Chapter 309: Chapter 309
(Thanks to my friends Destiny’s Cycle and Book Friend 20191123092721288 for their rewards and encouragement, and to Moxi of Fleeting Years, Jiaqi in the Sunshine, Waiting on the Spot, Golden Rose, Wind’s Thoughts, Blue Fatty Q, and Book Friend 20190108154929543 for their encouraging monthly passes.) Chapters fırst released on 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭•𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙚•𝕟𝕖𝕥
The surgery continued. It had now been in progress for six hours and thirty-eight minutes. For Liu Banxia and Shi Lei, the physical exertion was enormous.
Their arduous work paid off: the patient’s abdominal adhesions had been completely cleared by the two of them.
"Brother Wang, how’s the patient?" asked Liu Banxia.
"There don’t seem to be any problems for now, but the surgery has already taken a significant amount of time. You’ll have to speed up the upcoming fistula creation," said Wang Lei.
"Boss, you’re more familiar with this procedure than I am. I’ll be your first assistant; you take the lead," Liu Banxia said.
"Okay." Shi Lei didn’t hesitate at all.
He did indeed have more surgical experience in this area than Liu Banxia. The current Liu Banxia couldn’t afford to waste precious Glory Points practicing ostomy creation techniques in the dream space.
Assisting now was essentially another opportunity to learn from Shi Lei.
What else could he do? Even though he was adept at some surgeries, it was only because he had put in the effort and received specific training. There were so many surgical methods; even if he spent all his Glory Points in the dream space, he couldn’t expect to master them all.
"Boss, do you think his chances of pulling through will increase once he’s moved to the ICU?" Liu Banxia asked.
"Who can say for sure? We can only hope. Otherwise, all our hard work over these many hours would be wasted," Shi Lei said.
"But even if he pulls through, we’ll need to monitor for recurrent abdominal adhesions in the coming months. He wouldn’t be able to withstand radiotherapy or chemotherapy after such a major surgery."
"Sigh... That’s what I’m worried about too," Liu Banxia said with a bitter smile. "The adhesions are just so severe."
"We supposedly ’cleared them all,’ but how could we possibly not have missed a tiny bit? It’s already down to the molecular level; what can we do about that?"
"We could resect some parts of the liver’s edge, but who would dare touch the spleen or kidneys? Honestly, I’m starting to regret this. We shouldn’t have tried to be heroes. We should have just told the patient we couldn’t do it, and that would have been that."
"Even if it’s successful, his life would be a constant shuttle between home and the hospital. The suffering he’d endure... it wouldn’t necessarily be any less than if he didn’t get treatment."
"Stop with that kind of talk," said Shi Lei. "Where would doctors go to get regret medicine? Even if the patient were to choose again, our instinct is still to try and save them."
"You lot, don’t be influenced by him. He’s just a kid, not yet thinking maturely. When we come to the hospital, we are doctors. We are here to serve our patients. The patient’s choice is our directive."
The interns responded in unison, startling Shi Lei a little.
"Not bad, right?" Liu Banxia said with a smile. "These are the people I trained, after all."
"Actually, we really should have done this surgery in the teaching operating room and let others observe. There’s a lot of experience that could be shared, especially since there are many patients with intra-abdominal adhesions."
"How do you know that no one’s watching? Are the cameras in the operating room just for decoration?" Shi Lei retorted.
Liu Banxia was taken aback. He looked up and noticed two cameras near the shadowless lamp.
"You’ve been at the Second Hospital for so long and you didn’t know this? Not all teaching ORs have observation windows; that’s a waste of space," Shi Lei added.
Xu Yino and the others were delighted to see Liu Banxia being so obedient after Shi Lei’s criticism.
The people watching on the screens were also deeply moved.
Just as Shi Lei had said, this operating room also had an observation room, though they couldn’t see directly into the OR itself, only view it via screens.
The effect was actually the same; even in an OR with an observation room, you’d still need screens to see the detailed surgical maneuvers.
Such a challenging and complex surgery was bound to draw the hospital’s attention.
It just meant that Liu Banxia hadn’t been at the Second Hospital long enough, and also because he was previously inconspicuous. After making a bit of a name for himself, he had been holed up in the Emergency Department, so he wasn’t very familiar with these things.
DING! Surgery complete.
Experience Gained: 600 points. Diagnosis Skill Proficiency: 300 points. Dressing Change Skill Proficiency: 500 points. Suture Skill Proficiency: 200 points. Intestinal Surgery Skill Proficiency: 500 points. Glory Points: 5.
Surgery Rating: Perfect.
Experience Gained: 1,000 points. Diagnosis Skill Proficiency: 300 points. Dressing Change Skill Proficiency: 800 points. Suture Skill Proficiency: 500 points. Intestinal Surgery Skill Proficiency: 500 points. Glory Points: 10.
Congratulations, Host’s Diagnosis Skill has been promoted to Level 4 (50,297/99,999).
Looking at the system prompts, Liu Banxia was stunned. He just stood there, dumbfounded, his mind momentarily blank.
He’d always thought that ever since the system upgrade, earning experience and skill points would become more challenging, and the system’s rewards would decrease.
In reality, that wasn’t the case at all. It wasn’t that the system was more stringent or gave fewer rewards; it was simply that the difficulty of the surgeries hadn’t been high enough.
What were today’s rewards? Although the ratio was similar to when he first acquired the system, by his current standards, they could be described as massive.
Especially for intestinal surgery; he hadn’t participated much today, yet the skill proficiency awarded was truly substantial.
Why was this? Was it because he had carefully observed Shi Lei’s operation? During the procedure, Shi Lei had also meticulously explained it to the interns, which had further deepened his own understanding of this type of surgery.
This was something he had always overlooked: he had steadfastly believed that as his abilities improved, only his own practical application could yield gains.
Actually, that wasn’t entirely true. Whether it was his own practice or observing others’ teaching, the most important measure was how much one could gain.
When he was messing around in the dream space, even if he gained some skill points, they were very few; it mainly strengthened his manual dexterity.
After he had matured a little, he focused more on reading books, wanting to understand cases through his own methods.
It wasn’t that this approach was wrong, but the areas it helped were largely in diagnostics. His surgical operating skills, however, would be much weaker in this regard.
This was why, among all his skills, his Diagnosis Skill was far ahead. This wasn’t just because he saw many patients.
The most crucial reason was that during consultations, he could integrate the knowledge learned from books with the patients’ conditions.
Having figured this out, he felt a sense of sudden enlightenment. It wasn’t that the system had become stricter; it was partly because his own level had improved, and partly because his learning methods were incorrect.
He would have to adjust his approach in the future. Although not every patient could bring such massive rewards, it was still better than his previous half-hearted efforts. Life is a constant learning process; every patient could teach him something new.
"What are you doing?" Seeing Liu Banxia standing there in a daze, Shi Lei nudged him.
"Nothing much, just a bit tired. Nearly nine hours... it’s even more exhausting than when I did those back-to-back surgeries," Liu Banxia lied.
"That’s pretty common. He’s your patient, so you go talk to the family. I’ll go coordinate with the ICU. Then we meet in the cafeteria? Dinner’s on you," Shi Lei asked.
"Haha, absolutely no problem! Kids, let’s go! At least this stage has been a success for us, which is good news for both the patient and their family," Liu Banxia declared, punching the air.
He then realized that he hadn’t taken off his gloves yet.
He was also a bit rueful now; the difference in stamina between him and Shi Lei was quite significant. He had secretly chugged a vial of Vitality Agent to restore his stamina mid-surgery, while Shi Lei, however, had endured it all through sheer willpower.
My stamina is so pathetic. It seems my future enhancement focus will have to lean towards stamina.
The agent’s effects were indeed excellent and potent, but it was a consumable. A solid increase in attribute points—that was true improvement.
He was still lost in thought when Xu Yino’s question interrupted him: "Teacher Liu, what’s wrong now?"
"It’s nothing, just a minor issue," Liu Banxia replied.
Xu Yino didn’t press further out of curiosity and turned to chat animatedly with the others.
Today, they had witnessed the power of fundamental skills. The complex maneuvers in the initial phase were a true test of these fundamentals, and both Liu Banxia and Shi Lei had persevered.
As observers, they had a clearer view. In terms of this aspect of skill, Liu Banxia was slightly superior to Shi Lei. No wonder people said Teacher Liu was the Second Hospital’s fastest hand; it wasn’t an exaggeration.
Teacher Liu’s hands were not only fast but also incredibly steady. He wielded scalpels of all sizes with practiced ease. His mastery of surgical instruments was also beyond that of ordinary people; no wonder he was so formidable.
"The surgery is complete, and fortunately, it was successful," Liu Banxia said after stepping outside. "However, the patient still needs to be transferred to the ICU. As I mentioned during the pre-operative briefing, the upcoming period is also very critical."
At this moment, other than expressing their gratitude, the patient’s family had nothing else to say.
Throughout the long wait, their hearts had been in their throats. As the surgery time increased, their anxiety had only mounted. Next was the ICU’s responsibility. For now, it had little to do with the Emergency Department. Only if the patient made a fortunate recovery and passed the critical period would they be transferred back to the Emergency ward.
Liu Banxia was in an excellent mood today. Not only was the surgery a success, but it also gave him new insights into his future development—a double victory.
He also grumbled internally that it was because the system lacked an instruction manual; it was inevitable that he would stumble and falter during its use.
But that didn’t matter. Now that he had figured out the way, it would be much more convenient in the future. Patients would no longer have to worry about his medical skills being inadequate. Wherever he was lacking, he would strengthen it.
This strengthening referred not only to his four attributes but also to his overall medical skill level.