System Came When the Doctor was Thirty

”Going straight to open laparotomy is the right call, laparoscopy here would definitely be bullshit.”

Dai Linfang went on, ”Right now the hematoma’s already cleared, and I’ve dealt with the splenic blood supply. You just take out the steel bar, then do the subsequent splenic repair.”

”Based on the data you sent me, I still think preserving the spleen is feasible.”

”Otherwise I’d have just gone ahead and cut it out.”

The Spleen Removal Surgery isn’t technically that hard; Dai Linfang can finish two spleens in an hour.

”I know you’ve secretly picked up the skills for laparoscopic Splenectomy, but our team still has higher ambitions, right?”

”Laparoscopic spleen repair is what really fits your temperament, Dai Linfang.” After getting familiar with him, Lu Cheng also knew how to talk to Dai Linfang to make him feel more comfortable, body and mind.

You could say that for the past few decades, Dai Linfang has always lived under the spotlight, with a genius halo on him, being the center of attention.

It wasn’t until after he got his PhD that reality smacked him hard, blocking him at every turn, so much so that now he’s forced to lie low in this little place, Xiangzhou People’s Hospital.

No choice. A few days ago, Lu Cheng heard from him that his family might be losing power.

And he’s actually used some of his family connections to trade for resources; if he doesn’t want to get dragged down with them, he has to go make contributions in some remote area.

Xiangxi counts as a remote region, but not really that remote. If he can put down roots here,

then he won’t get investigated and ”pulled up by the roots”!

Looking at it from the big picture, when someone like Dai Linfang has already reached this level of awareness, why would you still go after him?

He’s a PhD after all, and a rare surgeon at that. There aren’t many PhDs, technically strong surgeons, who are willing to go work in remote areas, right?

”And don’t you provoke me. Give me another two or three months at most, I really can master laparoscopic Spleen Preservation Surgery.”

Dai Linfang snapped, ”If it’s just about learning, I’m not scared of that Professor Chen Song you respect so much.”

Dai Linfang is younger than Chen Song, and he learns faster. He’s not trying to reinvent anything; as long as he studies step by step, he really doesn’t take Chen Song seriously.

As long as the resources are enough and the time is enough, he figures he can surpass Associate Professor Chen Song sooner or later.

Even if there’s a seven- or eight-year age gap between them!

”That’d be great. If you can pull that off, I’ll definitely treat you to drinks, any kind of booze you want.”

”I’m not trying to needle you, I genuinely think this kind of surgery suits your style.”

”You know I don’t lie.” Lu Cheng stepped up to the operating table and took the scalpel.

Finally, the guys holding up the frame couldn’t hold back anymore: ”Doctors, could you maybe take this steel bar out first, and chat later?”

The anesthesiologist coughed once and said lazily, ”Let them talk. If those two ever stop talking, that’s about when this guy is almost gone.”

”What’s there to rush?”

”When things get tense, who has the mind to chat?”

The anesthesiologist instantly shut the big guys up, but Lu Cheng and Dai Linfang also stopped their banter.

Carefully, he made an extra incision in the outer splenic capsule, then dissected down layer by layer. With Lu Cheng’s current Incision Skill, this was pretty easy to do.

In just a few minutes, Lu Cheng said, ”Everyone, exert force together, I’m going to pull the steel bar out.”

”You guys absolutely cannot let that bar jab back down and cause a secondary injury.”

”Don’t worry, doctor, with this little weight, the three of us can definitely lift it.”

”We’re just afraid of using too much force. Just now, it was this doctor who taught us how to counter-force and stabilize the frame…”

The three of them basically used a three-man squeeze posture to lift this ’cage’ about half a meter wide!

”In a moment, move slowly in the direction my finger’s pointing!”

”Move your hands, not your feet, follow the direction of the force I’m pushing—got that?” Lu Cheng checked.

If he loosened the steel bar a bit and these guys suddenly dropped their force, making the cage slam onto the ground and tilt up—

then that’d be it, and the surgery would be easier. Just cut the spleen and be done.

The men all nodded.

”Listen for my count—one, two, three, move…” Lu Cheng pulled the steel bar out.

Dai Linfang promptly stuffed in a piece of gauze soaked with normal saline.

Once the cage and the steel bar were out of the way, Lu Cheng inspected the splenic cavity again. The spleen had lost its taut surface, poked into a limp, flabby lump, with almost no bleeding…

So Lu Cheng stripped off his gloves and ordered, ”Cover the wound, re-disinfect, re-drape, scrub, and film!”

With the steel bar in place, there was no way to maintain sterility. Now that it was out, they had to go back to full sterile protocol.

In an emergency you save the life first, but once you can, sterile technique has to be taken to the extreme, to minimize infection risk and severity.

About an hour later, using his Suturing Technique, Lu Cheng finished the internal repair and suturing of the spleen.

Meeting the eager look in Dai Linfang’s eyes, he said, ”Alright then, you take the outer capsule!~”

”Brother Dai, I actually watched you practice before. That big-mouthed Professor Qu never keeps anything to himself.”

”Fuck.” Dai Linfang cursed lightly, then started taking over.

Lu Cheng left the table and headed out again from the emergency OR toward the surgical building.

There was still a near-destruction level amputated limb case over there; Lu Cheng certainly hadn’t forgotten.

It’s just that trauma center work is his real job, while here he’s helping out, playing in the wild. Which comes first is something he has to be clear about.

And he’d already given Director Xiang Dahong a heads-up: if Xiang Dahong can’t tell the priorities apart on this, then in Lu Cheng’s mind, the guy’s career might as well be sentenced to death.

...

Hand Surgery Department, operating room.

What it looked like when Lu Cheng left was pretty much what it looked like when he came back.

For Wound Cleaning Skill in a limb-destruction injury, if your touch isn’t refined enough, your theory isn’t solid enough, you simply can’t tell where needs debridement, how to handle the fine points, how to clean, and what level of debridement you’re aiming for.

In fact, Xiang Dahong had tried, but with his current theoretical understanding, he felt like almost everything needed cutting.

So he just stopped.

All Xiang Dahong did was clean up the course of the vessels and nerves and mark them, then he put the operation on hold.

When Lu Cheng came back in, both Xiang Dahong and Shi Changjian were even more enthusiastic: ”Dr. Lu, you’re here.”

”Circulating nurse, get the tourniquet ready!” Xiang Dahong immediately tensed up and started directing the circulating nurse.

He’d already arranged high-end box lunches in the morning, and the circulating nurse quickly got up.

Social rules in the OR are simple and pure: as long as you’re willing to treat people to a meal, most things are easy to get along about.

Taking the scalpel, Lu Cheng asked in a low voice, ”Director Xiang, what have you done so far?”

This is a perfectly normal surgical handover.

Xiang Dahong said, ”Dr. Lu, I basically didn’t dare touch anything.”

”I just couldn’t see what I was allowed to touch!~ It felt like everything needed work.” He spoke frankly.

It was exactly because of this that he admired Lu Cheng even more.

What Lu Cheng can do—what others can’t—is on a whole different tier.

In a typical prefecture-level hospital, what department heads pursue as ”what others can’t” is no more than this: for some procedures, others can only do open surgery, but I can do minimally invasive;

for some procedures, others hit 70 out of 100, but I can reach over 80.

And the one who can do over 80, across the whole State and whole city, might be just me.

Someone like Lu Cheng, where it’s literally ”only I know how, and you all can only stand there watching”—is almost nonexistent, right?

Medicine advances fast, but learning medicine is slow!

Medical progress is also very gradual. Every step forward is slow grinding work, requiring huge amounts of time and effort soaking in it before you can break through.

”Then I’ll just go ahead according to my own line of thought.” Lu Cheng took over calmly, which also gave Director Xiang full face.

Finally, Xiang Dahong switched to an honorific: ”Please do as you see fit!~”

No wonder the trauma surgery director, Wu Xiang, respects Lu Cheng so much, and no wonder Director Liu Jun also treats him so politely.

These old guys must have all personally experienced how hard Limb Preservation Surgery for destruction injuries is, and know full well how tough it is for Renmin Hospital in Xiangzhou to master it.

So if Lu Cheng can perform it—even if he only knows part of it—in the eyes of these old-timers who know its value, that alone deserves respect.

Limb Preservation Surgery for destruction injuries is a true technique, a solid, high-end medical skill.

It’s not just some empty fancy name; it’s not a bullshit paper used to brag, or some other made-up metric to label someone as impressive.