The Surgeon's Studio

The surgeon was very skillful, definitely the one he had been looking for.

Professor Rudolf Wagner confirmed his speculations after watching the man for less than a minute.

The internal iliac artery branch was very narrow, but on the monitor, the surgeon had no problem performing superselective catheterization with the micro guide wire.

To Professor Rudolf Wagner, the diameter of the micro guide wire was considerably wide, but that was apparently no obstacle to it reaching the capillaries and starting embolization.

“Kong, he’s your collaborator, right?” Professor Rudolf Wagner asked in broken Mandarin.

The professor was a language savant. He had studied Mandarin for a time and travelled to China before. Simple sentences were of no issue, but he did not use it often.

As he had an interpreter following him around, why not speak in his own mother tongue? From his standpoint, it was a disadvantage to speak in the language of the other party.

However, circumstances had now changed.

Department Chief Kong nodded and observed Zheng Ren’s surgery.

Director Xiao was stunned. Collaborator? Was there anyone in this hospital worth being addressed as a f*cking collaborator by a German professor?

“Director Xiao, Zheng Ren was invited to Imperial Capital for research on novel surgical methods a while ago,” Old Chief Physician Pan explained.

Director Xiao nodded while the office director behind him began sweating profusely.

When the office director had received news this morning about a visitation by a German professor and another esteemed doctor from Imperial Capital, he had been a little lost. Why would a professor of such renown come to Sea City, not to mention at such short notice? The situation was very abnormal.

However, he had not divulged the news and tried to look into it quietly.

No one usually paid attention to the outpatient department. The main job of an office director was to butter up the director instead of monitoring every move in the outpatient department like a royal guard.

Nevertheless, Director Xiao said nothing, clearly dissatisfied.

Director Xiao was the kind of person whose glare was survivable, but whose silence indicated anger.

The office director took an opportunity to slip out of the operating room into the corridor, getting some distance away before entering another operating room to make a call.

“Zheng Ren from the emergency department. Any recent news about him?

“How are you the marketing director?!

“Got it.”

The office director hung up dejectedly, his eyes staring up at the sky. Through the window, it was already dark. Light pollution from the city painted the layers of clouds above a dark red hue.

Dark and gloomy, like his current mood.

Two days ago, Sea City News Network and Sea City Metropolis Daily had sent a joint notice to the hospital, but he had forgotten about it as Director Xiao had gone to Provincial Capital to attend a meeting.

No, he had not forgotten. He had included it in the morning briefing for tomorrow.

Damn it!

According to the marketing director, Zheng Ren had appeared on television?

Tsk, who watched television nowadays? The office director kept his thoughts to himself, but sent the information to his subordinates and told them to gather related information.

Director Xiao would question his involvement if it was brought up later over a meal and he failed to answer questions about it.

He might not have been involved, but his head would be on the block.

Finally returning to the operating room, he sneaked back behind Director Xiao, relieved.

Why had the atmosphere become so serious?

“Chief Zheng is in surgery, he’s not available currently.” Chu Yanran was holding Zheng Ren’s phone, her tone unusually harsh.

Xie Yiren was confused over what had happened and stared at her with eyes wide open.

“What happened?” Aware of Chu Yanran’s background, Director Xiao smiled when he saw her getting angry, hoping to calm her down.

As she hung up, her anger dissipated. Despite her unhappiness, she felt a rare sense of satisfaction and her entire demeanor changed.

Calmly, she said, “There was an error in gastroenterology’s diagnosis. The patient cannot continue with conservative treatment and wants to ask Chief Zheng to perform surgery.”

“Oh? What’s that about?” Director Xiao was puzzled.

Chu Yanran explained what had happened in the emergency department earlier.

The patient had been admitted to the gastroenterology department after their encounter.

She received the corresponding medication there, but since she had acute abdominal pain, she was not given analgesics as they would affect diagnosis.

It was why she had been suffering this whole time.

Administration of antibiotics and the relevant medication did not alleviate but rather aggravated the patient’s symptoms.

Zhou Wenxiang’s expression was somber.

No family of the patient could smile in such a situation.

Chief Xia had not considered other possibilities as pain could not be treated for acute cholecystitis. However, although antibiotics ought to have taken effect, the patient’s condition had only worsened

It was then that she remembered the words of the emergency department’s chief resident.

Gallbladder torsion? Impossible, it couldn’t be. In her 30 years of experience, she had only encountered one case of gallbladder torsion.

But… was it really impossible?

Why were the patient’s symptoms so similar…

Chief Xia hesitated.

However, she refused to consult Zheng Ren, for no other reason than her unwillingness to lose face!

She called Chief Sun from the second general surgery department. A little over 10 minutes later, Chief Sun arrived for a consultation.

Chief Sun fell into deep thought after observing the patient’s condition.

“Old Sun, what do you think?” Chief Xia asked.

Chief Sun was surprised by himself as his first instinct was that Zheng Ren had been right!

The man had made the correct diagnosis on so many occasions. Why would he be wrong this time?

What was that? Gallbladder torsion was very rare? Chief Sun was not convinced that he would never encounter it.

It was because of its rarity that they had to be more careful about the possibility of it happening.

“Hey, Old Sun!” Chief Xia snapped, displeased by Chief Sun’s silence.

“Huh?” He regained his senses and said, “I think that if the pain continues, we can’t continue conservative treatment.”

He took the middle ground without mentioning the diagnosis in order to not offend anyone. The truth would be revealed when the patient received surgery.

“Surgery?” Chief Xia’s tone changed slightly.

“There’s no clear diagnosis. With consent, we can prepare for an exploratory laparotomy,” Chief Sun continued diplomatically. He avoided mention of the gallbladder and suggested an abdominal exploration.

“We’ll wait for the results of the detailed blood test,” Chief Xia said.

The diagnosis of a rare disease was problematic. In general, physicians did not give conclusive remarks. Those who did were quacks, and bad ones at that.

However, many people still preferred to hear a definite answer, which was fertile soil for scam artists.

Before the patient had been admitted, all test results had indicated mild cholecystitis with slight edema.

Chief Xia was sure of recovery through medication.

However, when she saw the patient’s symptoms worsening with no signs of improvement, her confidence wavered.

Could it really be as rare a disease as gallbladder torsion?

The results of the test came back and confirmed a change in inflammation. Even though only a few hours had passed, the condition of the patient had changed so drastically that it made the previous diagnosis obsolete.