Healing Doctor

Chapter 163 Unaware of how well his surgery had gone.

Ji Xiang watched the surgery in silence, which made Dr. Zhao a little uneasy.

Although Ji Xiang was young, Zhao Zhe dared not be negligent in the slightest.

"Dr. Xiao Ji, Teacher Xiao Ji, please say something." Dr. Zhao bowed, his face full of apologetic smile. "These are all self-taught methods, figured out by myself, and I was forced into this situation. If I've done anything wrong, please just tell me, and I'll humbly accept your feedback."

"If I really don't do well, you can give me a couple of slaps, just please don't..."

Although Director Liu is not skilled in interventional surgery, he has seen many patients with bleeding seek out Director Zhao for embolization, and he understands the basics of interventional surgery.

Although Dr. Zhao's surgery was a bit awkward, that was because the supplies weren't ideal. Surprisingly, his embolization procedure seemed even better than Zhao Xiangming's, which was quite strange.

"Xiao Ji, this surgery... looks pretty good to me," Director Liu asked after a moment's thought.

"Director, Dr. Zhao, the surgery was done very well," Ji Xiang replied affirmatively.

"Good, good my ass." The on-duty doctor said disdainfully, "Anyone can flatter each other, but if you keep praising Brother Zhao like this, he'll be full of confidence and do something big. He's still a senior attending physician now, but if he really angers our director or the head of the medical affairs department, he'll lose his job."

The excitement on Dr. Zhao's face vanished, replaced by disappointment and helplessness.

"If you ask me, let's find a patient with yellow urine to wake Brother Zhao up. Wake up! We're in Yuanliao, a small prefecture-level city. You're always thinking about publishing SCI papers, Brother Zhao. You really don't know how high the sky is or how thick the earth is."

Director Liu frowned, looking somewhat displeased.

The doctor on duty spoke very casually, and there was a disgusting quality to it.

"I'm telling the truth," Ji Xiang said earnestly to the doctor on duty.

"I'm doing this for Brother Zhao's own good, young doctor. You're using a diabetic patient's urine to pee on Brother Zhao. It did give him a taste of the benefits, but he's covered in urine. If something goes wrong, who will support his family?"

Seeing Zhao Zhe's dejected look, Ji Xiang smiled.

"Dr. Zhao, you used the guidewire and catheter from the cardiology department during your surgery, right?"

"Yes, it's not going smoothly. This is the best I can do in surgery; I can't improve any further. I really tried my best, but maybe I'm just not very talented..."

"You're lacking in talent?" Ji Xiang looked at Dr. Zhao Zhe with surprise.

Doesn't he know how strong he is?

Even the system's NPCs were amazed, saying that while there are indeed self-taught grassroots doctors, there are very few in the entire country.

Dr. Zhao Zhe, however, seemed completely unaware of how well he had performed the surgery.

He could be considered slow-witted, yet he was able to grasp the principles of interventional surgery on his own and performed it exceptionally well; however, he was completely unaware of how well he had performed the surgery.

If you say he understands social etiquette, he's still an attending physician and resident doctor even in his old age; if you say he doesn't, he can still shamelessly try to build a relationship with Director Liu every year.

In addition, he has the attributes of being talkative and socially adept.

He's a really interesting person.

"Teacher Zhao, it's like this." Ji Xiang didn't even look at the doctor on duty, he was too lazy to talk to the man, "The guiding catheter was custom-made for coronary artery reshaping in the cardiology department, it will definitely work well in cardiology surgery, but it's a bit awkward for our embolization surgery."

"Yes, yes, I felt it wasn't very useful from the start. But I didn't have any good ideas. I submitted several applications, but they were all rejected by the equipment department. To apply for new consumables, you need at least the director level, which I'm not qualified for."

If I can't change the world, I'll change myself. What else can I do? I've gotten used to it after all these years, and I think the catheter is quite useful.

"Yes." Ji Xiang smiled and nodded. "Teacher Zhao, you..."

"I wouldn't dare call myself a teacher. I'm just an old attending physician who'll never get promoted, a junior clinician. You can just call me Dr. Zhao, or Old Zhao, or Brother Zhao, that's fine too. I wouldn't dare call myself a teacher."

"Brother Zhao, your surgery... in that sense, is no worse than that of the head of the interventional radiology department at our Second Affiliated Hospital."

"!!!" Zhao Zhe was stunned.

The doctor on duty chuckled.

"You guys are really good at fooling people. If I didn't know that Brother Zhao's family doesn't have much money, I would have thought you were scammers. His most valuable possessions are his two kidneys. You're not here to cut off his kidneys, are you?"

"Just kidding," Ji Xiang laughed, "but I'm telling the truth."

"Xiao Ji's interventional surgery was exceptionally well done," Director Liu said, emphasizing his words. He then patted Dr. Zhao Zhe on the shoulder. "I never expected to find someone as talented as you in Yuanliao City."

"Director Liu, you flatter me. What kind of talent am I? I just figured things out on my own, all by myself. I couldn't find anyone to teach me, so I just searched for surgical videos online and did it myself. Heaven knows what I did..."

"Let's go grab a bite to eat," Director Liu said, seeing that the on-duty doctor was about to make a sarcastic remark. "I rushed over here right after my shift at noon, and I'm a little low in blood sugar right now."

"Oh dear!" Zhao Zhe slapped his forehead. "Director Liu, I'm so sorry, I haven't been a good host. Come on, let's go eat! Our local stewed pheasant with mushrooms is especially good. I ordered a pot, but when we got there the chicken was overcooked and inedible, too tough. But the mushrooms are absolutely amazing. Take a bite..."

Dr. Zhao started rambling on about chicken stew with mushrooms.

As he spoke, he gathered up the various documents, greeted the doctor on duty, and left with Director Liu and Ji Xiang.

The on-duty doctor scoffed, "Even urinating won't wake him up; he needs diarrhea. Seriously, why won't he accept his fate? Interventional surgery? Is that even a human procedure? Aren't they afraid of getting cancer?"

As he spoke, he lit another cigarette, the movement practiced and familiar.

……

……

"Dr. Zhao, the doctors at your hospital seem very hostile towards you."

As they stepped outside, Director Liu said with a smile.

"That's all." Dr. Zhao Zhe shook his head. "They were afraid something might go wrong with my surgery. We're different from large tertiary hospitals. When we encounter patients we don't know how to treat or patients whose surgeries are a little more difficult, we usually send them to higher-level hospitals."

But patients need money too. Let alone going to the capital or Shanghai, even in a provincial capital, how much would a day cost?

A patient went to the First Affiliated Hospital for surgery and secretly cooked instant noodles with an alcohol stove in the fire escape of the ward, almost setting the ward on fire.

The surgery didn't go through; we were just a tiny bit away from burning down the First Affiliated Hospital.

But they really don't have any money, otherwise I wouldn't have shamelessly told you that a surgery costs five hundred yuan for the scalpel.

As he spoke, Zhao Zhe let out a deep sigh.

But he was an optimist, and he smiled, "But we also have our own advantages here."

(End of this chapter)