Chapter 197: The Proof Is in the Pudding

Amanda Vance gave him a cold look. She was no saint and had no patience for people who took things out of context and deliberately exaggerated. Her gaze flickered to the anguished Queen Mother at his side before she reached out and pressed down on Howard King. "Stay still."

Hearing her words, Howard King instantly froze, lying obediently on the bed. ’He was drowning in regret, but it was no use now.’

It was no use regretting it now.

Amanda Vance turned to the Queen Mother and continued, "The tumor is benign, so it’s not difficult to treat. The only issue is its location—it’s on the optic chiasm, which is why it’s pressing on his optic nerve and causing his current blindness."

The Queen Mother’s heart tightened. "Can it be cured?"

"Yes," Amanda Vance nodded.

At her word, the Queen Mother was immediately put at ease. She now had complete faith in Amanda Vance, believing her medical skills were extraordinary. If Dr. Vance said it could be done, then it surely could.

After reassuring them, Amanda Vance left with Howard King’s attending physician to discuss a treatment plan.

In truth, the hospital’s team could have performed the surgery themselves, but the tumor’s location was exceptionally tricky. It was also quite large, which significantly increased the surgical risk. One wrong move could lead to a disaster. Furthermore, the tumor was too close to the optic nerve. If the nerve was damaged during the procedure, the consequences would be severe, and they couldn’t guarantee they could avoid it.

But they found it difficult to guarantee no damage would be done.

After some thought, the attending physician, Dr. Cannon, asked, "Dr. Vance, I heard you specialize in acupuncture?"

Amanda Vance nodded and got straight to the point. "I can treat it using traditional Chinese medicine, though the results would be a bit slower. Alternatively, I can first use acupuncture to control the tumor and shrink it, and then I can hand him over to you."

When he heard how much she could shrink it, Dr. Cannon’s eyes lit up with a pleasant surprise. "In that case, we might even be able to perform minimally invasive surgery!"

Avoiding a craniotomy would be ideal. The surgical risks would be lower, and the patient’s recovery would be faster.

But could it really work?

Looking at Amanda Vance, they suddenly felt a sense of certainty. ’Yes, it could.’

Their neurology department hadn’t had much interaction with her before, but they’d heard colleagues from other departments, including several senior doctors, sing her praises. They believed in her; she could definitely do it.

After finalizing their discussion, the doctors went to the hospital room and explained the two options.

The first option was a purely traditional Chinese medicine approach. The treatment period would be slightly longer with no side effects. The second was an integrated approach combining traditional and Western medicine. Dr. Vance would first control the tumor, and then they would perform minimally invasive surgery. This would be faster than the traditional method, and since the surgery would be minimally invasive, the side effects would also be negligible.

After a moment’s thought, they both chose the latter.

’Getting better sooner would bring them peace of mind sooner.’

Amanda and the other doctors weren’t surprised by their choice. "Alright. Let’s start today. I’ll give you an acupuncture treatment in a bit to prevent another acute episode."

She hadn’t brought her medical kit with her, so she needed to go back and get it.

When she returned, however, Howard King called out to her.

Howard King was blind now, so he had his mom turn his head toward her. He said apologetically, "Dr. Vance, I was wrong before. I brought all this negative attention to you. The public outcry online is huge right now, so I thought of a solution. I’d like to hear what you think."

He then cautiously explained his idea.

The whole incident had caused a massive public uproar. The biggest point of contention was Amanda’s medical expertise. People argued that since she hadn’t even graduated from college, she couldn’t possibly be any good. ’How can someone like that get a job as a doctor at the best hospital in Celestia? Isn’t that just endangering patients?’

Certificates alone wouldn’t prove anything, so he suggested they use this opportunity to livestream the entire process. That was the only way to let everyone see for themselves what her medical skills were really like.

After explaining, he asked apprehensively, "Dr. Vance, do you think that’s okay?"

He wasn’t entirely sure she would agree. There was a potential issue: most doctors refuse to livestream procedures, partly for patient privacy and partly to maintain focus.

Amanda Vance nodded and said casually, "That’s fine."

Howard King was overjoyed but then added uncertainly, "But Dr. Vance, that means your acupuncture procedure will be filmed, too."

’There were fewer and fewer skilled practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine these days. Acupuncture was her specialty; what if someone else stole her techniques?’

Amanda Vance knew what he was thinking. "I learned my medical skills from others, too," she said nonchalantly. "There’s no reason to hide them. If people are willing to learn, I’d be happy to teach them."

’In today’s society, traditional Chinese medicine was already in decline. If someone truly wanted to learn, she would teach them everything she knew. She had never intended to hoard her skills. The only way for traditional medicine to develop was for more people to learn it.’

’That said, she didn’t expect anyone to learn much from a single livestream. Traditional medicine was difficult to master. Even with one-on-one instruction, students might not absorb much, let alone through a broadcast.’

Her words left Howard King deeply shaken, and the apology on his face deepened.

’This was a doctor with a true healer’s heart. It was unforgivable that he had slandered her just for clout.’

’Hopefully, this would be a way to make it up to her. Someone as good as Dr. Vance didn’t deserve to be so misunderstood by the public.’

Knowing that livestreaming in a hospital might be inconvenient, Howard King had his mother speak with the hospital administration. When the director heard about it, he didn’t raise any objections and agreed immediately.

Setting aside the fact that Amanda Vance was a favored junior of the old headmaster, he couldn’t stand to see the reputation of one of his own doctors—one with such excellent skills—get tarnished. Besides, the hospital’s reputation had also taken a hit because of this incident. It was a chance to kill two birds with one stone, so of course he wouldn’t refuse.

The other attending physicians had no issues with it either.

After getting the green light from everyone, Howard King had a colleague post his medical records online. They also found the medical chart from his last visit, took a picture of the diagnosis Amanda Vance had written at the time, and posted it.

The incident was already a hot topic, and this new post immediately caused an uproar.

The medical chart was creased and crumpled; Howard had stuffed it into his bag back then without a second glance. His initial consultation had been livestreamed, and many people had seen Amanda Vance write something on the chart. They couldn’t read the writing, but now, seeing that old note alongside the new scans and the hospital’s official diagnosis, everyone went wild.

’What had they been railing against her for so long? Wasn’t it because they suspected she got into the hospital through connections and had no real skill? And now this... Ouch. It was a real slap in the face.’

Some people still suspected it was all a publicity stunt. Either they had known about his condition all along and colluded to stage the whole drama, or Howard King had been bribed to pull this off.

However, another doctor soon came forward to confirm that the medical condition was real and that no other hospitals had any record of treating him.

Hospitals also enjoyed the benefits of advanced networking. Nowadays, no matter where you were treated, an electronic medical record was created in a nationwide, interconnected system. They hadn’t found any prior records for Howard King, which proved this was the first time his condition had been diagnosed.

Suddenly, everyone flocked to the livestream, waiting to see what would happen next.

’They were going to see for themselves if this Dr. Vance had any real skill.’

When the director heard, he just chuckled. "Well, the only way to know if it’s a mule or a horse is to trot it out."

He had great faith in Amanda Vance.