Great Doctor Ling Ran

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Panda Novel

“Doctor Ling, there shouldn’t be any problems with my finger, right?” Mao Penghai looked at his slightly black finger and felt a little worried.

Ling Ran observed it carefully and said, “Your recovery is still all right. Look at the stitches. It’s red, meaning blood has returned to the finger. There shouldn’t be any problems with blood circulation. The finger has survived, but you still need to keep it warm… Do you think we should extend his duration with the heat lamp?”

The last question was for the doctor in the rehabilitation room.

The other doctor responded proactively and said, “Sure. We can draw the lampshade nearer as well. We’ll observe the situation and make adjustments accordingly.”

“You should also keep your affected limb high. Just make sure that it’s slightly higher than the position of your heart. It shouldn’t be too high either. During other times, don’t let your arm fall to your side, and avoid other similar movements as well. Raising the affected limb will allow the blood to flow back into the veins. If you raise it too high, it will affect the blood supply to the artery…” Ling Ran noticed that the edema in Mao Penghai’s finger had not disappeared, so he deliberately gave a few more pieces of advice.

Edema was a long-term side effect after a finger was replanted. Whether the edema faded away from the replanted finger was also an important indicator that the surgery was successful.

Although Ling Ran had obtained the Perfect Level Finger Replantation Skill, he had only recently began to truly use the skill. Mao Penghai was one of Ling Ran’s earliest patients when it came to finger replantation surgeries. Ling Ran made all sorts of arrangements, regardless of whether they were important or trivial. He also prescribed antibiotics and other medicine to the patient. He then performed a simple physical examination as well before he went on with his ward round in the other rehabilitation rooms.

Mao Penghai could not help himself but let out a breath of relief. He smiled at his wife and said, “Look, didn’t I tell you not to worry? I’m recovering quite well.”

“I have heard from other people. They say that Doctor Ling Ran’s patients will recover faster than the other patients,” Mao Penghai’s wife said with a smile, “But it’s possible that it’s because everyone’s body is different, because your recovery speed is normal. Sigh… You need to heal up properly. I’m currently tending to the house all alone, and I get overwhelmed by work, and your mother refuses to help me, too…”

“She needs to help my brother take care of his children,” Mao Penghao spoke only a few words. He resisted the urge to continue to speak and started with a new topic.

When he was back at the ward, Mao Penghai felt more irritated the more he thought about it. Then, he took out a Yuxi cigarette from the bottom of the bed. He quietly used a plastic ruler to precisely measure one third of the cigarette’s length before he went to the washroom and carefully ignited the cigarette. After waiting for two seconds, he gently took a sip.

In order to prevent the smoke he breathed out from getting caught by the noses of other people in the same ward, Mao Penghai did not switch on the ventilation fan. He also tried his best to hold his breath. After approximately twenty seconds, he breathed out another puff of smoke, as if he was exhausted of his strength.

The smoke was so thin that there was almost no color visible to the eyes.

He looked down at the low tar cigarette, and he found that he was still a distance away from reaching the one-third mark. Mao Penghai took another gentle sip before he exuded a great amount of self-control and stopped. He put out the ignited head of the cigarette and stared at the cigarette for a few more seconds before he threw it into the toilet bowl and flushed it away.

“It’s not like I wanted to waste good cigarettes… I have no choice…” Mao Penghai spoke to the cigarette butt with a hint of regret.

After all, wasting was an extremely shameful act.

In order to let the ventilator disperse the smoke, Mao Penghai took off his pants as well. He sat on the toilet seat and created a ‘scent’ while he stalled for time.

He held his phone with one hand while he swiped the screen of the phone with his other hand. He seemed to be very relaxed and comfortable.

Back when his finger was severed, Mao Penghai felt as if his world had been destroyed.

If he had one finger missing, it would definitely affect his work. It would be impossible for him to get a promotion and a raise in his salary. He might even lose his job. By then, his wife might even mock and ridicule him.

And there was not even a need for him to mention just how bothersome it would be to be missing a finger and how ugly it would be.

However, once his surgery was successfully completed, Mao Penghai’s mood gradually calmed down.

The finger was naturally not as nice as it used to look, but it was still bearable. His wife was still so fierce, but it was still bearable as well. The only thing that was unbearable was his ban on smoking, but if he only smoked two sips every two days, he could still last…

Mao Penghai scrolled through his phone calmly. He suddenly discovered that the part connecting his sutured finger to his hand, which had regained the color of blood previously, had turned pale.

In that instant, Mao Penghai’s brain went blank.

Half a minute later.

Mao Penghai charged out of the ward and shouted loudly at the same time, “Doctor… doctor…”

Lu Wenbin rushed to the scene at first notice. He looked at the paling finger and started to feel anxious.

The extent of the swelling, the temperature of the skin, and the color of the severed finger were the few most important visual indicators after a finger replantation surgery. As of right then, the color of Mao Penghai’s finger very clearly did not meet that standards of a recovering finger.

Lu Wenbin gently put his hand nearer to Mao Penghai’s finger. He was not surprised to discover that the temperature of his skin was below ordinary temperature.

If the temperature of the skin was low, it meant that blood circulation had slowed down. It could even result in thrombosis.

Thrombosis was a blockage in the blood vessels. To an ordinary patient, mild thrombosis could go away on its own. However, all those who encountered a slightly more serious case of thrombosis would find themselves facing a certain level of risk.

In other words, for the colony of human beings, thrombosis was just one phenomenon that could cause death among countless more phenomena that could cause death. However, for any human individual, once that person discovered that he was inflicted with thrombosis, he or she would have to count himself lucky to be able to get out of the situation with all his body parts intact.

“Get the operating theater ready, contact Doctor Ling. Bed 25’s patient has shown signs of thrombosis. Get the venous access device ready.” Lu Wenbin first made a decision that was most unlikely to make things go wrong. At the same time, his thoughts began turning rapidly.

There were not many doctors who would dare claim that they were highly-skilled in finger replantation surgeries.

Lu Wenbin was even more feeling a little guilty.

He was feeling extremely grateful at the moment. During the past few days, Ling Ran had ordered him and Ma Yanlin to do a great deal of reading on how to tend to replanted fingers.

Lu Wenbin recalled what he read while he weighed the pros and cons and made judgments in his heart.

If it were possible, he hoped that Ling Ran could be right there with him right then so that he could guide him on what he should do.

However, as a resident doctor who came from the Emergency Department, Lu Wenbin knew that it was not possible. High-ranking doctors would never sit in an empty room to wait for patients to come to them so that they could provide the patients with the best medical services. The ward at the in-patient building was fully occupied with patients who were waiting for the high-ranking doctors to provide them with medical services.

Regardless of whether it was the Emergency Department or the Inpatient Department, the first-string doctors who had to directly handle patients could only be resident doctors like Lu Wenbin, or perhaps attending physicians, whose rank was slightly higher than that of resident doctors.

“Doctor Lu?” The nurse who finished setting up a venous access device on the patient reminded the doctor.

Lu Wenbin knew that he had to administer medication now. Ling Ran was not there, and there was no way to perform a physical examination. Even if he called Ling Ran, Ling Ran might not be able to make it back in time. He might not necessarily obtain the most appropriate answer for the situation either.

It was fortunate that Lu Wenbin was a resident doctor who worked for the Emergency Department. During his past four to five years, he had handled hundreds of emergency cases. As he watched the pale finger before his eyes, Lu Wenbin pulled himself together and gave his order, “Heparin for the veins, 0.8 oz, enoxaparin [1], 1.6 oz…”

After thinking for another two seconds, Lu Wenbin gave another order, “dipyridamole[2], 0.33 oz.”

The nurse repeated his order while she began to get busy.

Mao Penghai remained lying on the flat bed dumbly. He looked at the infusion bag. He could not understand what was going on no matter how hard he tried.

‘I have smoked much more in the past two days. So why did I get a problem straightaway for smoking only once today?”

Translator’s Notes:

Enoxaparin: used to prevent and treat deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism, and is given as a subcutaneous injection.

2. Dipyridamole: a medication that inhibits blood clot formation when given chronically and causes blood vessel dilation when given at high doses over a short time. (Source: Wikipedia)

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