Even Dr. Shen was stunned. His boss was not being his usual self.
"Take good care of your Aunt Lin tonight and change the bandages with warm saline more frequently." Chief Kong was obviously distracted by greater things than Dr. Shen, and was in an unusually good enough mood today that his usual lecture was not as brutal. Instead, he said, "Your Aunt Lin went through quite a lot back then."
What else could Dr. Shen say? He kept nodding his head repeatedly.
"Also, if you have the chance, try to establish a connection with Su Yun," Department Chief Kong added.
"Su Yun? The Su Yun that performed the heart transplant?" Dr. Shen was slightly taken aback. Even if they had great skill, did he really need to try to butter them up?
"Mm," Chief Kong said. "I predict that they will publish a journal in The Lancet in the next three to five months. Even though it wouldn't really help you graduate, you could still try to go for it. It's the Lancet; you should try to get authorship within the first ten slots."
"..." Dr. Shen felt that something was definitely wrong with him tonight. Either his hearing was not functioning properly due to lack of rest, or just plain old comprehension issues.
The expectations of hospital workers were superhuman.
They resulted in his health being affected all year round, including today, where he just kept hearing weird things.
"Boss, Su Yun published the article two years ago," Dr. Shen reminded his boss softly.
"Dumb*ss!" Department Chief Kong glared at Dr. Shen before yelling, "I was referring to the differential diagnosis and surgical treatment of nodules between hepatocellular carcinoma and hepatic cirrhosis."
"..." He had to be suffering from hearing problems. How could anyone manage to complete research like this and successfully obtain a conclusion?
Even though Dr. Shen continued to acknowledge his superior with his head lowered, his mind wandered off to the department of traditional Chinese medicine. It was time for him to pay a visit to the old chief there to check his pulse and maybe prescribe him some much-needed medicine.
Chapter 229 - Goodnight (3/5)
As Zheng Ren and Su Yun left the inpatient department, the temperature outside began to plummet as the night wore on, with icy winds so cold that it chilled everyone it touched to the bone.
They both hastened back to their hostel and headed to their own rooms right away without exchanging a word.
When he reached his room, Zheng Ren removed his coat and hung it up carefully.
It had fit him perfectly thanks to Xie Yiren's skillful shopping.
A smile involuntarily graced his lips as he stared at the row of hanging coats.
His gaze was fixed on them for a while. 'Xie Yiren has probably already fallen asleep,' he thought. A slight twinge of disappointment coursed through him, as if he was missing out on something.
Over the past few days, he and Xie Yiren had developed a habit of wishing each other goodnight.
Zheng Ren took off his cardigan and checked his bandages. The wound was itching slightly, but he ought to be able to remove the stitches after three days.
He shook his head when he thought about how he had gained a scar by simply visiting Imperial Capital.
Clouds of steam rose as he turned on the hot water; Zheng Ren carefully positioned himself so that his left shoulder was out of reach of the shower.
Stuck like that, he was unable to clean fully half of his body.
However, he had no other choice. Zheng Ren was already used to having a hot shower after a hectic day before retiring to bed for a good night's sleep.
Hot water ran across half of his body, washing away the hustle and bustle of his day, making him feel relaxed and serene.
Zheng Ren still felt something missing inside him. It would be nice if Xie Yiren was here so they could exchange a few words.
The moment he laid down on his bed, fatigue crept up all four of his limbs. He yawned and prepared to sleep.
He turned on his cellphone out of habit and saw a small red notification on Xie Yiren's profile picture.
When Zheng Ren opened it, multiple messages popped up in front of him.
He had texted Xie Yiren to tell her not wait up for him after he left Tang Song Restaurant as there was an emergency surgery to attend.
Thus, he was surprised to see the number of messages Xie Yiren had sent him within those few hours.
Zheng Ren's heart dropped.
Even though he had never had a girlfriend, Zheng Ren had heard from others that women who were too busy to reply to texts from their boyfriends during work would be happy upon discovering said messages.
However, were it the other way around, the man would be in serious trouble.
A storm of thoughts churned inside Zheng Ren's mind as he repeatedly reassured himself that he had told Xie Yiren of the emergency.
He could not gather the courage to read her messages, instead swiping the chat upwards with his fingers.
After going through the thread of messages, Zheng Ren found the one where he had informed Xie Yiren of the emergency surgery he had had to attend.
Even after confirming that he had told her about it, Zheng Ren was still unsettled.
He read Xie Yiren's first message carefully.
[You're attending emergency surgeries here?]
Good point. Little Yiren asked a great question: why was he attending emergency surgeries in Imperial Capital? Zheng Ren laughed bitterly
He checked the next one.
[Thanks for your hard work, Senior Chief Zheng. *smiley face*]
Senior Chief Zheng? Was she addressing him as such jokingly or was she upset?
Zheng Ren was very anxious. He was overthinking, completely at odds with his sharp and decisive demeanor during surgeries.
[Head back earlier to rest after you're done. Do you still have surgery tomorrow?]
[Remember to have some breakfast tomorrow morning. If you go in with an empty stomach, what will happen if your blood sugar drops?]
[The temperature over here is minus ten degrees. I think Imperial Capital is about minus three, so I'll go search for some warmer clothing tomorrow.]
[When are you coming back? It's getting boring these days since there's no surgeries.]
…
…
Despite the many possible scenarios that assailed him, there was nothing that made him feel awkward and guilty. Little Yiren just kept asking him about the simple things in his daily life.
He let out a long sigh after reading it all.
Thank goodness.
[I'm back now, getting ready to go to bed after taking a shower. I have four interventional surgeries for hepatocellular carcinoma tomorrow morning at 8.30 a.m. Good night.]
Zheng Ren had hesitated for a few minutes, continuously writing and deleting his message. His final text had a neutral tone without any errors but also lacked emotion.
As he put his phone down, a sweet and fluttery sensation bubbled inside his heart.
It felt nice.
His exhaustion from earlier on had disappeared completely. The smile on Zheng Ren's face grew larger.
He plugged in his phone and turned off the bedside lamp. As he was about to sleep, he heard his WeChat notification go off.
His hands flew to grab his phone as fast as when he had performed the emergency surgery on Miao Xiaohua.
Slightly faster, even.
He practically broke his own body's speed limiit.
[Fell asleep already. Good night. Snore~~~]
Xie Yiren included a cute snoring emoji at the end of her message.
Zheng Ren's smile widened further.
[Good night, sweet dreams. No need to reply to this.]
Zheng Ren turned his phone off after sending the text.
Would she go against his wishes and reply, or would she listen? The question continued to confound him.
It was more difficult than any rare disease he would encounter; he had no prior experience for this, and the
damned System would not tell him what Xie Yiren was thinking.
The thoughts carried him off to sleep while his phone remained silent.
He slept until dawn.
Zheng Ren was awakened by Feng Xuhui knocking on his door.
When he checked his phone, it was already 6.30 a.m.
Crawling out of bed, he got dressed before letting Feng Xuhui in.
Feng Xuhui had brought a stack of steamers filled with steamed buns. "Chief Zheng, I wasn't what flavor you preferred, so I bought extras."
"You're too kind," Zheng Ren said laughingly, "Having something to eat is already good enough, there was no need to trouble yourself so."
"Not at all, not at all." Feng Xuhui's smile was more confident than before, as if he had achieved some sort of enlightenment overnight. "I'm satisfied as long as you're eating well, Chief Zheng."
Zheng Ren called Su Yun, telling him over the phone to get up and join them for breakfast.
Su Yun walked over with sleepy, half-opened eyes. He glanced at the food on the table and asked, "Where's the mung bean milk1?"
"..." Feng Xuhui was astonished. As Zheng Ren and Su Yun were from northeastern China, he had not expected them to like a dish so distinctly from Imperial Capital.
"Be thankful you have food at all. Stop being so picky," Zheng Ren said while passing him a steamer of buns. "Hurry up and eat. We have four surgeries today. Oh, right, are we booked for the prostate surgery?"
"It was confirmed ages ago and they also informed you, yet you still don't know?" In his surprise, Su Yun's barbs stopped targeting the unassuming sales manager, Feng Xuhui, and went to Zheng Ren instead.
"..." Zheng Ren could not recall being told as such. His memory had to have been hazy due to the fever he had had that day.
"The original plan was to meet the patient this afternoon, but nobody expected you to pick interventional surgery for hepatocellular carcinoma. Hopefully, there'll be no delay. If time permits, the patient will be transferred to the interventional radiology department." Su Yun had no qualms with the arrangements as he was not the one performing surgery.
"Oh." Zheng Ren felt helpless; why did he feel so much busier in Imperial Capital than he did in Sea City General?
After breakfast, Feng Xuhui swiftly cleared the table behind them while Zheng Ren and Su Yun washed up.
The three of them headed to the interventional operating theater at 8 a.m. sharp. Mung bean milk or (douzhi or douzhir in the Beijing dialect) is a pale, sour soup made from fermented mung beans and usually a byproduct of cellophane noodle production. It is also a dish popular and commonly associated with the people of Beijing and thus Imperial Capital (the stand-in term for Beijing here).
Chapter 230 - Lightning-Fast Surgery (Part 4 of 5)
Zheng Ren and Su Yun reached the interventional operating theater at 8.18 a.m.
Feng Xuhui stopped at the door as he did not have permission to enter operating rooms in Imperial Capital General. However, right before Su Yun closed the door, Feng Xuhui openly conveyed his intentions: he would be waiting for Zheng Ren and Su Yun to finish their surgery and then go out for lunch together.
"This guy is still too green," Su Yun commented when he shut the door.
Zheng Ren did not pay Feng Xuhui much attention as he only had one thing in mind—the interventional surgery for hepatocellular carcinoma.
The interventional radiology department had already sent the patient over.
He guessed that Chief Kong had prepared everything earlier to prevent an awkward situation where Zheng Ren arrived before his patient.
These situations happened relatively often, and there was no exception, even for Chief Kong.
Zheng Ren had gained Chief Kong's recognition after briefly working together and the latter was eager to commence the surgery today, hurriedly handing over his shift before ordering the first patient sent to the operating theater.
The entire morning shift of the interventional radiology department was aware of the new surgery. All of its doctors were bubbling with excitement as they crammed themselves into the operating theater.
As for their own department… The operating theater was not far from the ward, reachable on foot within a minute. What was there to worry about?
No extraneous task could surpass the significance of observing a new surgical method.
Therefore, as soon as shift handover was complete, not a single white coat could be found in the entire ward. Instead, there were almost twenty doctors standing in an orderly manner inside the interventional operating theater.
There were only eight in-house doctors among them, including Chief Kong. Many professors with their own teams could not get even a single in-house doctor to join them.
All of their in-house doctors had an assistant professorship at the very least, which begged the question: who would lead the surgery? That was why most teams consisted of postgraduate students, PhD students, and fellows.
Most of the physicians on duty in that room were fellows.
At this time of the year, manpower was still sufficient. Around Chinese New Year, though, the professors all suffered when the fellows, Master's students and postgraduates returned to their hometowns.
They had to either choose to reduce their number of surgeries or beg someone else to assist them.
There were countless professors in Imperial Capital, making them stand out much less than they would in a place like Sea City.
Department Chief Kong sat facing the screen in the operating console room outside the theater. There were four other professors sitting around him. Every other physician had to find a spot to stand.
Zheng Ren went to scrub in while Su Yun prepped the table.
The films from the patient's MRI and 3D-reconstructed 64-slice CT scan were pinned to the radiographic film viewer after being repeatedly examined for mistakes.
After scrubbing in, Zheng Ren gave them one final check while suiting up.
There was no such thing as being too cautious in surgery, even if one was being borderline obsessive-compulsive.
After all, surgery mishaps did happen, such as operations being performed on the wrong kidney or lung.
Why? Most of the time, it was simply because there were too many surgeries that day, and the scans of the previous patient were still attached to the reader.
At first glance, the surgeon would start their operation on the organ on the right side, only realizing mid-operation that the malignant tissue they were looking for was on the left side!
Those were considered the luckier ones. Some unfortunate souls even had their healthy organs removed…
"Dr. Zheng has good habits," one of the professors, leading their own team, pointed out after watching Zheng Ren carefully examine the scans.
"There are four surgeries today. All four of the 64-slice CT scans were reconstructed by him," Chief Kong explained, "Each one has a different insertion path, which is why he needs to check them carefully."
Most doctors from the interventional radiology department had heard about it. They did not fully understand how Zheng Ren had managed to pull it off, but no one was stupid enough to challenge Chief Kong's words.
As usual, Zheng Ren started operating while Su Yun was scrubbing in.
After the introducer sheath entered the femoral artery, the guide wire went in with no issue.
Zheng Ren's cross-hands maneuver flowed like water.
Dr. Shen quietly took out his phone and started a stopwatch.
While watching over Lin Jiaojiao yesterday, he still felt somewhat wronged and simulated the entire scrubbing-in process repeatedly, timing himself as he did so. He wanted to check if Zheng Ren had sped up due to it being an emergency case, thus throwing him off guard.
After Su Yun finished scrubbing in and reached the operating table, Dr. Shen glanced at his phone.
Two minutes and fifteen seconds. This was half the time he took.
Was he also that fast during a normal surgery?
It was
only the beginning. After Su Yun joined in, Dr. Shen witnessed the true meaning of efficiency.
IDuring the midnight surgery, he had been in a state of confusion and had not managed to get a clear picture, which was why he ended up "l.i.c.k.i.n.g" the screen. In this moment, however, he was fully composed and finally able to truly admire how proficient Zheng Ren and Su Yun were at interventional surgery.
Zheng Ren began working at lightning speed once Su Yun joined in.
The micro-guidewire was inserted followed by the microcatheter. From the radiography, the microcatheter's positioning was unbelievably accurate. Superselective catheterization was performed and the micro-guidewire continued down an invisible artery, executing targeted administration of chemotherapy drugs to hepatic cirrhosis nodules before finishing them off with embolization.
After treating all of the suspected cancerous nodules, Zheng Ren infused a minute amount of chemother.a.p.eutic medication across the liver as a preventative measure, and the surgery was complete.
Su Yun did not perform manual compression to stop bleeding, instead choosing to use a compression device in accordance with local practice. He then bandaged the patient before proceeding to the next surgery.
Dr. Shen had been completely absorbed throughout the entire surgery up to that moment, where he checked the timer on his phone again.
Twenty-two minutes and fifteen seconds…
Before this, he would have thought that interventional surgeries on hepatocellular carcinoma lasting less than thirty minutes were shams.
However, he had just seen this unbelievably short surgery, so precise that he would never be able to simulate it at his current skill level, with his own eyes.
"What an elegant piece of work!" one of the professors exclaimed.
"The insertion was on point. Chief, I assume you were referring to the technique of referring to the 3D-image reconstruction of the 64-slice CT scan. It's really brilliant," another professor commented.
"Yes, Chief Chu and I helped out Mr. Zheng with the reconstruction for ten hours," Chief Kong said, immediately feeling a pang of guilt, his wrinkled face flushing red.
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