Great Doctor Ling Ran

Ling Ran followed Huo Congjun and rushed to the Hand Surgery Department.

At that moment, the Hand Surgery Department was in chaos. The doctors who rushed past them only had time to nod at Huo Congjun as a greeting before they swiftly left.

The impact on the Hand Surgery Department, brought about by a five-year-old requiring finger replantation surgery for eight of her fingers, was greater than the impact brought by eight toddlers needing eight different single-finger replantation surgeries. It was also much more complicated. Their panic at that moment was similar to how the staff of an airport would feel when they received news of multiple airplanes being forced to land. At that moment, no matter how well the doctors prepared before this and how much experience they had, they felt like it was not enough.

Huo Congjun arrived at the office and caught Wang Haiyang. “Old Wang.”

“Oh, Ling Ran’s here?” Wang Haiyang first addressed Ling Ran before he shook Huo Congjun’s hand. He said with a smile, “Old Huo, please don’t tell me that you’re here to watch us make a fool of ourselves.”

“What fools? We’re here to help each other. If you don’t want that help, then we’ll go back.” Huo Congjun chuckled. He did not let go of Wang Haiyang’s hand.

Wang Haiyang said in resignation, “And you say you’re not here to watch us make fools of ourselves? Oh well, since you’re here, go make preparations. Ling Ran, if you need anything, just ask young Liu for it.”

Young Liu was a nurse in the Hand Surgery Department. She was young, and her eyes sparkled as she looked at Ling Ran.

Wang Haiyang had performed a surgery with Ling Ran before, and had also watched the video on Ling Ran performing the finger replantation surgery on the owner of the mahjong house whose fingertip was not completely separated from his finger. He knew that Ling Ran had the ability to complete finger replantation surgeries, which was why he agreed to Huo Congjun bringing him over.

However, Huo Congjun no longer had any time to make any explanations, or rather, Wang Haiyang had the inner desire to stay away from Ling Ran.

“Doctor Ling, what sort of equipment do you need? You can tell me.” Young Liu was a little excited. It was rare for her to be able to come into contact with the department hunk at such close proximity.

Ling Ran brought out his phone and swiped across it a few times before he brought out a list of equipment he needed to young Liu.

Young Liu was stunned for a moment before she quickly held it in her hands and carefully read the list over.

Different doctors had different habits when they operated. Every single person had different tools they were accustomed to using even in the simplest debriding and suturing procedures. The difference in the habits between each person in operating theaters were naturally even greater. One of the tasks of the surgical nurses was to set up the equipment the doctors were used to. They would also add in the equipment the doctors wanted if they required it.

Ling Ran was in possession of the Perfect Level Finger Replantation. He could use a large number of tools and equipment, and so, the things he wanted were a little more than what a normal doctor required.

However, this is a miniscule matter when it came to surgeries. All it meant was that there was a bit more equipment to disinfect after surgery. Nurse Liu only needed to remember and mark the different parts of those equipment.

Ling Ran requested for the MRI and X-ray scans before he slowly began to read them.

Reading MRI scans of the four limbs and X-ray scans was incredibly easy for Ling Ran. With the ability to read these two types of scans, Ling Ran could already form a basic idea of the child’s severed middle finger. The only thing he could not be certain of was the child’s nervous system, but he could get a general idea of that with the help of the MRI scan.

Once Ling Ran finished reading the information provided by the medical images in his left hand, he got up and asked, “When do we start?”

“We still have thirty minutes of preparation time.” Nurse Liu’s answer was sufficiently accurate.

“Then give me the MRI scans and X-ray scans of her other fingers,” Ling Ran said.

The young nurse felt that his request was a little odd, but after a while, she took out a tablet and handed it to Ling Ran.

Ling Ran thanked her and continued reading the scans.

The time for preoperative preparations differed for each surgery. Ling Ran did not have the authority to interfere. He only needed to perform his own tasks.

A specialist would usually require around two to three hours to perform one single-finger replantation. If the surgery did not go smoothly, then it would be impossible for the surgeon to finish the replantation even within four hours. Local, small hospitals did not have the equipment to perform those surgeries. There were even those who would spend an hour to carelessly replant the finger and see whether the replanted part managed to survive later.

The Hand Surgery Department of Yun Hua Hospital naturally sought for success in these finger replantation surgeries. They would usually require around four hours to finish replanting one finger for a child’s finger replantation surgery. If they added the time together, then eight fingers would mean they would need thirty-two hours to finish the surgery.

It was naturally impossible for anyone to permit them to perform a surgery for such a long period of time. Finger replantations had to be performed within twenty-four hours of when the finger was severed. In truth, using eight hours to finish performing a finger replantation surgery was something similar to a benchmark for surgeons to consider whether a patient was worth the effort to receive finger replantation surgery. If they surpassed that eight-hour time limit, then the doctors would usually consider amputation.

Of course, there was also no doctor who could perform a surgery for thirty-two hours.

No matter what, microsurgeries were tasks that required extreme attention to detail. Factory workers who had to work for sixteen hours straight usually had to be sent to hospitals for finger replantation surgeries because they had made a careless mistake. If the doctor made a mistake because they were too tired during that time, then it would seriously be a huge misfortune for the worker.

In actuality, continuously working for eight hours was already the limit for most people. Chief physicians who were already over fifty years old were usually incapable of working past eight hours. Hence, this time, Yun Hua Hospital’s Hand Surgery Department decided to perform a relay for this surgery. Since there was a limit to how many people could be at the operating table at one time, they decided to have three to four groups of people work on this operation simultaneously. Once a group was done, they would back down and have another group take their place.

Therefore, it would be best for them to have eight chief surgeons available, if not, they had to make do with six or seven.

And there were less than ten people who could perform finger replantation surgeries for five-year-old children in Yun Hua Hospital’s Hand Surgery Department. They still had to complete their daily tasks as well, they could not give up treating their other patients just because of one surgery.

Eight doctors were gathered swiftly in the operating theater, and four groups were formed.

Ling Ran was among them. Next to him was Ma Yanlin, who felt lost.

Ma Yanlin was a doctor in the Hand Surgery Department, but he had just been sent to the Emergency Department as part of his standardized training. He was only supposed to stay in that department for a short period of time.

This time, when Ma Yanlin looked over, he saw one chief physician, two associate chief physicians, and three senior attending physicians—there to act as assistants—standing among the surgeons from the Hand Surgery Department who were going to perform the surgery in that department.

A resident doctor would need to work for three to five years to be promoted to an attending physician in the hospital’s promotion system; and an attending physician needed to work for five to ten years to be promoted to associate chief physician; and even more patience was needed for an associate chief physician to be promoted to chief physician. They also needed even better skills and great luck, along with having to wait for more than five years before they could be promoted.

And housemen were ranked even lower than resident doctors.

It could be said that all the people in the room right then were Ma Yanlin’s superiors. As for Ling Ran the intern, he was also Ma Yanlin’s superior “‘OTL.

Ma Yanlin lowered his head. He could not quell his nervousness no matter how hard he tried. In fact, he was so nervous that he did not even manage to hear Chief Physician Wang Haiyang’s words clearly.

“Keep it steady,” Ling Ran said, effectively chasing away all the nonsense in Ma Yanlin’s head.

Ma Yanlin made a little sound as confirmation, and quickly grabbed the young patient’s left middle finger.

This finger was not completely separated from the hand. Compared to the other fingers, its injury could be considered light, but there was only a small amount of skin left connecting the appendage to the hand.

Ling Ran carefully performed debridement and tried to keep his movements restrained to a small space so that he would not touch the other doctors.

Eight doctors squeezed against each other on both sides of the operating table with their heads bent while they performed their own surgeries. They would occasionally cast a glance at what the other surgeons were doing, and all of them kept quiet.

There were too many people around, even if they wanted to chat, they would not be able to get excited over the conversation.

Besides, all of them had plenty of tasks at hand, and they could not help but have that slight spark of competitiveness boil in their hearts.

Ling Ran also watched the other surgeons operate. He was familiar with Chief Physician Wang Haiyang’s operation; the man was as steady with his hands, and as slow as he normally was. The other two associate chief physicians were a little younger than Wang Haiyang, and each of them handled a finger that was completely separated from the hand. Their speed was comparable to Wang Haiyang, but their expressions were more tense.

The surgery they performed today was of a level that was qualified to be discussed in a lecture in the medical society, written into a research paper, or published in a news report. Every one of them wanted to give a good performance.

Compared to the associate chief physicians, Chief Physician Wang Haiyang, who was also the person in charge of the surgery, was more concerned over whether the surgery would succeed or fail, and because of it, he could calmly manage all his tasks at hand.

“I’m done,” Associate Chief Physician Fei Zhou, the person who stood across Ling Ran, said rather loudly.

“Are you done with the debridement?” Wang Haiyang asked calmly.

“Yes.” Associate Chief Physician Fei Zhou grinned. He was the first to complete his debridement. It may just be a small task, but he still managed to perfectly stroke his surgeon’s ego.

Wang Haiyang nodded his head slightly. Fei Zhou’s speed was acceptable. If they wanted to complete two finger replantations for a child in eight hours, completing the debridement at this moment meant a good start.

“I still need five minutes before I finish debridement. Group 2, Group 4, status report,” Wang Haiyang asked for the other people’s progress to make sure that they did not fall behind the surgery’s schedule.

Group 2’s Associate Chief Physician Guo Jianming quickly looked down and mumbled, “I’m going to finish debridement soon.”

Ling Ran also reported on his own accord. “I’m about to finish with the bones. I’ll be making preparations to perform internal fixation.”

Associate Chief Physician Fei Zhou was just about to begin reconnecting the bone. He was stunned when he heard Ling Ran’s words and forced himself not to raise his head.

Watching another person’s operation would not help him increase his speed. Fei Zhou was still an associate chief physician who acquired his skills after working tirelessly in the operating theater. While he continued with his operation, he reminded himself, ‘Being fast at the beginning doesn’t mean that he’s truly fast. He might be used to performing debridement and bone reconnection.’

As for Ma Yanlin, his nervousness had completely receded.

As a houseman, most of his time during his induction was spent rotating between different departments, which was why he did not quite understand the Hand Surgery Department’s state of affairs.

When he was dragged over by Ling Ran, Ma Yanlin was worried that he would make mistakes and drag Ling Ran down.

Yet the surgery before his eyes was practically the same as the surgeries he performed in the Emergency Department’s operating theaters. Ling Ran did not deliberately speed up, nor did he hesitate in his movements.

Ma Yanlin just did whatever he used to do as Ling Ran’s first assistant. Not only did the operation go on smoothly, they were also right on time with their schedule.

Ma Yanlin also did not expect that the others would actually be so far behind them in their progress.

With his status as the first assistant for hundreds of surgeries performed using the M-Tang technique and a few finger replantation surgeries, Ma Yanlin quietly observed the other four surgeries that were performed concurrently and found that their group’s surgery was performed the smoothest.

The debridement they did was the same as all the debridements they had done, their bone reconnection was still the same as all the bone reconnections they had previously executed, their tendon suture was still the same as all the tendon sutures done before, and their blood vessel anastomosis was still the same as the ones they had performed in the past…

As Ma Yanlin thought this, he continued performing the surgery. When he stopped, he found that they were nearly finished replanting one finger.

“I’ll let you handle suturing the skin.” Just like what he usually did when he was in the Emergency Department, Ling Ran let Ma Yanlin take over the last step of the surgery.

Ma Yanlin was used to switching places with Ling Ran. When he stood at the position of the chief surgeon, he swiftly noticed the gazes of those around him.

These were strange gazes filled with fussiness, resignation, indignation, displeasure, shock, and incredulity.

One short hour was not even enough to perform a finger replantation for an adult, much less a finger for a child of only five years old.

At that moment, Wang Haiyang had just finished performing blood vessel anastomosis, Fei Zhou had only performed half of his blood vessel anastomosis, and the slowest Associate Chief Physician Guo Jianming of Group 2 was still struggling over performing muscle sutures.

If anything, their speed was about the same. The fastest was only faster than the slowest by less than twenty minutes.

However, they still had a long surgery ahead of them before they could finish; they had, at most, finished only half of the surgery…

What could Ma Yanlin say? He did not even dare show a single expression. He could only lower his head, grab a needle holder, and quietly begin suturing the skin.

At that moment, Ma Yanlin suddenly missed Lu Wenbin dearly. When they were in the Emergency Department, Lu Wenbin would always bring out the pork trotters he made after a surgery to replenish the energy they spent.

But the operating theater in the Hand Surgery Department was terrifyingly quiet. They would not even have a bowl of porridge with salted fish to eat so that they could replenish their energy.