Chapter 301: Just a Bit More (Part 1 of 4)
Zheng Ren was in the operating room, his full concentration on the surgery.
He finally understood and realized a novel method of positioning. However, he could not put his theory into practice as the patient in front of him had not done the necessary tests.
His skill had improved by leaps and bounds, even if it did not benefit the surgery right now.
In the System’s operating room, he had managed to reduce the number of attempts at punctures and intubation between the hepatic vein and portal vein branch to below ten.
He could already complete one TIPS surgery within two hours., even refining the prevention of hepatic encephalopathy.
The research and learning process had been highly beneficial to Zheng Ren.
Although he had exhausted all of his accumulated surgery time and experience points, it had been worth it.
An emergency surgery was no longer an issue, let alone a normal one.
When the angiographic needle superimposed at the anticipated location, Zheng Ren growled, “Prepare to puncture.”
Su Yun acknowledged the order, holding the guide wire steadily.
Right now, stability was more important than speed.
Zheng Ren confirmed the point of egress and made a few final adjustments before pressing down the angiographic needle.
As expected, he failed.
Zheng Ren was not disappointed, though; this puncture had been a calibrative one and failure was its intention.
It made an impression on the venogram and functioned as a landmark.
Zheng Ren focused on the venogram, the three-dimensional image of the patient’s hepatic vein and portal vein already taking shape in his mind.
“Move 1.5 cm upwards and 15 degrees to the right,” he said as he inserted the guide wire.
Su Yun was startled. Under normal circumstances, Zheng Ren would not be fulfilling that role. What did that order mean? 15 degrees to the right?
After some consideration, Su Yun quickly understood.
The hepatic vein was very thick and would cause the guide wire to drift inside.
Zheng Ren confidently maneuvered the guide wire inside, using the vascular wall as an anchor. It was not of much help, but it was better than moving blindly in an empty space.
This was where surgical skill would come into play. Su Yun knew that one could only develop such skill through experience.
He reminded himself to angle his hand at 15 degrees to the right with the guide wire.
It was fortunate that he had a high IQ, he thought disdainfully. Were someone else to partner with Zheng Ren, they would not have been able to catch up. The man was fortunate enough to have met him.
Zheng Ren was also aware of this, but had not had the time to communicate what he had just recently learned in the System.
[Hah, that’s the first time!]
In Xinglin Garden, there was a scoreboard being tallied in the bullet comments.
After so many live surgery broadcasts, loyal viewers had the impression that the surgeon would never fail.
Few of them were gloating, however; most were cheerfully keeping track of how many punctures the surgeon would need to complete the surgery.
[The puncture site was quite far from its target.]
[It’s a little off. I’m not sure what the surgeon intended. If they were trying their luck, the odds don’t seem to be in their favor.]
[I don’t believe that the surgeon would make a puncture blindly. Remember when the embolization that led to the necrotizing intestine was used to mark a source of bleeding? I was panicking back then but the surgeon did it anyway.]
Soon, the surgeon began the second puncture under the comments.
The shadow of the angiographic needle shot down like black lightning.
The images of the portal and hepatic veins overlapped each other. Once the needle was in, the whole superimposed angiography was difficult to differentiate.
[Did it work?]
[I don’t know, but the puncture site is great. I have a feeling it was successful this time.]
[We’ll know when we see what the surgeon does next.]
It was as if the doctors in Xinglin Garden were in the operating room, performing the surgery themselves. They all had their hearts at their throats.
A few began suggesting that the surgeon had purposely punctured too far during their first attempt, but others disagreed. However, after the second puncture, the idea that these were blind guesses was no longer of any consideration.
Although it failed, success seemed more and more likely with the next puncture!
It was a confidence brought on by the dozens of live surgery broadcasts before.
In the operating room, Zheng Ren shook his head and stared hard at the image before saying, “Retreat 0.3 cm and 10 degrees to the right.”
He was like the captain of a small boat in a rocky sea, facing down roaring waves and barking orders without fear.
His crew carried out his orders with determination, keeping faith that their boat would conquer the waves and reach shore safely under the guidance of their captain.
The guide wire withdrew slightly, its movement so tiny it was invisible to all but the most acute of senses.
The distance of 0.3 cm… was extremely difficult to measure.
Su Yun could feel the changes in the wire. He tilted it to the right by 10 degrees and secured it as much as he could after Zheng Ren withdrew it by 0.3 cm..
Zheng Ren checked it again. He was full of confidence.
It was completely different from the System’s operating room! Zheng Ren clearly felt this discrepancy after only two real-life punctures.
After the System’s mission rewards, he had already accumulated +6 luck points.
Although he still had no idea what they were for, Zheng Ren could clearly sense how the surgery before him diverged from the one he had had in the System’s operating room.
The second puncture had been a tentative attempt at making another landmark to confirm the portal vein’s location between the first two points.
This was the technique Zheng Ren had managed to work out.
However, the second puncture had almost successfully entered the branch of the portal vein, penetrating it just by a little. It suddenly dawned on Zheng Ren that he could have made it if he had an extra luck point!
He had never been more sure that at this moment!
If he did not succeed this time, he would get it with the next puncture!
With Su Yun securing the guide wire, he started the next puncture.
His finger was latched firmly on the button.
At that moment, the patient began vomiting vigorously.
As his body moved, the puncture site shook intensely. Under such circumstances, the god of luck did not favor Zheng Ren and the third puncture failed.
There was utter silence in the live surgery broadcasting room.
Most of them had expected success at the puncture.
[Too bad…]
After a while, a comment flew by slowly.
[No worries, it was just an accident. The next one will definitely be the one!]
[The next puncture site will probably have to be pinpointed, and that’s quite reliant on luck.]
[… I suddenly feel a deep despair, like I’ve just opened up McBurney’s point but the appendix was missing.]
[… that’s the plot of a horror movie. Please don’t talk about not finding the appendix at Mcburney’s point. I performed an appendectomy several days ago for three whole hours and finally found the appendix near the splenic fossa.]
[Sending empathy.]
[Sending empathy +1.]
[…]