Great Doctor Ling Ran

“Mom, can you help me plug in the charging cable of the pad?” The patient who had four severed fingers, Qi Leqiu, changed into a new set of clothes and binge-watched her drama series, her mind at ease.

Qi Leqiu’s mother could not stop her daughter from staring at her mobile phone. She could only lessen the strain on her eyes by giving her a larger screen to look at. At this moment, as she tugged the cable, she said in a displeased manner, “Today’s only the third day after the surgery. Look at the others, they are all resting. You are the only one watching TV, and you did not stop watching from morning till night. If you continue like this, what would you do if you went blind? ”

“Mom… Don’t talk about other people. Isn’t it important to be in a good mood after the surgery? I’ll be in a good mood if you let me binge watch the shows I missed. Isn’t it better for postoperative recovery if I am in a good mood?

“That’s completely illogical.” Qi Leqiu’s mother scoffed, but she could do nothing about it.

The charging cable was plugged in. Qi Leqiu who had severed four fingers continued to use her other hand to operate the tablet computer. She would only frown when her movements with her hand were too huge and brought pain to herself.

Once she started the new episode, Qi Leqiu’s face broke into a smile.

“Actually, it’s pretty good to be hospitalized,” Qi Leqiu said, “There are food and drinks in the hospital. The company would also pay and give wages. I also have time to binge watch my shows. I can now understand how lucky it must be to be a second-generation rich kid…”

Qi Leqiu’s mother’s hand trembled as she was pouring water into the glass. She shot a murderous look at her, “A second-generation rich kid? If you weren’t my daughter, I would have roasted you alive.”

“Oh, come on, mom, why are you so fierce? I was just joking.” Qi Leqiu was really afraid of being beaten by her mother. She quickly turned over to watch her show.

Qi Leqiu’s mother sighed. She squeezed into the other half of the bed, looked at the screen, and said regretfully, “You only know how to watch this kind of lovey-dovey things, look what kind of boyfriend you have found. You hand is severed, but he still hasn’t come to visit you.”

“What do you mean he didn’t? He helped me download all my shows. He just went on a business trip, and he would make up for it after he comes back,” Qi Leqiu said as she squeezed into her mother’s arms.

Qi Leqiu’s mother tutted and held her daughter. She said, “Korean dramas are stinky and long-winded. What’s so nice about them? You want to catch up to your shows? Even if you watch them until next year, you won’t be able to catch up.”

“There are short Korean dramas now,” Qi Leqiu said, “The show I’m watching now is short. The heroine is particularly miserable at first, and she’s driven out by her mother-in-law…”

Soon, both of them stared at the screen and were hooked.

During the afternoon, Qi Leqiu had lunch and called her mom to watch the show together. Since they could relax in the hospital, the two quickly became immersed in the plot and were unable to hold back their tears from streaming down as they started to cry.

“Don’t cry, the doctor needs you to remain calm.” Qi Leqiu’s mother cried and took out a tissue. She blew her nose.

“The doctor said that I’d be better if I’m happy. I’m very happy now,” Qi Leqiu said while wiping her tears with her uninjured left hand.

“Come on, blow your nose.” Qi Leqiu’s mother helped her by putting a tissue under her nose.

Qi Leqiu heartily blew her nose, but her tears flowed down again. “Enhe is so pitiful. How tragic.”

“That’s why I said that the boyfriend you found is too unreliable.”

“How many times have you met him?”

“That’s what I’m saying. I didn’t even see him.”

“I’m going to ignore you. I want to watch the show.” Qi Leqiu continued to wipe her tears. As she watched the Korean drama, she whispered, “Mom, my hands are cold.”

Qi Leqiu’s mother blew her nose, wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, and said, “Move your hand over here.”

“No, I mean my injured hand feels cold.”

“How cold?” Qi Leqiu’s mother stood up and was alarmed.

Qi Leqiu gulped and said, “Call the doctor, tell them that I can’t feel my middle finger and ring finger…”

Without waiting for her to finish, Qi Leqiu’s mother rushed out of the room and shouted, “Doctor… Doctor!”

The response time in the Emergency Department’s ward was incredibly quick. In just a few seconds, a nurse rushed in, and she asked while she ran, “What happened? What’s the situation?”

“My daughter… my daughter…” Qi Leqiu’s mother was so alarmed that she was not able to speak.

“I can’t feel my middle finger and ring finger, and when I touch them, they felt a bit cold.” Qi Leqiu still remained calm as she spoke. At the very least, she was calmer than when she watched the show.

The nurse looked at it and immediately understood. She pressed the call button on the bedside. “Bed 67, lack of blood circulation.”

More nurses and doctors on duty rushed in.

“Intravenous perfusion.” The doctor on duty glanced at it and made orders according to the standard plan. He said, “Ask someone to find Ling Ran’s treatment group.”

“We informed them already.”

The nurse took out the perfusion needle with a pencil-point spinal needle while replying before she prepared the infusion tube and the infusion bottle.

“Tolerate the pain. You won’t be able to preserve your fingers if you move around.” The Emergency Department’s resident doctors will already be familiar with such emergencies if he or she worked for around one year in the department.

Qi Leqiu imagined how her right hand would look like if she had two fingers missing, and she was so scared that she did not dare move. She gritted her teeth and said, “I can take it.”

The perfusion needle with the pencil-point spinal needle was inserted diagonally in her replanted fingertips. The end of the needle was connected to the perfusion bottle through the infusion tube. The needle tip was connected to the drainage bottle through the infusion tube.

The resident doctor lowered his head, looked at the situation, and asked, “What happened just now? Did your finger suddenly become cold?”

“I don’t know what happened. I didn’t eat or drink anything.”

“Did you smoke?” the resident doctor asked sternly.

“I didn’t smoke.”

“Did you smell any smoke?”

“No.”

“Was there anything pressing your hand down? Did you take your medicine?”

“No, I was just quietly watching Korean dramas. I was just crying. Look.” Qi Leqiu showed the waste tissues to the resident doctor.

When he saw the basket full of crumpled tissue paper, the resident doctor’s face turned green, just like how he went home that one time to see his ex-girlfriend lying lazily on the sofa, and there was a basket of crumpled tissues and a condom beside the bed. She had been too careless at hiding it!

“Didn’t I tell you before that you had to be calm?” the resident doctor asked calmly.

Qi Leqiu cowered a little. “I feel very calm.”

“Can you be even remain calm if you cried so much?”

“I cried because I watched Korean dramas. It’s is not the same as really crying. You don’t understand women.”

The resident doctor chuckled, and thought, ‘Women…’

“Doctor, what should we do now?” Qi Leqiu’s mother had calmed down, she asked nervously.

“Wait for news from the attending physician.” The resident doctor was only an emergency doctor. Although he was familiar with some related resuscitation knowledge after the Emergency Department had expanded to include finger replantation surgery, he was not confident in handling the subsequent steps required for treatment.

After around two to three minutes, Lu Wenbin came rushing in. His clothes were still stained with spots left behind by marinade.

“What’s the situation?” Although it was not Lu Wenbin’s working hours, he still came at first notice. This was the professional nature of a doctor, they would always give up rest to save lives.

“The temperature of the finger is below the standard, heparin has been used… The effect of intravenous perfusion is not good,” the resident doctor whispered and explained the situation, although he did not know much.

“Venepuncture.” Lu Wenbin had accumulated the experience of attending to hundreds of patients who received finger replantation surgery. He probably had attended to more patients of such nature than the orthopedists from general hospitals. He had a lot of experience in this sort of situations. Just by looking at the patient’s condition, he immediately said, “Carry out venepuncture for the replanted fingertips. Soak the finger pulp in heparin sodium, make an opening to the nail bed and also perform venepuncture for it. Do it to all four fingers.”

He said as he took the gloves and started to do it himself.

The resident doctor on duty was assigned the index finger and learned to do it.

Anyone could do an incision and carry out venepuncture for the fingertip. Performing an incision and carrying out venepuncture below the nail bed required more skill. It had to be done with a scalpel tilted to sixty degrees, and it had to cut through the nail directly after it was disinfected.

Qi Leqiu did not understand it at first. When Lu Wenbin cut one of her fingers, only then did she come to an understanding. Her tears flowed out instantly, “Are you guys using torture to coerce me to confess, what do you guys want to ask…?”

Qi Leqiu’s mother felt sorry for her, and she tried to persuade them in determination, “Can’t you use some anesthetics? My child is in immense pain…”

“It’s too late.” Lu Wenbin could only give this reply as an answer, and he said, “Please go out, ma’am. You will be interfering with the resuscitation if you are here.”

“Why does she need resuscitation…?” Qi Leqiu’s mother was worried and anxious.

“Thrombosis is very dangerous,” the nurse spoke and gently pulled the mother out of the door.

They came face to face with Ling Ran as he walked over briskly.

Qi Leqiu’s mother immediately recognized him and even said, “Doctor Ling, please quickly take a look at my daughter.”

Ling Ran nodded as he skillfully stretched out one of his arms while pulling the other back. He moved to the right, moved forward one step, and evaded Qi Leqiu’s mother’s embrace.

Once he entered the room, Qi Leqiu’s mother was blocked outside.

Ling Ran asked loudly, “What’s the situation?”

“Blood circulation crisis, we’re about to lose the middle finger and the ring finger,” Lu Wenbin shouted without turning his head back.

“Is urokinase used?” Ling Ran asked.

Lu Wenbin was stunned and said, “No…”

“Urokinase, one hundred thousand units. Into the vein,” Ling Ran ordered very quickly before he looked at the patient and asked, “Who came first?”

“Me,” answered the single resident doctor who lost his ex-girlfriend.

“Lu Wenbin, go out and inform the mother. Prepare for an exploratory surgery. Get the operation consent form signed.” Ling Ran then went to look at the patient. He said, “You are a patient who had four severed fingers replanted, because of it, you have a higher risk of being exposed to complications. Now, you are suffering from blood circulation crisis. For safety measures, we will first prepare you for an exploratory surgery. If it is necessary, we must cut the skin and redo your blood vessel anastomosis.”

Qi Leqiu’s head spun as she was hit by the series of information. “I was only watching a Korean drama.”