Surgery Godfather-Chapter 597 - 544: Unexpected Development

There was a needle in the areas of both shoulder joints and below the outer clavicle.

This area is where the nerve vessels of the brachial plexus come in and out. The anatomical structure is very complex, and careless movement could easily cause nerve vessel damage.

Therefore, the surgery for removing tiny foreign bodies from deep within the human body is extremely difficult.

This is because whether they’re using a surface ultrasound or X-ray for positioning, they can only get a two-dimensional image. It’s impossible to accurately position the needle. Sometimes, the supposed needle location turns out to be empty. It’s challenging to locate the needle, which could be hiding in any tissue layer.

There was a needle in both hips, knee joints, upper arms, forearms, thighs, and lower legs.

These needles were all over the place, giving an eerie feeling.

It’s hard to imagine that so many needles were embedded in the tiny body of a ten-month-old infant, and that these were all intentionally inserted.

What you would usually only see in a horror film was happening in real life.

Everyone discussed each needle rigorously before finalizing their extraction plan.

After much consideration, it was decided to use endoscopy if possible; if not, they would opt for a minor incision. Throughout the surgery, the position of the needle would be located using a surface ultrasound to ensure precision and reduce damage.

The meeting ended at more than eight o’clock, and everyone was still hungry.

Professor Zhang paid out of his own pocket to treat everyone to a meal at a restaurant near the hospital.

During the meal, a graduate student felt uneasy, always fearing that there might be a needle in the food. He kept moving the food around in his bowl, chewing slowly and carefully for fear of swallowing a needle.

He knew it was impossible, but he just couldn’t shake off this thought.

The nurses in the department are all very loving. They voluntarily took turns feeding Minmin milk powder and changing her diapers.

Those with childcare experience naturally moved skillfully, while those who were not yet parents seemed rather clumsy.

With everyone’s care, Minmin slowly adapted. She no longer cried and hid in her grandmother’s arms whenever she saw someone.

However, one thing gave the nurses a hard time.

Due to the surgery’s requirements, they needed to place a needle in Minmin’s head. This way, they could administer medication immediately in case of emergency during surgery.

Establishing a venous access prior to surgery is a standard procedure to be well-prepared.

Imagine if something goes wrong during surgery, such as an allergic reaction to anaesthesia. If they have to administer an injection during an emergency, it will waste precious time and might result in errors due to haste.

When they tried to insert the needle anyway, Minmin became terrified at the very sight of it. She clung tightly to her grandmother’s clothes while her limbs flailed around as if she were trying to escape. Her crying was heart-rending and resonated throughout the ward.

The nurses tried to restrain her, but she kept struggling with all her strength. Her face turned purple and her breathing became ragged.

In this state, the nurses didn’t dare to forcefully restrain her, making it impossible to insert the needle.

"We’ll insert the needle after she’s sedated in the operating room!" Head Nurse Cai had to tell the nurses to give up.

It took a long time for Minmin to calm down and for the color to return to her face.

However, the crying didn’t stop. Her grandmother had to carry her around the ward. The nurses wanted to help, but it only made Minmin cry harder.

Helpless, the on-duty doctor had no choice but to sedate Minmin and put her to sleep to solve the issue.

The old lady couldn’t help but sob constantly. The old man sighed and said, "It’s all fate... all fate," with tears in his eyes.

At their age, they worried about their granddaughter’s future.

The police contacted Minmin’s mother, who said she was already remarried. Minmin had been awarded to her ex-husband in the custody settlement, and she didn’t want to have anything to do with her daughter. She asked the police not to contact her again.

Who would take care of the child in the future?

Every time the elderly couple thought about this, they couldn’t sleep.

In the middle of the night, the old lady suffered from severe chest pain and shortness of breath, sweating profusely as if a huge stone was crushing her chest.

The old man hurriedly called the nurse, who immediately called for a doctor.

The on-call doctor was Li Guodong. He quickly diagnosed her with acute myocardial infarction. While calling the nurses to help with the rescue, he performed an emergency electrocardiogram, drew blood for a myocardial enzyme spectrum test, called the Chest Pain Center for help, and reported to Yang Ping.

The on-duty doctor at the Chest Pain Center, Dr. Yu, rushed over quickly. After checking the electrocardiogram, he confirmed it was an acute myocardial infarction. Along with the myocardial enzyme spectrum results, he determined that it was indeed acute myocardial infarction that required immediate rescue and a coronary angiography with coronary stent dilation.

In such a critical moment, every second counted. They immediately took the green channel, with Dr. Yu and the standardized training students pushing the old lady towards the catheter room in the Chest Pain Center.

Li Guodong called the old man to sign the consent form and reported to the hospital’s on-call supervisor.

In this type of life-saving surgery, due to humanitarian reasons, money was not discussed. The priority was saving the patient’s life; the money matters would be discussed after the surgery.

Whether or not the payment has been made, it doesn’t affect the rescue.

The elderly man was flustered and rushed to the catheterization room, leaving his granddaughter alone here.

Stay here, the boss urgently needs to be rescued now, and his life or death is unpredictable.

The duty nurse had quite some experience, luckily there were intern nurses in the department, she left one to take care of the baby and assigned another to wheel the elderly man to the catheterization room, comforting him along the way, telling him not to worry.

After receiving the report from the duty nurse, Head Nurse Cai rushed to the department in the middle of the night, rapidly increasing the manpower needed.

Yang Ping, Song Zimo, and Xu Zhiliang also rushed to their respective departments, then to the chest pain center’s catheterization room.

Sitting in the wheelchair, Minmin’s grandpa held the armrests tightly, staring at the door of the catheterization room, tears streaming down his face.

He wondered how life could be so hard. In his seventies, nearing his end, yet he was still being tormented.

People say to raise children to take care of you in old age, but his son not only didn’t provide for his old age but also tormented his parents to a point worse than death.

Fearing that the intern nurse wouldn’t take good care of the old man, Head Nurse Cai dispatched another nurse who had rushed from home to the catheterization room to ensure there were no additional complications.

As Yang Ping was about to see what was happening in the catheterization room, he ran into Director Guan who had just received a phone call and rushed from home.

"Doctor Yang, let’s go in together and see!"

At this point, Director Guan was unsure of the specific situation.

Everyone quickly changed into their surgical gowns and lead aprons following Director Guan, once inside, they saw Dr. Yu performing an intervention surgery, having just completed a catheter placement for the contrast agent.

"Acute myocardial infarction, cardiogenic shock, consciousness has been lost, left ventricular assist device maintaining blood pressure, ventilator assisting breathing—" Dr. Yu reported immediately as he saw the Director, but his surgical operation continued without interruption.

The contrast agent spread along the blood vessels, the branching image of the coronary artery appeared immediately on the screen. The contrast agent ceased to move further at the origin of the left main coronary artery.

"My God! The origin of the left main coronary artery is completely blocked!!!"

Ignoring the much-needed process of handwashing, Director Guan immediately put on a pair of sterile gloves, hastily donned a scrub, and rushed to the operating table.

The left main coronary artery refers to the proximal part of the left coronary artery beginning from the left coronary sinus and extends to its bifurcation. It and its branch vessels supply the myocardium, accounting for 60% to 90% of the heart’s muscle.

When the left main coronary artery is completely blocked, the patient faces a significant risk of fatal left ventricular dysfunction and malignant ventricular arrhythmia!

This type has the highest risk level in cases of acute myocardial infarction, the lowest survival rate, the majority dying outside of a hospital. Even if the opportunity for emergency coronary intervention is availed, successful resuscitation is extremely rare.

"Stable, don’t panic, locate the main left artery opening---move aside, let me do it!"

Director Guan had already put on his surgical gown and asked Dr. Yu to step aside so he could take the lead.

Experience speaks volumes, Director Guan, with his wealth of experience, strong mental resilience, and precise technique, was able to locate the opening of the left coronary artery and quickly unblock it. His moves were fluid and uninterrupted.

Director Guan was a Ph.D. appointed by Dean Xia, the leader of the chest pain center. Under his guidance, the center actively conducted various high-risk complex cardiac intervention surgeries, implemented the concept of comprehensive treatment and intensive care combining cardiac assist devices and severe multi-organ failure treatment with high-risk complex coronary techniques. This significantly improved the level of treatment for urgent, dangerous, and severe cardiovascular diseases.

If it weren’t for Dr. Yu’s timely use of the left ventricular assist device and ventilation machine as per the rescue procedure, there probably would have been no chance of saving the patient.

"What were you dawdling for just now? You don’t take it seriously when I usually do it, yet you panic at a critical moment, can you afford to hesitate with such a case? Situate the entry of the left main coronary artery first, swiftly unblock the blood vessels, restore myocardial perfusion, what were you hesitating about?"

Director Guan sternly criticized Dr. Yu who was a young Ph.D., the attending physician, and a proud protégé of his.

The more you valued something, the stricter the requirement.

"Carefully review the rescue just now, see if there are any loopholes? Any improvements needed? Your hesitation just now shows that you are not yet skilled in surgery. At the critical moment, what is tested is proficiency, there’s no time for hesitation."

Director Guan continued to criticize Dr. Yu, expressing his dissatisfaction with his hesitation at the critical moment.

In fact, Dr. Yu was quite fast, having checked the patient on-site and got onto the operating table within fifteen minutes.

However, his lacking experience was evident, he hesitated a bit in his actions, not daring to make quick judgments.

Director Guan transferred the concluding tasks to Dr. Yu, "Here you go, for this case, write something for me tomorrow. Remember, you must never hesitate, this is a moment where a second can determine life or death."

Dr. Yu took over Director Guan’s work. Director Guan stared at the screen, instructing, "After the operation, send the patient to the CCU, beware of postoperative acute heart failure, lung infection, and metabolic acidosis."

"Professor Yang! For now, the patient has been resuscitated, whether or not he can survive is still uncertain, but we have high hopes."

Director Guan knew that Yang Ping was a talented youth within the hospital and held him in high regard, hence he was quite polite in his speech.

"Director, thank you for your hard work!"

Yang Ping expressed his gratitude.

Director Guan waved, "Dr. Yu was quite quick in his actions, from attending to the patient on-site to opening the coronary artery, not even thirty minutes have passed, any later and it might have been too late. Also, the correct and timely use of the left ventricular assist device and ventilator."