Chapter 496

Fang Ziye left the Administrative Building, feeling secretly pleased —

Doing things by the book, yet being suspected of pulling underhanded moves — this was proof enough that his team's achievements were unfathomable.

And the one suspecting him was none other than Dean Wang.

In the Medical Department of Han City University, the trees stood tall, their branches lush and flourishing.

Among the branches and leaves, birds gathered in flocks; their chirping and chattering pierced Fang Ziye's ears, as if applauding him.

Were it not for the genuinely scorching weather outside, Fang Ziye would likely have walked another three minutes slower.

On his way back, Fang Ziye's first stop was the Operating Room.

This time Fang Ziye went to the Operating Room on the Surgical Building; from the Changing Room doorway he picked up a pair of blue shoe covers, a set of green scrubs, a sterile surgical mask, and a disposable surgical cap — gear all in order.

But just as Fang Ziye finished scrubbing and disinfecting, reached the Operating Room doorway, and stepped through the pneumatic sensing door with hands devoutly clasped,

Nie Xue Hua, still down below, said: "Ziye, you're back?"

"Don't scrub in yet. Someone from the Department is looking for you, and this matter can only be resolved by you personally."

"Ah?" Fang Ziye was somewhat surprised to hear this.

"A patient is looking for you! And they only want you." Nie Xue Hua said.

Liu Huanglong had already started the case with Wu Xuanqi, and called from afar: "Ziye, go back to the Department and handle it first; it won't delay you long."

"It's a very tricky bone tumor patient. Professor Du Yingshan and Professor Ning Haiqing have both seen them."

"They advised them to take their son to Jingdu or Magic Capital, but somehow they heard your technique is excellent and insist on seeing you."

The Bone Tumor Department has four Chief Physicians: Ward Administrative Director Du Yingshan, experienced and superbly skilled.

Newly promoted Professor, and currently the Bone Tumor Department's rumored best technician, Professor Ning Haiqing.

"Du and Ning are both at a loss with this tumor — why come to me? I don't even do bone tumors." Fang Ziye was very surprised, lowering his hands as he asked again.

"We don't know either. Senior Brother Li already explained for you before, and even your Master Yuan Weihong explained it to him in detail, but the patient just wants you." Liu Huanglong said.

"Ziye now has his own patient source!"

Having one's own patient source — this is a compliment, recognition of Fang Ziye's technique by patients, spread by word of mouth, drawing them here by reputation.

"Teacher Liu, you go ahead and get busy; I'll go back and be right over." Fang Ziye turned and left the Operating Room again.

……

Fang Ziye, returning to the Ward, didn't change into casual clothes; instead he slipped on blue disposable shoe covers and strode swaggeringly into the Department.

Probably because he'd told people this morning that the Dean was looking for him, no one had messaged or called to disturb him.

The Dean personally seeking someone out — either it's PUA, or it's some hush-hush promotion and raise talk.

Doctors are human too; unless it's a special emergency, how could anyone possibly disturb them?

Fang Ziye entered through the Department's main door; barely inside, he spotted a family of three sitting side by side on the blue hard plastic chairs opposite the Nurse Station.

A wheelchair was parked in front of the middle-aged couple.

In the wheelchair sat a little girl, about seven or eight years old, hair in small braids, currently grinning as she fed her mother ice cream.

The mother forced a smile; only her brows and eyes held hidden sorrow.

The father's hair was streaked white; his left hand carried a large plastic bag stuffed with snacks and bread…

Fang Ziye walked over slowly, about to question the on-duty nurse at the Nurse Station, but the nurse spotted him and hurriedly stood up first:

"Doctor Fang, perfect timing — these two patients' family members want you."

"Big Brother, Big Sister, Doctor Fang is here; this is Doctor Fang." The little on-duty nurse put it that way.

Fang Ziye wasn't very familiar with this new nurse; she'd only joined the Department in August, and with Nursing Department personnel changes being many that month, Fang Ziye hadn't had time to quickly learn everyone's name.

Nodding slightly at her, he pulled down his mask while watching the middle-aged couple's faces shift from shock to stiffness.

Fang Ziye guessed they probably thought he was too young, so he spoke: "May I ask who you are?"

"You're Doctor Fang?" The middle-aged man could hardly believe it.

"Yes, I'm Fang Ziye; currently I'm the only one surnamed Fang in our Department." Fang Ziye replied.

"Doctor Fang, we were referred by Teacher Qin."

The middle-aged man, knowing Fang Ziye's name, knew he hadn't found the wrong person: "Teacher Qin is Yan Chu's mother, and a fellow townsman of my wife — not sure if you still remember?"

Fang Ziye certainly didn't remember Teacher Qin, but his memory of little Yan Chu was still quite deep.

"Hello, hello."

"I wonder, what brings you to the Department to find me?"

"I just went to the Administrative Building to handle private business; sorry about that." Fang Ziye explained.

The middle-aged man hurriedly picked up the various films from behind the wheelchair, saying enthusiastically: "Doctor Fang, it's like this."

"My daughter — some time ago she grew a lump; we went to the hospital for a check, and in the end found the situation wasn't good, so we came to Han City."

"On and off, at many hospitals we've done all these tests…"

"Doctor Fang, please take a look — does her condition ultimately need surgery or not." The middle-aged man concealed part of the situation, hoping Fang Ziye would re-diagnose from scratch.

"Big Brother, do you want ice cream?" The little girl in the wheelchair looked at Fang Ziye with a familiar face, so she asked generously.

Her personality was even more outgoing than Yan Chu's; at first glance one could guess she had a touch of social awesomeness.

Fang Ziye first shook his head at the little girl, then reached out to stop the man's motion, saying: "Big Brother, this isn't a place to talk; would it be convenient to come to my office?"

"Sister, you look after your daughter."

Hearing this, the middle-aged man's face stiffened; his hands trembled slightly, yet in the end he still hoped Fang Ziye could give him a lifeline to grasp.

The middle-aged man set down the snack plastic bag, neatly organized his daughter's film bag and medical record bag together, and followed behind Fang Ziye.

Tone sincere and "humble," he murmured: "Doctor Fang, you're the doctor Teacher Qin recommended; your technique must be excellent. Please, later, examine my daughter carefully, diagnose her thoroughly."

Fang Ziye didn't reply for the moment.

He unlocked the door, pushed open the Inpatient General Office door, let the middle-aged man in, then actively pulled the door shut.

He then bowed slightly and said, "Brother, I'm very grateful for your trust in me, and for coming to our department for a consultation."

"But you should know, I'm a Trauma Surgery doctor, I've never handled Bone Tumors."

"Professor Du Yingshan and Professor Ning Haiqing are the two most authoritative professors in our hospital's Bone Tumor Specialty; regarding Bone Tumor treatment, I only have some cursory knowledge."

"It can be said I completely don't know how!"

Fang Ziye looked at his own Bone Tumor Specialty-related Skill Tree, and could only apologize like this.

Someone came seeking a consultation, ignoring the professors in the department and instead hoping he would treat them — how could Fang Ziye not be happy?

But happiness is one thing, an acquaintance's recommendation is another; whether he can actually do it is a separate matter.

"Doctor Fang, I, I'm begging you." The middle-aged man's gaze gradually darkened.

Fang Ziye scratched his head hard: "Brother, I know what you mean, and I understand you."

"But imagine if we swapped places — would you be willing to admit your skills are inadequate?"

"You came from afar, and were introduced by my patient's family member; if I could solve your problem, how much face would I have?"

"Reputation, sense of achievement — I want those too?"

"But I really don't know how, and, I'm afraid if I say something, it might instead cause a misunderstanding about your daughter's condition."

"You think about it, is that the logic?"

The middle-aged man clenched both hands, gripping the plastic bag with the films tightly, his gaze burning, body trembling slightly as he looked at Fang Ziye.

His eye rims were already red, blood vessels dense inside.

"Doctor Fang, I only have this one daughter, my wife and I had a very hard time getting her, we did IVF."

"When she was born, we scheduled a C-section, but my wife still had placental implantation; she can't have children anymore now."

"And I don't want a new child either, I just want her……"

"Doctor Fang, she's eight years old, I've watched her grow from this small." The middle-aged man cried out, gesturing a distance of roughly fifty centimeters.

"I remember her first cry, that was when she came out of the operating room, my wife cried, I cried too."

"Although my mother disliked that she's a girl, my father and I both liked her very much."

"Her first unconscious smile was after ten days, her first conscious smile was at one and a half months."

"She first called 'Dad' when she was seven months old……"

Under the middle-aged man's white-templed hair, a tear squeezed out from the corner of his eye.

Fang Ziye said: "Brother, let me look at the films first……"

Alright, humanistic care, one must show some propriety and understanding.

Only, when Fang Ziye opened the young girl's films, he discovered her tumor was no longer solitary, but already multifocal.

Nature currently still unclear, but based on the films and MRI, it's most likely Ewing Sarcoma.

The left femur is the largest lesion; besides that, the right fibula proximal end, right femur lateral side.

Left ilium, thoracic vertebrae, scapula……

Fang Ziye looked at the middle-aged man once more, truly understanding his feelings solidly.

The rope always snaps at its thinnest; heaven always picks the suffering people.

In her current situation, it's either already metastasized, or it's multifocal throughout the body; even if resected now, it might grow back.

Even before discharge, another bone lesion might appear.

After reading carefully, Fang Ziye then said: "Brother, I've looked. Currently, you may need to go to Jingdu or Magic Capital to look for opportunities."

"I can't do this kind of surgery either."

"But?"

Actually Fang Ziye wanted to say, with your daughter's condition, rather than letting her undergo surgery in so many places, better to let her live out her remaining life well.

No need to trap her remaining days in the Ward or Chemotherapy room.

Six lesions, almost involving the whole body, how to operate? What to resect?

Moreover, Fang Ziye isn't even Bone Tumor Specialty, currently completely unable to operate.

Only, this couple had a child with great difficulty.

This child was also from IVF, now raised to eight years old only to discover such an ordeal; Fang Ziye really couldn't harden his heart to say stop treatment, take her to see the world……

"Doctor Fang, even you have no way?"

"Yan Chu's condition was so severe, you still found a way, my daughter she?"

"Of course, her situation isn't simple either." The middle-aged man said.

"We don't need to consider the cost problem, I can borrow a lot of money."

Fang Ziye shook his head: "Brother, this isn't a money problem, it's a technical barrier."

"Perhaps you've found doctors all over the world to look, the answers they give will also be about the same."

"Our hospital's Bone Tumor certainly can't reach world top-tier level, but for interpretation of such difficult and complex cases, it's still relatively professional."

"Apologize internally, very sorry I also can't help you."

Fang Ziye carefully placed these films back into the film bag one by one.

Fang Ziye noticed, with each film he put back, the middle-aged man grew a bit more desperate, as if what Fang Ziye put back wasn't films, but sliced apart his whole world.

Fang Ziye has no children, cannot fully understand parents' love for their children.

But Fang Ziye put himself in their place, supposing it were his own parents……

No no no, hope there is no such supposition.

"Sorry. Brother~" Fang Ziye very sincerely handed the film bag back into his hands.

"Embarrassed, disturbed you, Doctor Fang." The middle-aged man took the bag, mood heavy, about to walk out.

And just as he twisted the door open and was about to leave, he suddenly shouted loudly: "Why is it like this?"

"She's only eight?"

Fang Ziye sniffed, touched his nose again, licked his lips, and said: "Brother, I have no way to give you this answer either, but if you go upstairs and look a few more times."

"You'll discover, bone tumors specifically target young people."

"I also don't know why it's like this..." Fang Ziye said.

This is a fact, Fang Ziye merely stated a fact, not a curse, this is a pattern discovered through statistics.

Bone tumors commonly occur in adolescents and the elderly over sixty.

The middle-aged man left.

When Fang Ziye went out the door, he brought his own wife, pushed his own daughter, and walked toward the narrow corner of the corridor passage.

Fang Ziye merely made a diagnosis, what he "obtained" was a dying daughter and a "lonely", painful family.

A classmate from the bone tumor specialty once told Fang Ziye.

He almost every once in a while had to do a good self psychological counseling session, sometimes even needing to seek help from psychology teachers...

Fang Ziye's mood was chaotic for a while, but soon recovered calm.

Even the middle-aged man's shouting just now did not cause his mood to have excessive fluctuations.

Everyone is not omniscient, the role and element Fang Ziye plays currently is a trauma surgery doctor.

Do well one's own duty first, Fang Ziye rushed toward the operating room, planning to "abuse people" to vent a bit...

(Chapter End)