Great Doctor Ling Ran

Chapter 329: Porcupine

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Huo Congjun attached a lot of importance to this surgery that Ling Ran was performing.

Because of this, even though Ling Ran was highly skilled, he still approached this surgery with reverence. Hence, he made an S-shaped incision which was as long as six inches.

All the doctors, including Huo Congjun, were shocked. Doctors in more recent times were used to making smaller and smaller incisions. In the General Surgery Department, the doctors went from laparotomy to making small incisions, then to using a laparoscope. Even laparoscopy had evolved from needing five tiny incisions to needing only two.

Endoscopic surgery was starting to become a norm even when it came to complicated surgeries such as cardiothoracic surgeries. Hospitals were willing to invest in a da Vinci surgical robot that cost almost 10,000,000 RMB to be able to perform major surgeries by only making minor incisions as it would be valuable to the hospital, doctors, and patients.

Even the mainstream operative route of coronary artery bypass surgery had gone from thoracotomy to making a small incision below the ribs.

Never in their wildest dreams had the leaders and doctors of Yun Hua Hospital imagined that an Achilles tendon repair surgery would require a six-inch long incision. It was also unheard of.

“About this… Does Doctor Ling like making large incisions?” A chief physician from the Orthopedics Department asked with a grin.

“The Zhu-Ling Achilles Repair Technique places an emphasis on making large incisions and preserving blood supply when performing Achilles tendon repair surgery.” As Lu Wenbin had been carrying out surgeries with Ling Ran for some time, he managed to utter an answer.

“But… shouldn’t Ling Ran make a small incision if he wants to preserve blood supply? Isn’t the making of large incisions and the preservation of blood supply two contradictory things?” The chief physician from the Orthopedics Department crossed his hand. There was a scornful expression on his face.

Lu Wenbin was immediately lost for words. With his skills, he would definitely lose if he were to debate with a chief physician. Even if he counted the years he spent in medical school, Lu Wenbin would still only had been in the field of medicine for ten years. The chief physician probably had thirty years of experience. If a person were to see all of them as professional League of Legends [1] players, the chief physician was equivalent to a player who had been playing the game from 2009 to 2039, and Lu Wenbin was equivalent to a player who only started playing the game in 2030. Even though new versions of the game were always coming out, when it came to PVP, Lu Wenbin was still at an obvious disadvantage.

Moreover, the chief physician was from the Orthopedics Department and was familiar with Achilles Tendon Repair Surgery.

At this moment, Huo Congjun automatically started criticizing the orthopedist. He said flatly, “If you don’t understand it, why don’t you take it as a learning opportunity? Ling Ran treated Liu Weichen by making a large incision. Isn’t that what the Kenyan is here today for?”

If criticizing people were a skill, Huo Congjun probably started learning it in the 1980s and became a master in the 1990s, and his skills reached new heights every single day. As for the chief physician from the Orthopedics Department, the only thing he was capable of was to bully pharmaceutical sales representatives. He had no intention of refuting Huo Congjun at the peak of his game at all.

There was a momentary silence in the operating theater. The only sounds that could be heard were those of the camera’s shutter and the cameraman muttering, “He’s so handsome, he’s so handsome…”

The cameraman was not allowed to use flash, but when it came to photographs, the hospital would not mind even if the cameraman were to fill up an entire SD card.

Of course, the cameraman had quite a lot of SD cards with him. He filled up SD card after SD card and seemed to be having a lot of fun.

Ling Ran and his assistants were starting to get into the peak of their condition.

After a surgeon performed the same kind of surgery many times, he would be able to do so in a very swift manner as long as he was able to get into the mood, and as long as no special complication occurred during the surgery. This was just like how students born in the 1980s could do the exercises in the “Eighth Radio Calisthenics” [2] and how students who were born in the 1990s could do the exercises in “The Era is Calling” [3] without much effort.

Even though the steps involved in performing a surgery were more complicated and required more meticulousness, genii could still navigate through surgeries like how they do with radio calisthenics.

“Ma Yanlin, should we do reinforced suture next?”

Ling Ran suddenly spoke in the silent operating theater.

Ma Yanlin’s hands almost trembled.

‘Is Ling Ran asking me a question?

‘Is Ling Ran really asking me a question?’

Ma Yanlin raised his head to take a good look at Ling Ran’s face. ‘This is definitely Ling Ran. Even if someone were to undergo plastic surgery and pretend to be Ling Ran, the plastic surgery cannot possibly make him so good looking.

‘Since when did the handsome Doctor Ling develop the bad habit of asking his assistants questions?

‘He must have picked it up in Shanghai.’

Ma Yanlin glared at Yu Yuan. ‘It’s all your fault. Doctor Ling was fine before he went to Shanghai. After he went there with you, he learned how to ask his assistant questions!’

“I think that we can perform reinforced suture,” Ma Yanlin answered carefully.

It was a very normal thing for senior doctors to ask junior doctors questions in the operating theater. But ever since he started performing surgeries with Ling Ran, Ma Yanlin had rarely experienced this. So, he was not really used to it.

Ling Ran lifted the Achilles tendon to show it to Ma Yanlin and asked, “Why?”

Ma Yanlin composed himself and thought. ‘It seemed like I made a correct guess. Thank God for that, or else my nonexistent image would be tarnished in front of so many chief physicians and hospital leaders.’

Ma Yanlin let his thoughts run wild as he said slowly, “The ends of the patient’s ruptured Achilles tendon are flat. By closing the gap, we are converting the tensile strength of the surgical thread into an oblique force on the fibers of the tendon. Hence, the reinforced suture will increase the tensile capacity on both ends of the tendon…”

He poured out all that he knew and tried his best to look like he was familiar with Achilles tendon repair surgery.

Ling Ran listened as Ma Yanlin spoke without pausing the surgery. He only said after Ma Yanlin was done, “We are performing ordinary suture.”

“Ah… why?”

“Reduced use of surgical thread will reduce the histologic reaction. And with the condition of this patient’s Achilles tendon, the ordinary suture will suffice.” Ling Ran gave a simple explanation and continued with the task at hand.

Yu Yuan flashed a smile at Ma Yanlin. She was pleased with herself. Because both of them chose to learn the Achilles tendon repair technique, there was obvious competition between them.

Ma Yanlin secretly glanced at the doctors who were watching the surgery from the corner of his eye. When he saw that all of them were either whispering to one another or gazing at Ling Ran, he could not help but breathed a sigh of relief, but also in resignation. He was only a houseman anyway, and he did not mind his nonexistent image being tarnished.

Huo Congjun knew Ling Ran well, and Ling Ran’s action piqued his interest. He started pondering over it.

He could feel that Ling Ran was totally in his element right now. It was the same kind of state Huo Congjun was in whenever he treated patients who got into minor accidents, got bitten by dogs, or were slashed by their wives, in the emergency room. Even though some of the patients were actually in a very critical condition, and he himself was actually experiencing an adrenaline rush to the point that he raised his voice, he had performed similar treatments so many times that they were muscle memory to him. Hence, he could carry out those treatments at a moderate pace.

But doctors who could remain so calm and collected when carrying out surgery in front of so many senior doctors and leaders of the hospital were very hard to come by.

It at least meant that Ling Ran had a strong heart.

All human beings experienced emotions such as anxiety, worry, regret, and instability. It was up to them to control those emotions and to use those emotions to their advantage.

But what Huo Congjun did not know was that Ling Ran had experienced many similar situations in his life.

Other doctors had to at least become an attending physician or an associate chief physician before they had frequent opportunities to perform surgeries in front of so many people. However, Ling Ran had participated in all kinds of public performances ever since he was in kindergarten.

The ten-people group carefully handpicked by Huo Congjun was nothing to Ling Ran.

“Yu Yuan, what are you thinking?” Ling Ran’s voice rang out again, and this time, he sounded rather stern.

Yu Yuan immediately panicked a little.

“Keep your hands steady and don’t move. Relax your shoulders and retract properly.” Ling Ran adjusted his maneuver according to Yu Yuan’s height.

It was still rather arduous for the four-feet-nine Yu Yuan to perform surgeries with Ling Ran even though she was standing on a bench. But if a person were to look at it from another perspective, it would be arduous for Yu Yuan to perform surgeries with any doctor of ordinary height.

Ling Ran did not say anything else. He quietly continued with the surgery for half an hour before announcing that he was done. He then personally closed the incision before leaving the operating theater.

All the doctors who were watching the surgery also exited the operating theater with their heads lowered.

“How was it?” Huo Congjun stood outside the door and flashed a smile.

“The surgery was quite refreshing to watch.”

“He’s pretty skilled.”

“Isn’t it amazing to be young?”

Some of the doctors racked their brains to think of words of praise. It was quite hard for them to give positive comments that were more specific.

The chief physician from the Orthopedics Department, Han Chengjiao, pursed his lips. Before more people gave comments, he sneered and said, “If we base this on the standards of an Achilles tendon repair, the surgery could be considered well done. But if you are telling me that this sort of skills can guarantee results like that of Liu Weichen, I will not believe in you.”

As the saying went, “two of a trade can never agree.” Han Chengjiao was quite resentful of the fact that Ling Ran so brazenly invaded the territory of the Orthopedics Department and even started pioneering new methods.

Everyone in the Orthopedics Department would not have minded if the Emergency Department merely added Achilles tendon repairs to their repertoire.

To the Orthopedics Department, this kind of surgery that did not involve prosthesis or joint replacement was worth almost nothing as they bought the department no benefit. Moreover, these patients took a long time to recover.

Hence, whenever they encountered these patients, the Orthopedics Department would only take them in when they have plenty of empty hospital beds. If most of their hospital beds were filled up, they would usually send the patients away in a polite manner.

There were even patients who needed to utilize personal connections just to get into Yun Hua Hospital to treat such a small ailment. The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University was known as the “greatest cottage hospital in the universe” because they had an extremely large number of hospital beds and took in patients regardless of whether their illnesses were major or minor. One could only imagine the pressure they put other hospitals under.

However, now that the Achilles tendon repairs performed by Ling Ran had evolved to the point that it could be categorized as sports medicine and had even become renowned because of Liu Weichen, the Orthopedics Department was naturally annoyed. The fact that foreigners flew over to be operated by Ling Ran added fuel to fire.

“Such a large incision causes plenty of damage. Besides, he did not even perform reinforced suture…” Han Chengjiao pursed his lips and said, “No matter what lame reasoning Ling Ran comes up with, I believe that many details of this so-called Zhu-Ling Achilles Repair Technique are still subject to discussion and that there’s no need to overly tout it.”

Now that Han Chengjiao was in his element, he took a jab at Huo Congjun while he was at it. “The Orthopedics Department supports the decision of the Emergency Department to open an Emergency Medical Center. But I see no point in touting a young man just for this. Even you, Huo Congjun, would serve as a better promotional material compared to such a young man.”

Huo Congjun flashed a lopsided smile and started chuckling.

“Just say what’s on your mind. Don’t keep it to yourself.” Han Chengjiao could not help but feel a little diffident.

Huo Conjun continued to chuckle as he stared at Han Chengjiao. He only said after quite a long while, “We’ll be receiving foreign patients tomorrow and the day after tomorrow too. We’ll talk using facts.”

Han Chengjiao breathed a sigh of relief. “You want to talk using facts? Sure, we will use facts as evidence.”

“Yes, we’ll talk using facts!” Huo Congjun did not raise his voice, but his tone somehow became firmer. “You know what? Han Chengjiao, why don’t you carry out a few Achilles tendon repair surgeries too? We can then let the patients rehabilitate side by side, and see whose patients recover better. Do you know why the Emergency Department added Achilles tendon repairs to our repertoire? It’s because you guys keep delaying things and aren’t even bothered to fix patients’ ruptured Achilles tendons…”

“Since when did we delay things… No, I don’t think our department has anything to do with the Emergency Department carrying out Achilles tendon repairs at all…”

“How many patients with ruptured Achilles tendons did I send to your department last year? How many of them did you guys refer to other hospitals? You guys don’t even want to perform Achilles tendon repairs, so why are you stopping other departments from doing it? Don’t be such a dog in the manger.” Huo Congjun spat before flashing a smile at the other doctors present and saying, “I’m sorry, excuse my language. I’ll convey my words again in a more proper manner.”

Huo Congjun cleared his throat and said to Han Chengjiao, “From tomorrow onwards, I’ll send a patient who needs Achilles tendon repair to the Orthopedics Department every day. If you guys are capable of operating on those patients, go ahead. If you guys can’t do it, then just admit defeat to us. After that, we can take the opportunity to write a comparative report on normal Achilles tendon repair surgery and the Zhu-Ling Achilles Repair Technique. I reckon that sport medicine specialists, both local and foreign, would be interested in reading it.”

“I don’t have time to compete with you. I’m very busy…” Han Chengjiao’s voice had become a lot softer, and he wisely swallowed all the pent up words he wanted to say.

He would never run out of words to say if he only needed to engage in an empty debate. But if such a comparison were really to be made, the end result would be more than embarrassing for him.

Huo Congjun chuckled a few times, and his gaze made Han Chengjiao shudder, as though a fat wild boar covered with porcupine thorns was staring at him.

“We are treating tomorrow’s patient for free, while the patient who will be coming in the day after tomorrow will be paying the full fees. There is also a professional track and field athlete from Kenya… In the future, global healthcare will definitely be the trend of development in the future. I hope that Yun Hua Hospital’s Emergency Department, which will become an Emergency Medical Center in the future, will be a pioneer in Changxi Province, or even in our country.” Huo Congjun spoke of his plans, and as expected, this piqued everyone’s interest.

For a top regional hospital like Yun Hua Hospital, foreign patients were indeed hard to come by.

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