Chapter 857 - 404: Unusual Bleeding, Achieving Merit Before the Surgery

Chapter 857: Chapter 404: Unusual Bleeding, Achieving Merit Before the Surgery

He knew very well that if he couldn’t quickly figure out a way to gain Li Jingsheng’s forgiveness and win back the respect of his colleagues, he would soon be unable to stay in this small team.

But how was he supposed to get Li Jingsheng’s forgiveness?

He had already gone over this question in his mind countless times.

Unfortunately, he still hadn’t come up with a good solution.

In the cafeteria, Li Jingsheng was eating with Ou Qinglan; having a girlfriend made him feel especially good these days. If he could marry her and bring her home, that would be even better.

After all, the nights were still long and lonely, and a single pillow was hard to sleep with.

Just as he was eating, his phone rang.

"Boss, there’s a patient who came specifically to see you. He said he saw online that you helped that paralyzed woman find the cause of her illness, so he made a special trip to see you."

The call was from Tang Ping.

When Li Jingsheng wasn’t around, most of the big and small matters in the clinic were handled by her on his behalf.

"Where did the patient come from? What symptoms?"

Ever since he became well-known recently, some out-of-town patients had started coming just to consult him. Many of them had difficult or complicated conditions, or even incurable diseases.

At present there are still many diseases in medicine that have no specific remedy.

"He said there’s blood in his urine, and his stool is black. He’s been treated in the county hospital for many days without any effect. He was originally going to be transferred to a provincial hospital, but the beds there are full and he has to wait. So he came to our clinic instead, from the Lishan area."

"He came from that far away? Did he bring his test results?"

"He did! The data is quite complete; he brought both biochemical and imaging results."

"Have Luo Cheng and Shao Bing looked at them?"

Among the doctors at Sunshine Clinic, Luo Cheng was a general practitioner who could treat all sorts of diseases.

It’s just that he wasn’t exactly outstanding.

Compared with his boss, Li Jingsheng, he still had a big gap.

This was also the common problem of general practitioners.

Shao Bing, on the other hand, was quite capable and was proficient in several internal medicine fields. He was just a bit older.

You could say he was a late bloomer.

Since being hired into the clinic by Li Jingsheng, he had been doing pretty well.

His medical skills were steadily improving, his income was quite decent, and he had even successfully remarried his ex-wife. You could say he was blessed in his later years, misfortune had flipped into fortune.

"They’ve both already looked. They said they couldn’t make a diagnosis. Dr. Shao thinks this patient’s condition is very dangerous and suggested he go to a big hospital for treatment."

This was Tang Ping’s way of reminding Li Jingsheng that something might go wrong if they took this patient on.

When Li Jingsheng wasn’t in the clinic, the experienced and competent Shao Bing basically acted as the "technical director."

Any patient they couldn’t manage was decided by him.

Out of respect, when he ran into something he really couldn’t be sure about, Shao Bing would also ask for instructions from Li Jingsheng before making a decision.

If he said this illness was dangerous, that meant the patient was at risk of dying.

"Alright, take photos of the patient’s materials and send them to my phone; I’ll take a look."

Li Jingsheng decided to have a look first.

After all, the man had come from so far away just to see him.

Becoming famous online was a good thing. It allowed Sunshine Clinic’s outpatient volume to rise sharply, with a constant stream of people seeking consultations. But it also brought problems.

Many of these patients had very complicated conditions, with causes that were hard to diagnose, or that were far beyond the clinic’s ability to treat.

A small clinic’s equipment and technical resources were limited.

They didn’t dare admit patients who were too critical.

Otherwise, if someone died in the clinic, who could bear that responsibility?

Tang Ping soon sent over the patient’s test data.

The patient was a 57-year-old male. Recently he had developed black stool and blood in his urine, and only went to the hospital for treatment nearly half a month later.

That really left one at a loss for words.

If a young person saw blood in their urine, they’d probably be scared half to death.

Once they noticed something abnormal, they’d rush to the hospital at the first opportunity.

This patient held out for half a month before finally going to the hospital. And he was from a county town, so his financial situation was probably not very good.

The poor have cheap lives.

Rich people, as long as they have any physical problem, don’t really care how much money they spend.

The consultation notes also contained some very strange lines.

After his problems started, the patient went to a local clinic and bought some blood-activating pills and painkillers to take on his own.

What kind of "immortal patient" was this?

No wonder that after he developed hematuria and black stool, he dared to drag things out at home for half a month.

So he’d been acting as his own doctor all along!

If it were just a minor cold or some small ailment, being your own doctor wouldn’t be a big deal. But with symptoms this serious, clearly indicating internal bleeding, self-medicating made it almost impossible to get better.

The fact that the patient bought painkillers showed he had obvious pain.

Where exactly was the pain?

He continued reading the consultation notes. He originally thought the patient might have abdominal pain or something similar, but it turned out to be joint pain.

This instantly put Li Jingsheng on alert.

Joint pain involves bone disease.

When it came to treating bone diseases, Li Jingsheng was relatively skilled.

Blood in the stool and joint pain made him first think of vicious diseases such as leukemia.

The symptom description also mentioned dizziness and fatigue.

This made Li Jingsheng even more suspicious that the cause might well be leukemia.

Because this disease leads to coagulation disorders, with spontaneous nosebleeds, or wounds that are very difficult to stop bleeding.

"Body temperature normal, 36.8 degrees."

Under normal circumstances, the early symptoms of leukemia are quite similar to a cold, with fever.

Often it’s a persistent low-grade fever.

But this patient’s body temperature was normal.

And the patient also reported having no similar medical history. This episode came without any warning, with no obvious trigger, and broke out suddenly.

For a patient with abnormal bleeding like this, the workup actually isn’t that difficult.

If the liver is abnormal, it can lead to coagulation problems.

Also, bleeding in the gastrointestinal tract, in the stomach or intestines, can cause melena.

It’s just that with GI bleeding, you usually only see black stools, not hematuria.

A case that can stump a county hospital really isn’t simple.

He checked the patient’s complete blood count results: hemoglobin was on the low side, and the white blood cell count was elevated, reaching 12.4 × 10? per liter. Normally the count doesn’t exceed 10.

With a high white blood cell count, could this really be leukemia?

But the patient’s platelet count, PLT, was 289 × 10? per liter.

This immediately made Li Jingsheng, who had strongly suspected leukemia, rule out that preliminary diagnosis.

Next, he went through all the other biochemical test results.

The patient tested negative for hepatitis B virus markers.

The anti–hepatitis C virus antibody was also negative.

This basically ruled out viral infection of the liver, or hepatitis.

But the patient’s coagulation tests were clearly prolonged beyond the normal range.

That indicated a problem with the patient’s coagulation.

Li Jingsheng frowned as he reviewed the patient’s other tests, including imaging results.

No obvious tumors or other abnormalities were found in the chest or abdomen.

The diagnosis of this disease immediately put him in a bind.

When coagulation time is prolonged, the first suspect is definitely the liver.

He was just about to think it through more carefully when Ou Qinglan apparently received a message from Professor Wu.

"Dear, can you come to the OR today and help our second team with a surgery?"

Every time she asked Li Jingsheng for help, she used this especially gentle tone.

When a man is capable, his status at home won’t be too low.

"When?"

"Right now."

"So this was premeditated, huh? You waited till I finished my meal and then called me to help with your surgery."

Li Jingsheng said with a smile.

"Haha, you saw right through me! That’s right, it was premeditated. Our team got criticized during morning meeting today. Last month our surgical volume was far below the other teams, our revenue was poor, and five patients developed various problems after surgery. One of them has even filed a complaint with the Health Commission and wants to sue our hospital. Professor Wu has been walking around every day with a dark face.

If it weren’t for you, he probably would’ve yelled at me long ago.

After all, even someone like our team’s Ruan Xiaoqin has been scolded by him several times."

Becoming a team leader is the dream of many doctors.

But once you actually lead a team, the pressure can be even greater.

A strong team leader will naturally be on a roll, constantly leading their doctors into battle and racking up achievements.

Someone like Professor Wu often finds himself in an awkward situation.

The bone cement project is a unique program at the Second Hospital, but it has a very small audience.

When patients hear that cement is going to be injected into their bones, many of them get scared.

They refuse to agree.

This has kept Professor Wu’s performance from ever picking up.

Given the current rapid development in orthopedic surgery, if Professor Wu doesn’t produce some results soon, he’ll probably be squeezed out.

The department can’t afford to waste too many resources in his hands.

"Qinglan, about what I mentioned last time—have you thought about switching to another team?"

Li Jingsheng asked her.

From an interests perspective, he felt that Professor Wu’s second team was doomed sooner or later.

It would be better for his girlfriend to jump over to Zhong Hu’s team.

Zhong Hu currently didn’t have any particularly strong doctors under him. He was indeed hot-tempered, but Director Zhong Hu was also highly competent—his skills matched his temper.

Thanks to Li Jingsheng’s teaching and guidance, Ou Qinglan’s basic surgical skills, especially suturing, were already quite good.

If she joined Zhong Hu’s team, she should have good prospects.

At least she would be valued.

That would be much better than just muddling along in Professor Wu’s team.

"I don’t want to switch teams. I’m already familiar with my colleagues now. If I suddenly change teams, it’ll be hard for me to get along in the department later."

She turned him down.

This was her second refusal.

"You’re worried people will say you’re fickle and opportunistic?"

"Of course! We girls aren’t like you guys—our skin isn’t that thick. If I want to keep working at the Second Hospital and I jump to another team at a time like this, people will definitely gossip about me behind my back."

She had her own concerns.

"Alright then! Let’s go, I’ll do the surgery with you. But we have to move fast—I need to get back to the clinic later to see patients."

Li Jingsheng could only go along with his girlfriend.

The two of them headed straight for the operating room.

Professor Wu had actually made such thorough preparations; the old fox’s scheming ran pretty deep.

Once they entered the OR, they indeed saw Professor Wu and his doctors already doing the pre-op prep.

"Professor Wu, I’ve brought Li Jingsheng."

"Good, very good! You’re the hero of our second team."

Professor Wu said "good" twice in a row.

A clear smile appeared on his face, and there was a hint of relief deep in his eyes.