Chapter 116: Minor Accident
Chang Yue looked anxious. Her eyes searched Zheng Ren’s for answers.
Su Yun finally asked out loud, “What’s wrong?”
“They had an accident at the hospital entrance. Professor Pei is being sent to the emergency department,” Zheng Ren said as he rushed downstairs.
Change Yue made to follow, but Zheng Ren ordered her away.
In the emergency room, Zheng Ren saw Manager Feng standing at the door of Chief Physician Pan’s office, a look of despair on his face.
He sped up to reach Manager Feng. “How’s the professor?”
“A three-wheeled motorcycle collided with the car. Professor Pei’s left knee was injured when the emergency brake kicked in. His knee hit the front seat.”
Their prudent planning had fallen apart right outside the hospital.
“Where is he now?”
“In the emergency rescue room,” Old Chief Physician Pan said.
Zheng Ren immediately rushed in and saw an old man with graying hair on the hospital bed.
The top right corner of his vision brought up his diagnosis: the soft tissue around his left knee joint was injured and the cruciate ligaments were damaged. Zheng Ren had mixed feelings about this.
The injury was not severe, but with his ligaments damaged, the professor needed two to three days of rest before he could even walk properly.
It was not life-threatening or chronic, but today’s surgery would have to be delayed.
Old Chief Physician Pan greeted Professor Pei and asked about his injury.
“Nothing serious.” Professor Pei’s body was fit for his age. He waved his hand and continued, “Just some minor trauma to the soft tissue and cruciate ligaments. Nothing major, really.”
“Let’s do a scan to make sure,” Old Chief Physician Pan said, concerned.
Professor Pei tried to decline the offer but Old Chief Physician Pan insisted. Zheng Ren ended up wheeling the professor to the NMRI room.
The results confirmed the diagnosis made by the System and Professor Pei. It was not a serious injury.
Professor Pei was frustrated. He sighed and asked, “What happens now with the surgery?”
Zheng Ren had been mulling this issue. He thought for a moment and asked, “Professor Pei, if you don’t mind, could you guide us through the surgery?”
A guided surgery involved the professor giving step-by-step guidance while junior doctors did the legwork.
“Have you done the procedure before?” Professor Pei asked curiously.
He was under the impression that Sea City General Hospital had state-of-the-art facilities but no interventional surgery experts.
This was why China Changfeng Microinvasive Surgery targeted Sea City for their debut.
“I’ve done a few cases. Uterine and renal artery embolizations; mainly surgeries to control bleeding,” Zheng Ren answered truthfully.
“That’s good enough.” Professor Pei nodded in approval. “If there’s any difficulty, I will step up. My body may not be young anymore, so I can’t stand on one leg for too long. Thank you for helping.”
“No, thank you for even coming,” Zheng Ren said to the old man. He had the utmost respect for the medical practitioner. The old man had strong ethics alongside his superb surgical skill.
Professor Pei was fidgety. Perhaps it was true that every surgeon had minor obsessive compulsive disorder; as long as there was surgery to be done, they would be restless.
At Professor Pei’s request, Zheng Ren wheeled him to the emergency ward.
“Ding dong~!” the System chimed.
Oh? A mission?
[Continuous Mission—Doctors with Parental Heart 2: Hope Amidst Despair
Mission Details: Complete the liver cancer tumor embolization.
Mission Reward: 100 skill points and 1000 experience points.
Mission Duration: 4 hours.]
Chang Yue was anxiously waiting for news. When she saw Zheng Ren approaching with a wheelchair, her heart fell.
Professor Pei introduced himself to Zheng Yunxia and they discussed her case. Then, he asked for her CT scans and spent a few minutes analyzing them in an office. FInally, he was satisfied.
The preoperative preparations were complete and Chang Yue brought Zheng Yunxia up to the operating room on the third floor.
They took a while to reach the room as it was Chang Yue’s first time transporting a patient there. Normally, Su Yun or Zheng Ren would do the honors.
Professor Pei looked around the interventional suite in the operating room and was very impressed.
Meanwhile, Zheng Ren and Su Yun got down to business.
No one spoke at that point. The only difference in this surgery was its difficulty and the professor’s guidance.
Su Yun started disinfection and placed the surgical drapes over the patient. Zheng Ren changed into the System’s special lead vest, scrubbed in and started femoral artery cannulation.
…
…
The System was humming, but unlike before, the livestream on Xinglin Garden did not begin.
After a moment, the humming disappeared and the System was silent.
There was no livestream this time.
…
Through the thick lead-glass window, Professor Pei watched the two surgeons busying themselves in the operating room. “Where did Little Zheng learn interventional surgery?”
Old Chief Physician Pan, standing beside Professor Pei, answered the sensitive question. “He must have learned it in his past. I’m not too sure, either, but I watched his past two surgeries and saw nothing amiss.”
He was glad that Zheng Ren was not in the room.
If Zheng Ren gave an honest answer, that he once watched it performed during his housemanship, the professor could become angry.
The boy was a good person, but at times, he was too honest.
Old Chief Physician Pan liked that Zheng Ren was good at surgery. Hence, his flaws were balanced out.
“I see. Let’s see how it goes then.” Professor Pei could only comment as much.
An emergency embolization was not the same as embolization for a liver cancer tumor.
During emergency embolizations, the target blood vessel was usually bigger and easier to access, but for a liver cancer tumor, the embolization of 4th-grade arteries was needed to ensure high efficacy of treatment.
However, the boy only needed to know the basics. Professor Pei would scrub in when it was time for arterial superselective catheterization.
As the two old men talked shop, the vascular sheath had already been inserted and the guide wire was slowly entering the femoral artery.
“The pair seem very accustomed to the surgery. Steady hands,” Professor Pei said, nodding with approval.
Femoral artery catheterization was a medium-difficulty procedure, but Zheng Ren succeeded on his first attempt. Although the patient did not suffer hypovolemia, it was rare to see a non-specialized doctor in a small city like Sea City perform the procedure with such proficiency.
Old Chief Physician Pan smiled but said nothing. Zheng Ren had always been successful on the first attempt.
However, he did have a few worries as Zheng Ren had never done liver cancer tumor embolization before. Who knew what could go wrong?
The guide wire was in place and Su Yun switched on the imaging system.
In the control room, the live image of the surgery appeared on the 40-inch screen. Professor Pei watched it attentively.
The room was dead silent. The procedure required an administration of chemotherapy drugs into the liver, so Xie Yiren was there to pass them the concoction. This form of targeted delivery minimized side effects.
The Chu sisters, Chang Yue, and Feng Xuhui had nothing to do but remain in the room. No one spoke, afraid to interrupt Professor Pei’s thought process.
In the operating room, under X-ray radiation, Zheng Ren slowly maneuvered the thin silhouette of the guide wire into the target vessel.
“Commendable superselection skills,” Professor Pei lauded.