Chapter 184: Chapter 184 - Sweet

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Once he was out of the operating theater, Ling Ran found the air in the corridor sweet.

He first rewashed his hand in the bathroom next to the operating theater. He then entered the shower room without a word and showered for thirty minutes before he came out.

After he changed into his scrubs, Ling Ran went to the waiting room and saw only Doctor Zhou, Yu Yuan, and the other members of their treatment group. The other doctors and nurses were nowhere to be found.

“They all left.” Doctor Zhou pursed his lips and said, “What a bunch of weaklings. They can’t even stand an intestinal obstruction repair for an elderly patient? I wonder what they did during their clinical rotations. There are patients like this every day in the General Surgery Department. Sigh, look at their ability to endure feces…”

“What good would one have for such an ability?” Ling Ran lamented.

The surgery that day gave him a huge impact.

Ling Ran was now feeling very fortunate that the first type of surgery he encountered was microsurgery. Although the workload was a bit heavy, and the surgery itself was not considered very clean, once he compared it with the General Surgery Department’s work… he really did not want to rotate to that department.

Two nurses giggled, and they eased up the atmosphere in the waiting room.

Doctor Zhou sighed and said, “I remember the days when I was in school. Every summer, I would go to the dissection room for some self-studying. The cadavers were all around me, but I still did what I had to do. Young people nowadays truly can’t compare to the generation before. ”

“Weren’t you afraid when it was nighttime?” Yu Yuan was so shocked her face turned pale.

Doctor Zhou looked at Yu Yuan’s expression, and he became inexplicably angry. “Why are you surprised? Many medical students will choose to accompany the cadavers to relieve themselves of the heat in the dissection room during summer. In comparison to what you just did, what I did is considered normal.”

“That’s because you didn’t find anything interesting in this surgery. Cases in the Colorectal Department are actually very meaningful…” Yu Yuan was excited after she finished her operation. She became extroverted and gave off the impression that she was a bubbly, leftover lady [1]. Her pitch also grew higher as she shared her experiences, “I remember going to an affiliated hospital to oversee a surgery. The patient I encountered had fecal impaction, which is a solid, immobile bulk of feces that can’t be removed through defecation—”

“We know what fecal impaction is,” Doctor Zhou interrupted Yu Yuan’s words wearily.

Yu Yuan nodded in acknowledgement and said, “What I wanted to say is that normal recta are about six inches in length, right? Back then, the fecal impaction we encountered was quite incredible—”

“Yu Yuan! Yu Yuan… Yu Yuan,” Doctor Zhou arduously interrupted Yu Yuan and said, “let’s not talk about fecal impaction.”

“Oh…” Yu Yuan instantly calmed down. After a while, Yu Yuan looked around and got up to buy five pork trotters. She took them and handed them to everyone. She then said, “Sorry, I got too excited. I used to be like this as well. There are always people who don’t like the things I find interesting…”

“It’s okay, most people don’t like what doctors like. Of course, you are a doctor among doctors.” Doctor Zhou was naturally not unhappy because of the incident.

Yu Yuan was overjoyed. “Thank you, Doctor Zhou.”

Immediately after, Yu Yuan faced Ling Ran and smiled. “Doctor Ling, thank you for letting me participate in such an interesting operation.”

“As long as you find it interesting, then all is well.” Ling Ran gave off a very tolerant expression.

“All right, let’s eat the pork trotters. Young Yu, you washed your hands before you picked up the pork trotters, right?”

“I’ve washed my hands,” Yu Yuan quickly said.

“Thank you. I don’t really feel like eating now.” The nurse was still in a state of shock, and she could not find the appetite for the fat and greasy pork trotters.

Doctor Zhou first took a big bite off of it and said, “Don’t be so fussy in the hospital. It’s most important to eat and drink to stay alive.”

Not long after, Doctor Zhou ate half of the pork trotter. He smiled in satisfaction. “Yu Yuan, since you treated us today, and the surgery was also done by you, I’ll pay you the surgery fee when I get back. Ling Ran, do you want some?”

“It’s all right, there’s no need to pay me.” Ling Ran shook his head. He did not eat the pork trotter either. Instead, he stared at the basin used to store the pork trotters, and a strange look appeared on his face.

Doctor Zhou nonchalantly continued to speak, “What we did today was a Level 3 surgery. Once the administration splits up the surgery fee, the chief surgeon should earn around 200 RMB. I don’t want it. Ling Ran doesn’t want it too. So, I will give it to Yu Yuan. When I have the exact figure, I’ll give you the bonus.”

“Thank you, Doctor Zhou.” Yu Yuan did not reject it. She eagerly looked forward to the surgery fee that a chief surgeon could get.

Doctor Zhou snickered. “I invited people over to my house for some plumbing work. I spent 360 RMB on it. If I had known how much it would cost me, I would have done the plumbing myself.”

“That’s not the same,” Yu Yuan said proudly. “Plumbers need to go to their customer’s house. We bring the patients to the hospital. Moreover, the hospital charges more than 360 RMB.”

“Makes sense.” Doctor Zhou always had a very casual outlook in life. As a response to Yu Yuan’s statement, he put on an expression that said, “As long as you’re satisfied.”

After he ate what remained of his pork trotter, Doctor Zhou got up and threw the bone into the trash can before he went to the front. He saw a new note with five words written on it pasted next to the QR code they used to make payments: [Pork trotters at half price!]

“Hey, Lu Wenbin’s being nice again. He’s only charging us half for the pork trotters.” Doctor Zhou was inexplicably surprised and delighted. He took out his mobile phone. “I’ll buy a few to bring home and eat.”

“It must be because they aren’t willing to eat this pot of trotters.” A young nurse gave a good reason.

Doctor Zhou’s mobile phone vibrated. “Why?”

“The ‘fragrance’ is floating all over the place,” the young nurse said and chuckled.

Doctor Zhou, who had just finished eating his pork trotter, was stunned for a few seconds. He immediately concealed his surprise with a smile. “I don’t mind it. Ling Ran, is that the reason why you didn’t eat any?”

“Oh, I don’t really like the basin.” Ling Ran pointed at the aluminum basin of pork trotters.

Doctor Zhou looked over and saw a familiar-looking aluminum basin used to store the pork trotters.

The aluminum basin in the waiting room undoubtedly belonged to the operating area.

When the hospital bought items for the operating area, there was no doubt that they would buy multiples of the same product, and all of them would have the same specifications.

In other words, the aluminum basin in the operating theater possessed the same shape as the aluminum basin in the waiting room.

The aluminum basin in the operating theater earlier had evidently undertaken an unexpectedly important task.

Doctor Zhou covered his mouth, and he raised his head in a strong show of determination.

Yu Yuan answered in slight embarrassment, “Doctor Zhou, I didn’t pay attention just now.”

“It’s okay, we’re used to it as doctors.” Doctor Zhou stood up swiftly and said, “Let’s not rest anymore. Ling Ran, let’s go. We’ll wait for our next patient.”

“What kind of patient are we waiting for?” Ling Ran was not looking forward to being in the General Surgery Department now. However, he did not object to any opportunity to practise his skills.

Doctor Zhou looked up and said, “Let’s conduct a surgery for acute appendicitis. You haven’t performed any appendectomies before, right?”

“No.”

“That would be best. I’ll use a laparoscope to do it; you can take a look,” Doctor Zhou said as he dragged Ling Ran out of the waiting room.

There were many patients in Yun Hua Hospital every day, and cases of patients with acute appendicitis happened frequently. Doctor Zhou waited at the entrance for several dozen minutes with Ling Ran, and he saw a patient who was sent to the hospital by his family members using his car.

“I’ll take over.” Doctor Zhou went up domineeringly and took the patient he wanted from the resident doctor.

After a physical examination using abdominal ultrasound, Doctor Zhou said, “As of now, we suspect it to be appendicitis. There is some tenderness, and throbbing pain is not obvious. My suggestion would be to do a scan. It’d be best if we’re able to diagnose the patient’s condition clearly with Doppler ultrasonography. If it’s still not clear, we could get a hint from his other symptoms… Hmm… the patient will get an X-ray first. One of you, please stay back and sign…”

The patient’s family followed Doctor Zhou’s advice readily.

When the family heard that it was just appendicitis, they were much more at ease.

In this day and age, appendicitis was considered a great fortune among other misfortunes. Although it also required surgery, the chances of the patient suffering any form of loss were very low.

Doctor Zhou was also feeling very relaxed.

For doctors, laparoscopes were extremely practical and easy-to-use devices. A laparoscope was a device that really changed the surgical environment. As long as the doctor made a small hole in the patient’s abdomen, the doctor could complete a lot of complicated surgeries. Illnesses like appendicitis could be easily solved using laparoscopes.

Doctor Zhou felt incredibly at ease every time he used a laparoscope.

After completing his work of speaking to the patient’s family, Doctor Zhou called Ling Ran over, and they went straight to the operating theater.

Before Ling Ran joined the Emergency Department of Yun Hua Hospital, besides taking in burn victims, the Emergency Department mostly snatched patients from the General Surgery Department. Patients who suffered from appendicitis or something similar had not been referred to the General Surgery Department for a long time.

The General Surgery Department obviously did not care. They could not even finish flipping over the intestines they were assigned to every day. Sometimes, when they had to let the rookie doctors practise their skills, they would send the rookie doctors to the Emergency Department. They considered it a sign of good cooperation between the General Surgery Department and the Emergency Department.

Doctor Zhou had performed more than a hundred cases of laparoscopic appendicitis removal. One could tell that he was full of confidence from how he prepared.

Although Doctor Zhou’s cohort of attending physicians had also performed hundreds of appendicitis removals, Doctor Zhou was not bothered because he never compared achievements when it came to matters like that…

“Doctor Zhou, the film sent by the Medical Imaging Department…” A resident doctor sent the film over, but he did not hand it to Doctor Zhou. Instead, he placed it on the LED display screen.

Doctor Zhou hemmed and looked at it. He muttered to himself, “Let me see where you are… Where has the little appendix gone… Hmm…”

When Ling Ran found that his tone was off, he immediately went to check.

Although it was not an MRI scan, which was his forte, analysing a Doppler ultrasonography film was still easy for him. It was something even ordinary people were able to figure it out just by briefly looking at it.

Ling Ran soon discovered that the Medical Imaging Department also gave them another scan, which they took from the patient.

“It shows intestinal obstruction.”

“It’s intestinal obstruction.”

Ling Ran and Doctor Zhou practically lamented at the same time.

“Does this mean that we’ve… misdiagnosed?” The nurses who accompanied them were the two nurses who joined them during the old lady’s surgery. At that moment, they felt a little helpless too.

Doctor Zhou nodded in resignation before he looked at Ling Ran. “Would you like to ask Doctor Yu to come over?”

“All right.” Ling Ran did not hesitate in taking out his mobile phone.

Three minutes later, Yu Yuan rushed down with her black glasses. She looked like a happy, beaming leftover rabbit [2].