Chapter 103

0101 Humanity, not worth it

The woman was called Zheng Yunxia, 28 years old. She came to Hai Cheng to work, and her job was as a kindergarten teacher.

Six months ago, during a workplace physical, a space-occupying lesion was found in her liver. She went to City First Hospital for detailed examination and was diagnosed with liver cancer, requiring Shou Bing.

Zheng Yunxia came from the countryside; her family had little money, and she had to take five hundred yuan from her meager monthly income to give to her family, and also save up bride-price money for her younger brother.

Generally, patients in Hai Cheng, upon learning they have liver cancer, mostly do not choose to undergo Shou Bing in Hai Cheng.

Going to Di Du is not far either, and the medical standard is higher. The key is going to Di Du for treatment; as long as one can be admitted, spending a bit more actually few people would mind.

But Zheng Yunxia could barely afford the medical expenses for Shou Bing in Hai Cheng; this was the 'private savings' she had accumulated over the years.

After telling her husband the situation, two days passed without seeing his shadow, and no one was there to sign the pre-surgery consent.

The doctors repeatedly urged her, and Zheng Yunxia was on the verge of collapse.

Two days later, her husband finally came, but what he brought was not warmth and care, but a divorce agreement.

The blow almost made her collapse.

She eventually pulled through, but postoperative recovery was slow; not fully recovered, she went back to work.

Having had cancer, it was impossible for her to work as a kindergarten teacher.

The principal's explanation was: if any child's parent knew their child's teacher had liver cancer and still had daily contact with the child, they feared it would cause an uproar.

She could only do work within her capability.

But fate had not finished being malicious toward her. In her life, there was no poetry and distant horizons; true fate, though far, would still punish her.

A few months later, during a follow-up check, the doctor regretfully told her that the liver cancer had recurred after Shou Bing.

Like a bolt from the blue, this news plunged her into despair. Unable to undergo surgical removal again, she had to go to the oncology department for chemotherapy.

Liver cancer lacks specific first- or second-line chemotherapy drugs; one can only follow gastrointestinal chemotherapy.

The effect……was very limited, but there was no other way; one had to do it this way.

Even if using the most basic chemotherapy drug with the highest side effects, Zheng Yunxia could only afford one course of treatment, and then she dragged her late-stage cancer body around the city to make a living.

She earned just enough for food, saved the rest, and bought the relatively cheap capecitabine. She knew capecitabine was a chemotherapy drug for colorectal cancer, hardly effective for the liver.

But she had no other recourse.

This was akin to madness, the will to survive on the brink of death.

In any case, targeted drugs were absolutely unaffordable for Zheng Yunxia; divine doctor herbal medicine was either too expensive, or she simply did not believe in it.

She had her own basic judgment: Chinese medicine talks about inspection, listening, questioning, and palpation; a Chinese medicine practitioner who can't even take a pulse, what life-saving prescription could they prescribe?

This time, she was at the end of her rope.

Her increasingly fatigued body could no longer support more work; even the cheapest capecitabine, switching from imported Xeloda to domestic, gradually became unaffordable.

Her family kept demanding money; her brother had found a girlfriend, and the bride-price demanded was 120,000.

The last phone call was just now; Zheng Yunxia's mother nagged, saying this daughter had been raised for nothing and was utterly useless.

She hung up the phone, bade a smiling farewell to the oncologist who had always looked after her, walked to the corridor, opened the window, and sat on the sill.

Preparing to enjoy the last moments of her life, the sky was dark, the wind strong, and snowflakes striking her face hurt a bit.

Humanity, ah, truly not worth it.

This is what Su Yun recounted, everything about Zheng Yunxia.

Zheng Renyi ate while listening, without interjecting.

On one side, the little nurse listened with tears in her eyes; although she had seen many similar situations in the hospital, each time it evoked a different feeling.

"How about crowdfunding?" the little nurse asked while wiping her tears.

First Time, the first thought seemed to be crowdfunding.

"Useless." Su Yun narrowed her eyes into a slit, looking at Zheng Ren, "Liver cancer has no specific chemotherapy drug; even if taking targeted drugs, the effectiveness is absolutely below ten percent."

"What then?" the little nurse's heart overflowed with love, but this kind of problem was beyond her ability to solve.

Zheng Ren finished his rice in two or three bites and began clearing the table.

"Chief Zheng, don't you have anything to say?" Su Yun looked at Zheng Ren, as if there was more behind her words.

"That trait of yours is especially annoying—speak if you have something to say, fart if you have gas; saying half and leaving half sounds like those cliffhangers I see in novels, leaving me dying to know what comes next, only to find the next chapter has nothing worthwhile." Zheng Ren said.

"Tch." Su Yun made a cutting sound.

"Have you performed hepatic interventional embolization?" Zheng Ren asked casually while holding the clean lunchbox.

I've seen it; Xiehe intervened, Pan Teacher did it—I once served as an assistant.

"It's the kind you can do after seeing it, right." Zheng Ren's tone carried teasing.

"Of course." Su Yun seemingly completely missed Zheng Ren's meaning, brushed aside the black hair in front of her forehead, and said matter-of-factly.

Simple action, simple words, the little nurse's eyes sparkled with stars.

After throwing away the trash, Zheng Ren returned to the office, picked up the book Hepatobiliary Pancreatic Surgery, preparing to go back to Zhibanshi to sleep.

"Hey, can you do it? Give me a word." Seeing Zheng Ren's "damn" basically not speaking, Su Yun directly asked.

He really is a boring person.

"Let's try, late-stage cancer—who has confidence?" Zheng Ren turned back, looked at Su Yun, and said: "We need enhanced MRI to judge how far it has progressed. Also, the cost is also a problem."

"Whether it's me, the Chu sisters, or your equipment nurse, none of us lack money." Su Yun said nonchalantly.

"If you don't solve the problem but want to make a big donation, just set up your own foundation." Zheng Ren's words were cold: "Rescue the urgent, not the poor."

Su Yun smiled; it's obvious he understands this principle.

Anyone who works in the Hospital for three to five years will understand this principle.

Every day there are people who discharge themselves because they have no money; it's not Ma Dada, who has that much money? The Hospital's unpaid inpatient fees each year amount to tens of millions, even hundreds of millions; who can come up with that money?

"Let's develop a new technique." Su Yun obviously had everything figured out, and continued along Zheng Ren's words.

"Hmm, but the problem is that my Physician Qualification Certificate doesn't cover intervention. Emergency care can still be barely justified, but if the patient really sues, I estimate I'd have my Practice License revoked."

The little nurse heard it like heavenly script, basically couldn't understand what Zheng Renhe and Su Yun were saying.

For late-stage liver cancer, besides taking expensive targeted drugs, the best and most effective treatment is interventional therapy.

Super-selectively targeting the liver cancer's location, inject chemotherapeutic drugs and iodized oil, embolize the nourishing Blood Vessel, achieving the goal of treating the tumor.

Alternatively, radiofrequency ablation can be used to 'burn' the tumor tissue to death.

Zheng Renhe and Su Yun were discussing this method; relying solely on crowdfunding is absolutely insufficient, and we also need to see her sensitivity to Interventional surgery. If effective, it can extend life by three to five years.

As for the cost, this is a liver cancer interventional therapy that no one in Hai Cheng has done recently; it can barely be considered a new project.

For launching new medical services, the hospital will waive part of the medical fees.

Su Yun followed Zheng Ren back to the Zhibanshi; the little nurse's resentful gaze behind him made Zheng Ren feel creepy.

"What are you following me for?"

"I am your Shou Bing assistant; today the road is slippery, if there is an emergency in the Evening I might not make it back, so I'll just spend the night here." Su Yun's answer was perfectly reasonable.

"I don't need an assistant for Shou Bing." Zheng Ren resigned.

"Okay, next time I will prepare the list in advance; the suturing after closing the abdomen can be left to me, and I will definitely not disappoint you."

……

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