The Surgeon's Studio

The department phone rang.

Zheng Ren answered the call. A doctor from the emergency internal medicine had called to inform them a young female with acute appendicitis had been admitted. They were on their way to the hospital.

Zheng Ren called Su Yun. “We have an appendicitis case. Take Yang Lei with you to surgery.”

“Oh.” Su Yun’s head was buried in his phone, likely texting or playing a game.

Nowadays, the emergency ward required two appendectomies on average. Yang Lei had much more surgery opportunities after he was transferred to the emergency ward.

Even though he lacked the talent, his skills improved with continuous surgical practice.

The patient arrived shortly.

Zheng Ren performed a physical examination carefully and reached a diagnosis.

The patient was a sixteen-year-old girl.

She had been experiencing right lower abdominal pain for two days, accompanied by a low-grade fever. The emergency lab report showed elevated levels of leukocytes and neutrophils, which were indications of an infection.

The B-scan ultrasonography excluded the possibility of ovarian disease. The symptoms were typical and Zheng Ren’s diagnosis was in line with the System.

She was cleared for surgery.

“The patient’s diagnosis is very obviously acute appendicitis. When was the last time she ate and drank?” Zheng Ren asked.

The patient’s father was a man in his thirties, most likely from the rural village in the outskirts of the city looking at the way he was dressed.

When he heard Zheng Ren’s question, he sized up Zheng Ren cautiously and answered, “Around 6 o’clock this morning.”

Zheng Ren was puzzled by the man’s defensive behavior.

He glanced at the time and it was still before 10 a.m. She had to wait for another two to three hours to fulfill the 6-hour fasting period before surgery.

“Don’t let her take any food or liquids from now onward,” Zheng Ren said, “We’ll be preparing her for surgery at 1 p.m.”

“Surgery?” The man replied immediately, “Doctor, we don’t want surgery.”

“Hmm?” Something clicked in Zheng Ren and he realized that they would be facing some complications.

He had guessed earlier that it might be surgery-related.

As expected, the patient’s father continued, “We don’t need surgery; just give my daughter some anti-inflammatory medication.”

“If we apply conservative treatment for acute appendicitis, there may be a risk of rupture. It will seriously endanger the patient’s life.” It was not Zheng Ren’s intent to threaten the father; he was merely stating the truth.

Fan Tianshui, for example, was a strong man like, yet he had a close encounter with death just because he did not receive the appropriate treatment in time.

Besides that…

A gay porn star, Masaki Koh from Tokyo, refused to get an appendectomy because he did not want to scar his body. His appendix ruptured and he developed peritonitis and other complications, which ended up taking his life at the ripe age of twenty.

Some diseases healed over time, but they could also progress into a life-threatening condition.

General surgeons usually preferred a radical approach.

The appendix was not an essential organ. Instead of suffering the pain of conservative treatment, they would advise people to have it surgically removed.

“It’s nothing. She’s just having a stomachache; it’s nothing serious.” The man was firm.

The man’s demeanor seemed particularly cold with the girl in the background, curling up on the bed in pain.

“Are you short of money?” Zheng Ren asked out of ‘concern’.

“…” He was met with silence.

“An appendectomy isn’t too expensive. If you’re facing financial difficulties, we can do an open appendectomy instead of the laparoscopic appendectomy. It’ll cost around 1,000 yuan,” Zheng Ren tried to persuade the patient’s father by lowering the price.

“…” There was still no response.

“The cost of antibiotics, anti-inflammatory treatment, and IV drip will cost quite a bit too, not to mention the underlying risk,” Zheng Ren added on.

“Doctor, we don’t want surgery. Just treat her,” the patient’s father said in disdain, staring at Zheng Ren with an annoyed expression.

Zheng Ren was at a loss for words.

He sighed internally and nodded. He then brought the patient’s father to the office and asked Chang Yue to issue him an admission notice for the hospitalization procedures.

When the patient’s father left, Zheng Ren said, “Go and find out why the patient’s family refused surgery.”

“They refused surgery?” Chang Yue was shocked.

Why would anyone reject a simple appendectomy?

“Yes, I asked him and even offered to exclude part of the medical bill and reduce the admission fee to around a thousand, but he still refused,” Zheng Ren said helplessly.

“Hmm, let me ask them,” Chang Yue said. “Chief Zheng, when are you going to do Sister Zheng’s surgery?”

“I’m going to the Secondary Hospital for surgery tomorrow. We’ll schedule hers on the day after.” Zheng Ren continued, “Tell Sister Zheng that she may need to get radiofrequency ablation.”

“Do you have a template for the preoperative procedures?”

“No.”

“You don’t even have that. Are you sure you know how to do radiofrequency ablation?” Chang Yue asked suspiciously.

“It should be fine. Lil Fugui can do it if I can’t,” Zheng Ren laughed and said, “Right, Lil Fugui?”

“Boss, you’re pulling my leg,” Professor Rudolf Wagner said with a pout. “You have the best interventional skills of all the interventional doctors. You shouldn’t make up a bunch of baloney just because Chang’s not in surgery.”

“…” Zheng Ren was speechless.

The professor was getting more fluent in the Northeastern dialect; even Zheng Ren rarely used words like ‘baloney’.

If it was not for the professor, he would have forgotten that the word existed.

“Chief Zheng, you must always be honest to your resident doctor,” Chang Yue said in a serious tone.

“Yes, yes, yes,” Zheng Ren answered with three consecutive yesses.

“Right, you’re not even taking me with you to Secondary Hospital for surgery. Out with the old, in with the new. So disloyal of you, Boss,” Su Yun added insult to injury at the right moment.

After joking around for a while, the patient returned after completing the admission procedures. Chang Yue then examined her once more, wrote down medical notes, and started briefing the patient’s family.

Half an hour later, Chang Yue walked in with a sullen expression.

“Chang Yue, can’t you look happier?” Su Yun could guess what happened from Chang Yue’s expression

Chang Yue’s emotions were written all over her face.

“Guess why the patient’s family refused to operate.” Chang Yue said after closing the office door.

“Do we even need to guess?” Su Yun put on an irritating smirk and said, “A sixteen-year-old girl from the village will be married off soon. If there’s a scar on her stomach, people will think that she did an abortion or she had gynecological diseases. Anyway, her bride price will depreciate by a hundred thousand at least, from 300,000 to 200,000 yuan.”

“…” Zheng Ren heard about something similar before, but it did not cross his mind.

Chang Yue let out a sigh, indicating that Su Yun’s prediction was true.

“Let’s start with the anti-inflammation treatment then. Hopefully, it doesn’t perforate,” Zheng Ren sighed deeply.

These things were beyond their control. If the patient’s own parents refused to have surgery, what right did they have to force her?

Ugh… They really should not do this if they wanted their daughter to live.