(Thanks to Panda, Hoshino Kyuna for the encouragement with monthly votes)

"Dr. Liu, does Bei have a tumor?"

Just arriving outside, the patient's mother rushed over.

"We have completed the exploration and found four not very large thymic tumors at the top of the right thymus," Liu Banxia said.

"Dr. Chen will clean that area very thoroughly during the procedure, but there's something else I need to discuss with you, let's move aside."

Upon hearing his words, the couple had a sense of foreboding.

"During our exploration, we noticed varying degrees of atrophy in Bei's thymus, which might be the effect of steroid injections," Liu Banxia said.

"Also, we found slight infiltration at the base of two of the tumors during our examination. However, we need to wait for post-operative pathology to finally determine whether they are benign or malignant."

"The tumors are quite small, so they aren't that clear to the naked eye. During the exploration, we relied on intraoperative ultrasound for localization."

"Dr. Liu, if they are malignant, is it very dangerous?" the patient's father asked seriously.

"Any malignant tumor carries a certain degree of risk, but our early detection due to this incident is fortunate. Regardless of whether they're benign or malignant, we can remove them completely," Liu Banxia said.

"However, for safety, we'll remove a larger section of the thymus. This type of growing thymic tumor is also something our Dr. Chen is seeing for the first time."

"Perhaps this is also the cause of his myasthenic crisis. Please don't worry, the timing of the surgery is good. The extent I mentioned is large relative to the tumors."

"Dr. Liu, thank you so much. Without your suggestion for a thorough examination, if these four tumors had flared up, it would have been life-threatening," the patient's father said gratefully.

"After this surgery, will there be a need for chemotherapy or radiation therapy? How much impact will it have on Bei's body?" the patient's mother asked.

"We'll have to wait for the pathology results. If they're benign, there's nothing else we need to worry about, just focus on recovery," Liu Banxia said.

"If they're malignant, we'll then formulate a plan based on Bei's physical condition. Again, let's think positively."

"And as I mentioned, we discovered the issue early, so you can consider this as me taking some credit. Early detection and removal give it no chance to cause disturbance."

The situation has been explained; now it's time to say something comforting.

Regarding tumors, it's never easy for anyone to accept. It's the same for ordinary individuals and those of us who deal with tumors daily.

Even though we can explain things clearly to others, when it's our turn? We also deliberate and feel bewildered.

Isn't there a colleague scheduled for tumor removal tomorrow? He is a doctor too, and his lifestyle has been somewhat indulgent. But his indulgence differs from today's patient, as his self-indulgence is self-inflicted.

Tumors often grow rapidly after some form of stimulation, with the first barrier being your body's immunity.

The young man is paying for not taking care of his body. Fortunately, he was sent to the hospital in time today, or else a systemic myasthenic crisis could have quickly taken his life at home.

Could he wait for the ambulance with respiratory muscle paralysis?

After explaining everything to the couple, Liu Banxia returned to the operating room.

"I've calmed them down, now it all depends on his luck. If it's really malignant, what will the prognosis be like?" Liu Banxia asked.

"The five-year and ten-year prognoses are still quite good, now it all depends on the pathology results. I'll take more samples around the area to do a comprehensive assessment," Chen Xuehai said.

"If he hadn't been reckless, there shouldn't have been any issues. Later, advise his parents well, even if it's removed entirely, they still need to be cautious in the future."

"You know very well what the prognosis rates are like. Those are statistical probabilities, if he's careless, any disease could be fatal,"

"Don't worry, we don't even need to say much about this. After experiencing this incident, they will surely be more cautious," Liu Banxia said.

"Being the only child in the family, he not only needs to survive but also consider passing on the family line. They only realized this late, otherwise, education on this knowledge would have been essential for them, instead of indulgence."

Chen Xuehai didn't continue speaking and resumed his operation.

Ding! Surgery task complete.

Gained 300 experience points, thymus-related surgical skill proficiency increased by 400 points.

Liu Banxia felt a bit disheartened that despite his hard work on tasks, a single surgery didn't offer more experience points. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

No wonder this time the task was not rated and there was no Glory Points reward. The biggest root cause was myself; I misunderstood the real intent of the open-ended mission.

I completely took the term "open-ended" literally, thinking it would require a level of diagnostic accuracy, and that accurate diagnosis would bring high rewards.

Actually, this wasn't necessarily a bad thing, it's just that I've always had smooth sailing, completing the tasks issued by the system easily, so I never experienced what it would be like to have a low completion rate on this type of open-ended task.

Today I experienced it. Even though the system indicates the task is completed, it practically equates to failure. The reward I received for the task was really just the lowest level of the guaranteed reward.

I was misled by the complexity of this young man's situation. Although the final result wasn't off, the system's recognition was quite low.

In the first diagnosis, there was actually a misjudgment.

With the patient's condition, if I had more experience, I should have analyzed the reduced red blood cells and addressed that problem.

After all, the patient already showed symptoms of muscle weakness and I mistakenly assumed it was due to fatigue.

"What's wrong with you today? Why are you so absent-minded?" Chen Xuehai curiously asked.

"Not much, just felt like I almost delayed this patient," Liu Banxia said.

"If he hadn't later developed a myasthenic crisis, dealing with these four small tumors in the future would not be so simple."

"It was really close, just a tiny bit away from a mishap. Maybe it would happen a few years later, maybe they'd forget they ever came to see us. But we can't act like nothing happened, right?"

"This is actually a normal phenomenon, often we can only make certain inferences based on the symptoms presented," Chen Xuehai said.

"I'm not just comforting you. Take thymoma, for instance. The true cause is still unclear. Many conditions are like this, with unknown causes."

"As doctors, we can't expect to handle everything. Discovering and solving as many problems as possible is enough."

"Let's put it this way, you can't diagnose every ailment in every patient who comes to see you. You can only diagnose what's presented."

"No one's body can endure this kind of lifestyle. It's only due to his family's better conditions and adequate nutrition that things aren't worse."

"Thymoma, liver failure, kidney failure, severe anemia, myasthenia gravis, even bleeding, these are all potential occurrences. By the time we'd want to save him, it might be too late."

"That's the rationale, but I'll still have to reflect. I'm going to check out the VIP area and see how the young lady is doing," Liu Banxia nodded.

Chen Xuehai didn't bother with him. He had experienced similar situations before. If you're really indifferent and don't think about anything, not only are you not a competent doctor, but also you shouldn't expect much advancement in your medical skills.

What is the accumulation of experience? Your experience includes not only the successful ones but the failures too. These failures can impact you deeply and help you improve more significantly.

Take today's patient, his case was indeed very complex and unique.

Steroid abuse, chaotic personal life, and ultra-small thymomas, any of these could affect the diagnosis of his condition.

Most of the time, such minuscule thymomas won't impact a person's normal life, but for him, it belonged to that rare group.

He even thought that maybe it's precisely due to the steroid abuse and indulgent lifestyle that provoked the tumor.

It's just that such causal relationships are not always clear, this is the result of multiple factors working together.

Many hands make light work, and it put the young man into this situation.

"Chairman Bao, Rou's spirit is quite good," Liu Banxia said with a smile upon entering the ward.

"Is the surgery over? How did it go?" Bao Chunlai asked.

"There were four thymomas, removed them directly, but we'll still have to wait for the pathology results," Liu Banxia replied.

"His current situation is a bit complex, so we'll send him to the ICU for a night. If there's no issue, he can be transferred back tomorrow to be taken over by the thoracic surgery team."

"Sigh... so there really was a tumor," Bao Chunlai sighed as well.

"Immunity, that's a very important indicator. Rou will need to eat more meat and vegetables in the future, eat well to maintain good health," Liu Banxia remarked.

"I don't eat as much as Dr. Liu," Rou glanced at him and said.

"Haha, just do your best. Liu Yiqing already eats a lot more than when she first came," Liu Banxia said happily.

His mood improved considerably. Rou's spirit was indeed better; she even dared to chat with him. Such a performance indicates effective treatment and noticeable improvement in her mental state.