Chapter 8: The Obsession with Upgrading

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In the afternoon, Hee Hansheng led Zhou Can into the General Surgery consultation room number 4. The corridor outside was packed with patients waiting to see a doctor. Some were there for follow-up appointments, while others were seeking their first consultation.

If it were the morning, there would be even more patients waiting.

Nowadays, people live fast-paced lives with hectic work schedules, often neglecting their health. Minor ailments, neglected, can become major issues.

Additionally, with increasing environmental pollution and the proliferation of harmful food products, the incidence of various diseases is on the rise.

Tuya Hospital is operating at overcapacity almost every day.

General Surgery in particular has become a disaster area second only to the Emergency Department.

"Xiao Zhou, you'll be responsible for writing the medical records."

"Okay!"

Zhou Can had started learning how to write medical records on his first day at the hospital, and after nearly a year of interning, he had become quite proficient at it.

The triage nurse outside knocked on the door.

"Dr. Hee, may we start calling the numbers now?"

"Go ahead!"

"Huang Fuqiu, number one, consultation room 4."

The nurse's voice came through the loudspeaker.

Shortly after, a middle-aged man with a swagger walked in.

He was holding a medical record and some test documents.

"Doctor, I had hemorrhoid surgery last week and have come for a follow-up."

"You seem to be doing pretty well. How do you feel now?"

"Everything else is fine. It's just that walking causes some pain at the wound site, and I can only sleep on my side or stomach. The first couple of days after surgery, passing stools was particularly painful..."

The patient roughly described his postoperative condition.

"Alright, go to the back and take off your pants, I'll examine you."

Dr. Hee briefly reviewed the medical record and conducted an examination on the patient.

The patient's wound was healing quite well.

The wound had already scarred over.

Dr. Hee prescribed some anti-inflammatory medicine, instructed the patient not to take baths, to take the medicine on time, and to come back for a follow-up if discomfort arises.

One patient was seen just like that.

Zhou Can felt a bit disappointed, as he had not earned any Experience Points.

However, he also gained something; he would have a very good reference when faced with patients coming for follow-up after hemorrhoid surgery in the future.

Immediately after, the second patient walked in.

This was an elderly lady with sparse hair, frail in stature, with a large pus-filled abscess on her wrist. Her family member who accompanied her for the consultation said that she had been poked by a bamboo splinter, and the patient had removed it herself without giving it much thought.

But as time passed, the wound not only failed to heal, but also grew more swollen.

It wasn't until recently, when pus started forming and the patient experienced low fever and severe pain, that they rushed to seek medical advice.

After a brief round of questions, Dr. Hee conducted a physical examination on the patient.

"Go get a complete blood count and an ultrasound first, then come back to me with the results."

He instructed Zhou Can to write out two examination orders in his name.

Thanks to the advancement of modern technology, writing examination orders and prescriptions can now be entered into a computer. Pricing and payment are convenient, and file searching afterwards is also easy.

But patients still need to queue with the paper orders.

After the patient left, Hee Hansheng chatted with Zhou Can in a casual tone.

"Xiao Zhou, think about it, what do you think is the cause of the abscess in the patient we just saw? How should we treat it?"

Zhou Can had already been thinking about the cause of the patient's abscess.

He quickly went through the patient's symptoms and potential causes in his mind. Then, based on the medical knowledge he had learned, he analyzed and pinned down the pathological mechanism.

"The low fever is likely due to the abscess causing bacteria to invade the bloodstream and triggering an inflammatory response."

The human body has a complete immune mechanism.

When the immune system detects an invasion by foreign bodies or pathogens, its immediate response involves phagocytic cells in the blood, lymphocytes, lymph nodes, the spleen, and other layers of response mechanisms. These defenders act as warriors to protect the body and kill the pathogens.

Inflammation is actually a form of self-protection by the body.

"The severe pain in the arm, keeping the patient awake at night, suggests that the abscess continues to spread, destroying normal bodily tissue."

Listening to Zhou Can's analysis, Hee Hansheng nodded slightly.

"I suspect that there remains a foreign body inside the patient's arm that has not been completely removed."

This situation is not uncommon.

Objects like bamboo splinters or wood thorns can become deeply embedded in the flesh, and sometimes only part of it gets removed because it's stuck too firmly.

However, the patient assumes that it has been completely removed.

Eventually, the remaining foreign body causes infection and pus formation.

[Pathological Diagnosis Experience Points +1.]

Right after Zhou Can completed his analysis, he happily received 1 Experience Point.

The patient's pathological diagnosis wasn't difficult; even an intern level could handle it.

Now with an exemplary training level, he was sure to diagnose accurately.

"And the treatment plan?"

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"Drain the pus through an incision, remove any broken bamboo slivers or foreign objects inside, clean the wound, suture, apply bandages, and then prescribe some anti-inflammatory drugs," Zhou Can quickly finished laying out the treatment plan he had in mind.

Hee Hansheng smiled slightly, "The steps you mentioned are all fine, but you need to add something when prescribing anti-inflammatories. In cases like this, the patient should receive intravenous infusions at the hospital until the infection is under control, then switch to oral anti-inflammatory medication. Intravenous infusion is faster and stronger than oral administration and maximizes the chance of avoiding complications. Additionally, it allows for timely monitoring of the patient's condition during their hospital visits."

After hearing Dr. Hee's guidance, Zhou Can nodded vigorously.

"Remember, safety always comes first. Being a doctor is a special profession, where one controls the life and health of patients. Any negligence can lead to serious consequences. The saying 'doctors have the heart of a parent' means that a doctor should treat patients as they would their own children, considering their condition more comprehensively and meticulously."

Dr. Hee cautioned him with a heartfelt tone.

At this moment, the third patient seeking consultation walked into the ward.

She was a woman in her thirties, fashionably dressed, carrying a black shoulder bag, and quite attractive. She walked normally and seemed to be in good spirits. She didn't appear to be sick.

"Please sit! What's the problem?"

Dr. Hee asked the woman about her symptoms in a gentle tone.

"Uh... um..." The woman was somewhat embarrassed, looking down and barely daring to look at anyone.

Her face was flushed.

"It is no shame to disclose your illness to your doctor, feel free to speak up, there's nothing to be embarrassed about," Dr. Hee reassured her patiently.

After hesitating for a moment, she finally muttered with her lips pursed, "I, I've been feeling some swelling and pain in my breast recently, and upon touching it, there seems to be a hard lump. In the past few days, it's been so painful that it's difficult to even lift my arm."

Zhou Can immediately contemplated upon her description.

Hard lumps appearing in a woman's breast are generally indicative of conditions like mammary gland hyperplasia.

"How long have you noticed the lump?"

"It's been almost two years since I discovered it. But it was only an occasional swelling and pain before, so I didn't pay much attention to it. Recently I noticed that the lump is getting bigger, and I'm a bit scared. I checked online, and many people say it could potentially be breast cancer..."

The woman was no longer so bashful at this point.

When she mentioned the words "breast cancer," there was deep fear in her eyes.

Indeed, breast cancer is known as one of the top three killers of women.

It strikes fear in many adult women.

"Are you married?"

"I am."

"Have you had children?"

"My child is nearly eight years old."

"Wow, you can't tell at all. Your child is that big, and you still look so young." Dr. Hee's playful compliment immediately eased the woman's anxious tension quite a bit.

The atmosphere in the clinic also relaxed significantly.

"Hehe, you flatter me! Doctor, do you think my condition could be breast cancer? I didn't dare tell my husband or child about this check-up."

Hope filled her eyes.

"Don't worry, no one can say for sure right now. Go do an ultrasound first to check the thickness of the glandular tissue and whether there are nodules inside. If it's mammary gland hyperplasia, the pain usually worsens during menstruation, so try not to stress yourself out too much."

Dr. Hee's medical knowledge was not only profound and his clinical experience rich, but he was also extremely patient with patients, doing his utmost to reassure them.

His display of noble medical ethics deeply impressed Zhou Can, who was watching at the side.

The female patient took her form and joined the queue for a check-up.

In this way, they gradually received more than twenty patients.

Some were easy to diagnose, others were challenging.

Dr. Hee treated each patient with patience, amicability, and precision.

It was an excellent example for Zhou Can.

At that moment, the old lady with a large abscess on her arm returned from her check-up.

Upon reviewing her test results.

Exactly as Zhou Can had anticipated, the infection had caused inflammation and a low fever. There was a two-centimeter-long shadow inside the abscess.

It could be confirmed that a piece of broken bamboo had lodged deep within the muscle.

She was scheduled for surgery.

It was believed she would recover soon.

The patient with mammary gland hyperplasia also returned from her ultrasound examination.

Fortunately, there were no signs of calcifications, blood flow, or ambiguous boundaries in the ultrasound features, indicating a minimal chance of malignancy.

Considering the severity of her hyperplasia and the large size of the tumor, Dr. Hee suggested she have surgery in General Surgery to remove the tumor and then do a pathological test to prevent malignancy.

She readily agreed.

Such surgery is considered a simple Level 1 operation and can be performed in the outpatient clinic.

However, it wouldn't be Dr. Hee who would perform the surgery.

The outpatient surgery room has a General Surgery surgeon on duty. Unless it's a special case, the consulting doctor doesn't usually perform the surgery. Even if occasionally encountering surgery requiring the attending doctor to operate, they would arrange for the patient to be admitted first and perform the surgery the next day or at another time.

Zhou Can glanced at the time, 5:21 pm.

His shift was almost over.

And in the afternoon, he had only gained a total of 8 Experience Points.

Pathological diagnosis current experience, Level 2, 98.6/100, superior training level.

This made him particularly frustrated.

He was only 1.4 Experience Points short of leveling up.

"Please, God, send me another patient! Amen!"

Zhou Can prayed silently.

With just 1 more Experience Point, he would only be 0.4 points short. He could then squeeze time to read four case studies after returning, and his most important medical skill would level up.