The Surgeon's Studio

Zheng Ren and Su Yun walked out of the interventional operating theater.

As the door opened, a slim figure immediately charged towards them.

“Doctor, how’s my mother?” the girl who had accompanied Lin Jiaojiao asked worriedly.

“She should be fine.” Zheng Ren’s answer was calm.

“Oh, that’s great, that’s great.” The girl was obviously still in shock. This was the only good news she had received after waiting for several hours.

“Don’t worry.” Zheng Ren did not stay behind to describe what had happened over the course of the operation to Lin Jiaojiao or her daughter.

After all, this was Imperial Capital, not Sea City General Hospital. He could save his breath.

Furthermore, if he told the patient’s family members that it was he who performed the surgery, there was bound to be more misunderstanding.

It was still a serendipity that turned out well in the end, but it was already past midnight and Zheng Ren did not want to waste more time as there were four more interventional surgeries waiting for him the next morning.

“When is Uncle Kong coming out?” the girl asked behind them.

“I don’t know, he’s probably leaving soon,” Zheng Ren said as he continued to walk away.

There was a smile on the girl’s fretful face and she completely neglected Su Yun’s presence beside Zheng Ren.

Su Yun’s charms were overlooked by patients’ family members most of the time.

…

…

Approximately ten minutes later, a gurney was wheeled out from the theater.

Department Chief Kong and Chief Ma stayed beside Lin Jiaojiao while Dr. Shen pushed the gurney, steered with the help of another doctor, towards the ophthalmology department.

After a discussion in the operating theater, they had finally decided to let Lin Jiaojiao stay in the ophthalmology department as interventional procedures were no longer needed. The remaining work would be focused on rehabilitating her eyes to slowly regain their vision.

After all, the interventional radiational department was not specialized in ophthalmology.

Department Chief Kong assigned Dr. Shen an overnight shift in Lin Jiaojiao’s ward to look after her and provide post-surgical care. There would not be any issues.

At the end of the day, Lin Jiaojiao had suffered plenty enough in her past already, her being a loyal employee of the hospital notwithstanding. Department Chief Kong still felt sorry for her.

He would do as much as he could to ensure that she was well taken care of.

After returning to the ophthalmology department, Chief Ma continued to examine the lower region of Lin Jiaojiao’s eye.

The clinical analysis was very promising as her retinal vascular network had regained its blood supply and would likely not affect her vision further. However, to be on the safe side, her eyes were covered with bandages soaked in warm saline to promote blood flow and reduce the risk of complications.

After finishing up, Chief Ma excused herself and went home. Department Chief Kong stared at Dr. Shen, waving his hand to summon him out of the ward.

Now that they were alone, Chief Kong’s face dropped and he sternly said, “Little Shen, you performed poorly today.”

Dr. Shen began sweating heavily.

Department Chief Kong was neither being cruel nor nitpicky. His performance today had truly been subpar.

It started from the very beginning, from his scrubbing in and putting on his surgical gown. It was not that he was trailing behind on purpose; young Mr. Zheng was simply too efficient.

However, one being too efficient during a surgery was never a source of complaint.

During an emergency or resuscitation, it was advantageous to be fast.

Chief Kong probably would have a heart attack if he tried to argue the matter.

It still amazed him how quickly they finished the surgery. How could someone have completed all the preliminary steps to surgery in such a short timeframe?

If the problem was that Mr. Zheng was too fast-paced, his situation might have been salvageable.

Yet, he had unknowingly moved his hand holding the microcatheter when they were about to capture the radiograph, which had resulted in a section of the catheter needing to be extracted.

That mistake was practically criminal…

There was a story from an unknown hospital of a professor guiding his students through a transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) surgery. The puncture was the most difficult aspect of the procedure and was thus performed by the professor. His student was helping to hold it while he prepared to insert the stent.

To his surprise, the stent had been unable to enter the guide wire. When he looked at the imaging, the tubing had already been removed by ten centimeters.

Had it been a normal procedure, the professor could have gotten angry, but not as much as he did at that moment.

TIPS was considered the most difficult procedure in all of interventional surgery. The puncture was done almost blindly, which required one’s skill and experience as well as some luck.

He had had to redo the entire procedure as the guide wire was out of place.

In the end, the student had not managed to graduate.

Dr. Shen had never expected the story that he had heard and treated as a joke would happen to himself.

Worse, he was not the professor but the idiotic student from the story!

If it were a TIPS surgery, they would be able to redo it. All it would take was for the patient to lie there for a few more hours and the professor to perform it all over again.

However, in his case, it had been an emergency! Every second counted and yet he had made such a huge mistake.

It was unforgivable!

“Boss… I… I’m… I’m sorry,” Dr. Shen mumbled with his head lowered, his entire face red.

“Luckily, Mr. Zheng reacted quickly. If he was even slightly slower, your Aunt Lin’s eyes would be gone,” Department Chief said harshly.

“Yes. Yes.” If Dr. Shen could lower his head further, it would reach his ankle and he would fold himself up as Chief Kong continued lecturing him.

“Even though you’re slightly senior to Mr. Cheng and Su Yun, don’t compare yourself to them.” It was a rare sight for Department Chief Kong to gently comfort Dr. Shen without throwing a fit.

Even Dr. Shen was stunned. His boss was not being his usual self.

“Take good care of your Aunt Lin tonight and change the bandages with warm saline more frequently.” Chief Kong was obviously distracted by greater things than Dr. Shen, and was in an unusually good enough mood today that his usual lecture was not as brutal. Instead, he said, “Your Aunt Lin went through quite a lot back then.”

What else could Dr. Shen say? He kept nodding his head repeatedly.

“Also, if you have the chance, try to establish a connection with Su Yun,” Department Chief Kong added.

“Su Yun? The Su Yun that performed the heart transplant?” Dr. Shen was slightly taken aback. Even if they had great skill, did he really need to try to butter them up?

“Mm,” Chief Kong said. “I predict that they will publish a journal in The Lancet in the next three to five months. Even though it wouldn’t really help you graduate, you could still try to go for it. It’s the Lancet; you should try to get authorship within the first ten slots.”

“…” Dr. Shen felt that something was definitely wrong with him tonight. Either his hearing was not functioning properly due to lack of rest, or just plain old comprehension issues.

The expectations of hospital workers were superhuman.

They resulted in his health being affected all year round, including today, where he just kept hearing weird things.

“Boss, Su Yun published the article two years ago,” Dr. Shen reminded his boss softly.

“Dumb*ss!” Department Chief Kong glared at Dr. Shen before yelling, “I was referring to the differential diagnosis and surgical treatment of nodules between hepatocellular carcinoma and hepatic cirrhosis.”

“…” He had to be suffering from hearing problems. How could anyone manage to complete research like this and successfully obtain a conclusion?

Even though Dr. Shen continued to acknowledge his superior with his head lowered, his mind wandered off to the department of traditional Chinese medicine. It was time for him to pay a visit to the old chief there to check his pulse and maybe prescribe him some much-needed medicine.