Chapter 1518

"Drinking alcohol on an empty stomach indeed easily leads to gallstones." Director Wei said, "So now I want to take a couple sips, I have to eat something. Cold alcohol harms the lungs, hot alcohol harms the liver, no alcohol harms the heart."

"Director Wei, don't pay attention to him, he spends all day saying drinking is bad without drinking." Su Yun gave Zheng Ren a contemptuous glance, her disdain evident in her speech.

"The patient is 45 years old, he says he's had upper abdominal discomfort for two months. Recently he developed stomach pain, took some oral medication, he can't even say what he took. But his symptoms haven't improved, and these past two days he's had black loose stools; coming to the hospital for a check, he was startled."

Director Wei quickly changed the subject away from drinking.

"Have you taken oral sodium bicarbonate?" Zheng Ren asked.

"After admission he took oral sodium bicarbonate, but it didn't work well. The gallstone has a white coating on it, it simply won't dissolve." Director Wei said: "Early this morning we went to the endoscopy room to try lithotripsy, but we couldn't get a grip on it, couldn't apply force. After consulting with the family, we decided on surgical incision to remove the stone."

"Tsk tsk, impressive." Su Yun exclaimed admiringly.

I don't know if he's talking about the stone or something else.

Director Wei's speed putting on stockings is a bit slow, especially when talking with Zheng Ren and Su Yun, it slows down a little more.

Zheng Ren saw Su Yun eager to try, but in the end he restrained himself.

He had a bad association, as if Su Yun this guy had worn... or had someone wear stockings? He seemed quite practiced.

Forget it, he just got angry talking about drinking; if we bring up stockings again, will he turn hostile?

Better to be honest for now; Zheng Ren just smiled.

"Director Wei, do you also wear elastic stockings on the observation platform?" Zheng Ren asked.

"The great hidden vein is already no good, I still don't want surgery."

"Why?" Zheng Ren felt somewhat surprised.

"The Vascular Department's Mao Chi, he's also called a surgeon? His surgery is simply not up to par." Director Wei said contemptuously.

Feeling afraid, saying Director Mao's surgery is bad, Zheng Ren instantly understood the essence of the problem.

Director Mao Chi's surgery is quite good.

Besides, even if it were not, the director of vascular surgery at a large tertiary hospital like 912 could still perform a great hidden vein varicose surgery.

You know, this can almost be said to be the smallest surgery in vascular surgery.

If they can't even handle this, it'd be better for 912 to just shut down its vascular surgery department.

But Director Wei would rather go through the hassle of daily going on stage to wear stockings than undergo a "minor" surgery.

Zheng Ren felt Director Wei was a bit cute.

Seeing Zheng Ren and Su Yun's expressions, Director Wei sighed, lifted his head, and said: "Look."

His neck has an operative incision about 8 cm long. It healed well, the scar is already very fine, especially given his age and lax skin. Under the skin's cover, the incision is almost invisible.

This location is the incision site for thyroid surgery.

Zheng Ren and Su Yun immediately realized this.

"Many years ago when I was on duty, I was correcting medical records while rubbing my neck with my hand." Director Wei said with a laugh: "I accidentally felt a nodule on the thyroid; back then this guy was already not small. My heart skipped a beat, I thought I was done for."

"Male, solitary, likelihood of thyroid cancer is high."

Zheng Ren smiled at Director Wei.

Thyroid cancer, aside from follicular carcinoma, should not be excluded from cancer classification. Commercial insurance no longer reimburses it, and the international medical community is preparing not to call it cancer.

Moreover, Director Wei is sitting here just fine, proving the outcome is definitely okay.

"Later I went to the thyroid surgery department to do a Shou Bing. Back then, thyroid Shou Bing were all done with enhanced local anesthesia." Director Wei said naggingly: "I was still a junior doctor; I also rotated in the thyroid surgery department; explaining things to patients was so simple."

He made a gesture and said, "Tilt your head back and persist for half an hour."

"Yeah, what happened to you then?" Zheng Ren asked.

"Going onto the operating table, the anesthesiologist was happy to see it was me. He gave me a cervical plexus anesthesia, then the senior director went onto the operating table and gave me enhanced local anesthesia. The anesthesiologist was afraid I'd feel pain, so just before the incision, he added half a dose of Dufelin."

"And then?" Zheng Ren wondered.

"After lying down for five minutes, I couldn't take it." Even when talking about it many years later, Director Wei still has lingering fear.

"Shortness of breath, rapid heartbeat, a feeling of impending death."

"Is that just a subjective feeling?" Zheng Ren asked.

"Yes, but not entirely." Director Wei said: "My disciple… Jianguo told me my heart rate was only 76 beats per minute, but I felt my own heart rate was at least 150. Ten minutes later, my voice went hoarse and my speech lacked clarity."

"That's called 'clouds covering the moon'; you could go sing opera and have something to eat!" Su Yun joked.

"Don't talk nonsense; back then you frightened the senior director of the thyroid department. He searched for a while and said the recurrent laryngeal nerve was far away, he hadn't touched it, so why did your voice go hoarse?"

"Scared? You're really something." Su Yun said, intentionally or not.

"Who knows, but in the end I almost kicked the instrument table. Afterwards I sat in the ward, drank some water, smoked a cigarette, asked the nurse for a shot of pethidine, and slept straight through until next morning—I was fine."

"Director Wei, you can't drink water for six hours after the operation, didn't you know?"

"Local anesthesia, what's there not to drink?" Director Wei laughed: "But after that I realized patients really aren't easy; anyone who lies onto the operating table feels uncomfortable. If you haven't lain there, you definitely won't understand."

"Tsk tsk."

"From then on, I developed a chronic condition." Director Wei sighed.

"Just thinking about the Shou Bing makes your heart race, right?" Su Yun laughed.

"Definitely, so let's just leave the great saphenous vein thing as is." Director Wei sighed and said: "It's not fatal, I'll be careful. This condition counts as an occupational disease, but nobody manages it."

"You still want to report it as an occupational disease…" Zheng Ren chuckled, thinking of something: "Director Wei, varicose great saphenous vein can be treated with Interventional surgery. Local anesthesia, post-op you can walk back and it won't hurt."

"Huh? You can still do Interventional surgery?" Director Wei exclaimed in surprise.

"Ultrasound-guided endovenous radiofrequency ablation treats lower limb varicose veins." Zheng Ren said seriously: "The Shou Bing isn't difficult; if you're willing, if our Blood Vessel department hasn't launched it yet, I can do it for you."

"Does it hurt?" Director Wei asked anxiously.

"No pain, ten minutes, saves you from having to spend half an hour getting onto the operating table just to put on socks." Zheng Ren blurted out the truth without realizing.

But Director Wei seemed not to notice Zheng Ren's unpleasant tone and began to hesitate.

"Don't rush, think it over slowly." Zheng Ren rushed off to watch the gastric stone surgery and hurriedly said: "Want to do it? It can be done anytime, no need to fast or avoid water, finished in a few minutes. If you have a spirit of dedication, I'll contact Xinglin Yuan for a surgery live broadcast."

"…"

……

……

Note: Yes, this is my experience.

During Shou Bing, lying on the Operating table, that kind of lonely, desperate feeling is truly unpleasant.

From then on, I can empathize, and will not think patients are being pretentious. Because that feeling is really hard to bear.