Healing Doctor

Chapter 104 Not a Bit of Control

Ji Xiang chuckled, moved around a bit, and since he had no complaints of discomfort, he was relieved.

"Teacher, the situation was critical just now, and we had to act expediently in an emergency. If we had followed the normal procedures, and they thought I had appendicitis, I would have had to undergo surgery," Ji Xiang said frankly.

The system NPC neither confirmed nor denied, but changed the subject and asked, "Tell me, what are your thoughts?"

Ji Xiang thought for a moment, then asked, "Teacher, does every instance of empathy involve unexpected situations?"

"Mostly."

"Testicular torsion occurring on the right side is quite rare, especially when it presents with clinical symptoms of appendicitis. I estimate that you'll never see a case like this in your lifetime," Ji Xiang complained.

"I've seen two cases, and neither was misdiagnosed," the system NPC said.

"!!!"

Ji Xiang was stunned for a moment.

"Teacher, how did you do that?"

"intuition."

Ji Xiang never dreamed that the extremely professional system NPC would give such an answer.

Diagnosing illnesses based on intuition? Should we consult a fortune teller?

"The more patients you see, the more natural intuition you develop. It's the accumulation of experience and also a stroke of luck," the system NPC said calmly.

"Teacher, look at what you're saying."

"That's just how it is," the system NPC said. "You'll understand when you go to the clinical shifts. Some people are just lucky and sleep soundly until dawn. Others, however, are always on edge, with a bunch of emergency patients every night shift."

"This has nothing to do with the diagnosis." Ji Xiang felt that the system NPC's words were a bit off-topic.

"I used to have a junior doctor under me who was always incredibly busy," the system NPC smiled. "And all sorts of rare cases came in during his shifts. Tell me, what's the rarest and most fatal emergency in thoracic surgery?"

"..." Ji Xiang looked blank and shook his head.

"Rib fracture complicated by aortic dissection," the system NPC explained. "The pain of the aortic dissection is masked by the pain of the rib fracture, and since it's just a rib fracture, a 64-slice CT scan isn't routinely performed."

"So some patients die suddenly and inexplicably like this."

The hairs on Ji Xiang's back stood on end.

He didn't fully understand the rib fracture and aortic dissection that the system NPC mentioned, but the testicular torsion he had just experienced manifested as symptoms of acute appendicitis.

This is why he knew the system's purpose, and thus narrowly escaped it. If it were an ordinary person, they would probably have had to undergo necrosis removal.

Indeed, in many cases, one's life is entirely determined by fate, and there is nothing one can do about it.

Doctors are also part of fate; the system NPC makes a good point.

"Teacher, what happened to that young doctor under your tutelage?"

"Over eight years, he treated a total of six patients with rib fractures complicated by aortic dissection. Once, he admitted a patient, but the chief resident and the second-line on-call professor both denied the diagnosis. He was very anxious and called me at 2 a.m.."

"He only said one sentence: 'Boss, all the tests are fine, but I still feel like something's not right.'"

"!!!"

Ji Xiang was shocked by this reason. Could a doctor really do something like this?

You must be joking.

"That patient had a regular CT scan, and the images looked fine to me. But I know him, and we pushed him around in the middle of the night to do a bunch of tests. The diagnosis was aortic dissection, and he was put on a large stretcher in the emergency room." (Note)

"Impressive," Ji Xiang murmured in praise.

"Do you know why I agreed to you putting your free attribute points into Luck?"

So that's how it's said. Ji Xiang was awe-inspiring.

It's not that all surgeries at level 9 can solve all diseases; human capabilities are always limited by technological advancements.

"People, there will always be some inexplicable sudden deaths." The system NPC continued, "Once I went to eat. I have a strange habit: when I go out to eat, I like to sit in the lobby, where there are more people and it's more lively."

"Teacher, you like the warmth of everyday life," Ji Xiang said with a smile.

The system NPC waved his hand, seemingly unable to bear such poetic descriptions; to him, this was just lively entertainment.

"Someone choked on their food and had difficulty breathing. What would you do in that situation?"

Heimlich maneuver.

"Yes, that's what I did," the system NPC said. "And it failed."

"!!!" Ji Xiang was puzzled. The system NPC's first aid level must be quite high. He even suspected that if the Heimlich maneuver failed, the system NPC could directly cut open the patient's trachea with a knife to ensure the most basic breathing.

How could we possibly fail!

"The patient ate freshly cut live octopus, the kind where the octopus legs were still moving around on a freshly cut plate. The suckers on the legs firmly gripped the throat and airway, causing suffocation."

"I first tried the Heimlich maneuver, but it didn't work. Then I immediately performed a cricothyrotomy, but that still didn't work; the octopus tentacles were still in the airway..."

The system NPC was somewhat disappointing.

Ji Xiang was stern and imposing.

The system NPCs were completely helpless against a foreign object in the airway.

"Therefore, as a doctor, you need to know that the ceiling of your level and ability is limited by basic sciences." The system NPC looked at Ji Xiang and said seriously, "Misdiagnosis and mistreatment are unavoidable; we can only reduce the probability."

"Teacher, I understand." Ji Xiang nodded obediently.

"Okay, now let's learn the manual reduction technique for testicular torsion."

"Testicular torsion is often caused by a lack of normal fixation tissue around part of the spermatic cord in the scrotum, resulting in an abnormally mobile testicle."

"The probability of this happening is generally 1 in 4000. The triggers can be trauma or sports, but more often it is spontaneous spermatic cord torsion, which usually occurs when you wake up from sleep. The cause is the sudden contraction of the levator palpebrae superioris muscle, which causes the spermatic cord to twist."

"Teacher, is this considered good health for a young person?" Ji Xiang suddenly asked.

"That's possible," the system NPC said. "Testicular torsion is more common on the left side, possibly because the left spermatic cord is longer. In diagnosis, the typical symptom of acute testicular torsion is acute scrotal pain, but some patients may not experience obvious pain or the pain may be progressive."

"There are several situations that are more difficult to diagnose. One of them is the kind of patient you experienced who has appendicitis. Another is the patient with intermittent pain."

The system NPC gave a detailed explanation, and Ji Xiang listened attentively.

He has a good memory, almost never forgetting what he hears, and he has already learned this knowledge before, just not as thoroughly as the system NPCs.

Moreover, after experiencing it firsthand, Ji Xiang had some detailed insights. Whenever the system NPC talked about a certain place, Ji Xiang would compare it with his own experience and ask questions if he didn't understand something.

Diagnostic and procedural levels are constantly improving.

Ji Xiang understands that the significance of empathy lies in allowing oneself to experience the suffering of patients, and even more so in gaining a thorough understanding of the pathogenesis of a disease.

Although it's just one possibility, experiencing it once opens up a whole new world for you.

……

……

Note: I was that unlucky junior doctor. I was restless that night. All the tests came back normal, but I just felt something was wrong. I called the head doctor in the middle of the night, and the problem was solved.

Thinking about it now still feels strange and inexplicable.

(End of this chapter)