Great Doctor Ling Ran

Yuan Wei felt that he had slept soundly. He still reminisced the beautiful moments of his dreams when he woke up. It had been some time since he last slept so soundly.

“Yuan Wei, Yuan Wei…” He Jinxiu called her husband while she pinched his other hand, which was in a good condition.

Yuan Wei slowly opened up his eyes and immediately saw a white ceiling. Suddenly, he recalled everything, just like how a phone received a stream of new messages when it was reconnected to the internet.

“I…” Yuan Wei could not help but raise his hand, but his hand was fixed. He then wanted to sit up in bed, but he was being held down by He Jinxiu.

“Take it easy, okay? Do you feel terrible?” He Jinxiu felt that she had never been so gentle in her life.

When she sold agricultural products in the village, she could put her hands on her waist and argue with people for three hours. Her loud voice could even wake up the elderly from the other side of the village. However, her husband’s frail state had almost turned her into a mute.

“I…” Yu Wei could hardly speak, as his throat and lips were dry. He slowly remembered everything that happened during and before the surgery. Then, he looked at his hand, which had been wrapped a thick layer of bandages. He forced out a smile and said, “I’m okay.”

Streams of tears instantly flowed out from He Jinxiu’s eyes.

During the past few hours, He Jinxiu’s mind and heart had been filled with anger. She hated everything around her; she hated fate, hated the world, hated her job, and hated the society she was living in. But right then, she felt fear.

‘What if Yu Wei is disabled…?

‘What was she supposed to do with the debt…?

‘What should she do in the future…?’

These were things she never once thought of, and things she did not want to think about.

If Yuan Wei’s fingers died, he could no longer work, but He Jinxiu still needed to take care of the family. By then, it would be unavoidable for the village to spread rumors about them. Although she could bear with the rumors and her husband could probably handle the rumors as well, what about their child…?

He Jinxiu looked at her daughter with watery eyes, and she felt weak.

‘Falling sick!

‘Money!

‘The responsibility of taking care of their daughter!

‘Her husband could not work!’

The problems piled up until He Jinxiu felt as if she had been stuffed into a well, and those problems kept pushing her to the bottom of the well.

“Oh, the patient just woke up!” Huo Congjun smiled when he entered the ward.

He intentionally came over to see the patient after he heard the story of Ling Ran exploiting a pharmaceutical sales representative.

Lu Wenbin came in after him, and he introduced Huo Congjun to the family. “Department Director Huo is the medical director of our Emergency Department. He was free, so he decided to come over.”

He Jinxiu nodded, looking a little lost. Obviously, she did not have any idea what department director, medical director, a person who scolded another for no reason, and Department Director Huo entailed.

Huo Congjun changed his initial plan slightly when he saw her reaction. He changed his tone and spoke in a friendly manner. “How do you feel?”

“So so,” Yuan Wei answered hesitantly.

“Alright. If you feel uncomfortable, just call the nurse over. Or you can tell the doctors when they do their ward rounds,” Huo Congjun said sincerely with a smile on his face.

Yuan Wei had just been administered anesthesia, so he was still rather out of it. Unlike Yuan Wei, however, He Jinxiu was already getting emotional. “Department Director Huo, will my husband’s hand recover? Can he use his fingers in the future?”

“The surgery was very successful, so we only need to focus on the rehabilitation. If he performs well during rehabilitation, he will be able to use his fingers. You don’t have to worry too much.” Huo Congjun remained professionally courteous.

“Shouldn’t the fingers recover right after surgery?” He Jinxiu was filled with naive hope.

“You have to go through a recovery period after surgery. Rehabilitation is very important as well. It can even be said to be more important than the surgery. We call it the reco… I mean, we call the entire treatment as the perioperative period…” Huo Congjun consoled them with gentle words. He then said, “The days are very important. You must clear two major obstacles.”

“Clear obstacles?”

“Yes.” Huo Congjun was very good at communicating with the patients. He was just like a friendly, talkative, old man. He said, “We call the first obstacle as the possibility of surgical site infection during the first thirty days after surgery. Do you know what an infection is? It means that it’s very easy for the wound to become inflamed and fester. The second obstacle are muscle spasms after surgery.”

He Jinxiu felt nervous and alarmed while she looked at Huo Congjun.

“Muscle spasms can be understood as cramps. If you suffer from cramps in your blood vessels, your blood vessels will die easily. If the blood vessels die, then it will be easy for the fingers to die as well.” Huo Congjun walked them through the terrifying possibilities before he smiled and said, “You don’t have to be afraid, because you’re staying in the hospital now. We face these complications every day, and at the same time, we need the family to cooperate with us…”

It took Huo Congjun some effort before he ended his ward rounds and left the room.

He Jinxiu was grateful for Huo Congjun when she sent him out of the room. She even made her daughter bow to him.

Huo Congjun quickly stopped them, and he swiftly left the ward.

Huo Congjun took a deep breath and sighed in relief after he entered the elevator.

“Aren’t they Ling Ran’s relatives?” Huo Congjun asked Lu Wenbin again.

“Nope,” Lu Wenbin whispered, “I think he only did it out of pity for their terrible financial situation.”

“Hmm… The materials he used are not in the health services directory. If the patient bore with the expenses himself… It would be good if all that comes out for him from this is bankruptcy…” said Huo Congjun with a grunt.

“Aren’t those trial products given by the pharmaceutical sales representative? By right, if the products aren’t included in the bill…”

Huo Congjun glanced fiercely at Lu Wenbin and said, “Once the bill is out, forget about convincing the patient and his family about the costs, can we even pass medical insurance? Did you actually think everything is fine as long as the pharmaceutical company doesn’t charge? What the auditors check is whether everything is in accordance with the health services directory… Sigh! If Ling Ran wants to use the trial products, he can just use some of them occasionally. How could he use up so many samples in one go? And what about the medical equipment? What if Ling Ran gets used to using them?”

Lu Wenbin had been a doctor for a few years, so he could roughly understand what Huo Congjun just said. Huo Congjun was very worried that Ling Ran would get addicted to the taste of imported medical equipment in the future.

They might both be microscopic forceps, but imported forceps could cost ten times that of domestically manufactured forceps. And if the surgeon was careless and knocked it against something solid, the forceps would break down. After all, it was just a fairly common consumable.

At the rate of Ling Ran’s surgeries, he would burn a hole in the Emergency Department’s pocket. More importantly, other doctors might end up following his footsteps.

Lu Wenbin thought about it for a while and said, I think Doctor Ling hasn’t gotten used to using the equipment yet. I can’t tell whether he prefers imported or domestically manufactured medical equipment.”

“He better don’t. Otherwise, I won’t be able to bear the expenses. By the way, if anyone ever mentions this case, just say that Doctor Ling was just doing research for scientific purposes. A comparative exercise, if you will.” Huo Congjun made a conclusion to end the case.

Lu Wenbin was stunned and said, “Okay.”

“This patient needs more attention. Let’s see if there’s any effect after going through so many good products,” Huo Congjun casually said before he went back to his office.

Lu Wenbin watched Huo Congjun’s back. He pursed his lips while thinking, ‘Why didn’t you just tell Ling Ran about the consequences? You must be worried that you’ll end up being hated.’

But when he thought about it, he knew that this was bound to happen. If Lu Wenbin was the one who used some of the medical trial products that were sent by the pharmaceutical sales representative, he would probably be chased down and questioned. It would definitely be very annoying. But the problem was that, he did not use any of them at all!

When Lu Wenbin thought of this, he suddenly felt that the world was unfair. Ling Ran was the one who was using the products, and he was also the one who made the decisions. However, Lu Wenbin was the one being annoyed by questions.

However, the interrogation had ended. Department Director Huo was just doing whatever he needed to do.

Lu Wenbin could not complain to anyone. He could only quietly go back to the ward.

Lu Wenbin saw Yu Yuan sitting next to the bed in the patient’s room, surrounded by white walls and blue baseboards.

Yu Yuan wore her big, black-framed glasses and held a notebook in her hands. She asked Yuan Wei some questions while she took some notes down.

Lu Wenbin was baffled when he saw how she performed her ward rounds. Forget about efficiency, it was meaningless to record all the patients’ conditions, even if she could do a few ward rounds a day. There were only a few postoperative assessments for finger replantations, and they were all about the changes in the patient’s replanted finger. But even without the help of the medical staff, the family members could also observe the changes on the finger, including edema, the color of the finger, and the amount of blood returning to the finger.

Yu Yuan put away her notebook after she saw Lu Wenbin. She smiled and said, “It’s your turn, Doctor Lu.”

“I just dropped by to take a look. What are you doing here?” asked Lu Wenbin.

“I want to write a research paper by comparing the use of imported products with domestically manufactured products.” Yu Yuan did not hide her motives.

Lu Wenbin was stunned. Huo Conjun had just made an excuse for Ling Ran about him wanting to make a comparison, and he did not expect Yu Yuan to actually prepare writing a research paper.

“Can such research papers be published in SCI journals?” Lu Wenbin had seen Yu Yuan’s ability when it came to writing research papers. He knew that she had published her last paper in an English journal, and that her case report had passed the review process. That was why he wanted to ask her about this case.

Yu Yuan smiled faintly and said, “I don’t need to publish this is an SCI journal, I will just publish it in a Chinese core journal.”

“A Chinese core journal… will do?” Lu Wenbin chuckled. He was also one of the people who needed to write research papers to become an attending physician. All he needed to do was publish an article in a Chinese core journal, but it was not going to be easy for him.

Yu Yuan nodded slightly, but she did not provide any explanations. At this moment, she did not even need to stand on a step stool to show the contempt in her eyes.

Lu Wenbin’s mouth twitched. He was very familiar with her gaze. Every time he passed by the braised pork shop at the back lane of the hospital, he would have a similar look in his eyes.

“Zzz…” Yuan Wei snored soundly on the bed.

He Jinxiu and her daughter looked at the doctors curiously. Their minds were at ease after listening to the conversation between the doctors.

They were not very sure if the finger replantation had been a success with how Yuan Wei’s fingers were still wrapped under a thick layer of gauze. However, they felt calm when they saw the doctors and nurses coming and going out of the room.

During the following days, Yu Yuan became the main force of performing ward rounds.

Lu Wenbin and Ma Yanlin were very happy to see this.

The workload of performing ward rounds was extremely heavy, especially for doctors who were in charge of the beds. They had to spend two to three hours a day performing ward rounds. If someone willingly showed attention to a certain patient, no one would try to snatch the role of checking on the patient from them.

Ling Ran’s surgical volume was still not high. The patients who left the hospital one after another were those hospitalized during the early stages finger replantation was implemented in the Emergency Department. Back then, Ling Ran’s surgical volume was not high. Thus, the number of beds that could be freed up every day was limited.

Besides, the added beds were like debt that needed to be returned. The more the beds were used, the more stressed out the medical staff were. They had to return them, eventually.

Hence, Lu Wenbin and Ma Yanlin’s life became absolutely casual the few days after Yuan Wei’s surgery was over. Both of them had performed less than two operations every day, and their ward rounds for the patients in their recovery period was pretty easy. They were also getting better at writing medical records. They always used four points to write their medical records. [Ward round today, the patient shows the same symptoms as before. Same results from their physical examination. Same diagnosis. Same treatment. Continue observing.]

Their happiness lasted until the hospital posted a new notice. [Academician Zhu Tongyi and colleagues from the Chinese Academy of Engineering will be visiting our Hospital.]

Departments including the Orthopedics Department, Hand Surgery Department, Spine Surgery Department, Department of Bone Oncology, Rheumatology Department, Pain Management Department, Emergency Department, and the other departments that were related to the Orthopedics Department and motor recovery stirred to life, either actively or passively.