This doctor is already middle-aged, and he's only just started practicing medicine.

Chapter 30 Sincere Thanks

July 24, at the entrance of outpatient clinic room 7 of the outpatient department of Longxian People's Hospital.

The bright incandescent lights in the corridor reflected the 'long' shadows of people's legs and plaster casts on the white ceramic anti-fall floor tiles...

Zhou Miguo patiently sat in the queuing hall waiting for her number to be called by the nursing department. Turning her head around the Fourth Ring Road, about 45 degrees to the left, she also saw someone doing functional exercises with their hands pinching...

"Uncle, was your hand injured before too?" Zhou Miguo smiled and spoke politely, raising her right hand slightly as she turned to the side and initiated the conversation.

He looked to be in his fifties, with slightly burnt black hair, and said helplessly, "I cut this while cutting grass for the cattle a few months ago. I couldn't plant the millet, and the harvest from several acres of land was all lost... How did you get injured?"

“I accidentally scratched it… I had surgery about two weeks ago,” Zhou Miguo replied.

"You had surgery only two weeks ago? Why are you here for a follow-up check-up? Didn't Director Liu tell you to go to the State People's Hospital for a follow-up check-up?" The middle-aged man was stunned.

"He specifically told me to go to the state for a follow-up examination, and this is my fourth follow-up examination." He recalled for a while before seriously telling Zhou Miguo.

"Uncle, I had the surgery done in the county, but the doctor who operated on me was too young, so I chose to come to the orthopedics department to see a director..." Zhou Miguo explained with a simple smile.

The middle-aged man said, "Impossible?"

"It's not like I haven't been injured before. This kind of surgery isn't performed in the county. Did you have the surgery done in Enshi?"

"Enshi isn't that far away. The initial check-up is still very important. If the recovery isn't good, you might end up with a limp."

"For your first follow-up appointment, it's best to go see the surgeon who performed your operation," the middle-aged man earnestly advised, glancing around before lowering his voice to say:

"Director Liu from the prefecture said that Director Peng and his colleagues in our county can't perform this kind of surgery; they can only be responsible for long-term functional rehabilitation follow-up. Because without surgery, their short-term precise rehabilitation training guidance isn't detailed or professional enough..."

As the two were talking, an argument broke out from the consultation room: "Director Peng, isn't my condition caused by you all?"

"If you didn't know how to do it, or couldn't do it, you could have told me you couldn't do it and asked me to refer you to another doctor. Now that something has gone wrong, you're not taking responsibility?"

The patient then raised his voice: "Don't talk to me about probability. One problem is a low-probability event, but three people in our group have had problems after surgery in one month. You're telling me that's the probability of surgery?"

"Aren't you treating us patients like puppets?"

The patient then loudly interrupted the doctor's reply: "Why can't I make a scene? I'm just stating the facts, not making a personal attack. Procedures are procedures, and I've already sued you, but my treatment has been delayed. Who else can I turn to if not you..."

The middle-aged man gestured with his lip and said to Zhou Miguo, "You heard that? Many doctors in our county are still not skilled enough; they're just half-baked."

"But you seem to be doing quite well with your flexion and extension exercises. You've really only been injured for half a month?"

"Is the technical level of Enshi Central Hospital really that much higher than that of our Xiangzhou People's Hospital?"

The middle-aged man didn't think that his recovery was not as good as Zhou Miguo's; he must have thought that there was a difference in the surgeon's skills.

The noise over there had initially made Zhou Miguo's expression slightly reserved, but upon hearing the middle-aged man's praise, Zhou Miguo was slightly pleased: "I didn't have it done in Enshi, it was Dr. Lu Cheng from the emergency department who performed the surgery on me."

"However, Dr. Lu used to be an orthopedic surgeon."

The middle-aged man's eyes widened in horror: "If even Peng Haibo, the head of orthopedics, couldn't do it, how could Dr. Lu, who was an orthopedic surgeon before, have managed to do it?"

"You were quite careless... Think about it, before, Director Peng from the orthopedics department also had patients practice on him. I guess you've encountered a situation where Dr. Lu asked you to practice on him."

"You should go and get checked out elsewhere, carefully observe where you feel discomfort, pain, and any tightness or pressure when you move around." The middle-aged man generously shared the medical advice he had brought from a higher-level hospital with Zhou Miguo. Zhou Miguo followed Lu Cheng's instructions for rehabilitation and then shook her head: "It's alright, I haven't been in much pain since the surgery."

"There's only a slight, dull ache when I move..."

"Only a little pain? Really? Tendon rehabilitation exercises are very painful. When I was in the state hospital before, some of the patients who couldn't bear the pain were screaming and howling in agony..." The middle-aged man looked on with a strange expression.

"You're quite lucky."

“Even to us laymen, your recovery looks pretty good. I’ve been out of surgery for over four months now, and I’m only slightly better than you.”

……

In the consulting room.

After Peng Haibo finished examining Zhou Miguo's finger extension and flexor muscle strength, as well as performing a paper-clamping test, he fell silent, staring intently at Zhou Miguo.

"Director Peng? Don't scare me, is there something wrong with me?" Zhou Miguo stared blankly, her Adam's apple bobbing nervously.

Peng Haibo reached out his right hand and scratched his head, then put away the medical record in front of him: "I can't see any problem, but since Dr. Lu Cheng performed the surgery on you and you're recovering well, you should go see him for a follow-up examination."

"He will be more professional and meticulous..."

Peng Haibo's dislike stems not from the possibility that Lu Cheng might overwhelm his son, but from the intention of "squeezing out" Lu Cheng.
If you can't perform surgery, you can't. You have to earn your own opportunities.

Peng Haibo would never do something like praising the powerful and belittling the weak. Everyone here works within the system, and no one is really that much more 'noble' than anyone else.

"Then there's no problem, right, Director Peng?" Zhou Miguo was relieved, his tense expression disappeared, and a smile appeared on his face.

"I haven't performed surgery on you, so I can only conclude from the superficial examination results that there are no problems for the time being. As for how well you will recover in the end, we'll have to wait and see."

"You should go see Dr. Lu for a follow-up examination. I don't have X-ray vision, so I can't see what's inside."

"Here's the medical record..." Peng Haibo's more than thirty years of Tai Chi skills were enough to handle most situations. He wouldn't bother arguing much about surgeries he didn't perform himself...

Zhou Miguo then came out of the orthopedic outpatient clinic, threw away the medical record and registration information, went down to the emergency department, and then took out a new medical record.

After opening the door, she smiled sincerely and said, "Dr. Lu, good morning. I'm sorry to bother you again... I came to see you as soon as I got the leave I needed."

What Zhou Miguo didn't know was that Lu Cheng could see his medical records on the computer system, and could also see Director Peng Haibo's outpatient medical records.

Of course, Lu Cheng saw through it but didn't say anything: "Thank you for your trust... I just finished my rounds, let me check you over first."

"Now that there's no wound, all that's left is to persevere with the rehabilitation training. How are you feeling right now? Is it painful? Are you experiencing any numbness?"

Zhou Miguo shook her head: "No, only occasional dull pain... not numbness."

"Thank you so much, Dr. Lu. Putting aside everything else, you've saved me a lot of money from all the hassle and hassle of traveling."

“You don’t know the real benefits of meeting a good doctor until you get sick…” Zhou Miguo’s expression was slightly obsequious, as if she had met a ‘treasure girl’.

(End of this chapter)