Medical safety and dignity, which one was more important? The answer was obvious.
Most importantly, if he tried to preserve his image now, he might lose his life in the end.
About Zheng Ren… Since the man was skillful at blunt dissection during appendectomies, he could be able to solve this problem, but of course, the flawless completion of the previous pancreaticoduodenectomy was still the main reason to request his assistance.
…
…
In the emergency ward office, Zheng Ren was concentrating on the Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery book.
An expressionless Su Yun played with his phone, his fingers flying all across the screen; it was impossible to tell if he was chatting up women or playing PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds.
The department's phone rang, and several nurses swarmed into the room soon after.
"Chief Zheng, the operating theater is requesting your presence."
They fixed their gleaming eyes on Su Yun even though the statement was meant for Zheng Ren.
Chapter 81 - The Save
"Yo, here they come." Su Yun seemed to be expecting them.
He immediately turned off his phone and stood ramrod straight in his smoothly-ironed white coat.
Strangely enough, not a trace of femininity was visible on him.
"I guess the surgery is really troublesome. I'm going to check it out," said Zheng Ren.
"Count me in." Su Yun excitedly followed Zheng Ren to the operating theater on the third floor.
Then, the System's flat, robotic female voice rang out in Zheng Ren's ears.
[General Mission: A Colleague Seeking Assistance.
[Task: Help a colleague complete the surgery.
[Reward: 100 skill points and 5000 experience points. Based on the surgery completion rate, which reflects the colleague's admiration, an additional reward will be given.
[Time: 5 hours.]
Huh? A mission?
Saving the surgeon by resolving serious intraoperative difficulties could also trigger a mission assignment? Zheng Ren felt a sense of satisfaction; the surgery would definitely have gone more smoothly had he been the surgeon in charge.
The only pain in his neck was Su Yun, an annoying fly constantly buzzing around him. Many ladies envied him, but he simply disregarded Su Yun as a nuisance.
Zheng Ren had no attraction to men.
He pushed the brat to the back of his mind and digested the mission along the way.
An admiration from a colleague mentioned in the mission: what the hell was that?
No matter what it was, he would find out once the surgery was complete.
After changing into surgical attire, Zheng Ren entered the operating theater and stood behind Chief Surgeon Sun to observe the operating field.
"Little Zheng, scrub up and take over the surgery." An anxious Chief Surgeon Sun skipped all formalities, cutting straight to the point with cold sweat on his brow.
Staring at the bloody mess in the peritoneal cavity, Zheng Ren instantly understood Chief Surgeon Su's issue.
Su Yun glanced at the operative field and shifted his gaze to Zheng Ren, who had a calm demeanor. Surprised, he followed Zheng Ren and performed a surgical scrub as well.
Zheng Ren had no clue about Su Yun's motives, nor was he willing to ask about them. Su Yun's sharp tongue had given him almost the same depth of impression as his unrivaled beauty.
Since he could never win an argument, he may as well shut the hell up.
Zheng Ren finished scrubbing and put on a surgical gown. Just as he was about to stand at the first assistant's position, Chief Surgeon Sun said, "Little Zheng, come here."
Then, he shoved the second assistant next to him aside and occupied that space.
Zheng Ren hesitated for a brief moment and accepted the offer.
Why would they performatively argue over where to stand for ten minutes when the patient had an exposed peritoneal cavity?
Su Yun, who had put on a surgical gown and a pair of sterile gloves, walked toward the first assistant and said coldly, "Are you not going to move out of the way?"
"..."
The first assistant, a chief resident in the second general surgery department, was grumbling internally when Chief Surgeon Sun gave his spot to Zheng Ren, but he had not expected a repeat of such a slight so soon.
Before he could retaliate, though, he met Chief Surgeon Sun's gaze.
He instantly admitted defeat and stepped away from the operating table. After that, he indignantly removed his gloves and occupied the most strategic location to observe the surgery—lateral to the head end of the operating table.
Not everyone knew how to perform surgery, but they sure knew how to find fault with it.
His heart throbbing with resentment, he waited for a slip-up with his eyes wide open.
Xinglin Garden began broadcasting the surgery live as soon as Zheng Ren occupied the surgeon's position.
An increasing number of viewers had taken notice of this anonymous account. Ten thousand viewers in a single broadcast room was massive for Xinglin Garden, but was still small compared to the number of hospitals in China.
Ten seconds later, hundreds of doctors from all over the country entered the broadcast room.
[The god's recent surgeries weren't difficult. I wonder what today's surgery is about.]
[Well, you can ask him in advance. It's just like requesting chapter updates before reading a novel. It's an international practice.]
[My surgery skill has skyrocketed after watching the surgery replays from a few days ago a hundred times.]
As the doctors saw the image on the livestream, the mood instantly stopped being jovial. Most of those with profound experience instantly knew what was going on.
[Finally, the god is going to perform a complicated surgery. I've burst into tears.]
[Is this an intraoperative call-for-help? My sympathy to the initial surgeon-in-charge.]
[Sympathy? At least he has someone else to assist him in surgery. If you encountered such an issue, your best bet would be to close the abdomen straight away and explain your failure to the patient's family. If they are reasonable, everything will be fine, otherwise… I don't even dare think about it.]
[That's true, our hospital had a similar case last year. The family made a banner later declaring that our doctors were unethical and had total disregard for human lives.]
The latter doctor had gone from discussing the disease to complaining about similar cases, as if trying to expel all the bitterness in his heart.
The call-for-help was a common term used in the operating theater.
When an unfamiliar intraoperative difficulty was encountered, the surgeon would call someone with greater expertise, from within or outside the hospital, to handle the operation.
Of course, he could also seek a second opinion from colleagues at a similar skill level.
Outrageous cases of intraoperative calls-for-help had happened before. For example, there had been a complicated case of a congenital heart defect in West China Hospital, and the surgeon had been dumbfounded as soon as the thoracic cavity was exposed. After that, he had sought assistance from a senior cardiothoracic surgeon from a random hospital in Imperial Capital, who then flew to West China Hospital and participated in the surgery.
The senior cardiothoracic surgeon from West China Hospital was one of the best in the country and had almost identical proficiency as that of the professor from Imperial Capital. They exchanged opinions intraoperatively and finally managed to complete the surgery after fourteen hours.
There were many similar tales in every hospital.
Everyone became excited after witnessing this call-for-help in the latest livestream.
[Are those the greater omentum and transverse colon? Why is that mess so huge?]
[You've superb eyesight, my friend. How do you know it is the transverse colon?]
[Damn, look at that sticky mess. F*ck the surgery and just close the abdomen.
The way I see it, even the god won't be able to finish this.]
[I'm worried. Those are severe adhesions, and any torsion will cause leakage of intestinal contents into the peritoneal cavity, leading to an infection… The more I think about it, the more afraid I am. If I'm performing this surgery, I'll just close the abdomen straight away.]
As medical personnel, they all understood only too well how complex this operation was.
Distinguishing anatomical structure alone was already difficult.
However, judging by the incision and its distance from the head, they could roughly conclude that this was an upper abdominal surgery involving the gallbladder, pancreas or liver.
If they had encountered such severe adhesions intraoperatively, almost everyone would have come to the same conclusion—abort the mission!
In the operating theater, Zheng Ren observed the situation for a few seconds and extended his right hand.
He wanted a pair of blunt scissors, but his palm was still empty after a few seconds.
Tsk… Xie Yiren was still the best.
"Blunt scissors," instructed Zheng Ren.
"Oh." The scrub nurse was preparing a suture needle and thread for abdominal wound closure. From experience, it was impossible to proceed with the surgery any further.
Surprisingly, Zheng Ren actually requested a pair of blunt scissors. Was he going to give it a try despite Chief Surgeon Sun's failure? How ignorant!
Since it had been asked for, though, she immediately searched for the blunt scissors and placed it onto Zheng Ren's palm.
'That's too much force. She isn't as gentle as Xie Yiren,' Zheng Ren thought.
He cast the idea aside and started bluntly dissecting the adhesions with the scissors.
Apart from the blunt scissors and his hands, he needed nothing else, not even the first and second assistant. Holding the scissors backward, he used the blunt end to make an opening and started bluntly separating adhesive tissue using his fingers.
"Little Zheng, slow down and be gentle." Zheng Ren's movements frightened Chief Surgeon Sun.
This young man was too reckless.
Chapter 82 - My Scrub Nurse
"It's alright, I know what I'm doing," replied Zheng Ren.
Chief Surgeon Sun nearly cursed out loud. 'Such reckless moves and you said you know what you're doing? Are you sure you really know what you're capable of?'
However, there was nothing he could do about it. Giving instructions after requesting Zheng Ren's help? There was no way he would do such a shameless act.
Left with no choice, he pulled the retractor as hard as he could so that Zheng Ren could have a larger operative field. At the same time, he thought, 'Please be alright, please be alright…'
That was the most he could do as a second assistant.
Using the blunt end of the scissors, Zheng Ren poked a hole in the severely adhered greater omentum and widened it. It was done so professionally that even Chief Surgeon Sun failed to understand how.
This process was repeated multiple times before he inserted his finger and bluntly tore the adhesive tissue along the plane.
'Is he not afraid of tearing random arterioles and causing blood loss?' Chief Surgeon Sun was just as confused as he was earlier.
Even though such arteriole ruptures and hemorrhaging was not life-threatening, the whole operative field would still be covered in blood… Nothing would be visible if that happened.
The blunt scissors was placed on the surgical dr.a.p.e beside the patient's t.h.i.g.h, which interrupted his train of thoughts.
Zheng Ren extended his hand again, but the familiar sensation of instrument tapping on his palm did not arrive despite waiting for a few moments.
Zheng Ren, who had become regal the moment he took over the surgery, looked askew at the scrub nurse and silently complained about her complete lack of understanding of his next surgical step.
In terms of surgical coordination alone, this nurse and Xie Yiren were worlds apart.
More importantly, the scrub nurse finally realized that he was requesting an instrument and began searching for something in panic.
'What the hell was she doing just now?' Then, Zheng Ren understood something and shifted his gaze to Su Yun.
'Well, his beauty really could bring calamity to the country and its people.' He somewhat believed Su Yun's words now.
In order to speed up the surgery, he decided to let Xie Yiren replace this scrub nurse.
"Thank you for your hard work. My scrub nurse will take over from here," Zheng Ren said flatly. "Yiren, change your clothes."
Xie Yiren, who was acting as a circulating nurse in the operating theater, responded briskly and went to perform a surgical scrub.
The scrub nurse on duty was startled. Did the surgeon just ask for her to be replaced?
Everyone working in the operating theater, especially during a tricky case with with no end in sight, preferred to leave this hell as soon as they could. They had to stand almost stationary for at least four hours, after all. It was exhausting.
However, it seemed like only senior professors in Imperial Capital or Sorcery Capital, who had their own scrub nurses, would make such a demand.
This young surgeon was becoming arrogant after getting promoted to a chief resident in the emergency department. Was he getting full of himself already?
The scrub nurse threw the retractor she just picked up onto the instrument table with a clang.
After venting her anger, she left the table silently, removed her sterile surgical gown and stood in a corner of the operating theater with a cold expression. Despite her rage and strong urge to leave this place… Observing the surgeon at work could still be beneficial in the long run.
Su Yun was slightly puzzled as well. Zheng Ren was a good-natured man, but why did his temperament change the moment he was performing a surgery?
Even though Zheng Ren did not act like certain professors who threw tantrums during surgeries, the way he demanded for scrub nurse substitution was completely intolerable…
Was he experiencing a mid-surgery equivalent of road rage?
After swiftly washing her hands via the standard technique, disinfecting and donning a surgical gown, Xie Yiren approached the instrument table.
A pair of hemostatic forceps was then gently placed in Zheng Ren's palm. After that, she picked up the blunt scissors Zheng Ren put on the surgical dr.a.p.e just now, wiped the blood and fluid that had acc.u.mulated on it from adhesiolysis, and situated it on the most easy-to-reach location on the instrument table.
Su Yun was idling at a strategic location to observe the surgery.
Xie Yiren's proficiency answered his initial doubts about Zheng Ren's insistence in substituting the scrub nurse.
Every instrument Zheng Ren wanted—hemostatic forceps and suture size #1 for ligation, scissors for dissection—was promptly given to him in a small hand, sterile surgical glove unable to contain its beauty.
It significantly sped up the surgery, as well.
The efficiency surprised Su Yun. A scrub nurse who could perfectly coordinate with the surgeon was as scarce as hen's teeth, which explained Zheng Ren's initial demand.
In Xinglin Garden, the live broadcast room seemed deserted with only a few comments flying past the screen.
However, the viewer count on the upper right corner of the room had reached 8721.
This room was the only one of its ilk that could achieve such a high viewer count.
[Is the host surgeon really that confident in bluntly dissecting the adhesive tissue? There isn't the slightest sign of hesitation at all!]
[I'm guessing the adhesions around the intestines are the real trouble. This cholecystectomy is already tricky due to the transverse colon alone.]
[I've the exact same feeling, too. The host surgeon's understanding of normal and abnormal anatomical structures is far superior to mine. My patellas have shattered to pieces.]
Around five minutes after Xie Yiren substituted the scrub nu
rse, most of the sticky mess around the transverse colon on the liver edge had been separated.
The experts in Xinglin Garden admired the host surgeon for his profound anatomical knowledge and bold manipulation. At the same time, they were amazed at how he could cauterize or ligate the arterioles in advance during the procedure.
[What can I say after witnessing such a magnificent operation?]
[Just keep quiet, young man. You can go home and revise these few minutes of blunt dissection twenty times.]
[Twenty times? You must be joking. You won't be able to understand it without watching the replay fifty times and going through ten complicated cases of intestinal adhesions.]
Following the adhesiolysis around the transverse colon, the doctors watching the livestream were greatly dissatisfied.
They were extremely annoyed at the host surgeon's assistants: the first assistant merely looked at the surgery leisurely without any intention to help or even hold the retractor, while the second assistant tried to help twice by offering instruments, but the host surgeon rejected the offers with a tap of their forceps.
The doctors, especially the juniors, were extremely familiar with this scene.
They had wanted to help but failed to understand their surgeon's motives and offered inappropriate instruments. If their surgeon was good-tempered, he would just tap it with the instrument in their hand to indicate that it was wrong.
If the surgeon was irritable, a tongue-lashing would be sure to follow.
The junior doctors lacked the courage to speak up as they empathized with the second assistant in the livestream.
[Poor second assistant, I think they are a young, inexperienced doctor. That's precisely why complicated surgical cases will do more harm than good for young people.]
[True. How can they help the surgeon when they can't even understand what's going on?]
[Let me calculate the psychological damage this second assistant has received thus far.]
Chief Surgeon Sun had no clue that, according to Xinglin Garden, he was an inexperienced surgeon who had just started work in the department.
Even if he did, he had no time to worry about it.
The fact that he had tried to lend a hand but repeatedly picked up the wrong instruments greatly embarrassed him. He was inferior to Xie Yiren in terms of skillful surgical coordination.
The Surgeon's Studio c1-799 Page 46