Chapter 2802: 2699 All Who Can Charge Forward Are Good Heroes

Zhou Litao disinfected the patient's wound, injected anesthetic, and began the tracheotomy.

From below the thyroid cartilage to near the suprasternal notch, he cut along the anterior midline of the neck through skin and subcutaneous tissue. Using vascular forceps to separate the sternohyoid and sternothyroid muscles along the midline, he exposed the thyroid isthmus.

The patient's thyroid isthmus was too wide, obstructing the view; Zhou Litao slightly dissected its lower edge and used a small hook to retract it upward.

After confirming the trachea, at the third tracheal ring he used a scalpel to make an upward-curving incision in the anterior wall of one ring, forming a tracheal anterior wall flap.

Zhou Litao extended the incision made by Gao Shaojie, inserted the endotracheal tube. Since the emergency rescue team couldn't bring a suction device up, after securing the tube Zhou Litao urged the stretcher workers to hurry and send the patient down.

"Teacher Gao, are you coming?" Zhou Litao asked.

"Let's go have a look." Gao Shaojie felt a bloody taste in his mouth and didn't know if there was any infectious disease; during the emergency rescue he hadn't had time to think about it. Now recalling it, Gao Shaojie felt a little afraid.

He followed them into the elevator, saw the girl struggling to breathe, a little bloody foam sprayed from the endotracheal tube, and she let out a long exhale.

"Boss Zheng, get on the 120 rescue vehicle right away." Gao Shaojie and Zheng Ren reported.

Just after getting in the elevator, the signal was terrible and the picture froze.

Only after they got onto the rescue vehicle did the signal improve.

"Old Gao, you've worked hard." The image on Zheng Ren's side kept moving up and down, presumably rushing to the hospital, and Gao Shaojie felt a warm glow inside.

"Old Gao, not bad—take a look at the patient's vital signs." Su Yun leaned over and said.

Gao Shaojie gave the screen to the ECG monitor; meanwhile a nurse was using the vehicle's negative-pressure suction to clear all foreign matter from the airway.

"Vital signs are stable; how are the patient's neurological reflexes?" Su Yun asked.

"Manager Zhou is doing the test." Gao Shaojie said.

"Old Gao, hurry up and rinse your mouth—you look a mess. So many little nurses in the department like you, you know? You definitely can't let them see you like this." Su Yun burst out laughing.

Gao Shaojie knew Su Yun was teasing him; the little nurses in the department—who isn't called Yun Ge'er, Yun Ge'er, with that sweet voice—if he had diabetes, listening to it for two days would give him ketoacidosis.

He asked for a bottle of saline, opened it, and Gao Shaojie began rinsing his mouth.

During the emergency rescue he felt nothing, constantly forcing himself not to shake, making sure he was in the right spot so as not to injure the thyroid. He had no idea what exactly was being sucked into his mouth through the tube.

Now looking back, Gao Shaojie felt his mouth was uncomfortable no matter what; he rinsed repeatedly with sugar water and saline, yet still felt a foreign-body sensation.

"Teacher Gao, your rescue was timely; you should be fine." Zhou Litao said after checking the patient's vital signs and neurological reflexes.

"I wouldn't have known how to rescue; I found her begging for help at the elevator exit as soon as I got off. I was completely dazed, just called Boss Zheng." Gao Shaojie gave a strained smile: "Boss Zheng guided the rescue by video."

"There was nothing, just cut straight in and suck out with the tube—Boss Zheng reacted really fast." Zhou Litao praised, "With all that secretion, I'd say you spat out dozens of milliliters."

As soon as he heard the word "spit," Gao Shaojie felt his stomach churning.

Saying it wasn't unpleasant would be a lie, but if he had a chance to do it over, Gao Shaojie would still do the same.

No matter how much usual grumbling, confusion, doubt, or resentment he had, when something happened the memory etched deep in his bones would drive him to act correctly.

"Blood oxygen 100%, it should be fine." Gao Shaojie changed the subject, trying to distract himself.

Just thinking about the secretion, the slightly fastidious Gao Shaojie would involuntarily want to vomit.

"Well, that's all the secretion; once it's sucked clean it'll be fine. Really strange—where did all this secretion come from? It looks like white foam, just like in a patient with acute right‑heart failure…" Zhou Litao spoke as if chatting with Gao Shaojie, or talking to himself.

He didn't feel anything, but Gao Shaojie sensed the upheaval in his chest and abdomen growing stronger, the urge to vomit becoming impossible to hold back.

The rental apartment was close to the hospital; arriving at the emergency passage, a stretcher waited at the door, they placed the patient on it, and Gao Shaojie got off the rescue vehicle with them.

"Old Gao, you've worked hard." Zheng Ren patted Gao Shaojie's shoulder.

Seeing Boss Zheng come running in the middle of the night, Gao Shaojie felt a bit embarrassed, saying repeatedly, "Boss Zheng, sorry, I've never done a tracheotomy before… this time I was really straining myself."

"It's fine, you did very well. Being able to rescue successfully in that situation is a perfect performance." Zheng Ren said with a smile, extraordinarily tolerant and steady.

"Watching you do it usually seems effortless, but when I did it I was too nervous." Gao Shaojie sighed.

"Old Gao, you're sharp—you knew to call." Su Yun smiled and handed him a bottle of purified water, the cap already unscrewed.

Gao Shaojie returned the smile, rinsed his mouth a few more times, then washed his face.

"I was terrified back then." Gao Shaojie admitted, "Really terrified—my legs went limp."

As they spoke, the three walked into the emergency department corridor. Zheng Ren had just glanced at the patient's system panel, saw nothing wrong, and was also puzzled as to why the patient had suddenly developed suffocation.

But that didn't matter; Zheng Ren called Zhou Litao over and had him run a full panel of infectious‑disease tests on the patient.

HIV, syphilis, HBV and HCV, etc. —a full series of infectious‑disease examinations.

"Old Gao, just not flinching when you saw the patient is already commendable." Su Yun comforted Gao Shaojie.

"I almost chickened out." Gao Shaojie whispered, "At the time I didn't think, just rushed forward, but when I picked up the knife to do the tracheotomy I started overthinking—if I cut, this would be on me. My mind raced like a lantern show, but I couldn't stop."

Zheng Ren knew Gao Shaojie was speaking the truth, especially when eating—seeing his expression off, he knew it was the old doctor's heaven‑human struggle.

When faced with such things, those who can hold to their original intentions are worthy of respect.

"Now just thinking about it makes me feel uncomfortable, I want to vomit…" Gao Shaojie said, a little embarrassed.

Zheng Ren smiled and changed the subject: "Old Gao, Director Zhou wants something from you?"

Gao Shaojie hesitated, wondering whether Zhou Chun Yong had already negotiated this with Boss Zheng.

But after a moment's thought, the likelihood of that wasn't great—but how did Boss Zheng know?

"Old Gao, what's that expression?" Su Yun laughed, "Is Zhou Chun Yong trying to get you to join his department, first as a team‑leading professor, then promote you to deputy chief when the opportunity arises?"