Surgery Godfather

With the hot pot served, and everyone exhausted from the surgeries, no one drank alcohol. Yang Ping held up a glass of apple cider: “Brothers, seriously, thank you.”

A thousand words were contained within this glass of beverage, which Yang Ping drained in one gulp.

Even if the drink wasn’t alcohol, he drank it with the flair of one who was celebrating with spirits.

Huddled around the hot pot, the brothers chatted, joked, laughed, and Zhang Lin hinted several times, “How about some alcohol?”

“We have lots of surgeries, and emergencies can occur anytime. Want to drink? Ask Huang Mao to prepare a plate of peanuts for you, and drink slowly on your own,” Song Zimo discouraged him.

Is it really okay not to drink at a gathering like this? Zhang Lin wondered to himself as he took a sip of the apple cider.

“Wang Feng was discharged from the hospital on Sunday when you guys were not around.”

Little Five said, “He left secretly without saying goodbye, just like how he left his girlfriend. That girl cried so hard in the ward, I guess he felt forced to leave for her sake.”

“After being diagnosed with AIDS, he completely despaired of life and spent every night at the nightclub drinking heavily. His girlfriend, Xiao Yao, who was a pole dancer at the nightclub, encouraged him time and time again, and eventually, he regained his will to live. One day, a group wanted to forcefully take Xiao Yao away, Wang Feng saw this and bravely fought against them, even though it was one against ten. Then the police came.”

This world is composed of stories. Every person is a unique book of stories.

Pure things are actually hidden in unexpected places; you just haven’t discovered them with your heart.

“It takes courage to give up, this is true love. Wang Feng is a real man,” Song Zimo sighed.

“Drink!” Zhang Lin shouted.

“You are drunk now, stop drinking,” Song Zimo shook his head.

The days went by, and two weeks passed again.

One hundred severed fingers were successfully replanted, all came back to life, the side quest was successfully completed.

“Ping! 50,000 points rewarded.”

50,000 points, the first time he received such a large reward.

He used 30,000 points to purchase a multi-trauma surgery training, kept 20,000 points for future use, finally not in dire straits anymore.

Multi-trauma includes surgeries for head, neck, chest, and abdomen injuries, which are beyond the scope for an orthopedic surgeon.

In the system space, Yang Ping performed dozens of dissections, paying particularly attention to local dissections of the head, neck, chest, and abdomen.

Applying the knowledge acquired from dissections to surgeries, and using the experience gained from surgeries to guide dissections, Yang Ping becomes increasingly skilled in dissection.

After completing dissection training, and finishing the training on 3,000 cases of multi-trauma surgery, he then exited the system space.

He’s now not surprised even when the system offers thousands of cases for surgery. If the system only gives a few or dozens of cases, it wouldn’t really be a system anymore.

He has gotten used to staying in the system space for a long time. It’s gotten to the point where it’s second nature.

One day, after the morning shift handover, Director Han said, “That pelvic fracture case that I just talked about during the handover, who transferred from the Trauma ICU, let’s go check him out. For the other patients, you guys just take a look.”

Director Han led everyone to see the patient, a male in his forties, lying on the bed with an emergency external fixation on his pelvis. He looked pale and had a worried look on his face.

Next to him, a woman and a girl in school uniform, likely his wife and daughter, were keeping him company.

The woman prepared a cup of protein powder or something similar, the girl took it and sat by the bed to feed her dad.

“Doctor, am I stable? Will I be disabled in the future?” the patient asked.

“The doctor said you are out of danger. See, you are now staying in a general ward. You wouldn’t have been transferred here if you weren’t stable. Don’t panic. Medical science is very advanced now. I looked it up online, Professor Han is a top expert. What are you worried about?” The girl was not at all like a middle school student as she comforted her dad with a mature and sensible tone.

“Xiao Tong, don’t come every day. You are in your senior year, study is intense. Dad’s fine,” the patient comforted his daughter, who helped him wipe his mouth with a tissue.

“Don’t worry about it. If you don’t let her come, she will be even more anxious and it will affect her studies more. She has a mock exam tonight, so she came to visit you in the morning and won’t be able to come in the evening. Xiao Tong ranked first in her grade on her last exam, rest assured, you don’t need to worry about her. I’m going to take her to school soon, we will come back later.” The mother and daughter packed up and left in a hurry.

Director Han said, “The injury was severe. We performed emergency intervention embolization to stop bleeding and temporarily fixed it with an external fixator. We will perform surgery in a few days, typically without any long-term disabilities, so don’t worry too much. Your liver function is at risk, and both your blood pressure and blood sugar are high. The internal medicine department needs to get those under control before we proceed with surgery. That’s the safest approach. You have insurance coverage for medical fees, don’t you? You shouldn’t worry.” Director Han assumed that his major concern was the potentially high medical bills.

The patient sighed, “I have both medical insurance and commercial insurance, so I am not concerned about my medical fees. But, honestly, I am in sales, where making one deal often leads to another. Now that I’m bedridden, I’m only making a small base salary. My child is in year twelve this year, and his mother is devoted to taking care of him full-time. The monthly mortgage and car loan payments can’t be reduced, and my income and expenses have been barely balanced. I hardly have any surplus money. This hospitalisation due to my illness has resulted in financial hardship. I don’t even know if I can hold onto my job. It’s really troubling. Doctor, do you have a quicker solution so I can recover sooner?” The patient was in a hurry.

With elderly parents and a young child dependent on him, and a mortgage to pay off, every expense was calculated down to the cent.

The hardships endured by middle-aged men often go unspoken, swallowed down and hidden deep in their guts. They dare not change jobs, nor fall ill. At work, they would not even dare to vent their frustrations for fear of offending others and losing their jobs.

“No, this won’t work. Your liver function is poor, and your transaminase is high along with your blood pressure and blood sugar. Going ahead with surgery under these conditions could cause issues. We will try to correct these as promptly as we can. Please don’t worry. You can get back to work after you recover.” Director Han reassured him.

“I was diagnosed with these conditions a few years ago. The doctor told me not to drink alcohol, but I couldn’t avoid it in sales. Professor Han, please, I really want to recover quicker. I wouldn’t mind using a crutch if it means I can leave the hospital sooner.” The patient spoke helplessly.

“We will try our best, you also need to stay calm.” Director Han gently patted the patient’s shoulder in comfort.

After visiting this patient, Director Han returned to the doctor’s office, “Starting next Monday, the Director of Microtrauma Orthopedics, Director Tan will officially begin work, but he needs some time to get familiar. After one month, he will formally assume the position of Director of Microtrauma Orthopedics. He will perform surgery on this patient. Once the patient’s various indications have been adjusted and if possible, schedule the surgery for next Monday. Director Tan is in the elevator, he will come soon to see the patient and the medical imaging.”

As if on cue, Director Tan and his student, Dr. Zhong, arrived. Dressed casually without carrying anything, they seemed to have settled down already and were only here to get a head start on familiarizing themselves with the environment and the patients.

Director Tan appeared to be in his mid-forties, slightly overweight with thinning hair. Dr. Zhong was in his thirties, fit, confident, and probably around the same age as Director Tian but still an attending physician.

They had visited a few times before but only interacted with Director Han as Yang Ping and others were performing surgery and weren’t available to meet them.

“Director Tan, this is the patient scheduled for surgery next Monday. If there is anything else you need to be prepared, feel free to discuss it with Xiao Song.” Director Han shook hands with Director Tan.

“Director Han, you’ve successfully grown Sanbo’s Orthopedics in a decade. I admire your work.” Director Tan spoke courteously.

“Not at all, in comparison to your Fuer, we still have a long way to go. In the future, Director Tan, I hope that you can help to develop Microtrauma Orthopedics into a top national department.” Director Han spoke graciously.

“Sanbo definitely has the potential for this, and we shall strengthen the talents in the future.” Director Tan replied while starting to review the medical imaging.

After looking through the images, he furrowed his brows, stroked his chin, and said, “This is a difficult case. Fractures in the front and back columns and walls of the left acetabulum, the left sacral bone, the left ala of the ilium, and the upper and lower branches of the pubic bone, severe dislocation of the left sacroiliac joint, and the pubic symphysis have also dislocated. Director Han, this operation is going to be tough.”

A newly appointed director often needs a surgery to showcase his skills and convince others of his abilities.

Doctors revere skills. If you lack the skills and rise to a position through connections, you would be secretly disrespected. Once you’ve proven your skills, others will not only vocally praise you but also respect you internally, leading to more productive work.

Typically, surgeries used to demonstrate one’s skills aren’t rushed. Tan Boyun is extraordinarily eager to show-off. He voluntarily chose this case. If he’s doing it, he wants to tackle the most challenging one.

Once, during a conference at Fuer, Tan Boyun’s surgery was scheduled for a live demonstration. But during the conference, an emergency case arrived with severe pelvic fractures. He swiftly switched cases and streamed the emergency pelvic fracture operation live, which led to his quick rise to fame in G City.

He is truly skilled at what he does, which Director Han spotted and admired.

“With this level of difficulty, do you usually perform the surgery, or do you ask for help?” Dr. Zhong asked.

His words were somewhat impolite, given his youth.

“Oh, it’s fine; Xiao Tian and others usually handle these.” Director Han handled it well and was very gracious.

Dr. Zhong didn’t utter a word but did not believe Director Han’s words. At Fuer, only he and Director Tan could smoothly handle such surgeries. When Director Han mentioned that “Xiao Tian” and others would do it, it seemed like an intentional exaggeration.

“Director Han was formerly at Magic City Sixth Hospital, a representative of the new generation of Orthopedics. Do you think he needs to ask for help?” Tan Boyun responded with an intentional reprimanding tone.

While he was arrogant, surgery was a serious matter involving people’s lives.

Tan Boyun carefully reviewed the patient’s medical records and examination results: “The transaminase level has dropped. Today is Friday, and the surgery can probably take place next Monday.”

He then went to see the patient in the ward, conducted a careful physical examination, and took the time to explain things to the junior doctor who accompanied him. He occasionally used English words to appear highly sophisticated.

Academics have a tendency to become carried away, especially when they have people listening attentively with admiring eyes. One can easily get caught up in the moment and forget to stop.

“Professor Tan, shall we check the images in the office?” Dr. Zhong reminded him subtly in time to prevent the bedside teaching from becoming too broad.

“How does it look, Director Tan?” Back in the office, Director Han asked him.

“Proceed as planned, schedule the surgery.” Director Tan responded with easy confidence.