CHAPTER 125: 125 LUNG HEAT LEADS TO ABSCESS

When Pei Jihua heard Du Heng say that, he knew Du Heng remembered him.

Sitting in front of Du Heng’s desk, he said sincerely, "Thank you, Doctor Du. My wife has had her surgery, and she’s doing very well now. If it weren’t for your reminder, she might have had to have her uterus removed."

Du Heng smiled modestly. "Even if I hadn’t said anything, you would have taken your wife to the hospital. I just gave you a heads-up."

"Still, I have to thank you. If you hadn’t reminded us, we might have just bought some painkillers and gone home that day."

"Your wife has had her surgery, but have you been for a check-up yourself?" Du Heng quickly steered the conversation away from the gratuitous praise. While it was pleasant to hear and made him happy, it served no real purpose.

"I went to the Provincial Oncology Hospital yesterday and had scans done. It’s confirmed; there’s a tumor about one centimeter in size in my left lung," Pei Jihua said quickly.

Du Heng looked at Pei Jihua with some surprise. He went to the tumor hospital for a check-up but didn’t get treatment there, and came to me instead? "Why didn’t you get treatment there? Is it because it’s too small, or because you don’t have any symptoms?"

Pei Jihua genuinely admired Du Heng; he was amazed Du Heng had guessed correctly. "It’s both. The doctor there told me to wait and see, to come back when symptoms appear."

As expected, doctors nowadays are different. Unlike before, whether it’s medication or surgery, there are strict standards that must be met before treatment can be administered. In cases like Pei Jihua’s, with no outward symptoms and a small tumor, it certainly doesn’t meet the criteria for surgical intervention. Furthermore, since the nature of the tumor is unknown, doctors won’t—and dare not—prescribe medicine indiscriminately. They can only wait for the tumor to grow larger and for the patient to develop clear symptoms. Only then will the doctor implement the appropriate treatment. Actually, you can’t blame the doctors or the hospitals for this. For instance, if a patient has no symptoms, a doctor might prescribe medicine. The patient takes it, but the tumor worsens. Alternatively, a doctor might perform surgery, only to discover the tumor was benign and the surgery unnecessary. If the family members are reasonable, it’s usually fine, as everyone wants what’s best for the patient. However, if they encounter difficult ones, even a single troublesome case can keep a doctor bogged down for years. So, it’s understandable that everyone is cautious.

Pei Jihua held up the envelope with the scans. "Doctor Du, these are the scans from yesterday. Would you like to take a look?"

"Okay, let me see."

Interpreting scans is a basic skill now. Any doctor, whether they practice Western or traditional Chinese medicine, proficient or not, must know how to interpret scans relevant to their specialty. Moreover, some medical colleges with Chinese Medicine majors have a peculiar requirement: TCM students must first study Western medicine. Proficiency isn’t required, but they need a general understanding of everything. Does this have benefits? Certainly. However, it also puts immense pressure on TCM students. They effectively have only four years to complete the standard five-year Chinese Medicine curriculum. Simply put, traditional Chinese medicine lacks significant influence, both in the professional sphere and among the general public.

Du Heng took the scans to the window, tilted his head, and examined them for a moment. "It’s here. Not too big. Looking at the surrounding area, there are no apparent changes. It should be benign."

He then handed the scans back to Pei Jihua.

At this moment, Pei Jihua was particularly curious. He wanted to know how Du Heng knew he had a tumor just by feeling his pulse.

"Doctor Du, how did you determine that I have a tumor?"

Du Heng chuckled. Chinese medicine syndrome differentiation has its pros and cons. It’s good because it employs the simplest and most cost-effective methods to determine the cause of a patient’s illness, thereby saving money, time, and effort. The downside is that this examination method offers no objective reference for the patient. Whatever the doctor performing the pulse diagnosis says, goes. The subjective element is too pronounced. Consequently, in society, one often sees TCM practitioners masquerading as Divine Doctors to defraud people. However, you rarely, if ever, see anyone attempting to scam people by impersonating a Western medicine expert.

"Do you remember when I took your pulse that day?"

"I do. You knew I had a tumor in my lung just from feeling my pulse. It’s amazing!"

Du Heng shook his head. "It’s not amazing at all. That day, when I checked your pulse, it was a rapid pulse, and it was strong and forceful. The ’Binhu Sphygmology’ already states: ’A rapid cun pulse indicates sores in the throat or mouth, spitting blood, coughing, and abscesses forming in the lung.’"

Pei Jihua listened intently, understanding some words and guessing others, exceptionally focused.

"Moreover, that day, hearing you argue with your wife, I gathered you had just left home. Yet, I observed your dry mouth and chapped lips, clear signs of ’fire toxin’ manifesting orally. Therefore, I deduced it was likely lung heat causing an abscess."

"Of course, there are other contributing factors, such as liver yin deficiency with effulgent fire, an unnourished liver meridian, or consequently, an obstructed lung meridian, among others. I won’t list them all for you."

Pei Jihua felt as if he understood, but upon closer reflection, it seemed he understood nothing at all.

Is traditional Chinese medicine always so vague?

After a moment’s pause, he asked, "Doctor Du, the tumor hospital told me to wait and see, to wait until this thing grows bigger and I have symptoms. But I’m a little scared. Do you have a way to treat it here?"

"What? You want to be treated here instead of going to the Provincial Oncology Hospital?"

"If you have a way, I’ll definitely get treated here."

Instead of answering, Du Heng extended his hand and said, "Let me feel your pulse again, just to confirm."

Pei Jihua quickly extended his hand and placed it on the pulse pillow on the desk.

"Do you usually smoke?"

"I used to, heavily. I do a lot of writing and reading for my job, and I felt I couldn’t manage without smoking. At my worst, I smoked three packs a day. However, I quit four years ago when my wife was pregnant with our daughter."

"Three packs a day, and you quit just like that? Your self-control is truly strong."

Pei Jihua smiled proudly. "My self-control is what I’m most proud of."

Du Heng chuckled. "I witnessed that at the clinic last time. However, you quit smoking too abruptly. You should have consulted a doctor to prescribe some medicine to help you ease off."

What does he mean? Did my tumor develop because I quit smoking? Should I not have quit?

"Doctor Du, what do you mean by that?"

"When you smoked, nicotine entered your lungs. Your lungs would then marshal their strength to resist this invasion. But when you suddenly quit, the nicotine supply was cut off, abruptly disrupting this balance of power. The lungs’ defensive forces, now unopposed, grew excessively strong. With no ’enemy’ left to fight, this accumulated lung heat eventually congealed into an abscess."

Although Du Heng hadn’t conducted any experiments on this, he felt his own wild explanation was surprisingly plausible. Otherwise, why would so many smokers who quit suddenly be diagnosed with lung cancer within a few years, with their conditions often deteriorating faster than average?

"Of course, quitting smoking is definitely a good thing. However, you should have gone to a hospital and quit under a doctor’s guidance. Many hospitals have smoking cessation clinics these days. Why didn’t you go to one?"

"I did go, and I consulted with them. However, their approach primarily focuses on behavioral and psychological interventions, targeting the addiction itself."

"Really? I wasn’t aware of that. I assumed they would also provide some form of pulmonary intervention while helping people quit."

Seeing Pei Jihua’s confused expression, as if he feared he’d quit smoking the wrong way, Du Heng quickly added, "Everything I’ve just said is purely my personal speculation, lacking any theoretical basis or experimental data. So, please don’t take it too seriously or let it weigh on your mind."