Great Doctor Ling Ran

In the Operating Area, a pot of money plant was cleaned thoroughly with alcohol-based hand sanitizer. It was hung on the wall, and it showcased its fresh, beautiful plastic leaves. It looked even purer than an actual money plant.

A few nurses from the Department of Surgery whispered as they walked back and forth. Their expressions were anxious and solemn as if there was an impending battle.

To the nurses in Yun Hua Hospital, such public surgeries were just like a practical exam. Even though they would not get commended for scoring good grades, they would definitely get scolded so badly by the head nurse that white hair started growing on their heads if they screwed things up.

In the bathroom not far away, the sound of flowing water became softer and softer before coming to a stop. The young nurses slowed down. They might have either done this intentionally or unintentionally. They lingered in the room and glanced at the door every now and then.

*Creak*

A pair of long arms opened the door. Next, a long pair of legs stepped out.

Everyone held their breaths as they gazed at Ling Ran. Their beauty standards were rising exponentially, they had more faith in humanity, and they loved life more than ever.

“Is the patient here yet?” Ling Ran opened a bottle of water and gulped it down.

“He’s wheeled into Operating Theater 1 already. Doctor Su is keeping a watch on him.” An elderly nurse from the Department of Surgery gazed hungrily at Ling Ran, who had just finished showering. She gulped without realizing and said, “Doctor Ling, don’t drink too much water. What if you pee your pants during the surgery?”

“It won’t take that long,” Ling Ran answered in a steady voice.

The young nurses gave the middle-aged nurse a vicious look, and this made the other party shiver.

“Isn’t she too old for such thick makeup?”

“She’s an old b*tch. An old pug, maybe.”

“Why would Doctor Ling pee his pants? He doesn’t even need to go to the toilet!”

Ling Ran did not stay for long in the waiting room. He straightened up his clothes and headed to the hand-washing room. He washed his hands as he asked Zuo Cidian, who had walked toward him obediently, “How’s the patient’s mood?”

As it was a public surgery, Ling Ran had read various reports and other information related to the patient beforehand. Hence, Zuo Cidian did not need to explain anything.

Compared with these hard facts, the patient’s emotional state was something to be concerned about.

Zuo Cidian chuckled when he heard Ling Ran’s question. “The patient’s mood is pretty stable. It’s just that his family members made a request. It’s a relatively strange request, but I think that we can take it into consideration…”

“What request?” Ling Ran had always been concerned about his patients’ requests.

Actually, most doctors who were used to doing major surgeries had a similar habit. It could be said to be a realization as well. This was because major surgeries were risky, and the probability for the surgery to be completed smoothly was low. There were plenty of times where a perfect ending was not possible. Hence, due to the circumstances, it was a humane thing to do to fulfill the patient’s request so that the ending was not too bad.

A more typical example would be gastrectomy. Total gastrectomy was getting rarer and rarer nowadays, and it was not because subtotal gastrectomy brought about a better result with less residual cancer cells. It was because the patients’ quality of life after total gastrectomy would be horrible. Hence, many of the times, patients and their doctors were more willing to go for subtotal gastrectomy.

However, total gastrectomy was commonly seen in hospitals in areas where medical care was not advanced.

Zuo Cidian washed his hands carefully and said, “As you already know, the patient is only forty-two this year, and he’s still a middle-aged man. So, his liver probably got into this state because of how much alcohol he drank. The patient’s family member, his wife, wants a chunk of the patient’s liver. She said that she wants to soak that chunk of liver in a bottle of spirit and put it on display at home so that the patient could be reminded every day of the dangers of drinking.”

“She wants to bring the removed chunk home?” Ling Ran processed the information.

Zuo Cidian nodded. “That was what she meant.”

“Does the hospital policy allow it?”

Zuo Cidian said, “This kind of thing is relatively rare in the Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery. At most, patients would just take a few of their liver stones home. Patients in the General Surgery Department don’t usually make this kind of request either… Nowadays, the Gynaecology Department allows the patient’s family members to bring the placenta home. So, theoretically, it wouldn’t be against the hospital’s policies for the patient’s family member to bring a chunk of liver home.”

“What does the patient think?” Ling Ran asked.

Zuo Cidian hesitated for a moment and said, “I have not asked the patient yet.”

“If the patient is conscious and congruent, we will do as the patient wishes. Go ahead and ask him about it now.” Ling Ran had a clear train of thought.

Zuo Cidian understood what Ling Ran meant, and he immediately added, “I’ll type out an informed consent form for this. I’ll then let the patient and his family member sign it. After we obtain consent from both of them, we’ll soak the liver chunk in an organ-preservation solution after it’s removed during the surgery.”

Ling Ran nodded a little.

Zuo Cidian was done washing his hands. He wiped his hands dry with a towel and entered an operating theater.

After a while, Ling Ran entered the operating theater with his hands up. He heard the patient muttering with a myriad of emotions in his voice. “What’s wrong with drinking? Why would you soak my liver in spirit? Do you think that drinking is the only thing that destroyed my liver? Has she forgotten about how I accompany her to the karaoke in the middle of the night all the time? Has she forgotten about how I broke the law and drove her home even though I was dead drunk? Does she really think that I single-handedly destroyed my kidney?”

Ling Ran looked at Zuo Cidian with a baffled expression.

“Cadres who drink on the job all the time are really something. Not even anesthetics work on him.” Zuo Cidian clicked his tongue and gestured at the patient with his mouth. “Try something else.”

Beside him, Su Jiafu was a little flustered as he looked for other anesthetics to administer.

Different people reacted differently to anesthetics. It was very common for females to be more resistant to anesthetics. The patient on the operating table was not just resistant to anesthetics. Even though he was no longer congruent, his consciousness did not fade away.

Even though he might get knocked out with some additional drugs, the anesthetist could not just randomly administer some other anesthetic. And this was when the inadequacies of Su Jiafu the young resident doctor from the Department of Anesthesiology showed.

He had rarely encountered this kind of situation.

Unfortunately, this was a public surgery. He could not just administer some random anesthetic, as it would reflect badly on him if the patient’s vitals were to go haywire.

Su Jiafu was considered mentally strong, as he did not make a call and ask for help immediately.

Ling Ran did not know much about anesthesiology, and he did not urge Su Jiafu to hurry up. He merely looked around at the medical staff members who looked slightly anxious and said, “Let’s play a song.”

Ling Ran encountered anxious medical staff members all the time. He would not usually console them directly, as the medical staff members would just become even more anxious.

Hence, he would usually play a song when the staff members in the operating theater were anxious. This could be easily done in the operating theater.

Wang Jia the young nurse immediately walked over to the wall and pressed a few buttons. Soon, a Cantonese song rang out of the speakers.

“When life turns upside down, I go into a higher realm… I swing my fist in style, all the charm in the world belongs to me… Just get as drunk as you want, as life is best when you’re drunk…”

Zuo Cidian immediately recognized the song from his era. “Drunken master?”

“It fits the context, doesn’t it?” Wang Jia was very pleased with herself.

Zuo Cidian saw that the patient on the operating table had started to sway along to the music. He shrugged. “As long as you’re happy.”

“You mean, as long as Doctor Ling’s happy. This song’s rhythm is pretty good, isn’t it?” Wang Jia looked at Ling Ran.

Ling Ran said nonchalantly, “Whatever goes. Doctor Su?”

“No problem. I’ll settle this immediately.” Su Jiafu took a deep breath. “The public surgery won’t be delayed.”

That was when the patient on the operating table started to mutter again, “I never delayed anything. I go to work on time and get off work on time. It’s just that I drink one catty of beer in the afternoon, but I always gargle before I go home. I even do the dishes…”

Su Jiafu’s expression hardened, and he pumped a vial of anesthetics into the patient’s veins. “This is your last time ever getting high. You’ll have to stop drinking alcohol after this…”

The patient’s breaths finally became even.

Ling Ran had already put on a pair of scrubs and a pair of gloves. He nodded. “You guys can activate the cameras now. We’re getting started.”

“The surgery was planned to be under four hours.” Zuo Cidian stood beside him and whispered, “If four hours aren’t enough, I’ll get someone to make arrangements for more time.”

Ling Ran had already practiced on a Virtual Human just now, and he shook his head with assurance. “One and a half hours would be enough.”

After performing combined liver and pancreatic radical surgery, Ling Ran’s concept of time when it came to hepatectomy changed again.

Zuo Cidian could not help but snicker. “One and a half hours would be just right. If you do it too quickly, the audience might not be able to understand what’s going on.”