CHAPTER 472: 472 LETTING GO DELIBERATELY TO CAPTURE

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"Teacher Liu, is it really a lung lesion?" Liu Yiqing asked.

"I’m not sure myself right now, but I just glossed things over with the child’s parents. Don’t you learn to do that," Liu Banxia said.

Liu Yiqing paused. "How did I not notice? You explained everything that needed to be explained. Where did you gloss things over?"

"It was in how I described it. This is essentially a surgery, but I just used the term ’exploratory’ to downplay it," Liu Banxia explained.

"I was afraid that if I mentioned ’surgery,’ the parents would worry too much and refuse. An ’exploratory procedure’ is always easier to accept; it sounds less alarming."

"But this child’s condition is truly complex. It would be simpler if there were abnormalities in the heart sounds. Then, we could infer related conditions and have clear indicators for examination."

"The key issue is that nothing is very clear. Even the current thoracoscopic exploration might yield results affected by my eyes playing tricks on me. I’m quite concerned."

"Leave a message for Chen Xuehai in his operating room. Tell him to find me after his surgery; it’s urgent. I’ll have to keep coaxing him; otherwise, with his tight schedule, he really might not be able to do it."

Just because you’re the chief resident doesn’t mean you can order all the doctors in the department around. The position essentially means you oversee everything but don’t have the authority to truly manage anything. His authority as the current chief resident had also increased somewhat due to Zhou Shuwen. Even so, he couldn’t arbitrarily assign Chen Xuehai to perform a surgery. Everyone’s surgical schedule is planned out. Adding one arbitrarily disrupts that plan. Surgeons are already so tired; surgeries really aren’t something you can add so easily.

"President Liu, you’re finally back! You should come help us out in general surgery," Wang Chao greeted him as soon as Liu Banxia returned to the emergency hall.

"How did it get so busy? Is everyone swamped?" Liu Banxia asked in surprise.

"There was just a multi-vehicle rear-end collision. The injuries weren’t severe, but they all came for check-ups as a precaution," Wang Chao explained.

"Six cars, sixteen people in total. And you took Liu Yiqing, so we’re short-handed. Hurry, we’ll handle these; you see if there are any urgent cases and take them."

"Sure, I’ll follow President Wang’s orders," Liu Banxia said, then walked towards the triage desk.

Wang Chao gave him a helpless look. He’s at it again with his antics. I need to ask what’s going on after these consultations are over.

The patient assigned to him was a fourteen-year-old boy whose guardian reported abdominal pain.

"Is the abdominal pain severe?" Liu Banxia asked.

"It’s not very severe, but it’s been going on for a long time. Intermittently, for about three or four years. And sometimes, if he eats something that doesn’t agree with him, he vomits," the boy’s mother said.

Liu Banxia frowned. He had encountered similar cases of abdominal pain before; conditions like mesenteric ischemia or compression-related disorders often produced such effects.

"Here, lie down first, let me examine you. Three or four years, that’s quite a long time. Have you been to the hospital for this before?" Liu Banxia said.

"We took him to a doctor last summer vacation. The doctor said it might be due to too much stress from studying. The examinations at that time didn’t reveal any illness," the boy’s mother replied.

During the physical examination, Liu Banxia performed some routine checks on the boy, primarily to rule out appendicitis and gallbladder-related pain. Then he listened carefully to the bowel sounds, finding nothing abnormal.

"It’s hurting a bit more now," the boy said at this moment, frowning.

"Then let’s do an ultrasound examination here. Although it might be slightly more expensive than doing it upstairs, it’s more accurate to do it during an acute episode. What do you think?" Liu Banxia looked at the boy’s mother.

This needed to be explained; otherwise, if they found out it was more expensive than a regular ultrasound, that could cause problems.

The boy’s mother nodded immediately without hesitation.

The ultrasound machine was wheeled over. After applying the couplant, Liu Banxia began the examination directly.

After just a few sweeps, Liu Banxia paused, captured several images, and made markings.

"My current diagnosis is that the child has some intestinal malrotation. The abnormal rotation of the intestines is causing his abdominal pain and vomiting," Liu Banxia stated.

"We’ll need to do another color Doppler ultrasound to confirm by checking the blood circulation in the vessels. It’s not very clear on this machine."

"To put it simply, this shows the superior mesenteric vein. It’s currently positioned to the left and front of the superior mesenteric artery, which is an abnormal location."

"Doctor, is that very serious?" the boy’s mother asked.

"If it’s confirmed, surgical intervention will be necessary. Otherwise, disrupted blood flow could cause intestinal necrosis. In fact, some symptoms are already present. I’ll order the color Doppler ultrasound now," Liu Banxia said and began to make the arrangements.

"Doctor, that doesn’t look like blood vessels on the screen," the boy’s mother said, hesitating slightly.

"This is a medical image; it’s different from what we see with the naked eye. Please go quickly. If it’s confirmed, we need to start preoperative preparations immediately and try to perform the surgery this afternoon or tonight," Liu Banxia advised.

"With a condition like this, you never know when it might suddenly worsen. That could lead to a series of complications, such as intestinal obstruction or intestinal necrosis."

The boy’s mother nodded quickly; there was no more time to waste.

Although he had only attended to one patient, Wang Chao and the others had already caught up with the rest. He didn’t need to worry about the remaining patients now. Actually, the initial chaos was an illusion created by the sudden influx of so many patients; everything was sorted out now.

"You guys go eat first. I’ll wait here for Dr. Chen," Liu Banxia said when it was lunchtime.

"Teacher Liu, you aren’t planning a secret, sweet lunch with your wife, are you?" Xu Yino asked curiously.

"She’s already ditched me; she’s only free at night. It seems like she’s preparing some year-end gifts for her employees or something. She mentioned it briefly last night," Liu Banxia said with a sigh.

"The attending’s wife’s employees get gifts. I wonder if ’Enheng’s’ employees get any prizes," Xu Yino muttered.

"Yes, they do. It was originally planned for after the New Year. If you’re eager, you can claim yours in advance," Liu Banxia said with a sly smile.

Liu Yiqing looked at Xu Yino with pity. Silly girl, you’re about to walk right into a trap.

"Haha, never mind then. I’ll go eat first," Xu Yino said, sensing something was off, and quickly fled.

"Such a good opportunity, and she wasted it. Chao, do you want a prize?" Liu Banxia then turned to Wang Chao.

"Thank you, but I don’t think I need one," Wang Chao replied earnestly.

"What prize are you talking about? Does our cardiac surgery department get any?" Chen Xuehai asked as he walked over.

"Dr. Chen, you’ve had quite a few surgeries scheduled these past couple of days. There will definitely be prizes," Liu Banxia said.

"What did you need me for? Spit it out. I have a right lung removal this afternoon," Chen Xuehai said.

"Er... let’s not talk about that first. Let me show you a magic trick," Liu Banxia said cautiously, then inserted the child’s CT scan film into the viewer.

Chen Xuehai glanced at it. "Everything looks normal. If there’s nothing else, I’m leaving."

"Look closely. What about here? Is this still normal?" Liu Banxia hurriedly pointed to the small, disappearing shadow.

At first, Chen Xuehai didn’t pay much attention, but as he kept looking, he felt something was amiss. He took off his glasses, pinched the bridge of his nose, and then looked at the spot again.

"Interesting. Is this your patient? What’s the illness?" Chen Xuehai asked after observing for a while.

"Do you want to know what the illness is? Would you like me to describe the patient’s symptoms?" Liu Banxia asked.

Chen Xuehai shook his head. "I’m just interested in this shadow. I only want to know what caused it."

"Actually, the process of discovery is quite exciting. Don’t you have any thoughts?" Liu Banxia pressed further.

Chen Xuehai glanced at him. "You’re a cunning one, kid. Is the patient admitted? When’s the exploratory surgery?"

Liu Banxia gave him a thumbs-up. "Whenever suits your schedule, we’ll arrange it according to your availability. The child experiences high fever, pain with breathing, chest pain, coughing, and difficulty breathing. These symptoms improve with Tylenol, and this has been going on for two years."

Chen Xuehai frowned. "My surgery this afternoon starts at 1:20. Let’s tentatively set this for 4:30. If things look complicated after I open him up, I’ll have the OR staff contact you. Make sure all preoperative preparations are done thoroughly."

"I’m going to eat first; I need to rest for a bit. We regular people can’t compare to monsters like you; we don’t have that much energy to burn."

After saying that, Chen Xuehai sauntered off.

Liu Banxia blinked. "Yiqing, was Dr. Chen calling me a monster?"

Liu Yiqing chuckled. "That’s probably about right. Your surgeries do tend to be very long."

"Sigh... forget it. I won’t hold it against him," Liu Banxia sighed.

He had initially used a tactic of feigned reluctance. If he had asked Chen Xuehai directly, it would have been very difficult. This way was much better; Chen Xuehai was clearly intrigued. As for Chen Xuehai’s jab, he wouldn’t dwell on it for now. The patient came first, and having Chen Xuehai perform the exploratory surgery was the more prudent choice.

Although instrument readings could sometimes be ambiguous, this disappearing shadow was very likely the main cause of the child’s illness.

"Chao, what if I feel like having a chicken drumstick for lunch?" Liu Banxia turned to Wang Chao again.

"If you want one, you can buy it yourself," Wang Chao replied cautiously.

This is definitely not just about a chicken drumstick. Who knows what tricks this guy is planning now?

"Oh, what a shame," Liu Banxia said with a slightly exaggerated tone.

"Alright, I’ll buy it for you," Wang Chao conceded.

"Interested in performing a malrotation surgery?" Liu Banxia asked with a mischievous smile.

"Really?" Wang Chao looked at him skeptically.

"It’s that child you asked me to see just now. He’s upstairs getting a color Doppler ultrasound right now," Liu Banxia said leisurely.

Wang Chao sighed internally. That’s life. If I had been the one to see the patient, wouldn’t I have saved myself a chicken drumstick?