Chapter 296: Treatment

Damon sat in the wheelchair. With the help of the flight attendant lady, he managed to get on board from the Johannesburg Airport of South Africa and traveled all the way to Shanghai.

When he saw his fellow countryman Doctor Morris at the arrival hall, he almost burst into tears.

“I think my leg is about to go bad. It’s more swollen now.” Damon who sat in the wheelchair was very scared about that.

“Let me take a look.” Doctor Morris squatted down and checked his leg for a while. Then, he smiled and said, “Don’t worry, it’s just normal swelling. The swelling will reduce soon.”

Damon was worried and asked, “My legs have been severely swollen over the past few days even before I boarded the plane.”

“It’s okay. You’ll be fine after the surgery.” Doctor Morris tried to comfort Damon. As a doctor who specialized in sports medicine in a private hospital, Morris was experienced in comforting teenage patients.

Compared to adults, the tolerance and patience teenage patients had for the same kind of injury was much lower. For athletes and future athletes who did not have good family conditions, not only would they suffer from physical pain, they would also have to suffer from mental stress.

Damon was only nineteen-years-old, and he was a White South African athlete who came from a very poor background.

He started to join different levels of rugby matches since high school, and he obtained a university’s scholarship because of his achievements. If everything went smooth, Damon could possibly join a professional team in two years’ time. Then, he could save his family from a life in the slums.

However, an accident during a training match caused Damon’s Achilles tendon to rupture. His dream was practically shattered.

A regular person just needed to have his ruptured Achilles tendon sutured, and that would be enough. But for a professional athlete in a rugby team, it would be a nightmare. If the athlete had been famous for a long time, maybe he could still play based on his experience. However, if a young man who had yet to become a professional athlete encountered such a severe injury and still wanted to continue his dream, he could only… depend on insurance companies.

Damon’s university provided a well-covered insurance, and it was highly flexible. Although the insurance did not allow him to get treatment in expensive hospitals, it was still able to cover the expenses of the private hospital where Morris worked. Damon could also receive treatment in countries like China or India.

Morris comforted Damon in a low voice and said, “The doctor I appointed for you is very famous in China. The new skill he used was developed by an academician, and he treated many people before. Some of the athletes have recovered very well.”

“Some of them have recovered very well, but what about the others?” Damon was still a smart boy.

“They’ve recovered quite well as well, so far, there haven’t been any failures,” Morris said, “The Achilles tendon repair will just be a part of your recovery, the following rehabilitation and training will be very important, too. After the surgery, you have a high chance to be able to perform high-intensity training within four months.”

“Four months,” muttered Damon. Then, he said, “This is what I need.”

“Yes. You’ll be able to join the match in the coming season. You can even train before the match,” Morris said in a low voice again, “I’ve communicated with your coach. He will give you a chance. As long as you can play for an entire season, you will be known as a strong and determined person who recovered from an injured and returned to the field, you will not be known as an injured person.”

“What if it fails?” asked Damon in a dejected voice.

“If the Achilles tendon repair fails, the worst case scenario for you will be that you will have difficulty in walking, or your Achilles tendon will rupture again, or will be infected, go through adhesion, or other complications.” Morris knew that Damon was willing to receive the surgery. If he were unwilling, he would not take a one-day flight to come over. He would probably reject it when they had communicated earlier. But Morris still guided his thoughts gently to a more positive light and said, “I saw Doctor Ling perform surgery before. He is very good. He can be said to be among the top in the world. You don’t have to worry too much.”

“Okay,” answered Damon answered gloomily. He lowered his head and looked very listless.

“We should go to the hospital directly. We’ll take a rest today, start the examination tomorrow, and meet up with the chief surgeon.” Morris did not intend to convince Damon to not worry, but he hoped that Damon could understand.

Doctor Morris waved. The resident doctors in the Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Center came forward and helped to push the wheelchair.

To the Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Center, it was not rare for them to see foreign patients. But it was rare if they appointed certain doctors to carry out a certain type of surgery.

There were actually a lot of cases where foreigners came over to China to receive treatment. This was similar to how there were always patients from former Soviet Union countries who came to the hospitals located in the cities near Russia.

The hospitals of China were able to provide services above the standard requirement, and the price was quite low. Even if they added the fees for the round trip and accommodation costs, the foreign patients would still be able to save some money.

However, the medical resources in the country were limited. Hence, the hospitals neither rejected nor accepted them this kind of low-end foreign customers. There was a fundamental difference between this and the concept of freelance surgery the doctors had in mind.

Patients requested for freelance surgeons because they wanted a certain surgeon to operate on them.

Foreign customers who came for a normal consultation due to lower prices could not be considered as wanting to receive a freelance surgery.

Compared to them, a patient who could bring his or her own doctor from a private hospital and had an insurance company cover the high medical costs was considered as a high-end patient to the Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Center.

Once a medical service became a high-end service, it would subsequently have to face global competition.

And once the center won in the global competition, this matter would become something that all hospitals in China would be proud of.

The Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Center used the ambulance that they had not used for a long time to send Damon back to the center.

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A group of doctors even started the consultation very early so that they did not even need to pretend that they were doing things in the meeting room.

“It’s a classic Achilles tendon rupture.”

“There’s slight muscle atrophy.”

“The patient is healthy. From the data shown, he doesn’t have any other diseases.”

Ling Ran looked at the MRI scan and let his mind wander a little. He asked, feeling a little lonely. “Then, should we go back?”

The patient’s injury was too simple. Although it looked quite serious, there was nothing much they could talk about.

Ji Tianlu coughed hard and said, “Academician Zhu still cares about this medical case very much. Let us pretend that… we’re still talking about this.”

“Oh,” Ling Ran replied, and he watched the other doctors chatter excitedly.

“Let’s talk about the prognosis.”

“The patient will be going back to his country for postoperative treatment after he recovers from surgery.”

“How many days will he stay in the country?”

“At most a week.”

“Then, we need to get the cast and all the other things set first.”

Ling Ran initially had his eyebrows furrowed like an ascetic monk, but when he heard this, he listened attentively.

Once the patient left the country, the hospital bed would be emptied.

This meant that this patient would not occupy the hospital bed for a long period of time.

In Ling Ran’s mind, a patient like this was obviously a five-star patient!

Damon was the first patient sent by Sandham Insurance Company from South Africa. In the Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Center, he was considered a five-star patient. But for Ling Ran, he had only just been upgraded to a five-star patient.

“We will be publicizing this after we treat this patient, right?” Ling Ran interrupted the discussion by the few people in the room.

“Yes,” replied Ji Tianlu. Then, he asked, “What are your thoughts?”

“Liu Weichen has delayed competing until next week. Is this news useful?” Ling Ran organized the information that he knew, and he looked very serious.

Ji Tianlu looked even more serious. He sat up straight and said, “If there isn’t any problem with him, that will be useful… Will there be any problems?”

“If it is next week, it shouldn’t be any problem.” Ling Ran thought carefully. A major change could happen within a week if they considered things based on athletes’ recovery abilities.

“That’s great. Ling Ran, you must stay here for a longer time.” Ji Tianlu patted his own leg and said, “After Liu Weichen finishes running, the situation of our publicity will be totally different. By that time, there will be a lot of people who will come for consultations.”

For Ling Ran, having a lot of people come for consultation was not something new anymore.

The large-scale tertiary Grade A hospitals in the country would never be lacking in patients.

Ling Ran looked at Ji Tianlu. He was slightly disappointed and asked, “Liu Weichen can’t attract any foreign patients, can he?”

Ji Tianlu was stunned for a while. He smiled and said, “Regardless of whether he will attract any foreign patients or not, there are still a lot of patients in the country. Furthermore, we can set our goal on athletes first. Very soon, we can expand our range of patients.”

The anesthetist who came together for the consultation as well said in envy, “The income will not be any lesser than treating the foreign patients.”

“Slowly, the number of foreign patients coming to you will increase.” Ji Tianlu guessed what Ling Ran was thinking. Then, he said, “The modus operandi for many of the treatments for athletes in other countries is similar to the treatment for foreign patients. They had their own sports doctor and team physicians. It’s very normal for them to go back to their country to perform rehabilitation after they receive surgery in our center.”

Ling Ran nodded slowly as he listened. He smiled faintly and said, “I’ll give Liu Weichen a call later. Then, I’ll help him read his MRI scans again to be certain how his recovery is.”

“Liu Weichen will definitely be very happy.” Ji Tianlu’s lips twitched. He asked again, “Then, the South African athlete we’re consulting… The surgery plan for Damon…”

“We’ll do it as usual.” Ling Ran did not feel burdened by this at all. He said, “Nothing special to talk about.”

Ji Tianlu nodded and watched Ling Ran leave. For some reason, he felt at ease.