Great Doctor Ling Ran

Three days later, Wang Haiyang was called to the operating theater again.

When Wang Haiyang stepped open the operating theater door, he already had a mask on his face. He asked, “How many severed fingers are there this time?”

As a chief physician in the Hand Surgery Department who worked all year round and as a senior doctor who charged a fixed price of 10,000 RMB when he performed freelance surgeries, Wang Haiyang was already at the age where he could enter the operating theater whenever he wanted to.

It was especially so when it came to someone else’s operating theater. He felt even more at ease when he opened their doors.

The anesthetist, Su Jiafu had also rushed there at the same time. He placed his legs on two stools while he spun around, and he looked as if he was playing with a gym ball. When he heard Wang Haiyang’s question, he looked at the form and said, “Four severed fingers.”

Wang Haiyang clicked his tongue in admiration and said, “Tsk tsk. Old Huo is good. Two cases of four severed fingers in three days? Do these people cut their fingers right in front of his face?”

Su Jiafu raised his eyebrows. He was very familiar with such scenes. He said, “Brachial plexus anesthesia, Chief Physician Wang.”

Wang Haiyang pouted and tried to crack a joke. “Don’t you usually perform general anesthesia? You’re performing brachial plexus anesthesia on a patient with four severed fingers, huh? Do you want to bore the patient to death with a surgery that lasts for twenty hours?”

While joking happily, Wang Haiyang turned around to look at the patient. He was already prepared to put on an apologetic smile.

Qi Leqiu showed an awkward smile at this moment. “Chief Physician Wang, we meet again.”

Wang Haiyang was surprised. He looked at Qi Leqiu’s hand. He recognized her hand and said, “No way. You severed your fingers again?”

“No… it’s not that. I was just watching a Korean drama…” Qi Leqiu wanted to explain more, but the anesthesia interrupted her brain function.

“Blood circulation crisis.” Ling Ran cleared his throat and said while he frowned, “I should have let the people who informed you describe the situation clearly…”

“I didn’t listen carefully,” Wang Haiyang chuckled. He shouldered the responsibility of not knowing the situation clearly on himself.

“We used Heparin and urokinase, and they did not seem to work…” Ling Ran gave some simple descriptions and said, “Let’s cut her open and see.”

Wang Haiyang nodded. He knew that if they did not cut the fingers open right then, they would not be able to preserve the fingers.

Qi Leqiu blinked and said falteringly, “Excuse me, I don’t mean to interrupt. After you cut my fingers, how long will the surgery take? Do we really need twenty hours?”

“Not necessarily,” Wang Haiyang chuckled as he said.

“If it really lasts for twenty hours, I’ll really be bored to death.” Qi Leqiu looked at Wang Haiyang pitifully and asked, “Can I look at a video or watch a drama?”

Wang Haiyang was slightly slow in thinking due to his old age, while Lu Wenbin, who was beside him, could not help but said with a myriad of emotions in him, “You sure are unbothered.”

“You can also give me a video that makes me feel calm,” said Qi Leqiu seriously, “It’ll be okay if I just don’t watch any Korean shows, right?”

“You can’t even watch Animal World.” While Wang Haiyang entered the mood to join the conversation, he also performed an incision on a finger with a scalpel. He said, “If you see a cute deer bitten by a wolf, your blood pressure will increase. We’re the most fearful of dramatic changes in blood pressure in this sort of surgeries…”

The anesthetist Su Jiafu coughed a few times before he said, “Chief Physician Wang, don’t look down on people. Let’s put on Animal World, if the patient’s blood pressure increases, then I lose this bet.”

Even though Qi Leqiu lay on the cold operation table, she could not help but feel that she was very suited to the conversations in the operating theater. She laughed and said, “It will be a lose-lose situation.”

Su Jiafu trembled violently, so much so that his legs, which were on the stools, started to shake. “I may have lost, but not you. We have methods to handle increased blood pressure.”

“I don’t care. You bet on a patient.” Qi Leqiu grunted and said, “If you play me a movie, I will treat this as it never happened.”

Su Jiafu’s voice turned weaker instantly. “I can’t play you a movie.”

“Then, sing me a song.” Qi Leqiu made a request easily. She did not change anything about herself just because she was in an operating theater.

Su Jiafu huffed and puffed for some time before he whispered, “I do not know how to sing either.”

“Tell me a story.”

..…

Wang Haiyang and Ling Ran looked at each other and lowered their heads silently. They quietly cut Qi Leqiu’s fingers.

Within just an hour, the surgery was announced to be completed.

Ling Ran went out together with the trolley, and he said to Qi Leqiu and her family who just arrived, “The prognosis after the surgery is very important, too. Stop watching Korean dramas, TV series, movies, and novels which will make her feel emotional.”

“How about comics?” Qi Leqiu asked before anyone else.

Ling Ran remained silent for a few seconds and said, “All of you follow the patient to her room first. I will let the nurse explain to all of you later in detail. You can choose two among you to listen to this.”

The patient’s family agreed obediently.

When Ling Ran turned around, he thought and asked Wang Haiyang, who came after him, “Can we give a test to the patient and her family members?”

“A test?”

“Yes. A test about the things they need to pay attention to. The patients and her family will need to pass the test.”

“What happens if they don’t?”

“If they don’t?” Ling Ran thought for a while before he said, “If they don’t, the nurse will need to pay more attention to her. The patient’s discharge time should be delayed, too… But she should have the same treatment when she goes through rehabilitation. If the patient refuses it, we can’t force them either, but at least we know the sort of patient we are facing.”

Wang Haiyang thought about this and said, “When you put things this way, I remember that Peking Union Medical College Hospital seems to make their patients go through tests as well. But I can’t interfere with matters in the Emergency Department.”

“I will look for Department Director Huo.” Ling Ran did not hesitate and left immediately.

Wang Haiyang waved at the back and wanted to call Ling Ran. But he decided against it.

If a normal doctor wanted to suggest something to the department director, especially when his or her idea involved the entire department, while they would not be scolded, there would be a high chance for that doctor to be despised.

But if the person who made the suggestion was Ling Ran…

..…

Huo Congjun listened to Ling Ran’s suggestion seriously at the office. He nodded slowly and said, “Since you think there is a need, I can discuss this with the head nurse first. We’ll just be increasing the length of time for the lecture, that’s all. We need some new ideas for the Emergency Department since we’re trying to set up an Emergency Medical Center. We can learn from Peking Union Medical College Hospital as well…”

For Huo Congjun, he did not care a lot about such small changes, especially when only Ling Ran’s patients needed this policy.

Since the new policy only involved Ling Ran’s treatment group, if Ling Ran requested it, he only needed to make some amendments, and it will do.

But once he mentioned the Emergency Medical Center, Huo Congjun became excited again. He said, “We don’t quite have the requirements right now, and I’m still pushing for some changes. Ling Ran, you need to increase your reputation. I still remember you have patients referred to you by foreign doctors, right? If there are more cases like that, it will increase the reputation of Yun Hua Hospital, you know about that, right?”

“We have one now.” Ling Ran took out his phone and took a look. [I made the appointment on the day after tomorrow. The patient is going to board the plane today.]

“The patient is coming the day after tomorrow?”

“He’s a track and field athlete from Kenya,” Ling Ran said.

“One… Nevermind, we can accumulate more…”

“Patients from Afro-Asia and Latin America lack medical insurance. Once flight charges are added into the cost of expenditure as well, they will think it’s not worth the trip,” explained Ling Ran.

Huo Congjun got an idea with what he heard. “So, do you mean that foreign patients will not come over because of the high cost?”

“At least six or seven,” Ling Ran said, “I can only contact the doctors, but I can’t be sure of the reasons.”

“Call them over here. We can’t do anything with the flight tickets, but we can reduce the medical treatment cost within suitable reason.”

“Okay.” Ling Ran would not bother himself with the cost. He wrote an English email in front of Huo Congjun and sent out copies to many people.

Huo Congjun nodded in satisfaction before he said in a profound manner, “When it comes to medical treatment, forget the part of the treatment first, the service itself is a kind of economic activity. If Yun Hua Hospital wants to upgrade its skill, it should not limit its services to Changxi Province alone. For example, when you perform Achilles tendon repairs, your competitors are not just the doctors from Changxi Province, but the other doctors in the sports medicine field in the whole country. If you take it a step forward, like what you are doing now, your competitors are all world-leading senior doctors. At that moment, medical treatment that costs tens of thousands will mean nothing.”

Ling Ran hummed in reply to show that he heard it.

“Mayo opens its doors for the whole world, so it attracts a high number of patients, which is why it has developed to this point today. There are many hospitals in our country that collaborate with Mayo. When it first started, it even gave the patients some discounts on their medical treatment costs. They would even send their doctors to the patients. Look at them now…” Huo Congjun sighed and looked at Ling Ran. He said, “If you don’t conquer a territory, your enemy will go and take it.”

Ling Ran nodded and replied, “Yes.”

“What do you think?” Huo Congjun kept asking.

Ling Ran thought about that and said, “I think… You’re too obsessed with the idea of building the Emergency Medical Center. You’re overly excited, and it made your sympathetic nerves excited too. That’s why your heart started to beat stronger and faster… On the other hand, your worries of potentially not being able to be successful made you set your target very high. Even if you fail, you will not feel very sad. After all, there are many hospitals that do not become like Mayo. So, it is easier for you to accept not being as successful as Mayo compared to you being unable to build the Emergency Medical Center. This is also why when people take the college entrance examination, look for jobs, buy a house, or when they buy a car, they will set an unachievable target. This is because even if they set an achievable target, they will not be able to achieve it too…”

Huo Congjun patted his head and looked speechless.

Then, Huo Congjun cleared his throat and said, “Look at me. My mind wandered just now. What were we talking about just now?”

“Your sympathetic nerves were excited?”

“Before this.”

“You asked about my thoughts.”

“Further ahead. Oh, I remember now. Have you contacted the foreign patients?”

“Let me see.” Ling Ran lowered his head and looked at his phone. He checked his mailbox and raised his head again. “No reply yet… Department Director Huo?”

Department Director Huo could no longer be seen before him. In the silent office were just a few pots of Devil’s ivy. They looked like they had just been watered because they were wet, and the water droplets could still be seen dropping from the plant.

The water droplets from the leaves looked slightly sticky. Under the pull of gravity, a thin and long line fell from the leaf to the floor, and it shone brightly under the sun.

The Devil’s ivy stretched its leaves lazily, as though all its strength had been drained after it absorbed a sufficient amount of water, and now, it could no longer withstand the extra amount of water.

Only its pure green color showed the purity that belonged solely to the Devil’s ivy.