I Am Diagnosed as a Medical Titan

Chapter 185: Chapter 138: We Are All Mortals (Part 2)

Yang Xu paused, then turned to look at the hallway outside the isolation glass. ”His wife and daughter are right outside. The daughter just started her senior year of high school. I heard he kept on driving despite his fever because he wanted to save more money to send his daughter to study abroad.”

Jiang He’s heart sank.

’Even though I’d grown accustomed to life and death in my past life, stories like this always stirred up an indescribable mix of feelings.’

Just then, the patient monitor suddenly let out a long, piercing alarm!

[BP: 50/30... plummeting...]

[HR: 160... 180...]

[SpO2: 60%... 55%...]

Old Lin’s body convulsed on the hospital bed, and then his chest stopped rising and falling.

”Defibrillator! Prep an epinephrine IV push!”

Yang Xu roared, ripping open Old Lin’s hospital gown. He interlaced his hands, placed them on Old Lin’s sternum, and began chest compressions.

A nurse quickly wheeled over the defibrillator, applied conductive gel, and charged it to 200 joules.

”Clear!”

THUMP!

The monitor still showed a chaotic V-fib waveform.

”Resume compressions! Push one milligram of epinephrine!”

Yang Xu clenched his teeth, his head beaded with sweat.

Time ticked by, second by second.

Old Lin’s vitals plummeted into an abyss.

Conventional resuscitation methods seemed utterly futile in the face of such a violent cytokine storm.

Jiang He stared at the ECG and the ventilator’s pressure waveforms, his mind racing.

Finally, he said:

”Sir, conventional ventilation and resuscitation are useless! We have to put him on ECMO immediately! V-A mode, to take over his heart and lung function. It’s the only way to stabilize his circulation!”

Yang Xu didn’t stop the compressions as he shouted back, ”The department only has one ECMO machine! And is there even time for cannulation? He won’t last five minutes!”

In 2008, ECMO was still an extremely cutting-edge and expensive life support technology. The number of people in the entire Affiliated Hospital No. 1 who could skillfully perform an emergency bedside cannulation could be counted on one hand.

Moreover, performing a blind cannulation during active CPR was a feat of near-impossible difficulty.

”We can do it, Sir,” Jiang He said. ”I’ll help you. This is the only way!”

Yang Xu shot Jiang He a sharp look.

Beneath the thick protective suit and goggles, he saw a pair of incredibly calm eyes.

In an instant, Yang Xu chose to trust him without reservation.

’This is Jiang He, my own student! With him here, we can do this!’

”Old Liu, take over chest compressions! Chen Jing, get the ECMO machine! Prep the cannulation kit! Get the heparin ready!”

Yang Xu quickly moved aside, taking the sterile gloves and scalpel a nurse handed him.

The machine was wheeled to the bedside.

Jiang He took his position at Old Lin’s right groin, acting as the crucial first assistant.

”Femoral artery. My index fingertip is the landmark. Go 0.5 centimeters medial.”

”Insert the needle. Thirty-degree angle, 2.5 centimeters deep!”

The blind cannulation began.

Yang Xu’s movements were fluid and practiced, without a hint of hesitation.

Flashback! Bright red!

”Dilator.”

”Femoral vein. At my middle finger. Perpendicular insertion.”

The surgeon and his first assistant displayed a terrifying level of synergy and efficiency.

Before the shocked eyes of every nurse and doctor present, Yang Xu rapidly completed the dual cannulation of the femoral artery and vein.

”Connect the lines! De-air! Start the centrifugal pump!”

Dark red blood was drawn out through the drainage line, passed through the membrane oxygenator, and returned, bright red, into Old Lin’s body through the arterial line.

Jiang He kept his eyes glued to the monitor.

Five seconds.

Ten seconds.

Thirty seconds.

The blood pressure slowly climbed back to 90/60.

The V-fib waves vanished, replaced by a sinus rhythm.

Everyone in the trauma bay let out a long, collective sigh of relief.

But Jiang He didn’t relax.

His gaze was locked on the oxygen saturation levels and the screen of the bedside X-ray machine.

The ECMO was running, and circulation was stable.

But... his blood oxygen was still only at 75%.

Jiang He walked over to the ventilator, glanced at the parameters, and said, ”Sir, it’s not working. The airway resistance hasn’t dropped at all.”

Yang Xu walked over as well. After seeing the data on the screen, his expression grew grim.

Jiang He turned and looked at the latest bedside chest film.

The image was devastating.

On the X-ray, Old Lin’s lungs showed an absolutely terrifying, dense, high-opacity shadow—white lung.

Furthermore, it indicated severe diffuse alveolar damage and consolidation.

Simply put, the cytokine storm had filled his alveoli with a jelly-like exudate, causing the entire lung to lose its elasticity, becoming as hard as a pair of rocks.

ECMO could indeed take the place of the lungs for gas exchange.

But that was only on the condition that the patient’s own body could still handle blood circulation, or that the lungs had a chance of recovery.

But now, Old Lin’s capillary network had completely collapsed. Oxygen was completely unable to enter his tissue cells.

Multiple organs were heading toward irreversible failure.

Even with knowledge that surpassed this era, even with surgical intuition at its absolute peak...

...Jiang He still couldn’t save a patient whose lungs had completely petrified.

A doctor could suture a ruptured blood vessel or resect an invasive tumor, but they could not fight against total apoptosis at the cellular level.

This was the ultimate helplessness of medicine.

It wasn’t for a lack of trying.

It was that humanity’s capabilities had reached the very limits of life itself.

「Ten minutes later.」

Old Lin’s pupils were fully dilated.

The ECG once again became a flat line.

This time, not even the ECMO’s centrifugal pump could maintain the slightest trace of life.

A deathly silence fell over the trauma bay.

Yang Xu closed his eyes and let out a long, deep sigh.

He reached out and slowly pressed the stop button on the ECMO machine.

”Note the time. Call it.”

Jiang He stood by the bedside, his hands hanging limp at his sides.

The clothes inside his protective suit were soaked through, clinging to his back.