Chapter 31: A Performance

Zhao Leyi glanced at Ling Ran with an amazed expression.

‘When did I first perform an abdominal closure? I think it was not until I was certified doctor for about a year…’

Zhao Leyi could still recall how excited he had been, but also how awkward he had been in his movements.

The excitement was because it was his first time, and he had been awkward… because it was also his first time…

Zhao Leyi now could still recollect the dumb look on his face as he tentatively fiddled with the patient’s belly with his hands fidgeting about with the forceps, much to the displeasure of the nurses’ and the anesthetists who stood in wait…

A typical abdominal closure took about almost a quarter of an hour, but by the time he was done, everyone had no choice but to clock out late. New doctors were the reason why medical workers were working overtime every day. They were not a welcome addition to a hospital.

In truth, Zhao Leyi was also incredibly nervous at that time.

On the other hand, Ling Ran seemed a little excited, but also very calm. It was difficult to dislike him.

Zhao Leyi lowered his head and took a closer look at the abdominal opening. Strictly speaking, this was not exactly a standard abdominal closure, as the patient’s abdominal opening was more of an open wound caused by an accident. Despite the sterilization and sanitization, it was still different. This could be considered a type of debriding and suturing surgery, it was just that the level of difficulty for this was much higher than the cases he had to deal with in the treatment room.

One could only say that Department Director Huo had been particularly nice to Ling Ran. He had given him way too many opportunities.

“One, two, three, four, five, six…

“Two, four, six, eight, ten…

“All the bandages are here.” The scrub nurse ran through the apparatus twice for good measure before giving Huo Congjun the green light.

Huo Congjun nodded and did the checking himself yet again. He surveyed the wound once more to confirm that there was no bleeding. Then, he said to Ling Ran, “Close it up.”

He had done his job as a chief surgeon. He could now leave the operating theatre and take a break, or he could rush off to the next surgery.

However, today was the intern Ling Ran’s first attempt at an abdominal closure. It was also nothing like a regular abdominal closure either. Huo Congjun did not immediately leave, but moved to the back to allow Ling Ran to take his spot, and then continued observing Ling Ran as he performed the operation.

Ling Ran may have performed several sutures in the treatment room, but this was nothing like any of his past minor surgeries.

Performing minor and major surgeries was just like dancing deliriously in the disco hall and performing on stage. They were two completely different concepts.

As for abdominal closures, Huo Congjun had seen those who sutured the wrong layer of the abdomen and those who accidentally formed body cavities while they were performing the suture. He had even seen a doctor who slipped and dropped a pair of forceps into the patient’s stomach.

Bad sutures were rather common, and none of the resulting outcomes were favorable. These could already somewhat be considered as medical negligences.

Of course, Huo Congjun had full faith in Ling Ran’s capabilities. A person who danced exceptionally well in the disco was still slightly qualified to prance around at the corner of a great dancing stage.

While Huo Congjun was worrying himself to death over the stress that he was certain Ling Ran had to be experiencing, Ling Ran had cleared the last of the clouds in his mind.

Spending a few days in the treatment room had taught Ling Ran much. He gained perceptual knowledge regarding suturing. He had witnessed injuries inflicted in any manner the mind could come up, and had pinched, pierced, and tied knots over real, living skin and muscle. He had also gained great confidence towards the Master Level of Appositional Suturing Technique.

As long as the appositional suturing technique could play a role in the surgery, there was nothing he could not do!

Ling Ran was now without fear when it came to simple sutures.

“Needle holder.”

Ling Ran’s voice was confident and solemn.

The scrub nurse placed it into Ling Ran’s hand with a smile. Her thin, luminescent glove-clad hand also slid over his palm.

Ling Ran’s attention was currently placed on the exposed operating area. He made no indication of having felt the discreet caressing.

Abdominal closures were nothing like regular sutures. It had to be done layer by layer, and if the method of incision was different, even the suturing guidelines was different.

For today’s patient, Ling Ran first needed to suture the deepest layer of peritoneum, then the rectus sheath, the skin itself, and what laid beneath it.

If aesthetics were given the least of considerations, things would have been far simpler. However, the necessity of the first two steps made the entire process slightly more challenging. After all, junior doctors had never even had first hand experience to the peritoneum and the rectus sheath before. It was normal for them to be uncertain of their actions when they performed the suture.

Zhao Leyi did not leave either. He studied Ling Ran with a meticulous eye.

Some deep, dark corner of his heart still hoped to make a joke out of him.

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Junior doctors made mistakes far too frequently and easily, but that was normal. All of them learned from mistakes.

In the operating theatre, scolding was growth.

‘Watching Ling Ran ‘grow’ would make me feel better…’ Those were Zhao Leyi’s thoughts, which were not to be known to anyone, while he observed Ling Ran’s actions.

A minute later, Zhao Leyi was dumbfounded, and his thoughts came to a screeching halt.

‘My God!

‘Is this really an intern who just graduated from a medical institute?’

Zhao Leyi had worked for ten years. He could not even enumerate the number of famous doctors he had been with. He had probably seen hundreds of skilled doctors who came to give talks or who came from overseas. While he did not have their skills, he most definitely had the learned eye to determine what actual skill was.

Skill that Ling Ran clearly had.

To be honest, this was the first time Zhao Leyi saw such a smooth abdominal-closure operation for a first attempt… Those doctors who were better than him would no longer perform abdominal closures, and those who had poorer skills… Well, those weaker doctors would probably not even be able to dream of performing abdominal closures.

“What a dirty hacker.” Zhao Leyi sighed, quoting a line he once read on the Internet.

Department Director Huo Congjun was one generation behind. Naturally, he did not understand.

“What did you say?”

“Young Ling did quite well.” What else could Zhao Leyi say? After all, he could not spew lies, right? In hospitals, skills held the most sway over everything else. If he said that Ling Ran was terrible, it would only be treated as him cracking a self-deprecating joke, and those were the worst things to appear on the operating theatre.

Huo Congjun genuinely felt that it was a perfectly executed procedure. He praised his own judgement in Ling Ran’s skills, and said, “He just lacks some experience, act as a mentor for him as well if you have time to spare.”

“Yes.” Zhao Leyi felt that Huo Congjun was the one who was spewing lies right now. How could this young man be lacking any experience? This must be one of those men who dissected corpses since young.

“Done!”

Ling Ran tied a knot on the end of the last thread and exhaled gently.

“Phew…”

Zhao Leyi finally released his long-held breath. One would have thought that he was even more nervous than Ling Ran.

He looked up to see Ling Ran and Huo Congjun giving him strange glances.

Zhao Leyi coughed twice but managed a friendly smile. He had utterly forgotten about that mask that completely concealed his face, making it impossible for anyone to see his face.

To Zhao Leyi, he felt like he had just watched a delightful performance.

When he remembered once more that Ling Ran had executed barehanded bleeding control with the inner second pulp of his little finger without setting up a surgical field… Zhao Leyi then could not help but shudder, like a music fan who had goosebumps all over their body because they listened to good music.

As a doctor, Zhao Leyi finally understood just what sort of surgery he just witnessed.

Zhao Leyi muttered to himself, ‘If it’s me, I would write a paper and have it published at SCI after I walk out of the operating room.’

As the world’s leading science-archive search engine, SCI collected many science journals and had readers comment on their influence.

For any person working in a field related to science, having anything inducted into SCI’s collection of journals was a symbol of class and distinction.

Of course, the number of articles a person managed to publish in SCI could also be used during his or her professional evaluation so that they could get salary bonuses.

If hospital doctors wanted a promotion, they first had to write an article. In this regard, they were similar to schools and research centers.

Whether it was a promotion from a resident to attending physician, from attending physician to assistant department director, or from assistant department director to department director, writing journal articles was a necessary step to take for a promotion.

Even department directors could not let down their guards. Their statuses as department directors or directors of the hospital were reflected from the number of articles they had published in medical journals.

However, clinicians who wanted to write journal articles first needed a sufficient track-record in their name. In this regard, their criteria to write a paper was different from other academicians who wanted to write a normal academic paper.

Clinicians who wanted to prove themselves must first perform a surgery with great success before kicking off their fame by a retelling of it in the form of a journal.

‘A pity that Ling Ran did not know any of this.’ Was what Zhao Leyi thought. ‘At most, he only knows how to rely on social media to propel him to fame, but they can’t show the value of his surgery.’

At that moment, Huo Congjun finally looked up and announced that the surgery was completed. He took off his gloves and hesitated for a few seconds before turning to Ling Ran and asking, “Do you know how to write research papers?”