Rebirth 1977 Great Era

Chapter 916 Stubborn to the end (Bonus chapter for monthly votes: 3K chapters)

"That's right. It was probably looted during the Eight-Nation Alliance period. The appraisers there believe this cup is from the Ming Dynasty."

He said that rhinoceros horn was a rare material in ancient times, highly regarded for its medicinal value and carving craftsmanship. This Ming Dynasty rhinoceros horn cup was carved from a single horn, combining practicality and artistic value. The set of eight cups should have been a set of matching utensils used for court banquets or ceremonies. The exquisite craftsmanship is in line with the craftsmanship level of the Ming Dynasty imperial family.

Mr. Lian confirmed in the dialect.

Fang Yan took the cup and examined it carefully. He had previously learned some antique appreciation because of Le Miao.

Upon close inspection, this cup does indeed conform to the characteristics of the Ming Dynasty, but to definitively say it is a product of the imperial court would not be entirely accurate based on local dialect.

There's no clear proof of identity, so this is questionable. I'm meeting with Mr. Ji from the Palace Museum tomorrow, so I can ask him for help.

Whoever has this thing in their hands now owns it.

In 1978, China had not yet joined the international convention on the repatriation of cultural relics, and the return of such lost cultural relics was mostly through private transactions or auctions.

Even if he possesses the dialect, he won't have to hand it over to the state.

In traditional Chinese medicine texts, the ancients believed that drinking wine from a rhinoceros horn cup could enhance the efficacy of medicines; the most common example was using warm wine to boost yang energy.

More importantly, this cup is made from a whole rhinoceros horn, and it's from a domestic rhinoceros, so its medicinal value is very high. If you need rhinoceros horn as a medicine but don't have any rhinoceros horn slices on hand, you can scrape some off from this cup for emergency use.

This item is both an antique and a medicinal herb.

In addition, these artifacts bear witness to the atrocities committed by the Eight-Nation Alliance.

It can be said to be quite valuable.

"Thank you, Mr. Lian. I really like this pair of rhinoceros horn cups!" Fang Yan said to the patient, Mr. Lian.

Mr. Lian was also very happy to hear the dialect:
"I'm glad Dr. Fang likes it."

He nodded with a smile at Fang Yan and said:

"Then we'll take our leave and go get admitted to the hospital."

"Okay." Fang Yan nodded.

After they left, everyone realized that the gifts from the people they had visited that morning were things you wouldn't normally see in a hospital; it was practically a treasure contest.

On the contrary, those who give money seem to be the least sincere.

At the very least, they definitely don't want to put much thought into it.

However, the advantage is that the money received by the dialect group will be directly distributed to everyone.

“Alright, I’ll deliver it to the pharmacy this time, and I’ll also take a look at what the traditional Chinese medicine pharmacy at Peking Union Medical College Hospital is like!” Old Fang stepped forward this time.

Fang Yan didn't refuse when she heard him say that, and gave him the prescription.

Fang Yaozhong took the prescription and left the consultation room, not forgetting to greet the sixth patient outside.

"Next one, go in."

Soon the sixth patient arrived.

This time, the patient was still wearing sunglasses and being helped in by his family.

Fang Yan saw that the person helping the patient was a woman in her forties, whom she had met once before at the banquet.

This person is in the business of exporting tea from Malaysia.

His surname is Lin, and his given name is Lin Mi.

Lin Mi said to Fang Yan:

"Dr. Fang, we meet again."

Fang Yan nodded, then pointed to the chair in front of his consultation table and said:

"Hello, Ms. Lin, please allow this gentleman to have a seat."

"He's my brother, his name is Lin Mou," Lin Mi introduced the person she was helping to Fang Yan.

Lin Mou greeted Fang Yan:
"Hello, Dr. Fang!"

After greeting everyone, he sat down on the chair in front of the dialect group.

He asked the patients around him in a dialect:

"I wonder what's wrong with Mr. Lin's health?"

Mr. Lin took off his sunglasses and said in dialect:

"I have some problems with two parts of my body, one is my eyes, and the other is my urinary system."

"Yes, please tell me in detail," Fang Yan said to him.

Lin Mou nodded, then spoke to Fang Yan:

“In the middle of last year, I was hospitalized several times in Malaysia because I had extensive retinal detachment in my right eye. I was treated for a long time but it didn’t get better. After entering this year, I switched to another hospital. When I was first admitted, my right waist suddenly started to hurt and I kept vomiting.”

"The hospital had me do a urinalysis, and they found a lot of red blood cells in my urine. The doctor thought it was a urinary tract infection and used some of their usual treatments. The symptoms did improve afterward."

Conventional treatment methods? Fang Yan frowned slightly.

Then Lin Mou continued:
“But ever since then, my back pain has been recurring. When it hurts, my urine output decreases, I feel like I need to urinate constantly, and the number of red blood cells in my urine has increased until eventually I could see blood in my urine.” “Because of this, in February of this year, I went to Hong Kong and was admitted to a hospital there. In the radiology department, they performed a urinary tract angiography and an abdominal X-ray. Here is the report.” As he spoke, he handed the examination report to Fang Yan.

That concerns the eyes and urinary tract.

While the patient was being examined in dialect, he continued:
"At that time, they found two stones between the second and third narrowings of my right ureter. One stone was 0.6 cm by 0.4 cm, and the other was 0.1 cm by 0.3 cm. It had already caused hydronephrosis."

"After a few days, another X-ray was taken, and it was found that the fluid accumulation was getting worse, but the stones were still in the same place and had not moved."

"And not only that, my right eye is getting worse and worse. I knew something was wrong, so I wanted to switch hospitals. At that time, my sister was in Hong Kong doing tea business. One of her business partners heard about my situation and recommended you, Dr. Fang."

"So we contacted Mr. Tang in Hong Kong, and soon we arranged to return to Beijing."

Fang Yan understood immediately upon hearing this. He began writing the medical record while simultaneously asking the patient:

Have you had any lower back pain lately?

The patient touched his lower back, hesitated for a moment, and then said:
"Hmm... I don't feel any obvious pain."

"However, sometimes I can feel that dull pain."

Fang Yan nodded and asked again:
"Do you urinate frequently?"

The other party said:

"Yes, I feel the urge to urinate, but when I go to the toilet, the amount of urine is small and the color is very yellow, which may be related to the yellow pills I took."

Upon hearing this, Fang Yan asked him:
What Western medicine are you still taking?

The patient took out a small box specifically for holding pills from his bag, opened it, and placed it in front of Fang Yan:

"There are eye medications and kidney stone medications here, but I lost the original boxes, so I don't know the specific names of these medications now."

I looked at the dialect diagrams, and I could still find the corresponding symbols:
"This Diamox, which is called acetazolamide in Chinese, is for lowering intraocular pressure. This one is easy to identify. This is a vitamin C tablet, which is probably given to you as a supplement. This yellow tablet is hydrochlorothiazide, also known as dihydrochlorothiazide, which promotes urine excretion. Finally, this Nitrofurantoin is for preventing urinary tract infections."

Hearing the dialect, the patient was somewhat surprised:
"Dr. Fang knows about this?"

Dialectal inner monologue:

Know yourself and know your enemy. They dig a pit, and I'll fill it. How can I do it if I don't know how?
However, he said verbally:

"I have a good memory and can remember these commonly used ones."

After speaking in dialect, he asked the patient:
Have you had eye surgery?

The patient shook his head and said:

"Not yet. They were supposed to do it, but they weren't very confident, so I opted for conservative treatment, and they've been on IV drips all this time."

"Unexpectedly, before my eyes have even recovered, I've developed problems with my urinary tract."

He asked the patient in a dialect:
Do you remember what medicine they used to treat your eye?

"I don't remember," the patient said, shaking his head.

Lin Mi, the patient's sister, said:
"Dr. Fang, if you want to know, we can try to contact the hospital there right away, and we should be able to get the results tomorrow."

Fang Yan waved his hand and said:
"It's alright, it's not too important. Now, stick your tongue out and let me take your pulse."

It's not actually that hard to guess. In 1978, there weren't many kinds of medicine, and the side effects were basically known to everyone in the local dialect.

Acetazolamide (Diamox) is a carbonic anhydrase inhibitor used to lower intraocular pressure and is commonly used for glaucoma.

One of the side effects is the formation of kidney stones, because it increases the excretion of calcium, phosphate and uric acid in the urine. Long-term use may promote the formation of kidney stones, especially calcium phosphate or uric acid stones, which may aggravate the patient's ureteral stone problem and lead to more severe hydronephrosis.

Vitamin C tablets are antioxidants that can promote wound healing.

Excessive intake (>2g/day) may increase urinary oxalate excretion and promote the formation of calcium oxalate stones.

If a patient takes high doses of vitamin C, it may worsen stone formation, especially calcium oxalate stones, which are related to existing ureteral stones. In my past life, I've seen many people in the hospital who took vitamin pills without realizing it, and ended up developing stones. (Pay attention!)

Fang Yan began examining the patient's tongue and pulse, while also observing his physical appearance.

This person is tall and has a fairly good complexion. His tongue has a white, greasy coating, but when his pulse was taken, it was found to be weak and short at both feet.

A weak and short pulse are signs of physical weakness, especially a short pulse at the cun position, which further indicates insufficient kidney qi.

The lower back is the residence of the kidneys; when kidney qi is weak, lower back pain occurs. Because of insufficient kidney qi, the body cannot properly transform and transport fluids, leading to fluid retention in the kidneys and difficulty urinating. Scanty and yellow urine indicates deficiency heat in the lower body. This condition perfectly aligns with the description of "sand and stone urination" (urinary tract stones) in the *Treatise on the Causes and Symptoms of Various Diseases*, which states that these are caused by kidney qi deficiency and heat in the bladder.

The patient's eye problem was particularly severe, with extensive retinal detachment.

Also known as retinal detachment, it is a serious eye disease that can greatly affect vision and may even lead to blindness. Under normal circumstances, the retina is tightly attached to the inner layer of the eyeball wall. However, when fluid accumulates between the retina and the eyeball wall, or when the retina itself has a tear or hole, the original tight fit is disrupted, and the retina will separate and detach from its original position. This is called extensive retinal detachment.

The Ling Shu (Spiritual Pivot) states in the chapter "On Great Confusion": "The essence of the five viscera and six bowels all flows upward to the eyes and becomes their essence. The eye is the nest of the essence, and the pupil is the essence of the bone."

It is evident that the eyes and kidneys are closely related. If you ignore your eye disease and focus solely on treating kidney stones, you may worsen your eye condition.

Thinking about this, Fang Yan began to ponder. It is said that for upper body ailments, treat the lower body, and for lower body ailments, treat the upper body. But what if both the upper and lower body are ailments? Which one should be treated first?
This is a stubborn approach, blocking both ends!
P.S.: I've gained 100 more monthly votes, so I owe you all another 2000 words.

After finishing this chapter, I currently owe everyone 136000 words.

That's all for today, please come early tomorrow!

Happy May Day everyone! Wishing you good health and a wonderful mood!
Lao Feng is working hard to write tomorrow's!

(End of this chapter)