This Doctor Is Too Wealthy

Alright, enough talk. I’ll notify you when the interview starts, and we’ll go together.”

Du Heng wanted to decline, but Li Jianwei hung up the phone without giving him a chance to make excuses.

Just as he was about to put away his phone, it rang again. It was a call from Yu Haiting.

Du Heng was puzzled. Why was such a small hospital calling?

However, as soon as he picked up, he heard Yu Haiting’s voice, a bit urgent, ”Dean, there’s a patient with heart failure on the second floor of the new building. Can you come and take a look?”

After hanging up, Du Heng hurried to the location without delay.

However, he was also curious. The people under him were getting bolder. Instead of immediately sending heart failure patients to the Municipal First Hospital, they actually dared to admit them. Of course, this was definitely a good thing for the Health Clinic. Daring to admit patients meant the doctors had confidence in their own skills, and with such experience, their progress would be faster.

Upon arriving, Du Heng saw the patient and, at first glance, felt he looked familiar. ”What’s going on?”

Yu Haiting’s old face flushed. He’d been on a streak of bad luck lately; nothing was going smoothly. Just a few days ago, he’d been punched twice, and the bruise at the corner of his mouth hadn’t completely faded. Now, another one like this today... it was really going to be the death of him.

”Dean, the patient is Zhang Liang. He was hospitalized two weeks ago for brucellosis. You were the one who judged at the time that it might be this disease.”

Du Heng had a flash of understanding. No wonder he looked familiar. It was that patient with brucellosis transmitted from sheep. ”Didn’t you all confirm the diagnosis with tests last time? What’s happening now?”

”After a week of hospitalization, the patient’s condition was controlled, with only some minor inflammation remaining. I had them go home to recuperate. An hour ago, the patient’s family called, saying he was having difficulty breathing, so we sent someone to pick him up. Initially, we thought it was just heart failure. After examination, we found generalized cardiomegaly, ventricular premature beats, Heart Function Level IV, Heart Failure Level III, a small amount of pleural effusion, arterial lesions, liver damage, and hypoalbuminemia.”

Du Heng was stunned. How could so many additional conditions appear just a week after discharge? Seeing Yu Haiting’s bitter-melon-like expression, he guessed it was probably due to their carelessness and an insufficiently thorough examination last time.

He then changed the subject, ”So, what’s the purpose of calling me here?”

Yu Haiting’s old face reddened again, but he brazened it out and said, ”Dean, see if you have any solutions. If you don’t, then we’ll have to quickly send him to the Municipal First Hospital. His heart failure is very severe; we can’t afford any delay.”

Du Heng looked speechlessly at Yu Haiting, and at Xiao Li and the others behind him. Now they know it can’t be delayed? What were they doing earlier? I was just thinking their skills had improved, that they’d gained confidence. Now, thinking about it, it’s a real slap in the face.

The restructuring he had discussed with Cui Guanghai was originally planned to start in April. Now, it seems it must begin immediately.

Du Heng didn’t say anything more to them, turning his serious attention to the patient. At this moment, the patient’s face was ashen, his expression listless. He seemed half-asleep, half-awake, his voice like a mosquito’s hum, and his lips and fingers were purplish-dark. He looked as if he could stop breathing at any moment.

Du Heng gently patted him. ”Can you hear me?”

The man on the hospital bed opened his eyes, his gaze hazy as he looked towards the sound, and mumbled indistinctly, ”I can hear.”

As long as he can hear and respond, that’s good. ”Where do you feel uncomfortable? Can you tell me?”

”Shortness of breath... my chest... it feels like a big rock is pressing on it, stifling and painful.”

The words weren’t very clear; Du Heng listened by piecing together sounds and guesses.

Seeing it was so difficult for the patient to speak, Du Heng didn’t ask further and began his examination directly.

Slightly lifting the patient’s clothes, he saw generalized pitting edema; the navel was protruding, and the chest was flat.

After observing this, Du Heng pulled the clothes back down. However, noticing the patient’s legs were unnaturally spread, a thought struck him. He then pulled down the patient’s pants and saw his testicles were swollen to the size of fists, lying conspicuously in his groin.

Well, now. Not only are his heart and liver damaged, but his kidneys are also severely affected. And looking at these symptoms, it’s already become substantial damage.

He glanced back at Yu Haiting and the others, anger smoldering within him.

Every glance at them fueled his anger. Du Heng decided not to look at them anymore and turned to inspect the patient’s tongue. It was purplish-dark, covered with dark purple blotches.

By now, Du Heng’s brow was deeply furrowed. But when he began to take the pulse, his expression changed yet again.

He felt the pulse beating between the muscles and tendons. The pulse was like a sparrow pecking for food: sometimes three to five rapid beats, then it would stop, then resume. There was no discernible pattern; it was simply chaotic.

Pecking Sparrow Pulse, one of the seven critical pulses, indicating that the spleen qi is about to be exhausted. Damn it! Two critical pulses in less than a month. This is quite something. Qi Cai’s seething cauldron pulse, cerebral hemorrhage—he didn’t make it. Now, a Pecking Sparrow Pulse. Who knows if this one can be saved. However, the main characteristic of the Pecking Sparrow Pulse is that the patient experiences recurrent cardiac arrest, which is why it was classified as a critical pulse in ancient times. In modern times, it doesn’t necessarily mean immediate death. But this patient currently has triple yin cold condensation, with qi transformation freezing. How did it evolve to this?

Based on the pulse and symptoms, it’s certain: the initial illness lost its connection to the exterior, allowing external pathogenic factors to deeply invade the five viscera. The deficient vital qi is unable to expel the pathogenic factor, which has become latent in the blood aspect, leading to yin exhaustion and yang collapse.

Du Heng asked Yu Haiting, ”Has the patient experienced any cardiac arrest so far?”

”No.”

That’s good. It means the patient’s vital qi is still present, and nothing critical should happen for a short while, giving him more room to maneuver.

”Is the patient’s family here?” Du Heng turned and asked again.

At this, the patient’s wife, who had been standing behind, came forward. ”I’m here.”

”I need to ask you, did the patient’s condition develop gradually, or did it happen suddenly?”

It would be best if this could be clarified; it would be very helpful for prescribing medication.

The patient’s wife said, ”He was fine for the past few days. Last night, he got up to go to the outside toilet. I told him to put on some clothes, but he wouldn’t listen. By morning, he started feeling chest tightness, and by noon, he couldn’t catch his breath.”

A cold? Got chilled?

Du Heng’s eyes lit up. He understood why the patient had developed triple yin cold condensation and the state of qi transformation freezing. The entire problem lay in those words: ’caught a cold.’ These two words became the key to the patient’s life or death. All diseases enter from the exterior to the interior; the ’exterior’ is both the path of entry for pathogenic factors and the path of exit. Last night, when he went out to urinate, cold evil invaded. His open pores immediately closed, obstructing the surface qi. The external pathogenic factor, having no way out, became the main reason for the triple burner’s qi transformation to freeze and for water to accumulate, causing swelling. The current situation is that the surface qi is obstructed, and the external pathogenic factor cannot get out. Yet, his own heart, liver, and kidneys are damaged and cannot withstand the assault of this external factor. This is a deadly predicament. Although he won’t die immediately, he won’t survive for long either. As long as the external pathogenic factor can be expelled, his damaged heart, liver, and kidneys might not necessarily prove fatal.

An idea immediately formed in Du Heng’s mind.

The treatment method would be similar to Li Qiuhua’s case last year: warm the interior to dispel cold, open the closed exterior, and then, ’open the door to expel the thief,’ allowing the latent pathogenic factor to be released to the exterior. This would be his chance for a turnaround. However, there is a slight difference from the treatment for Li Qiuhua. Li Qiuhua was first given the Extraordinary Heart-saving Decoction to revive her yang qi and save her life, followed by the Ephedra Decoction to ’open the door and expel the thief,’ invigorating blood circulation to treat the disease. But now, both steps have to be carried out simultaneously. Use ephedra and asarum to open the closed exterior; add cassia oil and five Poria to steam and activate the lower burner’s qi transformation for diuresis; use the Gua Lou Xie Bai White Spirit Decoction and Salvia Miltiorrhiza Drink to open the chest, dispel pathogenic factors, and break blood stasis; use musk to dispel foulness, open the orifices, and rescue from respiratory failure; and finally, use the Extraordinary Heart-saving Decoction to tonify qi and preserve life.

With a plan formulated, Du Heng began to give instructions, ”Buwei, prepare the Extraordinary Heart-saving Decoction, add ephedra...”

Wu Buwei quickly jotted down the prescription Du Heng recited, while the others just stood there, dumbfounded.

When Du Heng finished, Wu Buwei looked at the prescription and said, ”Senior Brother, how should the dosage for the Extraordinary Heart-saving Decoction be set? Do we follow the prescription for Li Qiuhua?”

Du Heng looked at the patient on the bed and pondered for a moment. His heart, liver, and kidneys are all damaged, and this cold has wreaked havoc. He might be in an even more critical condition than Li Qiuhua was. If too little aconite is used, with such extensive damage to the viscera, the yang qi might not be sufficiently restored.

”Keep all other dosages the same. Increase aconite to 200 grams.”

”Alright.”

Wu Buwei swiftly wrote it down, but the other doctors around him all widened their eyes.

200 grams? Among them, some were Western medicine practitioners and some were traditional Chinese medicine practitioners, but regardless of their specialization, they all knew that 200 grams of aconite could be lethal.