Healing Doctor

Chapter 232 Diagnosis

"Teacher!" Ji Xiang's voice was 20 decibels louder than usual.

"Take your time, no rush," the system NPC said calmly.

"Why do I always feel like there's a little girl in a red dress sitting on my shoulders when I'm feeling empathy this time?" Ji Xiang asked impatiently.

When he felt the same way, Professor Zhou's explanation wasn't very detailed, so he was eager to know the reason.

"Recite the description of temporal arteritis." The system NPC put his hands behind his back and looked up slightly at Ji Xiang's eyes.

"Giant cell arteritis is also known as cranial arteritis, temporal arteritis, or granulomatous arteritis. It was later recognized that any large artery in the body can be affected..."

Ji Xiang obediently recited the entire text.

Memorizing the entire text would be a terrifying task for others, but it was relatively easy for Ji Xiang.

After Ji Xiang finished reciting, the system NPC nodded.

"Depression, memory loss, insomnia tendencies—you've memorized those," the system NPC said. "The abnormal symptoms you're experiencing are all part of depression."

"..." Ji Xiang was bewildered.

"Negativity, auditory hallucinations, paranoia, and so on," the system NPC said. "It can manifest in countless ways; to you, it's like a little girl sitting on your shoulders and blowing on you."

As he spoke, the system NPC shook his head.

"Teacher, isn't this a mental illness? Why not send him away..." Ji Xiang paused abruptly.

The psychological trauma inflicted by the little girl in red was so severe that she became somewhat disoriented.

These kinds of patients should definitely not be sent to mental hospitals!

Depression is just a manifestation of temporal arteritis. It would be strange if treating the symptoms but not the root cause could cure depression.

As temporal arteritis progresses, it may affect larger arteries. Even if it doesn't progress, continued use of sedatives can cause irreversible damage to the body.

"You understand now?" The system NPC didn't explain; he could already guess what Ji Xiang was thinking just by looking at Ji Xiang's expression.

"Understood, teacher," Ji Xiang said.

"So what you said about emergency room doctors being unwilling to send patients to mental hospitals is a responsible approach, that's right," the system NPC said. "The patient you mentioned might also have this type of rheumatic immune disease."

Ji Xiang pondered for a few seconds, then asked, "Teacher, this disease is very difficult to diagnose."

"Well, otherwise why would a rheumatologist say that doctors from other departments don't know how to treat patients?" the system NPC laughed. "Many diseases that aren't exactly rare are misdiagnosed, and it's all about the difference between treating the symptoms and treating the root cause."

The words were somewhat complicated and seemed illogical, but Ji Xiang understood them instantly.

"I understand, teacher," Ji Xiang replied. "Then what should we do with the patient?"

"Go to a higher-level hospital," the system NPC said. "A few hospitals with good rheumatology and immunology departments... Putting that aside, bring up your idea. If the emergency room doctor keeps thinking about this, he'll definitely be moved."

"it is good."

Ji Xiang nodded immediately.

After leaving the operating room, Ji Xiang saw Dr. Meng Qingfei from the emergency department sitting in a chair, looking somewhat depressed and deep in thought.

Meng Qingfei's brain was working too fast; smoke even started coming out of his head.

Ji Xiang thought for a moment and said, "Teacher Meng, I encountered a patient when I was an intern."

"Oh?" Dr. Meng from the emergency department looked at Ji Xiang absentmindedly.

A fresh-faced clinician gossiping with a veteran—that's quite something. Meng Qingfei responded with an "oh," mostly out of habitual politeness.

Ji Xiang calmly recounted his experience of feeling empathy, starting from when he fell ill, then feeling a heaviness in his shoulders, which worsened every day, until he felt as if a little girl in a red dress was sitting on his shoulders, blowing air on them and covering his eyes.

At first, Meng Qingfei didn't listen carefully, but Ji Xiang's storytelling was so realistic that Meng Qingfei was engrossed in it in less than a minute. Even a passing nurse came in to listen to Ji Xiang's "storytelling".

But the more he talked, the more frightening it became. When Ji Xiang described the little girl in red sitting on his shoulders and blowing air into her, the nurse turned deathly pale, covered her mouth with her hand, and looked terrified.

That's how hospitals are; they have a heavy yin energy, and strange things tend to happen there.

Especially in old hospitals like the Second Affiliated Hospital, which has a history of several decades, who among the people working here hasn't heard a few ghost stories?

In addition, although Ji Xiang only described the events in a simple way without the addition of scary music, it was based on his personal experience. He only mentioned two or three-tenths of the events, which was enough to scare the medical staff in the emergency department.

"Dr. Ji, you..." Dr. Meng from the emergency department interrupted Ji Xiang's gossip, rubbed his cold hands, and smiled wryly, "Did you make this up?"

"It was the patient I asked," Ji Xiang said earnestly.

"What was the final diagnosis? It certainly wasn't that the little girl in the red dress was actually sitting on his shoulders."

"Temporal arteritis," Ji Xiang said. "It requires a biopsy, but the treatment isn't difficult. The patient recovered a few months later, told me about it, and I remembered it."

Meng Qingfei's expression changed. He frowned in thought, then nodded.

"Thanks," he said, then ran to the duty room to make a phone call.

"You must be Ji Xiang, the one who broke records in the competition," the nurse asked.

"it's me."

"I never expected you to be such a good storyteller; you scared me half to death." The nurse stretched her limbs, which were still a little stiff. "You said the patient saw that little girl; isn't that leading the conversation?"

Ji Xiang had encountered similar problems before. He patiently explained to the nurses, repeating what the system NPC had said.

The nurse was stunned.

First came the mysterious and terrifying story, and then Ji Xiang actually provided explanations for every single point!

It's like Ji Xiang faced a book of Andersen's fairy tales and used advanced mathematics to deduce all of them. Most importantly, he could justify his explanation; at least from the perspective of a clinical nurse, Ji Xiang's explanation was basically flawless.

"Dr. Ji, you're really amazing. With that kind of sweet talk, you could charm so many young girls," the nurse exclaimed after hearing this. "If I were ten years younger, I probably wouldn't be able to resist."

"..."

Ji Xiang was taken aback. He was talking about his personal experience, so how could people have misunderstood him?

"Tsk tsk, telling ghost stories to a female classmate in the middle of the night, you really know how to do it, so dark," the nurse laughed. "I'm going to get busy now, I'll listen to your stories when I have time."

It took Ji Xiang a while to understand what she meant.

I didn't tell any stories; everything was based on real experiences.

Thinking back on everything he went through when he felt the same way, Ji Xiang still gets chills.

At that moment, he desperately hoped that the system NPC would call him back and let him know that Professor Zhou had appeared.

Ji Xiang thought to himself, "I hope that Dr. Meng Qingfei can become someone like Professor Zhou in real life."

(End of this chapter)