Dr. Xu: A Chinese Medicine Novel

Evan returns to the hospital to check on a patient.

Evan examined him for a second time. The severe pain, like electric shocks through both legs, had eased considerably. His hands and feet were much less numb and easier to move. His chest felt less tight and full, and the stabbing pain there had eased too.

Before, the icy coldness in his legs had reached above his knees. Now it had receded below them. Evan checked the arterial pulses in his feet. He could feel them again, though they had been absent before.[1]

He was recovering fast.

Evan inspected the tuoju lesion on the inner side of his big toe. It too was showing signs of recovery.[2]

Everything was improving.

Fast enough to see.

The reports from the conventional medical team’s monitoring of his vital signs also showed improvement across the board. It looked as though he could be transferred out of the ICU today or tomorrow.

After feeling his pulse, Evan gave a small nod. At last, he felt a little more reassured. He got up to leave.

“Doctor.” Gordon Gao suddenly called to him from the bed.

Evan stopped and looked back. “What is it? Is anything else bothering you?”

Gordon shook his head. He looked at Evan and said earnestly, “I’m so much better. I’m not suffering nearly as much. I even have the strength to talk now. I know you saved me. I’d like to know your name. Once I’m discharged, I want to thank you properly.”

Evan’s protective clothing and mask kept Gordon from seeing what he looked like.

Evan smiled faintly. “That doesn’t matter. I’m only doing a doctor’s duty. Just concentrate on getting well, and live a good life.”

With that, he turned and went out.

Evan removed his protective clothing and left the ICU.

The patient’s wife was still waiting outside.

“Dr. Xu.” She hurried to her feet.

“Don’t worry,” Evan reassured her. “He’s much better now. When visiting hours begin at noon, you can go in and see him. Have a chat with him.”

She breathed a sigh of relief, then bowed deeply. “Thank you, Dr. Xu. Thank you so much.”

“There’s no need. In fact, I should be thanking you.”

“Me?” She looked startled and confused.

Evan nodded, smiling. “Without you, I wouldn’t have seen where the hope for Chinese medicine lies.”

“What?” She still didn’t understand.

Evan patted her arm reassuringly. “Don’t worry. Everything will be all right.”

Then he left.

The patient’s wife watched him go, looking puzzled.

After seeing the patient, Evan went to the specialists’ clinic where Professor He was holding consultations.

The professor had just finished with a patient and was coming out when Evan arrived.

Teacher and student looked at each other.

Professor He was momentarily taken aback.

Evan smiled. He had worked out what he wanted. Treating patients, saving lives, preserving the happiness of one family after another—was there anything in the world more rewarding?

He looked calmly at Professor He. “Professor, I’ve made up my mind.”

Professor He gave a rueful smile.

He came over and patted Evan’s shoulder. “Come on. I’ve seen everyone booked in with me. Take a walk with me. I’ve come to your county several times, but I’m always in such a hurry that I never get to look around.”

“Of course. I’ll go with you.” Evan nodded.

They left the Chinese medicine hospital and wandered along the street.

Neither knew what to say.

They walked in silence until they reached the back of the hospital.

Steven Zhang was washing vegetables outside his restaurant. He looked up at Evan and Professor He, then nodded to Evan with a simple, friendly smile. He remembered him. Evan had eaten there with Leo Cao last time.

Evan nodded politely in return.

“You know him?” Professor He asked, finally breaking their silence.

A chapter published by the author was copied from their official page without consent; the published home is where readers support them.

Evan nodded. “I remember eating here with Leo Cao.”

It was after that meal that Leo had invited him to the Chinese medicine hospital to help with a consultation. That was how everything since had begun.

Professor He gave a slight nod. “Have you really thought it through?”

Evan nodded.

The professor smiled ruefully again. “The moment those young doctors came running out and said they wanted to learn from you, I knew I wouldn’t persuade you to leave. I’d hoped you might do it for this old man’s sake. I don’t think even that will work now.”

“I’m sorry, Professor.”

Professor He shook his head. “There’s nothing to apologize for. You haven’t done anything wrong. Quite the opposite. You’ve always done very well. I’ve always known you were different. I could see it when you were still a student.

“Some people study Chinese medicine because they’re interested in it. Some do it because of their college entrance exam scores. Others think it’ll help them find a job. But you’re different. You’ve always had an unusual sense of responsibility, a sense of purpose. Toward your patients, and toward Chinese medicine too.[3]

“That’s what I value most in you. I’ve always seen hope for Chinese medicine’s future in you. You’re a true doctor. One day, you may even become a great physician.”

But Evan shook his head. “The hope for Chinese medicine shouldn’t rest on one or two people. It should lie in thousands upon thousands of doctors who have the skill and the courage to treat illness. That’s real hope. And when we speak of great physicians, we shouldn’t mean a select few. We should mean a whole body of doctors.”[4]

Professor He stopped walking and stared at him for a moment.

After a while, he asked, “You’ve really made up your mind?”

Evan nodded.

“Then… I won’t try to persuade you again. But you’ll have to be careful out there.

“Don’t rush straight into the Chinese medicine hospital to put all your skills to work. Take things slowly. Devoting yourself wholly to saving patients is indeed a great physician’s virtue.[4]

“But you must also know how to protect yourself. If something happens to you, what about all the patients who’ll need you in the future? You won’t be able to do what you want to do. So don’t rush. Wait until David Du has all the arrangements in place.

“He has some connections, and he’s very capable. He’s also willing to get things done. He was the one who set up the specialists’ clinic at the county Chinese medicine hospital. Its outside specialists answer only to him. He invited me here too.

“You and I are the same. Apart from practicing medicine and treating patients, we don’t know how to do anything. For a lot of the other problems, we have to rely on people like Director Du. Perhaps… he really can do a good job.”

Evan nodded again.

Professor He smiled. “Come on. Show me around some more.”

Professor He went back that afternoon. He was busy too and didn’t have much time to spare.

Meanwhile, David Du was still making the rounds, working to get the necessary policies put into effect.

Evan returned to Mingxin Clinic.

“You’re back!” Clara was delighted.

Ben was rubbing his hands and thumping his lower back, looking aggrieved. Whenever Evan didn’t come to work, Ben was run off his feet.

Evan nodded to Clara and smiled. “I’m back.”

She quickly took a lunchbox out of her insulated bag. “I made you lunch. It’s still hot.”

“Good.” Evan took it and sat down at his usual place to eat.

Clara sat beside the counter, her chin resting on one hand, and watched him eat.

Evan ate in big mouthfuls. Clara’s cooking had always suited his taste. When he was nearly finished, he put the lid back on the lunchbox.

Clara came over. “Give it to me when you’re done. I’ll take it home later and wash it with Dad’s bowls.”

Evan handed her the box. “How’s your father doing?”

“Same as ever.” Clara sounded helpless. “He doesn’t even want to get better.”

Evan thought for a moment. “After work, I’ll go with you to see him.”

“Hm?” Clara looked puzzled.

“See if there’s anything I can do to treat him.”

“That’ll be hard, won’t it?” Clara said dejectedly. “We’ve seen so many specialists, and none of them could cure him.”

Evan smiled.

Reader Notes

Reader Notes

↩︎ Pulses in the feet. A pulse is a beat that can be felt where an artery lies close to the skin; the foot has such sites as well as the wrist. The earlier loss of these pulses means the doctor could no longer feel the beats there, rather than that the arteries themselves had disappeared. Here Evan can feel them again. The later reference to feeling the patient’s pulse returns to his usual Chinese medicine examination. Source: MedlinePlus — Pulse, “How the Test is Performed”.↩︎ Tuoju, revisited. This is the traditional limb-disorder category used in the earlier consultation, associated with coldness, numbness, pain, and potentially gangrene of the fingers or toes. The name does not mean every affected digit has already become gangrenous. Here the narrative reports signs of improvement at the inner side of a big toe; it does not say the lesion has vanished. Source: WHO — TCM Terminologies, entry 1932, printed p. 272.↩︎ The gaokao and a choice of major. The gaokao is China’s national college entrance examination. Scores help shape which universities and degree programs a student can enter, alongside the applicant’s preferences and the institutions’ admission arrangements. A student may therefore choose Chinese medicine partly because of the options available at their score. Professor He contrasts that practical consideration with Evan’s sense of vocation. He is discussing reasons for entering the subject, not a separate licensing examination for practicing doctors. Source: China’s Ministry of Education — Post-Gaokao admission counseling services.↩︎ The ideal of a great physician. Dayi, “great physician,” joins clinical skill with moral commitment, an ideal discussed in Sun Simiao’s Dayi Jingcheng. The traditional text calls on a physician to devote himself wholeheartedly to rescuing those who suffer. The expression names an ethical ideal here, rather than a hospital post or academic qualification. Evan’s emphasis on many capable doctors is his own response in this conversation, not a quotation from Sun Simiao. Sources: Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine — The university motto (in Chinese); Sun Simiao — Beiji Qianjin Yaofang, volume 1, “Dayi Jingcheng” (Chinese transcription). ↩︎