Chapter 1469: The Hemorrhaging Alzheimer’s Patient

Chapter 1469: Chapter 1469: The Hemorrhaging Alzheimer’s Patient

"Teacher Liu, let’s discuss something."

Liu Yiqing approached Liu Banxia.

"What’s up? Are your patients taken care of too?" Liu Banxia asked.

"They all had minor injuries, so it was pretty easy to handle," Liu Yiqing replied.

"These ordinary folks, when faced with surgery and seeing blood everywhere, can get quite anxious. It’s just that the guy who went into surgery was unlucky; his gastrointestinal damage was pretty severe."

"Oh, I actually wanted to say something serious. Teacher Liu, don’t you think since the cardiothoracic department is about to pull out all the stops, our general surgery should also make some efforts?"

"What kind of groundbreaking surgery do you want to perform?" Liu Banxia asked.

"Not me, you! This is something you need to take charge of, no one else can do it," Liu Yiqing quickly said.

"What kind of ’satellite’ can I launch? You guys could probably manage one though. Are the data tracking of the NOSES procedure patients completed? These data are extremely valuable."

"Of course, we always call on the scheduled days. Anyway, all our patients’ post-operative situations are quite good, and the first patient we treated is living very well now."

"Haha, I love calling him, hearing the old man laugh always makes me happy. Even though I wasn’t the chief surgeon, I still feel a great sense of accomplishment."

"Then keep at it. The longer you practice medicine, the more patients you’ll have like this. It’s actually one of the perks of being a doctor, and it’s quite nice," Liu Banxia said with a smile.

"Haha, that’s so true. I used to think being a doctor was just a job, but now I realize it’s quite a meaningful work," Liu Yiqing said cheerfully.

Liu Banxia nodded, "Then keep doing meaningful things, go and get to work."

"Got it."

Liu Yiqing happily replied, then sauntered off to see another patient.

After walking a couple of steps, she suddenly realized she might have forgotten something. She thought for a moment but couldn’t remember, so she just decided not to worry about it and move on, figuring she’d remember sometime later.

Liu Banxia smiled knowingly to himself, feeling that little Liu was still a bit inexperienced. If it were Xu Yiniao, though, it might take a bit more effort.

"Banxia, all three of the teacher’s patients have agreed, two partial hepatectomies and one near-gastrectomy. How should we split them?"

At this moment, Shi Lei walked over.

"I’ll just do one partial hepatectomy, and the rest are yours," Liu Banxia said.

"No way, I’ll do one partial hepatectomy, and the other two are yours," Shi Lei quickly responded.

"Come on, man, you can’t be so petty. Cut me some slack, I’m really busy these days. My head’s spinning just from all the pediatric surgery stuff," Liu Banxia said.

"It sounds like I’m not busy either. Are students easy to teach nowadays? Every class, there are tons of questions, you’ve got to be ready to answer them," Shi Lei also shared his grievances.

"Honestly, I’ve done plenty of partial hepatectomies. How about I lend you Su Wenhao," Liu Banxia decisively offered Su Wenhao.

"That could work, but I still feel like just Su Wenhao is a bit of a loss," Shi Lei said.

"Then throw in Huang Bo, but that’s all I can spare. Any more, and it might affect our team’s operation. Wang Chao isn’t really part of our team yet, right?" Liu Banxia said.

"Deal."

After dropping those two words, Shi Lei turned away.

It was just a little joke between the two; it didn’t really matter who took on another case. Clearly, Liu Banxia deliberately yielded this time.

Just like Liu Banxia mentioned, he had done many more partial hepatectomies than Shi Lei. And surgeries come with pay, so it’s not just about simple allocation.

It’s like operating at Jinshui District Hospital or at his hometown hospital, similar to his old freelance surgery gigs; he also needed to allocate these resources well.

After all, he’s the one fully responsible for these matters now, deciding how to manage everything is up to him.

This time, helping to share the load of Zhou Shuwen’s surgeries was partly to avoid overworking himself and partly to allow Shi Lei to earn a bit more. After all, big surgeries come with nice bonuses.

"A patient will be brought in shortly, vomiting blood at home, with about a liter of blood lost," Qi Wentai rushed over.

"Alright, leave it to me. Prepare the blood bags and notify the endoscopy room for endoscopic hemostasis preparation. Why are you down here?" Liu Banxia asked.

"Almost done, so I came down first," Qi Wentai said.

Liu Banxia took a look and indeed, Liu Yiqing’s tasks weren’t too complicated, so he directly called her over to assist him.

This amount of blood loss is already a very dangerous situation.

Within ten minutes, the ambulance stopped in front of the emergency center’s entrance.

"Patient is 66 years old with Alzheimer’s. Blood pressure is 90/60 and the patient is vomiting blood again on the ambulance. Fluid resuscitation was done, and it’s been about half an hour since the initial bleeding," said the paramedic pushing the patient.

"To Resuscitation Room 2. Did the family come along? Any other underlying conditions or allergies?" Liu Banxia asked while wheeling the patient towards the resuscitation room.

"No, my father only has Alzheimer’s, it’s been over three years," the patient’s son who came along said.

"Prepare yourself mentally; the blood loss is too significant. We’ll first replenish and resuscitate, then try endoscopic hemostasis. If the bleeding is too severe for an effective visual, surgical hemostasis might be necessary," Liu Banxia explained.

"Doctor, please, I’m begging you." The patient’s son hurriedly said.

"One, two, three, move the bed."

"Connect the ECG, rapid blood test, crossmatch blood type, Liu Yiqing, listen."

Liu Banxia issued a series of orders.

"Teacher Liu, the patient is having ventricular tachycardia."

After listening to the breath sounds and heart sounds, Liu Yiqing said.

"Prepare for neck injection." Liu Banxia said.

"Director Liu, the patient has lost consciousness."

The resident doctor accompanying them, Cui Jia, said.

"No worries, this might be due to excessive blood loss. Use femoral vein injection, intubate, and notify the endoscopy room to be ready immediately." Liu Banxia calmly said.

These procedures are quite easy for Liu Yiqing and Cui Jia, they don’t need him to intervene directly.

Once the intravenous access was established and blood replenished, the patient’s vital signs finally stabilized somewhat.

"Director Liu, the endoscopy room is ready."

At this time, Qi Wentai shouted from outside.

"Alright, let’s move him in now."

Liu Banxia responded.

"Your father’s bleeding is still quite severe. After we’ve replenished blood and fluids, his vital signs are temporarily stable, but we don’t know if there will be more severe bleeding."

On the way to the endoscopy room, Liu Banxia said.

"The method we’re currently using is what I just mentioned, first trying endoscopic hemostasis. This kind of hemostasis operation causes little harm to the patient and has better prognosis."

"However, the prerequisite is that the cause of his bleeding is still unknown; we just judge it to be upper gastrointestinal bleeding. If the endoscopy cannot resolve it, we’ll need to perform open-abdominal surgery to stop the bleeding."

"Doctor, can’t it be minimally invasive?" The patient’s son asked.

Liu Banxia shook his head, "The blood loss is too great; laparoscopic surgery is unlikely to handle it well. What I just told you is to inform you that if we do endoscopic hemostasis, there’s a certain chance of success."

"But there’s a high probability that it won’t work; you can now choose whether to attempt endoscopic hemostasis or go directly for open surgery."

"Doctor, can’t we first check what’s going on?" The patient hesitantly asked.

"The blood loss is considerable; we need to hurry. If it’s endoscopic hemostasis, our preparation time is short. If it’s open surgery hemostasis, we have time to do an abdominal CT to see what’s happening." Liu Banxia said.

The decision power still falls to the patient’s son; he’s merely a provider of options.

The convenience of endoscopic hemostasis is very high, and once successful, the patient’s prognosis is greatly aided; it is indeed the preferred scheme for upper gastrointestinal bleeding.

But this patient’s bleeding is too severe; under current circumstances, it’s likely that endoscopic hemostasis would be futile. It wouldn’t only cause the patient to suffer but also incur charges.

This is the point of contradiction, so Liu Banxia must clarify.

After all, this is routine operation; if the issue isn’t too severe, maybe endoscopy can solve it?

By this time, they also reached the endoscopy room’s door, and everyone was waiting for the patient’s son’s authorization.

"Do it, what if it works? I don’t want to live with regret in my heart."

After considering for dozens of seconds, the patient’s son said.

Liu Banxia patted his shoulder, "I know your choice is difficult, but we must let you decide. Liu Yiqing, push him in."

"Doctor, my dad... will he be okay?" The patient’s son asked.

"I can’t give you any clear answer; I can only tell you we’ll do our utmost." Liu Banxia said.

"Let’s wait for a bit and see the results of the endoscopy. What if we’re fortunate, and the problem can be solved with endoscopy?"

The patient’s son nodded and squatted to the side.

Liu Banxia couldn’t offer other consolation; right now, stopping the bleeding is the priority, everything else comes later.

If the patient suddenly experienced severe bleeding again, nothing said would matter.

Under unclear diagnosis, any promises you make to the patient’s family could become a blade that stabs back at you.

Liu Banxia is an experienced player in the martial world and won’t make mistakes here.

Moreover, judging by his experience, given the patient’s blood loss, endoscopic hemostasis seems unlikely.

But that’s his personal judgment; without trying the procedure, there’s no certainty.