Chapter 403: What Else?

Rules and regulations these days forbade the patient’s families from taking matters into their own hands.

Nevertheless, Cao Guozhen could picture a horrible fate awaiting him had he taken over the case.

He would be banished to the medical administration division with no contact with his department chief for six months.

He might be served to the medical board to appease the family. Getting his medical license revoked…

His whole career would be gone in an instant.

Cao Guozhen had not even realized how close to the cliff’s edge he was.

He wanted to express his gratitude for Zheng Ren but all that came out were mumbles. “Zheng… Chief Zheng… You…”

The words failed to convey his feelings.

Su Yun looked up from the operating table. There was a twinkle in his eye as he said, “Dodged a bullet there, yeah?”

The surgical mask did nothing to hold his chuckle back.

Even two layers of masks would fail to hide his laugh.

Like how it failed to suppress his natural good looks.

The jibe made Cao Guozhen frown.

In this scenario, Su Yun should be showing some kindness and humility.

Su Yun as a character would not last more than three episodes in a drama.

Su Yun glanced at the patient’s right lung.

“You must be thinking I won’t survive more than three episodes on screen.”

Cao Guozhen was surprised. Did he say his thoughts out loud?

“But with your looks, you probably won’t even make it on screen.”

“…”

Zheng Ren, who had been listening throughout the conversation, wanted to say Su Yun would likely end up as a eunuch in the drama and it was not something worth bragging about. However, he held his tongue as Cao Guozhen was present.

Zheng Ren interrupted Su Yun’s jeering and said, “Su Yun, please inform the family about the situation. The damage is too extensive and I need some time to think. Inform them as you would about a lobectomy.”

“Understood, boss.” Su Yun turned around and took off his surgical gloves. He used his phone to capture a few photos of the patient’s damaged lung before leaving the operating room.

Suturing was unlikely to work. The most extreme option was to remove a part of the lung.

It would be a major surgery that required the family’s consent.

There was a clause in the rib fracture internal fixation surgery informed consent document which allowed the surgeon to perform procedures outside the scope in the event of an emergency.

However, that was usually limited to minor procedures such as stitching up the lung. A lobectomy would require the family to be informed.

After Su Yun left the operating room, Cao Guozhen let out a relieved sigh.

“Zheng… Chief Zheng, thank you,” Cao Guozhen whispered.

The last thing he expected from Zheng Ren was silence. Zheng Ren ignored Cao Guozhen, his eyes focused on the two massive wounds.

A negative reaction from Zheng Ren would have angered Cao Guozhen. This indifference hurt his pride.

Cao Guozhen had extended an olive branch…

The two devils from the emergency department were undoubtedly exceptional surgeons but their social skills left much to be desired.

…

Cao Guozhen’s words did not register in Zheng Ren’s mind. Once Su Yun left the table, he entered the System to purchase some surgical training time. He wanted to know if it was possible to suture a wound of this degree.

Zheng Ren had an abundance of points to spend so a few hours of surgery meant nothing.

The System’s training room rose from the ground. Simulation mannequins appeared before Zheng Ren.

The simulation mannequin had the same diagnosis as the patient in real life. Zheng Ren proceeded to perform a lobectomy.

The end result was…subpar.

The System gave the treatment a score of 80%.

A lobectomy yielded such a low completion score. Maybe the System could foresee the patient’s deteriorating quality of life.

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Zheng Ren took some time to think before starting on a new simulation mannequin.

After a few rounds of trial and error, Zheng Ren was surprised to find suturing yielded the best result.

He was speechless.

His surgeon’s instinct was to eliminate suturing as a viable option.

The System’s judgment…

Looking at the 98% completion score hovering over the simulation mannequin was enough for Zheng Ren to breathe a sigh of relief.

With such a severe injury, a 98% score was more than Zheng Ren could hope for.

The remaining 2% was likely caused by the development of scar tissues at the sutures, leading to decreased lung function.

It was minor compared to losing two lobes of the right lung.

Zheng Ren left the training room. As he walked, he kept an eye on the small fox in front of the thatched cottage.

He had not been in the System for a few days. The fox was more life-like than ever—every strand of white fur was as realistic as the real deal.

Zheng Ren shook the thought out of his mind. He was wasting time, he had to get back to the surgery.

“Large needle, double-stranded No. 7 sutures.” Zheng Ren’s hand was open and waiting as soon as he was back in the real world.

No. 7 sutures were thick and usually used to sew the skin layer.

Double-stranded would mean even thicker sutures.

Without hesitation, Xie Yiren did as ordered. She got two No. 7 sutures and threaded them through the eye of the largest suture needle.

The needle holder held the suture needle and the sutures. Zheng Ren angled the tool so that the sutures would not get in the way of his movements.

“Chief Zheng, you plan to suture the wound?” Cao Guozhen asked from a few feet away.

“What else?” Zheng Ren said. With a flick of his wrist, the suture needle penetrated the soft lung tissue.

The rhetorical question threw Cao Guozhen off guard.

What else? A lobectomy was the most obvious choice.

It was a straightforward procedure that the family would accept after some explanation.

However, Zheng Ren abandoned the safest method and chose to suture…

If the patient’s bleeding continued after the surgery, the outcome would be horrific.

Cao Guozhen swallowed his words before he offended Zheng Ren.

He had nothing of value to contribute so staying quiet was the best thing he could do.

Thinking back to the words he said in the emergency response room made him sweat buckets.

Who gave him the confidence to stand there and lecture Zheng Ren about the ways to save the patient?

Unrestricted Mucosolvan dosage?

Did he think someone like Chief Zheng would not know these hidden tricks?

Cao Guozhen shut his mouth and watched Zheng Ren forcefully close up the huge wound on the middle lobe.

The final knot was tied so tightly, a single-stranded No. 7 suture would have broken under the force.

No wonder Zheng Ren asked for a double-stranded No. 7 suture.

Was this really the best treatment?

Cao Guozhen mulled over Zheng Ren’s tactic. He would track the patient’s recovery to observe if this simple but brutal way of suturing had any side effects.

The suturing took a few minutes.

Zheng Ren requested for saline solution to rinse the cavity. After a check for active bleeds yielded no positives, he proceeded to perform the fracture fixation.

The material used for the fixation was shape-memory alloy that contracted when heated and expanded when cooled. The material was placed inside a basin of iced saline solution to achieve the largest expansion before fitting onto the fractures. A warm saline gauze was wrapped around the material to shrink it, fixing the fractures in place.

As Zheng Ren was fixing the fractures, Su Yun returned to the operating room in a flurry. “Boss, I’ve spoken with the family. I’ve been thinking on the way in, we might not have to remove the lobes. We could stitch them up! I think it’s the best solution. You don’t have to worry about the post-surgery, I’ll monitor the patient in the ICU.”

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