CHAPTER 477: THE TRUE FACE OF 477 SHADOWS

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"Teacher Liu, Dr. Chen is on the phone for you."

Liu Banxia, who was fervently debriding a wound, heard the nurse announce.

"This is Liu Banxia. Dr. Chen, is the surgery being postponed?" Liu Banxia asked after accepting the call.

"On the contrary, it has been brought forward. My surgery went smoothly. Linlin is closing the chest. Would you like to come and see?" Chen Xuehai asked with a smile.

"Hold on, let me make arrangements here. Is it in operating room number 1?" Liu Banxia queried.

"Yes, it’s number 1," Chen Xuehai said before hanging up the phone.

"Qi, cover for me here. I’m going to the operating room. Call me if anything happens," Liu Banxia called out.

"Sure thing. Can I observe the ectopic temporary fostering surgery tonight?" Qi Wentai asked.

"Of course, I’m on duty tonight. Whoever wants to watch can do so attentively."

Having said this, Liu Banxia raced towards the elevator.

He was worried about the shadow that liked to "disappear" on the child’s radiograph, not to mention that he was the one who strongly advocated for the thoracoscopy.

He was just there to observe, standing quietly to one side after entering the operating room.

"Dr. Chen, the anesthesia was successful," Li Liwei advised.

Chen Xuehai nodded. "Doctor Liang, make the puncture."

Liang Xiaolin promptly started the operation.

The method of puncture for thoracoscopy naturally differs from laparoscopy, but they are similar in principle. The particular requirement is that it shouldn’t be too low, to avoid injury to the abdominal organs. After confirming the location of the lesion, the other punctures shouldn’t be too close, to avoid interference during the operation of the instruments.

This young patient’s "disappearing" shadow was in the right lower lobe, so only a single-lung operation was required.

Liang Xiaolin’s puncturing technique was very skillful, which was an advantage of having "connections" in the hospital.

Chen Xuehai’s surgeries mostly included her, providing all-around training. Liang Xiaolin also worked hard. She had overcome her psychological barriers when she started working with Liu Banxia, as if breaking through some kind of bottleneck.

If it were any other intern, even given so many opportunities, they might not necessarily be able to withstand it. These things are mutual; it’s just that Liang Xiaolin got more opportunities.

"Exploration reveals no abnormalities."

After inserting the endoscope, Liang Xiaolin carefully examined the area and said, somewhat dejectedly.

"Increase the brightness of the endoscope slightly and carefully observe the right lower lobe position," Chen Xuehai directed.

Increasing the brightness of the endoscope light, Liang Xiaolin started the search again.

Liu Banxia stared attentively at the screen, clenching his fist. If this exploration yielded no results, he really didn’t know what the parents would think. Endoscopic exploration may only involve making one puncture, but it is still an invasive exploration.

"Haha, found it."

Observing for a while longer, Liang Xiaolin stopped, her tone revealing a sense of joy.

"The inspection found a granuloma in the right lower lobe. It’s about 0.5 cm in size, very tiny. We can proceed with thoracoscopic removal," Liang Xiaolin’s voice returned to normal.

DING! Task to help the child with breathing difficulties is completed.

Gained 200 experience points, 100 points for diagnostic skill proficiency, and 100 points for lung surgery skill proficiency.

"President Liu, congratulations, it appears to be just that. You go and communicate with the family and get it removed directly to spare the child a second ordeal," Chen Xuehai suggested.

"Alright."

Liu Banxia responded and scurried out.

"Doctor, doctor, how is it?"

Before Liu Banxia had a chance to locate the parents, they hurried towards him.

"During the thoracoscopic exploration, we found a very small granuloma. You don’t need to worry; often, granulomas don’t pose a large problem," Liu Banxia said with a smile.

"However, some of the child’s current symptoms may be related to this granuloma. We can now directly remove the granuloma and conduct a pathological examination."

"Yes, do it! Do we need to pay now?" the child’s father hurriedly asked.

"No need to rush with that. We just wanted to seek your opinion. After all, our main goal was exploration, and we will communicate with you whatever we find," Liu Banxia said with a smile.

This meant they had permission. This granuloma had to be removed to see what was going on.

The granuloma was small, and the operation was simple. Liang Xiaolin, acting as the chief surgeon, easily completed it with no need for Chen Xuehai’s intervention.

"Let’s cut it open and take a look, then send it for pathology," Chen Xuehai instructed.

Liang Xiaolin carefully took the scalpel and made an incision. As the scalpel passed, a black substance was revealed inside.

Chen Xuehai carefully picked it up with a pair of forceps and took a closer look.

"What is this?" Liu Banxia asked.

"Plastic. Probably a small piece from a toy. I’m not sure when it got inhaled into the lung," Chen Xuehai said.

"That’s why the shadow on the CT scan was faint. This wasn’t even causing the shadow; the granuloma was. Notify the family. The child’s problem was probably caused by this small thing."

Liu Banxia nodded and ran off again.

"Dr. Chen, I guess you’re the only one who dares to boss him around like that," Li Liwei said with a smile.

"Can’t spoil him. He tried to pull a fast one on me today. But he’s attentive; otherwise, this child would have suffered," Chen Xuehai replied.

"Looking at his cheerful disposition just now, sometimes I feel really sorry for him," Li Liwei added.

"Doctor Li, what happened? I didn’t hear about any issues?" Liang Xiaolin asked curiously.

"It’s just that the patients we’ve seen in the past couple of days were in pretty bad shape," Li Liwei explained.

"I also heard it from Wang Lei; you’ve been pretty busy with surgeries recently. Seems like he’s giving the other interns a hard time too. It’s not easy working under him."

Liang Xiaolin strongly agreed with this. How much hardship had she herself endured initially?

As they were chatting, Liu Banxia, who had rushed out earlier, informed the child’s parents that the granuloma contained a piece of plastic.

The parents found it hard to believe.

"If I had to guess, this plastic came from some kind of toy, and it’s probably been in the lung for quite a while," Liu Banxia said.

"Because it’s plastic and so small, it doesn’t show up well on X-rays and CT scans. The child’s immune system sees the plastic as an enemy, which is why it’s attacking the child."

"Now that we’ve removed this ’enemy,’ the child’s body should return to normal. It’s actually a fairly common occurrence in young children—they’re curious, so they put things in their nose and mouth."

"Doctor, will he really be alright from now on?" the child’s mother asked anxiously.

"Based on the current situation, there should be no more issues. Alright, they’re bringing your child out now. Congratulations," Liu Banxia said with a smile.

The parents rushed to their child’s bedside, anxious about their little one.

"We’re lucky we persisted; otherwise, the child would have had to suffer even more," Liu Banxia commented.

"It’s more than just that. If his immune system kept attacking his lung, it could result in changes in lung tissue and brittle blood vessels," Chen Xuehai warned.

"A minor blow, or even a sneeze, could cause a blood vessel to rupture. Can you imagine what would happen then?"

Liu Banxia frowned. What other outcome could there be? The child could easily lose his life.

The lungs are full of blood vessels, and while this granuloma was located in the lower right lobe, the immune system was attacking the entire lung.

Returning to the Emergency Center, Liu Banxia was in a good mood. After all, he had resolved a child’s suffering. As for potential future dangers, he didn’t give them much thought. Those were only possibilities; as the child’s condition worsened, they might have ended up in another hospital for a thoracoscopic exploration anyway. That’s often how it goes: when there’s no definitive diagnosis but clear symptoms, invasive procedures are necessary. It’s only because of the advent of endoscopy that such invasive exams cause much less harm than before. In the past, direct opening of the abdomen or chest was necessary—imagine how much greater the harm was then!

"Brother Wei still hasn’t finished?" Liu Banxia asked after a glance.

"Not yet. The abdominal injuries are likely significant; preliminary checks are being done in the resuscitation room," Zhou Li replied.

"I hope we’ll just have the remaining two surgeries today and the one yet to start. No more, please. Let me catch my breath," Liu Banxia said.

"Stop overthinking. When will your aunt and the others get here? I’ll stew them a pot of bones," Zhou Li mentioned.

"Are you really going to cook? Then I won’t hold back! But are you sure you can handle it? You’ve been at the hospital for a while," Liu Banxia asked.

"Not a problem. Sister Wang is back at work tomorrow, and I can take a couple of days off before the Spring Festival holidays," Zhou Li said nonchalantly.

"Alright, they should be here the day after tomorrow. It’s better they don’t come too late. Although I can’t go over for the Spring Festival, I need to tidy up Qiaoqiao’s home and do some cleaning," Liu Banxia said.

"That’s good. Seeing you two get along so well makes me relieved. I’ve got to go now; I can finally catch my breath these next couple of days," Zhou Li said as she left.

With the Spring Festival nearing, people with non-severe ailments usually chose not to seek hospital treatment at this time. After all, the Spring Festival holds a special place in Chinese hearts, and no one wanted to spoil the festive atmosphere for their entire family by being ill.

"The patient today was really in danger. We removed nearly 30 centimeters of intestine and repaired the spleen. The abdominal cavity was also thoroughly cleaned. Let’s see how she recovers post-surgery," Wei Yuan said, having walked over.

"You worked hard. Go rest and get some dinner later. I’ll keep an eye on things here," Liu Banxia said reassuringly.

"Wang Chao’s surgery is almost done too. He called me over for safety. The intestinal volvulus isn’t serious, so there’s no problem," Wei Yuan said.

"Haha, that kid. He was probably scared by what I said," Liu Banxia laughed.

He was in a really good mood now. Today’s tasks were down to just that one unstarted surgery.