Professor Rudolf Wagner was deep in thought as he watched Zheng Ren enter the room, shaking his head and saying, "Zheng, your surgery was a masterpiece."
"You're exaggerating, professor," Zheng Ren replied with a smile.
The professor let out a soft sigh and did not argue the matter.
Chief Xia was not specialized in interventional surgery and thus did not understand what had happened, but Zheng Ren and Professor Rudolf Wagner's conversation implied that the surgery had been a stirring success. "Dr. Zheng, did it work?"
"You could say so," Zheng Ren said, "We just need to be careful of postoperative complications such as hepatic encephalopathy. Also, I deployed two stents. If the hepatic encephalopathy is not serious, we can consider removing the second one to enlarge the tract between the hepatic and portal veins, increasing blood flow."
Chief Xia nodded in silence.
"Is the patient going to be transferred to your department or the ICU?" Zheng Ren asked.
"We should be able to handle the postoperative complications better, so he'll follow us," Chief Xia answered with the force and dignity of a department chief.
Zheng Ren was unbothered. He had done extremely well in the surgery and deployed two stents. Since the outflow tract was slightly narrower than 8 mm, there was a much lower risk of developing hepatic encephalopathy than they would have had with a single stent.
The patient being transferred to gastroenterology was fine. After all, they were the experts in treating hepatic encephalopathy.
In the operating room, Su Yun had already bandaged the patient and, with Chu Yanran and the others, moved him onto the stretcher trolley for handover to the gastroenterology department.
Chief Xia made to leave with the stretcher trolley, but hesitated for a while before asking, "Dr. Zheng, I have a patient with decompensated cirrhosis and refractory ascites."
"If their family members are willing to accept the high risks that come with this method, they can come in for treatment." Zheng Ren smiled.
"Okay," Chief Xia said curtly and left.
Zheng Ren predicted more gastroenterology patients requiring TIPS surgery in the future, as long as his patient's postoperative condition remained stable.
From an epidemiological perspective, the 60s were rife with hepatitis B.
The country managed to bring it under control by the end of the 80s. Although it was not completely eradicated like polio, its infection rate was not as aggressive as before.
In other words, patients who had contracted hepatitis B would currently be in their sixties.
Failing to take Entecavir to control the hepatitis B virus over the years would result in symptoms similar to that of Chief Xia's patient.
Receiving TIPS surgery to treat their high portal pressure would greatly improve their quality of life and prolong their lifespan.
No wonder the System had rewarded him so generously.
He felt like he had finally figured out the System.
Su Yun interrupted his train of thought. "What are you laughing at? Do you also think you aced the surgery?"
"Ha ha, it will be fine," Zheng Ren replied perfunctorily.
"There are newcomers reporting in tomorrow, and you had such a huge emergency surgery today. Your luck is one of a kind."
Zheng Ren did not understand the connection between the TIPS surgery and being able to have flexible shifts from the next day, but he could not be bothered to argue with Su Yun and simply smiled.
Professor Rudolf Wagner walked out in a daze, his eyes all over the place.
"Ah, I forgot about the professor." Su Yun chuckled softly. "Had I known that you would pull it off it with such excellence, I wouldn't have called the professor over."
Zheng Ren was speechless. How would he have known otherwise?
"Will the professor think I called him over just to observe the surgery like a learning trip? If he's the type to hold grudges, this would be a thorn in his flesh. In the future, no matter what you say in the academic world, the professor would be the first to oppose you."
Su Yun's logic… seemed to make sense after Zheng Ren gave it some thought.
Chapter 305 - Can His Blindness be Cured? (Part 1 of 4)
Zheng Ren sent off Chief Xia and returned to the operating room.
Xie Yiren was cleaning up and sterilizing the operating room. After every surgery, there was plenty of work waiting for nurses.
Su Yun smirked when he saw her shoo Zheng Ren away when the latter offered help. What a lucky buffoon.
After being chased off by Xie Yiren, Zheng Ren returned to the emergency ward with Su Yun.
Since they had been away for a while, the first thing they did was to perform ward rounds. Zheng Ren had to ensure his patients' conditions were under control especially with so many surgeries yesterday.
As expected, all the patients who received surgery for appendicitis were not in the ward except for the one who had undergone open surgery.
However, the two patients who had gotten laparoscopic cholecystectomies… were not present in the ward as well.
The advancement of minimally invasive surgeries reduced post-laparoscopy pain, leading patients to underestimate their condition. It was simply impossible to make them stay in the hospital for further monitoring.
Zheng Ren's hands were tied. If the patient got into an accident on the way home, it would complicate the situation even further.
Such a thing had happened before and no doctor had any power over it.
If they forbade the patients from being discharged… there would be a surge in medical complaints, specifically regarding the patient's right to self-discharge.
It was an unsolvable issue.
All they could do was close their eyes.
Zheng Ren sighed and decided to call the patients' families to follow up about their conditions. If he suspected something was wrong, he would request that the patient returned to the hospital.
At the last ward, he was greeted by a smile as he opened the door.
"Ah, Dr. Zheng, you're here," a girl said cheerfully.
This patient had stood out. Zheng Ren remembered the girl being the fiancée of the young man who had been stabbed—the responsible girl.
"So, how's your fiancé?" Zheng Ren asked.
The hospital bed was raised into a semirec.u.mbent position, its occupant still fasting with a nasogastric tube in his nose.
He looked much better, a blissful expression on his face.
"He's doing well today. We talked a lot," the girl said, "He said that he felt like some ghost had tried to drag him away yesterday. He was terrified."
She laughed heartily.
"Who said that?" the boy said in embarrassment, his face flushing red.
Zheng Ren simply grinned and did not speak.
"Do you feel any different after dying once?" Su Yun asked.
The boy's expression became serious, as if being reminded of something, and he sighed. "You might be right, doctor."
Silence filled the ward. The boy lowered his head and fell into deep thought.
After some time, he looked up.
"I dreamt that I died and Little Fang committed suicide. My old mother who had raised me cried her eyes out and also passed away. My entire family was destroyed." The boy's eyes reddened. Even though he had regained consciousness, the dream still chilled his bones.
Had he not been using a urinary catheter then, he would have probably wet himself on the operating table.
Zheng Ren remained expressionless. The corners of Su Yun's mouth curled slightly.
"What about the future?"
"I messed up. I know I was wrong." The boy raised his head, slightly ashamed, but his tone filled with determination. "I want to give Little Fang a good life and take care of my mother. None of my so-called 'friends' offered to help me when I was in danger."
Zheng Ren smiled.
From his condition, the kid would be fine.
There was nothing much to worry about
as it was just a lesion in the colon, requiring only a suture to patch it up. As for the possibility of abdominal infections… for someone of his health, such an issue was unlikely.
That was it, then. Zheng Ren consoled the patient before leaving the ward with Su Yun.
"Did we treat his blindness?" Su Yun asked, laughing.
"Maybe. Who knows? It all depends on how he decides to live his life from now onwards. We did what we could," Zheng Ren said softly.
"Don't say that, boss. Fraudulence, threatening the patient and lying about his condition were atrocious acts that could result in the suspension of one's medical license. Please don't involve me in this. My shoulders are too frail to carry this burden," Su Yun joked.
Zheng Ren did not humor him. The man could never be serious in a formal conversation.
They strolled to the office as Zheng Ren contemplated doing some reading before bed.
It had been very busy yesterday; perhaps it would be more relaxed tonight.
All emergency consultations were complete. It was rare for him to slow down.
When they went into the office, Zheng Ren saw Professor Rudolf Wagner sitting inside with a solemn expression.
"Professor? Why are you here?" he asked in surprise.
Su Yun was silent.
Professor Rudolf Wagner was a world-renowned professor in interventional surgery. Why did it seem like Zheng Ren gave him no thought at all? He had completely forgotten about the professor immediately after leaving the operating room.
Truly one of a kind, he was.
"Zheng, I would like to sincerely extend my invitation to you once more. If you agree, I guarantee that we'll be able to establish a research lab for prostate interventional surgery." Professor Rudolf Wagner stood, his golden locks swaying in the air. "You don't have to worry about funding and patients. We can also discuss the issues of research team leadership further."
Su Yun was struck dumb.
From experience, he knew the importance of authority in a research project.
Most professors and experts did not understand their own research projects but were able to acquire funding, which was the main driving factor of one. Therefore, the first author in the published journal would usually be the one who obtained the funding.
However, Professor Rudolf Wagner was willing to bear all of that responsibility just to get Zheng Ren to go to Heidelberg University?
When had Zheng Ren become so valuable?
Chuckling, Zheng Ren said, "Professor, I'm really sorry. I'm very busy and can't leave. If it interests you, perhaps you can discuss this with Chief Kong."
Professor Rudolf Wagner's eyes lit up when he heard those words.
The fellow had just brought up a great idea.
A collaboration between top medical institutions would certainly give him a leg up when applying for funding from foundations.
"It's late, professor," Zheng Ren said, "You should head back and rest. Thanks for helping out yesterday."
Professor Rudolf Wagner looked into his eyes and said sincerely, "Zheng, if you can't go to Heidelberg, I'm willing to stay here for a period of time."
"You can help out in the day, then. It's quite busy then and you would be able to utilize your full potential," Zheng Ren responded perfunctorily.
In reality, he simply did not want to work during the same shift as Professor Rudolf Wagner. His luck was just so… terrible.
The Night Shift God had to have some deep hatred towards him. If the professor continued to stay for another night, Zheng Ren was afraid that it would be another sleepless one.
Professor Rudolf Wagner was finally persuaded to leave.
Zheng Ren exhaled in relief as he watched the professor climb into a car.
"Let's just take a look at the emergency department and then return to rest," Su Yun said.
He nodded.
Chapter 306 - Lovey-dovey (Part 2 of 4)
It was 9.30 p.m. when they both arrived at the emergency department.
This was the department's busiest and most chaotic hour.
However, in the winter, most patients required attention from internal medicine for conditions such as acute gastroenteritis, acute myocardial infarction and acute cerebral infarction.
Zheng Ren was not worried about internal medicine as their patients simply needed to be admitted into the inpatient department. His main aim was to identify any misdiagnosed patients in the emergency observation ward.
After surveying a few observational units, Zheng Ren chose a few patients to speak to about their conditions. Doctors from the emergency internal medicine department had given appropriate treatment, so there was no need for Zheng Ren to do any extra work.
This should be the norm. He felt very relaxed.
Around the corner, he saw a girl who looked around eighteen or nineteen, possibly a university student, crouching on a chair beside the door to the internal medicine consultation room, hugging her stomach in agony.
An internal medicine physician was talking to her solemnly.
After checking the System's monitor on the upper right corner of his vision, Zheng Ren was stunned.
There was nothing wrong with the girl. The light green background of her diagnosis shone bright and lively.
What happened?
Could something be wrong with the System?
He suddenly felt anxious.
His medical skill had vastly improved in the last few months with the assistance of the System, especially in both surgery and diagnoses.
However, it was also why he feared that any problems with the System would cause a misdiagnosis…
Were it only a business transaction, Zheng Ren could not care less about a hiccup in the System. The worst that could happen would be having to start all over from the beginning.
However, as a doctor, a simple mistake could cost someone their life. There were no such things as second chances.
The fault tolerance in this specific profession was minimal.
That was why he was always very cautious about it.
As expected, today was the day of such an occurrence.
Zheng Ren hurried over. Su Yun was surprised by his alertness and followed him.
"What happened?" Zheng Ren asked.
"Chief Zheng, I was considering acute gastroenteritis, but she refused to be admitted for observation and resisted the relevant anti-inflammatory treatment. She's suffering pain but does not want to be checked nor receive treatment. What do you suggest?" the emergency internal medicine doctor reported, relieved to have him present.
"Can you take a look and advise her, Chief Zheng? Patients are piling up in there, I need to go." The doctor turned and reentered the consultation room.
Usually, doctors were reluctant to take on intractable, rare diseases or patients with low medical compliance. One wrong move could turn into a land mine and blow them to pieces.
What was the use of a superior?
To take the hit, of course.
Zheng Ren glanced at the girl. There was a boy beside her asking awkwardly about her condition.
Seeing the bumbling boy made him lose track.
He also wanted to show his concern to Xie Yiren, but where would he start?
"Hey, why are you staring at her boyfriend?" Su Yun prodded Zheng Ren softly.
"Ahem…" Zheng Ren was slightly embarrassed. He then bent down to ask, "How are you feeling?"
"Doctor, my stomach hurts," the girl said gloomily.
She did not seem to be in much pain. From her expression, Zheng Ren could not read any signs that she was experiencing insufferable agony.
Moments before, he was worried that her stomach pain could have been related to ectopic pregnancy and ovarian torsion that were very difficult to diagnose.
That did not seem likely.
"When did it first start?" he asked.
"I felt a sudden pain after dinner," the girl replied, gritting her teeth.
"Doctor, is her condition serious?" the boy asked
worriedly.
"Have you taken any tests?"
"I didn't bring any money for tests," the girl said.
"I did," the boy interjected, "but she wouldn't allow me to use it."
Zheng Ren was baffled. Why had she refused to get checked if her stomachache was that serious? Who would be responsible if her treatment was delayed?
"This is not right, young lady." Zheng Ren tried to gently encourage her. "You need to be checked if you're feeling unwell and treat the issue. It's not good for your health if you keep on tolerating it."
"No, I won't get checked," the girl said stubbornly.
"..." Zheng Ren was speechless.
"Let's go to the treatment room and check on her," Su Yun said behind Zheng Ren.
"Doctor, just do anything you have to. I have money," the boy insisted.
"I'll leave if you proceed with payment." The girl was furious, pinching his arm as she lay in his c.h.e.s.t.
No matter how he looked at them, they seemed to be torturing him for his bachelorhood… Zheng Ren felt frustration rising in his c.h.e.s.t.
"We'll put the tests on hold. How about just a simple body checkup?" he said cautiously.
The girl finally agreed. As the internal medicine consultation room was crowded, they headed to the treatment room.
The boy explained their history intermittently between bouts of pain as they walked.
They were both students from a university in the development zone and had been together for almost a month.
Tonight, they had a movie date before dinner. It was then that the girl began to experience abdominal pain.
Since they were near Sea City General Hospital, they hurried over.
Su Yun approached the boy and whispered something into his ears; he looked startled before shaking his head determinedly.
"No history of intimacy. You can rule out ectopic pregnancy, but if you're doing the checkup, might as well take a look at it too," Su Yun said upon returning to Zheng Ren's side.
"Alright." Zheng Ren told the girl to lie on the treatment room bed, bend her legs and turn her head left. Then, he started examining her.
Her abdomen was tender, with no signs of hardening.
The most peculiar part was that there were no tender points. As he examined her body, the girl mentioned a tenderness in the middle left side of her abdomen.
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