Chapter 1727: 1668 The Wandering Lump

"Don't talk nonsense, Lao He." Su Yun finished his coffee, "You think this is in Nanyang?"

Zheng Ren didn't speak, just stared at the half cup of coffee in front of him, dazed.

"Let's go, Boss." Su Yun said.

"Something that could wander could also be a parasite." Zheng Ren said, "There have been many cases of skin-wandering parasites."

"Why don't you say it's a haunt?" Su Yun said: "You always blame parasites for everything; if people don't understand, they blame rheumatology-immunology, you just push it onto parasitology. But it's fine, the Hospital has no dedicated parasitology department, say whatever you like."

"You're just arguing for the sake of arguing, trying to spite people; it's easy to get spat back at, leaving you speechless." Zheng Ren said leisurely.

"Nonsense." Su Yun asked: "Lao He, where did your friend say the problem is?"

"The arm." Lao He said, "There's a lump; sometimes you can feel it, sometimes you can't. When you can feel it, the location varies."

"Probably a lipoma, the multiple kind." Su Yun said: "Because it's in the fat, it can also create an illusion of wandering."

"Who knows." Zheng Ren said offhand: "Is he in your hometown? Have him take a photo and send it over."

Lao He also got curious, called and asked for details.

"Zheng Lao Ban, he's scared to death, came to Di Du to see a doctor, can we meet?" Lao He asked.

"Sure." Zheng Ren didn't mind, nothing much this afternoon. Either he sits in the office reading, or he goes to the Emergency Department to chat with Zhou Litao or Cui Lao, and incidentally look for any strange cases.

Seeing Zheng Ren agree, Lao He immediately called to make contact.

Zheng Lao Ban likes this, Lao He knows.

Before going to Nanyang, that box of US dollars, if said to be for Fan Tian Shui, he'd just give it; wanting to curry favor with Zheng Lao Ban, he definitely couldn't start with money.

He asked carefully about the situation, told his hometown friend to go to the Hospital, and then said to Zheng Ren: "Zheng Lao Ban, it's like this."

"A few days ago my friend got a bump from a mosquito bite on the left eyelid. He didn't pay attention, thinking it would be better in two days. But it didn't improve; after five days, the lump moved to above the right cheekbone."

"Hasn't been bitten by a mosquito again?" Su Yun asked.

"No." Lao He said, "It's not yet the time for mass mosquito outbreaks. He didn't notice then, went a few days without treatment, thinking it was just acne..."

"How old are you, still embarrassed to say you got acne? Youth is gone, only pimples left?" Su Yun retorted habitually.

Zheng Ren listened carefully, many medical records appeared in his mind, comparing them with Lao He's description.

A wandering lump, that's quite interesting.

"After a few more days, the lump moved to the arm. Later that spot began to ulcerate, with infection." Lao He tried to recall his friend's words, relaying them as faithfully as possible.

"At first he could tolerate it, but now he can't. My friend worries that if time goes on, his whole body will ulcerate, he's terrified, that's why he contacted me to have a look."

"Hmm." Zheng Ren neither affirmed nor denied, gazing at the coffee cup before him, head lowered in thought.

"Boss, what disease do you suspect?" Su Yun asked.

"Mosquito bite, is this medical history certain?" Zheng Ren asked Lao He.

Lao He felt a bit embarrassed; his friend said exactly that. Zheng Lao Ban wants confirmation—how should he answer?

The patient's stated medical history always has some deviation.

Many are due to subjective consciousness; extremely few are intentional narration bias.

Some people, when describing their medical history, like to exaggerate. Gore‑filled, however strange, they describe it that way, as if saying so could show off some kind of aura.

Some people, when describing their medical history, prefer to downplay. Listening to them, it sounds like nothing at all, yet a check reveals tumors have metastasized.

All sorts of people, everything exists, nothing is strange.

So Lao He basically dares not guarantee. Especially since Zheng Lao Ban just saved his life, if this link in relaying the medical history is wrong, he fears leaving a bad impression on Zheng Lao Ban.

Zheng Ren smiled, knowing Lao He's concern, said: "No problem, let's talk when we meet."

The three left Mei Mei Coffee, saw the bright sunshine, Lao He felt a sense of having escaped death.

After chatting a while, he finally relaxed a bit. Hope he never encounters this again in his life, damn scary!

"Today Cui Lao is seeing patients, I'll go take a look first." Zheng Ren checked the time and said.

"Go register for Cui Lao's number." Su Yun said.

Now the Emergency Department doesn't allow bringing people to see a doctor; registering is also appropriate, Lao He is very obedient.

For such a small sum, not worth making a fuss.

Moreover, specialist numbers in the Emergency Department are rarely taken; basically no difficult cases, and many people don't bother registering here.

Seeing Lao He go to register, Su Yun asked: "Boss, what disease are you considering?"

"Creeping malignant filaria." Zheng Ren said: "Still need to ask about the medical history; this disease is not common domestically."

"Ophthalmology sees it more often; elsewhere it's much rarer." Su Yun obviously had thought of this too; he just wanted Lao He to relax.

"Hmm, about eighty percent of patients have it in the eye; arm cases are much rarer." Zheng Ren said.

"The statistical study published in ParasitVectors 2017 shows that from 1977 to 2016, Europe reported a total of 3500 cases of infection with this parasite. Domestic statistics aren't that detailed, but I estimate it certainly won't be less than that number." Su Yun became serious.

Zheng Ren didn't expect Su Yun to also know about creeping malignant filaria.

"Hmm, that also counts as fairly rare." Zheng Ren said: "The earliest research was done in the former Soviet Union; Europe also got to it relatively late."

"Let's take a look; apparently a minor ophthalmology procedure can remove it." Su Yun said.

"It depends on the situation; creeping malignant filaria can survive 2 years inside the human body, 10 years outside. The largest…… I recall a 2015 European case report published in the Parasitology journal said they extracted a specimen up to 1.8 meters long from a human body."

"Tsk tsk, just hearing about it feels Uncomfortable." Su Yun laughed.

"Not too bad; lately the pork tapeworm hasn't been rampaging so severely. Before the reforms, cases of pork tapeworm entering the brain were endless."

"Hmm, rarity is good, shows it's not rampant. Many pork tapeworms…… Doctor House, have you seen it? The first episode of season one is a pork tapeworm case, made up so weirdly." Su Yun said.

The two chatted; Lao He quickly registered for Cui Lao's specialist number, then called to make contact. After over ten minutes, he brought his friend to Zheng Ren's presence.

"This is my boss; you can call him Zheng Lao Ban." Lao He said frankly.