Surgery Godfather-Chapter 364 - 0345 Artwork
Chapter 364: Chapter 0345 Artwork
“Have you seen Doctor Yang?”
Xiao Xu runs into Little Five and Fatty as they were leaving.
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Fatty points inside: “He’s busy in there!” Then he and Little Five leave to find a place to smoke.
The foreigner follows Xiao Xu with a bag on his back, one that is so large it looks exaggerated.
Even though he is tall and strong, the oversized bag looks mismatched with his physique. It gives the impression that his entire belongings are stashed in it, and given an open space, he could set up camp and cook a meal.
Xiao Xu knew that the lab was a training place. So, not to disturb anyone, he brought the foreigner in quietly.
Most people in the comprehensive orthopedics department were easy to talk to, except for Zhang Lin who was a bit difficult to handle. Xiao Xu had been scolded by him several times and it left a shadow in his mind.
Since everyone was busy, Xiao Xu could only stand by with the foreigner and wait for them to finish.
Yang Ping was demonstrating to Fujiwara Miyuki how to carve a fruit pit under an arthroscope, telling her it was something achievable. Song Zimo, Takahashi, Xu Zhiliang, and Zhang Lin were all watching nearby.
Arthroscope? The foreigner was immediately interested, moving a little closer to see clearly what this doctor was up to.
On the screen, the fruit pit was held in place by the left-hand forceps which didn’t budge, like a nail hammered solidly in place. Meanwhile, the posterior forceps in his right hand smooths out the irregular bumps and edges of the pit.
After processing one area, the left-hand forceps immediately move to turn the pit and expose other parts that need processing. The pit moves flexibly but steadily under the control of the forceps. When needing to move or turn, it maneuvers precisely; when needing to be fixed, it stays absolutely still.
After the pit is smoothly polished, the right hand replaces the tool with a long-arm carving knife and begins to carve. Like a sketch artist outlining a simple still life, each stroke of the carving knife appears effortless.
As Yang Ping carves bit by bit, more scraps start to accumulate around the pit. After he finishes carving one side, he turns to another. It’s a complete 360-degree, all-around carving.
Just like a precision machine tool manufacturing an exquisite part, producing a perfect rendering of the pre-designed image, under the coordination of Yang Ping’s double-instrumented hands, a model of a knee joint slowly takes form on the screen within a few minutes.
The contours of the patella, inner and outer condyles of the femur, tibial plateau, medial and lateral collateral ligaments, anterior and posterior cruciate ligaments, and meniscus are all clearly defined. It’s a perfect miniature, even if it weren’t under an arthroscope but done by a carver on a desk, it would still be a work of splendid art.
Fujiwara Miyuki covers her mouth, turns to look at Yang Ping, then at the screen, in a loop. She can’t quite believe her eyes. The effect is almost dreamlike.
The well-brought-up madam is so astonished that her mouth hangs open. But she promptly covers it with her hand to mask her indiscretion.
This is a training method Yang Ping thought of himself. There’s nothing like fruit pits in the system space, so he used peanut-sized cartilaginous tumors from synovial chondromatosis lab samples as carving objects. Without special carving tools, Yang Ping used arthroscopic knives and scissors and other equipment to do the carving. The complexity is even greater.
“In our Chinese traditional arts, there are many similar training methods. I just borrowed some simple methods to improve surgical skills. After entering the industrial era, we are good at machine operation, but we over-rely on machines. Our learning of craftsmanship has lagged far behind our ancestors. Or perhaps, in our hearts, the concept of craft no longer exists.” Yang Ping places down his instruments and hands them to Fujiwara Miyuki.
Fujiwara Miyuki takes the instruments; the handles still bear Yang Ping’s body temperature. She holds the instruments, looking at the finely carved pit on the screen, not daring to move the instruments for fear of damaging this exquisite work of art.
Normally, for micro-carving, to ensure the stability and precision of the hand movements, the tools are usually short-handled, about the length of a pen.
The long-handled tools with various levers makes it very challenging to transmit the movements and strength of the hand accurately to the tip of the instrument.
Arthroscopic carving compared to regular desk carving is several orders of magnitude harder.
The foreigner puts down his gigantic bag and stares at the screen. Nobody understands better than him the level of this technique.
In the few minutes that Yang Ping demonstrated his carving skills, such a level of arthroscopy is rare and unique in the world.
No introduction was necessary. This young doctor must be the first author of the paper – Dr. Yang Ping.
Before Xiao Xu could speak, the foreigner, with a cheerful grin on his face, greeted Yang Ping using expressive gestures: “Doctor Yang, hello. It’s Robert from New York, I’ve been emailing you.”
He then took out his mobile phone and used a translation app to continue: “Can your artwork be auctioned on the spot? If so, no one else can bid against me.”
The humorous gentleman didn’t get the expected laughter. His sudden vocal interruption disturbed the quiet appreciation everyone was engaged in. The glances everyone gave him carried a hint of hostility.
Just like a heavily fatigued, sleepy person, if you disturbed his sleep, he wouldn’t be able to suppress his anger, and would burst into flames of rage at any moment.
“I—I— Ladies and gentlemen, I did not mean to offend—” Robert took a step back, shrugged, and spread his hands in apology.
“Dr. Robert!”
Yang Ping shook hands with him. Robert had mentioned in an email that he would arrive today, and as promised, he was here.
Doctor Robert came alone, without contacting any of his Chinese students, quietly making his way to Sanbo Hospital instead.
This man, an avid surfer, always liked to infuse his life with a dash of adventure. What a great way to live–heading into unfamiliar territory to meet new people.
Su Nanchen and Lin Hao were both his students. In China, the number of students he had amassed was vast, especially in top hospitals in Beijing and Shanghai, where many specialists in sports medicine were his students.
After landing, he took a taxi to Sanbo Hospital. Using translation software and some simple phrases, he managed to awkwardly communicate with the hospital’s education department.
Unlike Takahashi who came well-prepared, he was in a hurry to learn Yang Ping’s multi-ligament reconstruction surgery under arthroscopy. Having performed the surgery once according to the papers he read, with great results, he was eager to watch the creator perform the operation.
Robert looked like he had returned from a long journey, weary from travel, yet excited, shaking Yang Ping’s hand, “I was so eager; I couldn’t sleep a wink.”
It was then that Xiao Xu found a break in the conversation to briefly introduce Robert’s intention to observe surgeries in the Orthopedics Department for academic exchange purposes over a week’s time.
After listening to Xiao Xu’s introduction, Yang Ping picked up a form, carefully reviewed it before signing, and handed it to Zhang Lin: “You arrange things for Doctor Robert.”
“I’m not here for academic exchange, but for further learning.” Robert seemed to catch a few keywords and promptly corrected Xiao Xu.
Academic exchange is an exchange of knowledge on equal terms, but regarding multi-ligament reconstruction surgery, he had no results to share with Doctor Yang. He was here to study Doctor Yang’s surgery technique. Hence, he would refer to it as advanced study.
He had smartly used academic exchange as a way to bypass the language barrier and come to learn Doctor Yang’s surgery. He was desperate to master this technique.
In the United States, the top-notch individuals in medicine are distributed widely, with no concentration in big cities, much less in certain big hospitals.
Some of these top-notch specialists might work in a town hospital, which is no surprise.
American hospitals don’t have ratings; they only conduct evaluations for specific surgeries. As long as the personnel, technology, and equipment meet requirements and pass certifications, even a clinic can perform a heart bypass surgery.
Furthermore, American doctors don’t really feel impressed by big hospitals in Beijing or Shanghai. In their eyes, all Chinese hospitals are the same.
Therefore, after reading Yang Ping’s paper, Robert didn’t bother to find out which hospital Yang was at, nor did he harbor any doubts, even if he were at a small hospital with only a hundred beds. He wouldn’t question how there could be such an amazing doctor there.
Doctor Robert was intrigued, “Miss, may I give it a try?”
“Of course, you may.”
Fujiwara Miyuki removed the nut sculpture from the dark box, putting it into her pocket. After placing a new nut in the box, she made room for Robert: “Would you like to give it a try?”
Robert walked over, picked up the tools, and tried to start carving under the arthroscope. Forget about carving, even making a recognizable letter was proving difficult.
He struggled to control the nut holding forceps. Even when he did, the scalpel lacked the power to complete one stroke of carving. When he exerted more force, the nut was pushed away by the scalpel.
After much struggle, Robert managed to carve a crude letter A. The operation’s force and movements could not be accurately transferred to the tip of the tool.
Even that was a feat for Robert, for he was able to carve a crooked letter. This would have been hard for Fujiwara Miyuki, too, let alone carving a letter.
Seeing such a magical performance on his first day, Robert’s curiosity was instantly piqued.
How did Doctor Yang manage to possess such skillful arthroscopic operation techniques? No wonder he was able to innovate the multi-ligament reconstruction of the shoulder and knee joint surgery.
“Could you… like with the young lady… maybe teach me when you have time?” Robert put down his tool, took out his cell phone, and made the request through his translation software.
“When you can carve the letters ABC properly, I’ll teach you.” Yang Ping thought that demonstrating more now was futile.
