Chapter 374: Reviving The Dead
Zheng Ren switched modes instantly at the news of an emergency rescue, abandoning his discussion with the professor.
The news of a patient with a stopped heart turned Zheng Ren into an athlete. He chased after Su Yun and the two doctors ran through the hospital corridors.
The elevators were too slow, so they went down the fire escape stairwell.
As they reached the first floor, they heard the sirens of the 120 ambulance approaching.
“You head to the emergency response room, I’ll bring the patient,” Zheng Ren shouted over the din.
Without saying a word, Su Yun changed course and ran toward the emergency response room.
The 120 ambulance pulled up in front of the emergency entrance. The stretcher trolley was already on the move.
Zheng Ren caught sight of the patient and looked at the System display in the top-right corner of his vision.
Instead of flashing a warning red, it was pale white.
‘F*ck!’
Zheng Ren cursed under his breath. Was the patient dead?
Not even a diagnosis! There was no color indication of the patient’s vital signs.
This was a first for Zheng Ren.
At this moment, the System notification bell chimed.
[Emergency Mission: Reviving The Dead
[Mission Details: Rescue the multiple stab wound patient undergoing cardiac arrest.
[Mission Reward: One Master-rank emergency rescue skill book and one golden chest.
[Mission Duration: Three hours.]
There was no time to read the fine print, but the issuance of a mission gave Zheng Ren hope.
It meant the patient still had a fighting chance, or else the System would not have given him a mission.
His past engagements with the System were always fair and balanced. Thus far, he had yet to encounter a mission that was impossible to complete.
A 30-year-old woman came down from the 120 ambulance.
Her hair was a mess as she ran alongside the stretcher trolley. She was shrieking and crying as the emergency response team wheeled the patient into the hospital.
At some point, Zheng Ren joined the foray. He guided the stretcher trolley to the emergency response room. Amidst the chaos, the woman, who was in heels, tripped as she tried to keep up.
No one noticed her fall.
Once the patient was inside the emergency response room, a nurse approached with a pair of scissors. The patient’s clothes were removed.
One by one, the stab wounds appeared before Zheng Ren’s eyes.
There was one stab wound below the left pectoral.
Time was running out! The heart would have stopped beating for at least four minutes now—brain hypoxia would have set in.
There was not enough time!
Zheng Ren put on a pair of sterile gloves and plunged one hand into the stab wound while his other hand reached out. “Scalpel!”
Su Yun had a scalpel in hand and intended on stepping up to the table when he heard the urgency in Zheng Ren’s tone. He relinquished the scalpel.
Zheng Ren’s fingers probed the wound and came into contact with the heart.
He suspected the patient had a pericardial tamponade!
He recklessly poured some iodophor over the patient’s wound and, scalpel in hand, he cut into the patient.
“Ah!” A shriek sounded from outside the room.
Zheng Ren ignored the shout as he pushed the scalpel deeper. There was no time to perform a blunt dissection or address potential issues, like pneumothorax.
“Prep the operating room!” Zheng Ren shouted as he spread open the muscles underneath.
The gory heart sat in the chest cavity, two fists large.
Zheng Ren made a nick in the pericardium.
The sudden relief of the pent-up pressure caused a spray of red liquid, splattering the room and ceiling.
Blood was everywhere!
The patient’s family, bystanders, and even the medical staff on duty were shocked as they watched the events unfold.
Zheng Ren tossed the scalpel aside and put his hand into the patient’s chest cavity. With his fingers, he began to massage the heart.
With the pericardial tamponade resolved, the resistance was lessened and two squeezes were all it took to restart the heart.
At the same moment, Su Yun successfully intubated the patient and was providing breathing assistance with a ventilation bag.
“OR!” Zheng Ren kept his hand on the patient’s heart, fearing the worst if he left it unattended.
Su Yun immediately pushed the stretcher trolley and called for a personnel to steer the direction. The team headed for the elevators.
As the stretcher trolley exited the emergency response room, a piercing wail was heard. The 30-year-old woman launched herself at the stretcher and began sobbing uncontrollably.
Her cries were heart-wrenching to hear and even more harrowing to watch. Her agony was on full display in the emergency department.
Despite that, Zheng Ren had no sympathy for the patient’s family. The woman was slowing them down in this critical moment.
The patient’s chest cavity was exposed and there was a high risk of open pneumothorax.
They could not maintain this condition for long.
“Let go!” Zheng Ren roared.
The woman was undergoing a mental breakdown as she watched the man’s life slip away. She was oblivious to the world around her. Her one and only focus was her lover, who was dying by the second.
“F*ck!” Zheng Ren swore loudly.
There was no time for explanations so he kicked the woman aside and urged the team to move faster.
The bystanders stared wide-eyed at the commotion. Did this count as physical assault? Were doctors allowed to do that?
The other medical personnel were also surprised by Zheng Ren’s actions. They were glad that once the patient was rushed to the operating room, they would have washed their hands of this case.
A few nurses approached the fallen woman and made sure she did not cause any further commotion. They agreed with Chief Zheng’s decisiveness and found him very manly in the heat of the moment.
The stretcher trolley was wheeled into the operating room. Chu Yanran quickly set up a double-lumen endotracheal tube while Zheng Ren did a deep venous catheterization before changing into his surgical scrubs. Su Yun was already in his scrubs and in the process of washing his hands.
The team in the operating room worked efficiently and cohesively, like a fine-tuned machine. When Zheng Ren returned to the operating table after changing, the surgical drapes were laid in place and everything was ready to go.
Sterility was of a lesser concern in an emergency rescue. If there was an infection, it would have been due to the earlier open cardiac massage.
Time was of the essence.
Zheng Ren needed more time.
Time!
Time!
Time!
The ribs spreader held the patient’s rib cage open and revealed the wildly beating heart. Relieving the pericardial tamponade seemed to have rejuvenated the organ.
The ventilator got to work as the double-lumen endotracheal tube was set. One lung deflated as Chu Yanran operated the equipment.
This gave Zheng Ren a better view of the heart. There was a 1cm laceration on the left anterior wall of the heart. With each heartbeat, fresh blood oozed from the open wound.
A wound of this size was salvageable. Zheng Ren sighed in relief.
He extended his arm and got a hemostatic forceps.
A deeper probe revealed the wound was approximately 2cm deep.
“A direct suture?” Zheng Ren asked.
“It would work,” Su Yun replied. His surgical cap was drenched in sweat. Zheng Ren imagined his usual floppy fringe would be damp and slick against his forehead. Su Yun continued speaking, “Nothing critical. A suture will do.”
The heart was not Zheng Ren’s forte, but it was Su Yun’s.
Su Yun was experienced in heart transplants. This emergency procedure was nothing compared to a heart transplant.
“Sew it up then. Fine sutures,” Zheng Ren instructed and handed over the helm. This came as a surprise to Su Yun.
The needle holder was placed into Su Yun’s hand: small needle, fine sutures, and a long needle holder.
It was the first time Su Yun received such treatment in the operating room. Even in Imperial Capital, he was never given a chance like this.
Zheng Ren relaxed. He was glad to have someone take over. It would be great if every surgery was as simple.
…
…
This surgery was based on an emergency rescue I had in 2003. The patient survived and we became friends. I kicked the patient’s wife aside, but she could not even recall the event.
The scenes described actually happened. The blood splatters really reached the ceiling and we were all covered in blood.