Chapter 114: Utmost Confidence

Ling Ran briskly went through his latest surgery with a marked sense of urgency.

After Pan Hua returned, Ling Ran had been perpetually functioning with the thought that “this might be my last surgery today” and gave every surgery his all.

Ling Ran’s current fame was still only confined to the walls of this hospital. Besides, performing surgeries for two months, as exceptional each of them were, did not make him renowned just yet. Those hospitals that transferred patients to other hospitals would normally take this into consideration. But if the department associate director of Yun Hua’s Hand Surgery Department requested for the patients from their end, it gave off a different vibe.

Ling Ran could only perform as many surgeries as possible to gain more experience.

He could clearly sense his improvement. Ling Ran had gained many new insights through each and every surgery he performed and every accident he handled.

Ling Ran only hoped that he could improve his ability and increase his understanding of flexor tendon injuries while he was still permitted to cut patients open.

Ever since he heard the news that Department Associate Director Pan had returned to China, Ling Ran basically moved into the operating theater and lived there.

On the first day of Pan Hua’s return to China, Ling Ran only completed eight operations.

The next day, he raised it to an unprecedented eleven operations.

Although the surgeries on the third day were difficult, Ling Ran still finished ten cases.

A day passed by, and another. Days went by. One week passed by.

There were still many patients coming in from other hospitals. There were still many foreign patients coming in for treatment. There were always some patients who were reeling from botched surgeries or did not have the funds and instead opted for amputation.

The long-anticipated surgery-drought was nowhere in sight.

Another Monday morning arrived.

Ling Ran stretched his body after his morning run. He had the nurse help him into his scrubs, and then looked at the clock. He said, “It is three thirty in the morning. It’s a little late, but that will not affect our performance. Let us now begin. Let’s strive for the minimal margin of error and speed up.”

Lu Wenbin immediately yawned. “Doctor Ling, you are really working hard. You really don’t have to work so hard, though.”

Ling Ran still remained very alert, “No, when the pool of patients is reduced, I won’t have the chance to work hard, even if I wanted to.”

Lu Wenbin had been waiting for this answer from Ling Ran. He took a breath and said, “I say…”

“Aspiration.” Ling Ran had already performed the incision.

“Ah… Yes.” Lu Wenbin’s argumentative momentum completely disappeared. He quickly bowed his head and worked hard.

“What did you want to say just now?” Ling Ran took out the tendon and got started. He was ready to chat for a few minutes with Lu Wenbin as a service.

It was impossible for Lu Wenbin to get back to his previous state. “Well… didn’t you realize that we seem to have even more patients, if anything?”

“Is there? What is the basis for that judgment?”

“The number of referred patients and outpatients have increased. I also received a phone call from the Hand Surgery Department yesterday asking if we could take in a patient with flexor tendon injury and nerve laceration,” Lu Wenbin paused and said, “I heard that Department Associate Director Pan and the others are not doing a lot of surgeries every day, and not all are flexor tendon surgeries, so you should stop worrying about not having enough patients…”

“Why are there more referred patients and outpatients?” Ling Ran asked the root of the question.

Lu Wenbin was rendered speechless by Ling Ran’s question. However, Su Jiafu, who was at a corner with his feet on a round stool and had been up all night, coughed twice and said, “Because of Keio University Hospital’s reputation. It’s all because of that guy’s fame, or at least the fame of the institute that spawned him. They’re all here just to get diagnosed by a Japanese expert. Many patients from other provinces have come over. They have so many patients that they can’t treat all of them. They had to even hand over some surgeries to the Hand Surgery Department. The other patients were sent to you.”

“They are actually short-staffed?” Ling Ran repeated.

Lu Wenbin looked up at Ling Ran’s expression and could not help but said, “Are you jealous?”

Ling Ran immediately suppressed his emotions, lowered his head, and continued being busy.

Lu Wenbin and Su Jiafu looked at each other. They found the situation funny. After all, it was rare to see Ling Ran embarrass himself, even if it was for only a little while.

Besides, after Ling Ran reduced his speed, they could have more personal time to unwind and relax.

Lu Wenbin also wanted to go to the vegetable market in Donghu. He always asked the vendors to send over more pork trotters. It would be inevitable that the good and bad ones were mixed together. It would be better to choose them himself, especially pork shank. The difference between the good and bad was marginal. He would be more at ease if he bought them himself.

Eight o’clock in the morning.

Ling Ran announced a temporary break, went to eat, and went directly to the rehabilitation room to check on the patient’s condition.

Lu Wenbin had long since been used to performing ward rounds to rest his body, and Ma Yanlin had also accepted his fate. Lu Wenbin could only comfort the latter while walking. It was also a mechanism to comfort himself in the process. “I think we can get off work early today. Old Su and I said that there are more patients recently. Ling Ran should know better and ease off.”

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“Are you sure Ling Ran would listen to you?” Ma Yanlin tried to widen his eyes before he said, “I can barely last for another day. If I have to perform surgeries for more than ten hours today again, I will die of exhaustion.”

“You said this a week ago.” Lu Wenbin had no sympathy.

“I mean it this time… Hey, Pan is coming.” Ma Yanlin lowered his head, his voice similarly dropping.

Lu Wenbin looked in his direction. Indeed, he saw Pan Hua walking with a group of people. He was smiling.

“This is the rehabilitation room of my Hand Surgery Department. President Han, after you receive your surgery, you will be staying here for a few days to confirm that everything is fine before you can go home to rest.” Perhaps Pan Hua did not see Ling Ran and the others, perhaps he did see them but did not pay attention to them. He only continued introducing the place to the pot-bellied man who looked like a leader.

The man, known as President Han, nodded slightly. He said with a little uncertainty, “I don’t know how long it will take to recover. I can’t leave my unit for too long.”

“Under normal circumstances, you will have to stay for a week. Then, you will need to go through a recovery period that lasts for another four to five weeks before you can work normally. It will take two or three months for you to completely heal. This is, after all, a major operation,” Pan Hua said as he paid attention to President Han’s expression.

President Han said in a troubled manner, “I can manage to stay in bed for one week, but having a recovery period of four or five weeks would be too long. You also know that there are plenty of annoying matters to handle in a bank. It would be too much to leave for a month.”

“We would do it as meticulously as possible. If you cooperate with the treatment, it’s not impossible to recover in less than a month. There are also some who recover faster.” After Pan Hua said something nice, he continued, “Your symptoms now are not particularly serious. It would be easy to perform the surgery. There’s no point delaying it. The surgery still needs to be done in the end, and the recovery time will take longer. Besides, the effect after recovery would not be better. You cannot afford to delay the treatment further.”

President Han was still hesitant. When he thought about going under the knife, countless thoughts came into his mind.

He would think of the situation of losing the professional use of his hand, the possibility of the postoperative pain, whether the doctors would do their best when he was under anesthesia, and whether the doctors’ abilities were up to par even if they did their best…

President Han finally made his decision. He held Pan Hua’s hand and said, “Department Director Jin mentioned that Yun Hua’s Hand Surgery Department has the best doctor when it comes to flexor tendon injuries, and the doctor happens to be you, Department Associate Director Pan Hua. Under such circumstances, I will get to the chase. Department Associate Director Pan, the fate of my hand would be handed over to you. When I come out of the operating theater, I will treat you to a drink.”

“After the operation, you would have to stop drinking for a while.” Pan Hua cracked a harmless joke before he held President Han’s hand. He said, “Since it is decided, then we shall not delay it any further. The sooner you get your surgery done, the better. I will have my people prepare the equipment required for the preoperative examination. Let’s try to get your surgery done first thing tomorrow morning.”

“Ah? Tomorrow morning?” President Han could not help but panic, “Why don’t you use a few more days to prepare?”

“Listen to me. We will perform the examination now, and we will decide according to the results of the examination.”

“Um… I heard that there is an expert from Japan’s Keio University…”

“He would be my first assistant.” How could Pan Hua not know what the other person is thinking? After all, he had tried every possible way to persuade President Han to get admitted into the ward. Pan Hua thanked Jin Xi and others for introducing this person to him.

After welcoming the person and sending him off, Pan Hua turned his head around and saw that Ling Ran and the others had long since disappeared.

“Department Associate Director Pan, let me be your second assistant.” Young Tie waited for the others to leave before he requested in a small voice.

Carrying out surgeries with their leaders was the favorite of ambitious doctors. Even if they could not be the chief surgeon, they would still have a lot of contact with the patient even as an assistant. Hayato Ueda could not understand Chinese. He could only help on the operating table as a first assistant. Young Tie could instead have the opportunity to form a connection with the patient and his or her family during the entire treatment.

Pan Hua nodded slightly and said, “You can do it if you want. Go back and prepare well, especially the preoperative examination. You are to be personally there.”

“You can rest assured.” Young Tie promised without hesitation. He laughed and said, “Department Director Jin Xi really values you. Without saying a word, he referred President Han to you.”

“The patient needed to receive flexor tendon surgery. Who else would they look for but me?” Pan Hua said with absolute confidence, “As surgeons, while we can spew many empty words, at the end of the day, everything depends on our skills. When you have the skills, people will naturally send patients to you.”

Young Tie naturally agreed to everything and did his job of flattering Pan Hua.

…

President Han’s preoperative examination went smoothly.

In the words of Director Jin Xi, Yun Hua Hospital only managed to build its Hand Surgery Department because of President Han, who had given a loan to the hospital. The funds that President Han had approved were used to buy the facilities. If that was the case, how could they ask President Han to queue up for an examination?

The people chosen for the surgical team had, of course, been cherry-picked.

This was an ordinary Level 3 surgery, but not only did they arrange for three doctors, they even had an attending physician serve as the second assistant surgeon. They even asked the Department of Anesthesiology to arrange for an assistant anesthetist. The preoperative consultation was also carried out thoroughly.

Pan Hua went to the hospital earlier, saw the patient, and calmed down the patient’s family. He then bathed, changed his clothes, and went into the operating theater. He was calm throughout the whole process. He remained professional throughout the entire process. With Hayato Ueda and Attending Physician Tie, it took only two hours for them to complete the operation.

“The operation went very smoothly,” Pan Hua was full of confidence and said this sentence to the patient’s family.

After he was done visiting and giving medical advice to the other patients in the ward, Pan Hua returned to the office with a smile, and all the doctors congratulated him.

“Thank you, thank you.” Pan Hua saluted and gave his appreciation to his peers before he returned to his seat. He also said with a chuckle, “I can’t guarantee the results if it were other parts, but I am most confident with flexor tendon injuries…”

“Not only do you have confidence, we, too, have confidence in you.” Young Tie did his best to flatter Pan Hua.

Pan Hua heartily laughed.

“Department Associate Director Pan did very well today. I was dazzled by how fast you performed your sutures.” Young Tie spared no effort in depreciating himself and touched his head, “Your understanding of flexor tendon injuries is really good.”

“Hahahaha.” Pan Hua let out a happy laugh. A thought came into his mind, ‘I might as well go and see Ling Ran perform his surgeries.’