Chapter 22: Complicated Surgery, Round Two

[Kneel before your god.]

The silence lasted a moment before comments once again poured into the Xinglin Garden livestream.

Most standard appendectomies took longer than what they had just witnessed, what more in an expecting mother. Although no one in the chatroom had performed such surgery before, they understood its sheer difficulty.

Despite its complexity, the surgery had been completed within ten minutes.

Viewers entering the livestream at this point were only greeted with the finale.

[Was I late again? Some consolation please.]

[You missed a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. This live surgery was one-in-a-billion.]

[Isn’t it an appendectomy during pregnancy? How did it end so soon? I just made a cup of coffee in expectation of a three-hour operation.]

Some users grumbled while others teased them. Meanwhile, those who caught the livestream from start to end were still up to their eyes in disbelief.

A minute passed and incoming messages all sang praises, posting ‘6661‘ in the chatroom.

[Accurate incision point, effective local anesthesia, a clean and successful surgery. Amazing!]

[I think I’m gonna stay up. I’m suddenly inspired to write an article on elective incisions. Any recommended papers?]

[In my opinion, the administration of the anesthesthetic was the key step. I personally have never seen a patient not feel any sort of pain under local anesthesia, but maybe that’s just me.]

The operation had ended earlier than anticipated, but the livestream chatroom was still buzzing with users analyzing and discussing what they had just witnessed.

Some doctors wanted to use the video as an educational material while some planned to use this appendectomy during pregnancy for a case study discussion.

In the surgical demonstration classroom of Sea City General Hospital, Old Chief Physician Pan sat on his couch calmly. He looked down at the empty operating theater and smiled.

In the same room, Chief Surgeon Liu still had a look of bewilderment on his face. He was at a loss.

Since Zheng Ren’s transfer to Sea City General Hospital, he had been in the general surgery department, where Chief Surgeon Liu could not figure out the man’s surgical caliber.

There was nothing impressive about performing a routine appendectomy without another surgeon’s assistance.

However, this surgery was an appendectomy during pregnancy. It was a blow to Chief Surgeon Liu’s pride.

If he were the one at the operating table, would the surgery have been as clean?

No.

Most definitely not.

Even if the patient was on continuous epidural anesthesia, he would have followed the textbook-recommended incision at McBurney’s point, right next to the rectus abdominis.

Following that, some time would have been spent on searching for the swollen appendix. Moving the intestines around might have caused the patient discomfort and increased the risk of miscarriage, but it would have been necessary.

How did Zheng Ren manage to pinpoint the exact spot? Who taught him such skill?

This would have been a jackpot for Chief Surgeon Liu were it not Zheng Ren who was performing the surgery. He would have brought the video recording home for research.

Any discovery related to surgical entry technique was worth a lot.

Curses!

Chief Surgeon Liu clenched his fists tightly as anger leaked out from within his heart.

“What do you think, Chief Surgeon Liu?” Old Chief Physician Pan was now on the offensive. “Zheng Ren is still young. If you have any opinions on his methods in this case, I’ll guide him to improve.”

COMMENT

‘Opinions? F*cking opinions!’ Chief Surgeon Liu fumed internally.

‘What f*cking opinions can I have? Even I want to bring that videotape back, and you dare ask me if I have f*cking opinions!’ Chief Surgeon Liu thought.

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He gritted his teeth. There was nothing he could say to Old Chief Physician Pan in the face of such utter defeat.

Patience. He had to wait for Zheng Ren to make a mistake.

All he needed was one mistake. Just one!

1…

…

There were people still chatting in the Xinglin Garden livestream.

Around ten minutes had passed when there was sudden movement in the livestream. Preparations were being made for another patient.

[I’m game for a second round!]

[Luckily I haven’t left. I’ll get to watch from start to end.]

[My, my, there’s still another live surgery? My coffee-making was clearly not a wasted effort, haha. Thank you, my lucky Nestle instant coffee. Love you.]

4The livestream chatroom started to become lively again.

An opportunity to observe a live surgery was few and far between.

While preoperative preparations carried on in the background, doctors shared the livestream through WeChat to lure in colleagues, friends and classmates who were still awake at this hour.

[What am I seeing? Why are my eyes straining?]

[Is that a stent? Such an overweight patient will have a high risk of myocardial infarction.]

[The case is out. This is a quality livestream that even provides live case studies. Man, it’s another appendectomy. Is he doing an appendectomy challenge with different difficulty levels?]

1When a mountain of flesh was lifted onto the operating table, the live chatroom went crazy.

Appendectomy on a bariatric patient was not as uncommon as an appendectomy during pregnancy. Even if the doctor was not a general surgeon, they would have encountered such a case during their internship rotations.

This type of surgery was not as difficult as the previous one. However, every doctor knew the pain of dealing with the postoperative care of an overweight patient. The fat liquefaction and multiple dressing changes required daily was enough to make one crave death.

At least it was not their case, though, and they were just enjoying the show. Comments came in in torrents—everyone was rooting for Zheng Ren.

Xinglin Garden did not have a ‘like’ feature, so there were no rocket or racecar emojis floating onscreen.

More and more people entered the stream, breaking Xinglin Garden’s viewer record.

Everyone’s attention was on the case details: 168 centimeters and 112.5 kilograms. The mountain-like abdomen, no doubt covered with layers of adipose tissue, was like a pretty lady tugging at the heartstrings of the doctors staying up for the surgery livestream.

Old Chief Physician Pan read through the patient’s file on the computer and said, “Chief Surgeon Liu, aren’t you crafty.”

The patient had arrived not long ago. After his preliminary medical history assessment, he was immediately pushed into the operating room. Old Chief Physician Pan noted that this patient, like the pregnant one before him, was from a district bordering Sea City.

Old Chief Physician Pan was a ‘do no harm’ kind of man, but after years in medical practice, he had witnessed countless underhanded tactics.

From this small detail, he could tell that something was afoot.

They were both from bordering districts and the surgeries they required were complex and taxing.

No way this was a coincidence.

“This is Zheng Ren’s lucky day. It’s none of my business.” Having crawled out of his pit of despair and regained his composure, Chief Surgeon Liu shut down Old Chief Physician Pan’s accusation.

1Such things had to be denied unless one was caught red-handed.

“Huh.” Old Chief Physician Pan dropped the subject and focused on the live screen, his right hand tapping on the old and tattered copy of Limited Views.

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