Chapter 306: Chapter 306
"What are you thinking about?" Wang Huan asked.
"Nothing specific. I was just considering this patient’s case; it’s quite interesting," Liu Banxia said with a smile.
"What makes it interesting?" Wang Huan’s curiosity was piqued.
"Well, look at those two. No matter how you look at it, they seem like people from two entirely different worlds," Liu Banxia remarked.
"The girls took me shopping to thank me last time. I noticed that the young woman’s clothes, shoes, bag, and watch all look pretty expensive."
"So what? You’re not going to look at them with old-fashioned eyes, are you?" Wang Huan laughed.
"Heh, at first, I thought the same. I figured it was true love. But then it occurred to me, if it *is* true love, wouldn’t she insist on him getting the necessary checks, even if they ’know’ the seizures are caused by chemotherapy?" Liu Banxia said.
"For the young man, it might be due to financial constraints, so he’s hesitant to spend the money. But for the young woman, would a few hundred bucks really matter?"
"Put it this way, she could probably save enough for the check-up by skipping one expensive meal. Considering the patient’s obvious surprise earlier, I find this whole situation rather interesting."
"It’s true that some patients undergoing chemotherapy don’t need infusion pumps, but the likelihood is very small. Some chemotherapy drugs aren’t just administered over 24 hours; they sometimes need to be given continuously for several days."
"Anyway, I can’t quite figure out what’s going on. Let’s wait for the blood test results; those won’t lie. Today has been quite depressing, so a little intrigue is welcome."
"This Li Xue case is really weighing on me," Wang Huan commented.
Liu Banxia frowned. "There’s nothing we can do. The adhesions are just too severe. By my estimate, just dealing with those adhesions will take more than five hours."
"And that’s assuming everything goes smoothly and the infection hasn’t invaded too many organs. If the patient manages to survive that, we still have to deal with the rectal tumor and create an ostomy."
"That’s eight to nine hours at a bare minimum. I won’t even get into the cost. The prognosis will still be poor, and the risk of various complications will increase exponentially."
Wang Huan nodded. "Yes, that’s the reality of it. This is truly fighting for one’s life. If she wins, she might live a few more years. If she loses, she might not even make it off the operating table."
He was well aware of Liu Banxia’s capabilities; his skill in super debridement was considerable. For Liu Banxia to say it would take this long meant the situation was truly dire.
"What’s wrong? Why the long face?" Liu Banxia asked curiously, seeing Liang Xiaolin walk over, pouting.
"It’s that patient from before!" Liang Xiaolin said. "He keeps saying it’s for his girlfriend’s good, that he’s fine, but he’s actually just trying to tie his girlfriend to him. What a scumbag!"
"Hey, don’t look at me when you say that; I’m not a scumbag," Liu Banxia said helplessly. "What did you hear? Share it with us."
"His girlfriend offered to pay for his check-up, but he flatly refused," Liang Xiaolin explained. "He said he couldn’t let people look down on him, that if she paid, she’d be pushing him to his death, and he wouldn’t be able to face anyone back home."
"Well... that’s somewhat understandable, isn’t it? Perhaps he’s just a bit too chauvinistic, with an overly strong sense of pride," Liu Banxia said.
"I wasn’t finished!" Liang Xiaolin continued. "He’s already had several seizures; his girlfriend is worried sick about him."
"Is saving face really that important? His girlfriend is a bit older than him, and working in a large company isn’t as easy as he might think. She’s already missed two promotion opportunities because of him."
"One was an opportunity to be a deputy general manager of a branch office, which would have required her to move to another city, but she couldn’t bear to leave him. Even if upper management values you, if you can’t contribute to the company, you’ll eventually be sidelined."
"Tsk, tsk. I didn’t expect our Doctor Liang to have such an overflowing sense of justice," Liu Banxia said, stroking his chin.
"Yes, it seems there really is something going on here," Wang Huan added with a smile.
Liang Xiaolin was a bit dumbfounded, unsure what to make of the situation. She was just venting her frustration; why were these two reacting ?
"Teacher Liu, here’s the blood test report for that patient," the intern nurse said, bringing it over after a short wait.
Liu Banxia glanced at it and chuckled. "Brother Wang, take a look. His transaminase levels are a bit high. Otherwise, his other values look like he could be healthier than many doctors. Isn’t this interesting?"
"That can’t be right! How can his transaminase levels be high? Hasn’t he been off chemotherapy for a while now?" Liang Xiaolin asked in surprise before Wang Huan could speak.
Her surprise was understandable; transaminase levels are an important indicator of a person’s health.
There are many types of transaminases in the human body. However, tests primarily measure two types: alanine transaminase (ALT) and aspartate transaminase (AST). These are essential catalysts for normal liver function.
A healthy person will not have elevated transaminase levels. These enzymes are released into the bloodstream only when the liver is damaged or overworked.
Medications, physical trauma, and inflammation can all cause liver damage, leading to increased transaminase levels in the blood.
It has been a long time since this patient’s last chemotherapy session. If the drugs were still having such an effect after all this time, causing such significant liver damage, it would be like losing a thousand of your own soldiers to kill eight hundred of the enemy—the treatment would be doing more harm than good.
All drugs have a certain concentration in the body. The purpose of chemotherapy, in layman’s terms, is to fight poison with poison. While it kills cancer cells, it also kills healthy cells, placing a burden on the body.
However, the ultimate goal is to prolong the patient’s life. If we interpret these current test results literally, it would mean the treatment would kill the patient before it killed the cancer cells.
Is that saving a life? No doctor would prescribe such a treatment.
"Our patient is quite interesting, presenting so many conflicting signs. Intriguing indeed," Liu Banxia said with a smile. Thıs content belongs to 𝔫𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔩⟡𝘧𝙞𝙧𝙚⟡𝘯𝘦𝘵
"Brother Wang, considering our responsibility to the patient, don’t you think we should run a toxicology screen? He’s listless, experiencing hair loss, and having seizures. I can’t shake the feeling he might have been accidentally exposed to some toxic substance."
"Hmm... a test is certainly necessary. But the key question is, what will you do after you get the results? If it confirms your suspicions, will you tell his girlfriend?" Wang Huan countered.
This gave Liu Banxia pause. The test itself is straightforward, but what then? Should he just be an observer, or should he get involved in their personal affairs?
"Doctor Wang, what are you two talking about? I’m a bit lost," Liang Xiaolin asked, looking troubled.
"Banxia suspects the patient is faking it to deceive his girlfriend. The current blood test results support his theory. If that’s true, what would you do?" Wang Huan said with a smile.
"You have a point. I suppose I was worrying about things that aren’t my business," Liu Banxia said with a wry smile.
"But we can’t just leave it at that, can we? She doesn’t deserve to have her life tied to such a scumbag!" Liang Xiaolin protested.
"But what if we’re wrong? What if there’s some other hidden reason?" Liu Banxia asked.
"What’s so complicated about it? We just tell them our diagnostic suspicion and let them decide what to do. It’s their business," Liang Xiaolin said.
"Our current diagnostic hypothesis is that he might have been exposed to a toxic substance, right? That’s why we need to do a toxicology screen. Doesn’t that imply he could be encountering it in his daily life or at work?"
"Sigh... I don’t know if it’s because you’ve been spending too much time with Qiaoqiao. If it were Qiaoqiao, I could understand it, but for you to be this fired up is quite rare," Liu Banxia sighed.
Liang Xiaolin wrinkled her nose. She didn’t care what Liu Banxia said; she was determined to see this through today.
She wasn’t a feminist, but she knew that women often have to work harder to advance in their careers.
And this young woman, who clearly had a bright future, seemed to be completely deceived by this scumbag boyfriend.
Liu Banxia, holding the lab report, walked over to the patient’s bedside. "Looking at your current blood test results, we’ve indeed found a few issues."
"Certain values in your blood test are elevated. Have you taken any medications recently? Because your liver function tests indicate some liver damage."
"Er... no, I haven’t taken any other medication. It must be from the chemotherapy. The doctor said it would damage not only liver function but also kidney function," the patient said after a moment’s hesitation.
"It’s been a long time since your last chemotherapy session," Liu Banxia said seriously. "If it’s still having such an impact, then either the previous doctor prescribed the wrong medication or the wrong dosage, or you might have come into contact with some toxic substance at work."
"Regardless of which reason it is, we are obligated to report and investigate. If the wrong dosage was used, that’s medical malpractice, which is tantamount to intentionally harming a patient for financial gain."
"If there are harmful substances in your work environment, then your seizures are not an isolated incident, and other people at your renovation company could also be at risk."
"Ah! I remember now! I took some cephalosporin," the patient suddenly exclaimed.
"When did you take it? Last night or this morning?" Liu Banxia asked, feigning a thoughtful expression. "If you took it last night, it should have been metabolized by now. If it was this morning, the drug concentration in your system should be at its peak right about now."
"Could it be an adverse reaction to the cephalosporin? If so, we’ll need to run some tests. Some people are indeed allergic to it."
"Just the day before yesterday, a patient right here in our hospital died from toxic epidermal necrolysis triggered by an allergic reaction to metronidazole. Their family even hung a protest banner outside the hospital entrance. So, we need to be absolutely certain."