Great Doctor Ling Ran

“Ling Ran, you did a perineurium anastomosis today?” asked Doctor Zhou in a soft voice when he saw Ling Ran enter the office.

There were no secrets in the hospital, especially when it came to medical matters and romantic affairs.

“Yes.” Ling Ran who had just finished performing the surgery drank the bottled water on the table in one go, finally quenching his thirst.

After waiting quietly for a few seconds, only then did Doctor Zhou continue to ask. “How was the result? You’re really gutsy.”

Doctors were accustomed to abstaining from food and water before surgery, especially ordinary surgeries that were a few hours long as they could basically only hold their urine during the surgery. The more water they drank, the harder it would be for them.

Although adult diapers could solve most of their problems, due to considerations for their image and the price of adult diapers, doctors tried their best not to resort to this.

Ling Ran reflected earnestly for a moment, and said, “If the nerve recovers well, the result should be quite good.”

Doctor Zhou looked as if he was being choked, and said, “Are you really confident about it?”

“Yes.” Ling Ran’s reply was so brief that it made Doctor Zhou even more confused about the situation.

“Then, go and get yourself prepared. Department Director Huo will definitely ask you about it later,” Doctor Zhou reminded Ling Ran and went back to his seat to drink tea.

Among the three types of nerve anastomosis, perineurium anastomosis was the one that was the most hardcore.

Ordinarily, a doctor with good suturing skills could give epineurium anastomosis a try. For example, those with suturing skills on par with Ling Ran’s Master Level Simple Interrupted Suture Technique would have the basics that allowed them to carry out epineurium anastomosis only after putting in a bit more practice. However, perineurium anastomosis which was carried out under a microscope required relatively more specific skills.

The third type—epineurium and perineurium anastomosis—was even harder than perineurium anastomosis since it was a combination of the other two types.

But if a doctor knew how to perform nerve anastomosis, regardless of which type, the range of surgeries he could perform would instantly go up by one level.

In the past, when Ling Ran was performing flexor tendon surgeries in Zone II, every time he encountered patients with associated nerve damage or associated fractures, Huo Congjun would straightaway reject these cases.

When it came to patients with flexor tendon damage, Yun Hua Hospital’s Emergency Department only took in those with pure flexor tendon damage. At most, they would only take in patients like Li Huamin with one or two ruptured nerves that doctors may choose not to suture.

Patients who exceeded that range could only find ways to receive treatment outside the province, or head to the Hand Surgery Department to have their tendons sutured with techniques like the Kessler suture technique before they sought treatment from the Neurosurgery Department to have their nerves sutured. If those two options were not viable, they could only give up nerve anastomosis and have their tendons sutured first. For even more complicated cases, amputation might be the only way to go.

However, if the perineurium anastomosis performed by Ling Ran were to have a high success rate, it would be a lot easier for Huo Congjun to find patients… because many patients with hand injuries also suffered associated nerve damage.

More importantly, doctors able to carry out tendon anastomosis in no man’s land together with nerve anastomosis were a step above those who could only carry out only tendon anastomosis. They were only slightly inferior to doctors who could perform limb replantation.

In the field of hand and foot surgery, not many hospitals could do this. If you were to consider the success rate, the surgeries done by Ling Ran were even worth looking forward to.

But a moment later, Huo Congjun charged angrily into the office.

“Ling Ran!” Huo Congjun shouted the moment he walked through the door. His demeanor was so imposing that he sounded like a marshal looking for his disappeared knights in anger, and his hair was so tousled that he looked like an old cat with unruly fur.

Ling Ran turned to look at him.

“You did a perineurium anastomosis?” Huo Congjun’s question was almost the same as what Doctor Zhou had asked Ling Ran earlier. Pleased with himself, Doctor Zhou arched an eyebrow at Ling Ran. Doctor Zhou never slacked when it came to predicting other people’s actions.

Ling Ran answered Huo Congjun the same way he answered Doctor Zhou, “Yes.” After thinking about it, he added, “The condition of the nerve after it was sutured was quite good. We’ll see how the patient recovers after this.”

“Let’s go and take a look at the patient.” Of course Huo Congjun would not let things go after just listening to what Ling Ran said.

When Doctor Zhou saw that Ling Ran was getting up, he put on his large white coat and followed Ling Ran without hesitation. A few other doctors in the office who had nothing to do at the moment did the same.

In the ward.

Li Huamin was already awake. Even though her hand was bandaged and fastened into a fixed position, she was struggling to get up and shouted, “I want to be transferred to another ward. This ward is bad for my recovery.”

Huo Congjun furrowed his eyebrows and thought, ‘This is the first case of nerve anastomosis in our department. It would be bad for us if she recovers badly.’

He immediately looked at the nurses around him.

Because of the pressure from Boss Huo, a nurse who originally intended to ignore Li Huamin could only go forward, and she asked kindly, “What happened?”

“I want to be transferred to another ward,” said Li Huamin.

The nurse asked, “Why do you want to be transferred to another ward?”

“This ward has green walls. I can’t be near green things.” Even though Li Huamin’s voice was still rather hoarse, she could be heard clearly.

The nurse said gently, “Why can’t you be near green things?”

“Among the five basic elements, the element of wood is more prominent in me, and this is why I can’t wear green clothes. This is also why I can’t stay in houses with green walls. Can you guys transfer me to another ward?” Li Huamin shifted her body in discomfort a few times and said, “I won’t be able to recover well in a room with green walls. If you guys don’t transfer me to another ward, I’ll definitely not be able to recover.”

The nurse was satisfied when she heard that. She rested her hands on her hips and looked at Huo Congjun. Huo Congjun was speechless. He thought that there were problems with the facilities of the ward, and was wondering if he should adjust it. Now that the patient was saying that the element of wood was prominent in her, he was immediately confused.

Ling Ran also felt slightly regretful. He sutured the patient from the beginning to the end, and thought that he might be able to get the patient’s sincere gratitude. When he looked at the situation now, he had done far from enough for Li Huamin to be thankful.

“I don’t care. If you guys don’t transfer me to another ward, I want to be discharged. I don’t want to stay in a ward with green walls,” Li Huamin shouted again, and was even trying to jump off the bed. Even though she was only putting on an act, her family members immediately started defending her.

“All the wards in our hospital have green walls,” Huo Congjun said patiently, trying to compromise and smooth things over.

“For those with prominence in wood, the color green is bad for them. You guys should repaint a few of the wards,” Li Huamin suggested.

Huo Congjun asked calmly, “What color should we repaint the wards?”

Li Huamin immediately said, “Pink. I want a ward with pink walls.”

“Why pink?”

“Pink is the color of money. Among the five basic elements, the element of money is the least prominent in me.”

Huo Congjun fixed his gaze on her for a few seconds. When he realized that the other party really was not joking, he was so angry that he turned and left.

The moment Huo Congjun walked out of the ward door, he said, “Those without knowledge would think that the ulnar nerve is connected to the cranium.”

Doctor Zhou chuckled and said, “Maybe the effects of the anesthetics have not faded yet.”

Ling Ran, on the other hand, looked as if he had just discovered a new continent. He last saw the patient when she was under anesthesia. At that time, he felt the kind of sense of achievement one had when one healed the wounded and rescued the dying, he did not expect that the patient would act this way once she woke up.

“Do an electromyography on her,” Huo Congjun said, and added, “Analyze the recovery of her ulnar nerve, but don’t let me see her in-person again.

“Alright.” Ling Ran acknowledged the order.

“You must make sure that there is a certain success rate to the nerve anastomosis you perform. When your success rate goes up, there will be no lack of patients.” Huo Congjun gave Ling Ran extra pointers because he looked forward to what Ling Ran would do with his ability to anastomose nerves.

Currently, the doctors in Yun Hua Hospital who knew how to perform nerve anastomosis mainly did it on nerve trunks such as the median nerve. Nerve trunks were not hard to repair because of their thickness. Traumas sustained over a small area were harder to repair. Cases with associated nerve damage were very hard to deal with as there were very few surgical methods that can be used.

Nevertheless, Huo Congjun reckoned that Ling Ran had at most practised nerve anastomosis in private for a period of time, and would definitely need more time and cases to elevate his skills. He was making small allowances now. As long as Ling Ran guaranteed a certain success rate, he would support Ling Ran in his endeavors.

Doctor Zhou turned his head to look at Ling Ran. He did not know whether Ling Ran understood what Huo Congjun had just said.

“The electromyogram is done. I’ll bring it to you.” Ling Ran’s reply was still brief.

Huo Congjun said nonchalantly, “There’s probably not much hope in Li Huamin. Remember to sort out all future perineurium anastomosis cases.”