery and potential postoperative effects based on the film to the patient's family members.

  "There might be blood clots in the bladder—" Zheng Ren nagged.

  Deputy Chief Shen interrupted him with a smile. "Chief Zheng, we can handle these things. Thank you for the trouble this time. Let's go out for a meal together someday."

  "I'm a chief resident, I can't."

  "You're only the chief resident for one year, and we still have a long way ahead of us." Deputy Chief Shen smiled and left the interventional radiology suite with the film.

  Zheng Ren stretched lazily. It was always relaxing and comfortable after an emergency rescue.

  Suddenly, his phone rang.

  "Zheng Ren, come to my office," said Old Chief Physician Pan bluntly.

  "Okay," Zheng Ren replied and quickly stood up as if Old Chief Physician Pan was standing before him in person.

  The corners of Su Yun's lips twitched slightly, as if fighting the urge to laugh.

  They changed out of surgical attire and hurried to Old Chief Physician Pan's office on the first floor of the emergency building.

  After knocking and entering, they saw a young man in a suit and leather shoes sitting across from and chatting with Old Chief Physician Pan.

  "Zheng Ren, this is Manager Feng, a sales manager from China Changfeng Microinvasive Surgery," Old Chief Physician Pan said upon noticing Zheng Ren.

  Manager Feng, who still looked baby-faced in his twenties, immediately stood up, extended both hands and greeted them politely with a slight nod, "Hello, my name is Feng Xuhui, but you can just call me Little Feng."

  "Hello, Manager Feng. I'm Zheng Ren, Old Chief Physician Pan's 'soldier'."

  "You must be Chief Zheng. I was just listening to Old Chief Physician Pan's praise for you, but I didn't expect you to be so young." Manager Feng began eyeing him up.

  "Let's not stand on ceremony here. Please have a seat and we can speak." Old Chief Physician Pan waved his hand and continued, "Little Zheng, didn't Chang Yue mention that a patient required our help a few days ago? Manager Feng is currently working in Changfeng Microinvasive Surgery, a newly-established company specialising in minimally-invasive surgical supplies, and he is here to promote the technology his company develops."

  'Oh, so that's what it is.' Zheng Ren began to understand the situation.

  Medical device companies had vested interests in advertising their products, just like shopping malls.

  However, medical equipment production required extremely high technical standards, which were why there were relatively few major medical device companies worldwide. In China, however, there had been a recent boom in large-scale imitations; companies were on the rise such as Tianjing Microinvasive Surgery and now, Changfeng Microinvasive Surgery.

  "I have to thank Manager Feng first of all." Zheng Ren smiled and said, "Domestic medical device companies can further reduce the cost of patient treatment, which is good news all around."

  "Chief Zheng, that's too polite of you." Manager Feng looked like a fresh graduate based on his nervousness when speaking.

  From this, Zheng Ren concluded that Changfeng Microinvasive Surgery did not place a high value on Sea City's market.

  For potential large-scale business opportunities, the company would always send the smarter, more competent salespeople instead of fresh graduates to handle the product sales to relevant hospitals.

  However, it would be inappropriate to criticise someone for simply being part of an outreach program, would it not?

  "Just talk to Manager Feng if you need anything," said Old Chief Physician Pan with a smile.

  Manager Feng finally regained his composure and recalled the purpose of his visit.

  "Chief Physician Pan, Chief Zheng, the company is providing a large contribution." Manager Feng smiled and added, "Due to the underdeveloped state of interventional radiology in Sea City, Professor Pei Yingjie from a hepatobiliary hospital in Sorcery Capital will personally visit to promote and handle the surgery."

  "Huh?" Zheng Ren was momentarily stunned. This was unforeseen; he had expected to receive free products in exchange for performing the surgery.

  "Professor Pei Yingjie is a well-reputed expert in the country and one of the editors of the Interventional Radiology journal." Manager Feng began reciting Professor Pei Yingjie's biography in a disjointed manner, almost like a student presenting a case.

  Zheng Ren smiled and pretended to attentively listen to Manager Feng's introduction.

  A professor from Sorcery Capital would be proficient in this domain, especially for what was merely a tier-three surgery, so the news that the professor was personally taking over the field did not perturb Zheng Ren.

&n
bsp; As long as Zheng Yunxia's tumor remained under control, whoever handled the surgery in the end made no difference.

  Five minutes later, the nervous Manager Feng finished describing Professor Pei Yingjie's personal biography from memory, calming his nerves almost instantaneously.

  His hands were no longer trembling, as well.

  "When will Professor Pei arrive?" asked Old Chief Physician Pan.

  "If all preoperative preparations are complete, he will arrive the next day," answered Manager Feng.

  "Okay," Zheng Ren stood and cheerfully shook Manager Feng's hand again. "I'll proceed with preoperative preparations now. Manager Feng, please give me your contact number and I'll let you know as soon as everything is ready."

  Amazed at Zheng Ren's unexpected enthusiasm, Manager Feng quickly took out his phone and they exchanged phone numbers and WeChat IDs.

  Upon leaving Old Chief Physician Pan's office, Su Yun sighed and said, "Our hospital is still small."

  "This is good enough. He wouldn't even have bothered to come had we just been a township hospital." Zheng Ren remained unconcerned and quickly walked to the emergency ward.

  "You're chief resident 24365, so what's the rush?"

  24365 was a hospital joke referring to chief residents having to stay in the hospital twenty-four hours a day, three hundred and sixty-five days a year.

  Come to think of it, who would be in such a hurry in the comfort of their own home?

  "I need to go back to my room to revise," replied Zheng Ren coldly as he walked up the fire escape without looking back.

  "No wonder you're single. Nerds like you are the worst batch of students in school… Well, you're not exactly a nerd, since you're very good at surgery."

  Zheng Ren could not be bothered to entertain the brat. Upon returning to his office, he saw Chang Yue doc.u.menting a case and said, "Admit Zheng Yunxia to the hospital and check if she has any contraindications for surgery. Professor Pei from a hepatobiliary hospital in Sorcery Capital will personally handle the case."

  "Yeah!" Chang Yu was visibly delighted, which was an unusual occasion, and asked, "Is it free?"

  "Yes, thanks to Changfeng Microinvasive Surgery," replied Zheng Ren. He proceeded to sit at his table and reopen the Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery book.

  On the other hand, Su Yun once again sat behind him and started tapping away on his phone.

  From it, Zheng Ren thought he could hear a thirty-second alert for encroaching enemies. Meanwhile, Chang Yue was on her phone contacting Yunxia to get her to the hospital.

  On his device, Su Yun was actually replaying the video recording of Zheng Ren's interventional radiology surgery earlier.

  He held the phone in his left hand and constantly twisted his right as if simulating each motion.

  Chapter 108 - Preoperative Double Contrast-Enhanced Imaging

  Chang Yue explained every detail, including immediate fasting to hasten testing and hospital admission fees, to Zheng Yunxia in two minutes.

  'This girl looks cold but is actually enthusiastic. How good it would be if she could treat me the same way she usually treats patients.' Zheng Ren was daydreaming as he read a book.

  Passion and mindfulness were, beyond doubt, the most essential qualities a good clinician needed to have.

  …

  …

  An hour later, Zheng Yunxia appeared in the emergency ward.

  As expected, she had a sallow complexion, a typical symptom of liver disease.

  From her sparse and messy hair, she had to have trimmed it herself at home. Men's haircuts cost anywhere between fifteen to twenty yuan, which could be saved up for better food once in a while.

  The collar and cuffs on her plain-looking clothes were worn, but very clean.

  Zheng Yunxia was calm, showing no sign of joy or, from before, dejection. She looked more like a visiting family member than a patient about to be admitted for surgery.

  "Little Chang, here I am," greeted Zheng Yunxia as she entered the office, standing by the desk.

  "Miss Yun, hold on, I'll handle your admission process." Chang Yue launched the patient management system and began filling the entry for her.

  "Little Su, you're here too." Zheng Yunxia scanned the area and spotted Su Yun on his phone behind Zheng Ren, whom she completely ignored.

  Su Yun's right thumb, index finger and middle finger were twisted together in a strange manner.

  "Hi." He raised his head and smiled before continuing his simulation.

  "Chief Zheng, give me the manager's phone number," said Chang Yue as Zheng Yunxia left to pay the bill after completing her registration.

  Zheng Ren slipped out his phone and sent Manager Feng's phone number to Chang Yue via WeChat.

  "What are you going to do?"

  "I want to confirm details such as the types of imaging the professor wants to see before surgery." Chang Yue seemed reckless at times, but was actually a meticulous person.

  Zheng Yunxia had undergone contrast-enhanced nuclear magnetic resonance imaging (NMRI) half a month ago, which Chang Yue could assume was more than enough to proceed with the surgery, but she had to ask regardless, just in case.

  Manager Feng was unavailable, but another greenhorn picked up, promising to look into her inquiry.

  Soon, Manager Feng returned her call.

  "Hello, Doctor Chang. The professor says a double contrast-enhanced image is needed."

  The so-called double contrast-enhanced image referred to contrast-enhanced NMRI and a contrast-enhanced 64-slice CT scan with image reconstruction.

  These were completely different imaging processes but required intravenous injections of contrast agents, which meant the patient had to wait five to seven days between them. Moreover, due to their relatively high cost, hospitals in small cities rarely performed double contrast-enhanced imaging as preoperative tests.

  Only professors in Imperial Capital and Sorcery Capital were accustomed to double contrast-enhanced imaging films.

  "The patient underwent a contrast-enhanced NMRI of the liver ten days ago, so for the 64-slice… Can we skip it? I mean if it isn't really necessary…" Chang Yue insisted.

  Zheng Ren and Su Yun heard the conversation clearly after she put it on loudspeaker, presumably unable to argue further.

  "Doctor Chang, this was Professor Pei's request." Manager Feng did not have the courage to make the call on his own.

  "The patient's financial condition…" Chang Yue went silent immediately.

  After all, Manager Feng was not the surgeon, so negotiation was impossible at this stage.

  "Alright, Manager Feng. We'll contact you again after all tests are complete," replied Chang Yue before hanging up.

  "Zheng Ren, is it really necessary?" she asked.

  "Of course," Before Zheng Ren could answer the question, Su Yun spoke up while brushing his black bangs aside, "In the arterial phase of NMRI, by checking for abnormal blood supplies in the liver, we can detect the presence of dysplastic lesions that cannot be seen in a normal CT scan; as for the 64-slice CT scan of the liver… Hehe."

  He smirked.

  "Why the hell are you even leaving us hanging? Spit it out already." Whenever Chang Yue faced Su Yun, her aura intensified and the eleven boxes of Snow began radiating immense pressure, like a mountain.

  "..." Su Yun was perplexed as this was the first time he had met such a woman.

  "We can check lipiodol deposition within the tumor cells in a liver CT scan, but that's all I know about it," replied Zheng Ren.

  "Isn't that a bit complicated?" Chang Yue frowned.

  "Interventional radiology isn't just a simple diagnostic test; it has ther.a.p.eutic effects on hepatocellular carcinoma as well," Su Yun said, "I've a mentor who is particularly skilled in this domain—one of the top five surgeons in this country."

  Zheng Ren locked onto the word Su Yun used—mentor.

  Su Yun must have great respect for his mentor. Strangely enough, for a man with zero self-awareness, he
was actually capable of reverence for someone other than himself.

  Such critique felt undeserved, however, as Su Yun had performed as a surgical assistant beautifully and flawlessly in recent surgeries.

  The trio were still having a "constructive" discussion on the theory of the contrast-enhanced 64-slice CT scan when Zheng Yunxia returned to the office.

  After listening for a few moments, she understood the issue at hand.

  "Little Chang, Little Su, Chief Zheng, thank you for your kindness." A languid but determined smile formed on Zheng Yunxia's face. "I've caused you enough trouble already. Since this is the professor's request, I'll gladly do it."

  Chang Yue remained silent.

  "It should cost me 1680 yuan. I've done it before. Don't worry, I'll pay the other 1000 yuan later," Zheng Yunxia said, trying to appease Chang Yue.

  "In that case, you would have to undergo the test as soon as possible, but there are lots of patients on the waiting list, so you might have to wait a week," said Chang Yue, embarrassed.

  "Chief Zheng, don't you have anything to say?" asked Su Yun.

  "I don't know anyone in the CT department." Zheng Ren felt helpless as well.

  "What a poor bachelor, his nose buried only in books. Well, I guess I've to do it now. CT room… Overtime… CT room…" Su Yun mumbled. It was unclear if he was searching for a contact number in WeChat or his phone.

  "Hello, is this Sister Zhao? I'm Little Su." A few seconds in and Su Yun had located a number that had been buried for god only knew how long.

  "Haha, I live a busy life in the ICU. You also know that I've to watch the ventilators every day; I can't get a good night's rest either, unlike you guys who have the luxury of getting off work on time and even free medical checkups. That's a good life.

  "Yes, yes, I was in the wrong. I'll treat you to dinner someday and you can choose any place you like.

  "I'm sorry to trouble you, but can you work overtime tonight? Okay, what time shall we visit?

  "Alright, sure."

  Zheng Ren daydreamed a cheesy romance as Su Yun chatted and finally hung up.

  "It's settled. We'll depart at half-past seven in the evening." The black hair on his forehead danced along with the beautiful smile on his face.