Chapter 2330: 2251 Old and Confused

Hai Cheng, Wang Zong sat in the office with his head down and feeling discouraged, dazed.

Recently he admitted a strange patient, which gave him a headache. The patient's chief complaint was epileptic seizures, and he had been admitted to Hai Cheng Shi Yiyuan several times before.

But after admission the patient's mental state was especially good, and examinations showed no signs of epilepsy. City First Hospital only has a 32-lead video EEG, which found nothing. Later they suggested the patient go to Sheng Cheng Medical University Affiliated Hospital for a 64-lead video EEG, which also found nothing.

In the end they could only consider the patient's epilepsy occasional and give symptomatic treatment.

While hospitalized there was nothing going on; at least during the hospital stay the patient never had a seizure.

For this elderly patient, the Neurology Department of City First Hospital really had no ideas, only able to suggest the patient go to a higher-level hospital for treatment.

Some doctors even suspected the old person was faking illness.

Later the patient's family also had no good options; Sheng Cheng gave no clear diagnosis, so they could only observe at home.

A few days ago, the family members who had been waiting for seizures noticed the old person start talking incoherently to the air, saying strange things they couldn't understand, and the whole family was frightened.

This must be a mental illness, they immediately sent the old woman to the City Mental Hospital.

But before they even got there, the old woman "recovered" to normal, with no speech problems.

She spoke coherently, but as soon as she heard they wanted to send her to a mental hospital, the old woman burst into tears.

She lamented that her children refused to support her in old age and wanted to throw her into a mental hospital. Tears streamed down her face as she sobbed miserably. She also claimed there were aliens and such nonsense, and also robots.

The family had no choice, so they came again to Hai Cheng Shi Yiyuan.

There was nothing wrong, and Wang Zong didn't feel comfortable admitting the patient to Neurology. In the end, yielding to the family's pleas, he left the patient in the Emergency Department for observation.

Actually Wang Zong was also curious what the patient's problem was and how often the major seizures occurred.

According to the family, it should happen every two to three months, and the time is now approaching.

But after arriving at the Emergency Department for observation, Wang Zong immediately noticed something abnormal. It seemed as if two or three people were living inside the patient's body, constantly shifting personalities.

For example, this morning during rounds the patient told Director Pan that someone had told her not to take carbamazepine, saying it was poison. But when questioned closely, it turned out the person she spoke of was nothing but an apparition, completely nonexistent.

Other patients in the same ward and their families were afraid of her, constantly asking Director Pan and Wang Zong to change her room.

One would think this is obviously a psychiatric symptom, but a few minutes later, before Director Pan had finished seeing the other patients and left the ward, the patient's mental state returned to normal.

Wang Zong had just finished surgery when he went to check on the patient; the patient grabbed his arm and said he had come to kill him.

Before Wang Zong could react, the patient mysteriously said to him, "Young man, I see you're honest; let me tell you something—you have to help me."

Wang Zong felt helpless at the time, truly thinking the patient should be sent to a mental hospital.

But when he saw her white hair, his heart softened, and he gave a vague, noncommittal answer.

"I was abducted by aliens and they dissected me," the patient said mysteriously.

Although Wang Zong had expected something like this, he was still startled.

People scare people, to death.

"Young man, they left a robot inside my body; I don't know what it's for, but I can sense its presence and when it works." The patient continued telling Wang Zong the story.

"Its name is Wang Canlan; you mustn't tell anyone." The patient went on to tell Wang Zong many stories about Wang Canlan.

It was both laughable and exasperating; Wang Zong felt his head swell to two sizes, and after barely escaping the ward intact, he sat in the office dazed.

Could the patient have senile dementia? Some symptoms resemble it, but others do not.

Degenerative brain changes? Probably not. It's a short‑term psychiatric symptom that immediately returns to normal.

If we judge by what the patient just told us, the brief psychiatric episodes occur when Wang Canlan is dormant. Thinking of this, Wang Zong stared for a moment, then sighed.

He felt led astray by the patient. What the hell is this Wang Canlan? Even if there were an alien robot,

As he was thinking about the patient's condition, Wang Zong suddenly saw the patient appear at the doorway.

He stared for a moment, then immediately stood up.

With elderly patients, he really has no recourse; he can't fight back even if they hit or scold him.

He's been in Hai Cheng for half a year now, and soon he'll be transferred back to Di Du; Wang Zong doesn't want to cause trouble in his final time there. If there's any bump or collision, it will surely become an endless entanglement.

Seeing Wang Zong's cautious expression, the old woman asked with a strange look, "Doctor Wang."

Not the young man just now; the term "young man" made Wang Zong feel the patient's personality seemed to have switched again.

"Elder, what do you need from me?" Wang Zong thought the patient had either returned to normal or gotten worse.

"Nothing much, I just want to know when I can be discharged." The old woman asked with a smile, "I don't have anything else either; if it's time to leave, I should leave—staying in the hospital is inconvenient and there's no one to talk to."

Wang Zong sighed; other patients and their families avoided the old woman, not daring to speak to her.

No wonder she's lonely.

But at home there would be someone to talk to? According to the family, the old man passed away a few years ago, and the old woman lives alone with a caregiver.

Perhaps the caregiver usually talks with her more.

Is this considered normal now? Wang Zong isn't sure either. As a general surgeon and gastroenterologist, psychiatry really isn't his forte.

"Please have a seat, elder," Wang Zong said with a smile, "If you really have nothing wrong, let me discuss it with your children."

"Don't mention those white‑eyed wolves!" As soon as children were mentioned, the old woman grew angry, "You insist on sending me to a mental hospital, Doctor Wang—do you really have children like that?"

Wang Zong silently looked at the old woman, feeling inside that the family's approach was still correct.

"I've heard mental hospitals are terrifying—good people who go in can't possibly come out whole. They're just afraid I'll live too long!"

"Don't think that way; I believe your children really care about you." Wang Zong glanced at the embarrassed middle‑aged man following behind the old woman and spoke softly.

The office was filled with an awkward atmosphere.

"When you're old, they put poison in my food just to kill me." The old woman's tone didn't change, but Wang Zong felt she had become another person: "Young man, I dare not take the medicine you give me; you must have taken money from those little brats and are plotting to kill me together."

"……"

Is this another flare‑up, or another personality switch? Wang Zong stared at the patient, astonished, and remained silent for a long time.

"You've got not a single decent person among you, but trying to kill me is impossible!" The patient said to Wang Zong calmly.

Wang Zong felt her gaze dark and sinister, making his scalp crawl.

"Perhaps you should transfer hospitals; even the Neurology Department of City First Hospital can't figure it out." Wang Zong said helplessly to the family members following behind.

He couldn't fathom how many times the patient had switched personalities in such a short time.

"Doctor Wang..." the patient's family sighed.

He also didn't know what to do; he went to several places, but found nothing wrong. He only prescribed carbamazepine to control epileptic seizures, but this sort of thing—where one talks and then becomes muddled—...

Maybe he's really just old, growing senile.

After much persuasion, seizing the moment when the patient regained clarity, they finally sent her away.

Wang Zong looked at the patient's hunched back, feeling somewhat doubtful.

By rights, if someone is old and their mind is muddled, they will indeed talk nonsense. But this patient switches between nonsense and coherent speech far too quickly.

What a troublesome patient.

Wang Zong, upon thinking that the patient might be sent to a mental hospital, would think of her full head of white hair. Perhaps she is truly just old, not mentally ill.

Taking many psychiatric medications, could it affect organ function? Wang Zong felt somewhat reluctant, but he had no good alternatives.

In his hesitation, a thought occurred to him: Why not ask Zheng Lao Ban? Wang Zong thought to himself.