Healing Doctor

Chapter 505 finished, that's all.

"Dr. Ji, have you gone in yet?"

"Yeah, it's inside. Didn't you feel anything?"

"I feel something, but then again, I don't. Uh, I mean, it's in! It's really in, I can feel it!"

"I'll switch directions; you'll feel better that way."

The conversation between Ji Xiang and Zhao Zhe came through the walkie-talkie, leaving the doctors and nurses in the control room dumbfounded.

What does this mean?

"What...are they...doing?" Director Yang asked hoarsely.

"The guidewire got caught on a staple. Dr. Zhao should be able to help remove it, but I can't see it very clearly. Dr. Ji has such good eyesight; I didn't notice the details of his movements."

Director Li Ming braced his hands on the table, slowly moving his head toward the screen as he carefully examined the surgical footage. However, like Zhao Zhe, he couldn't clearly see whether the guide wire had caught the staple.

"..."

"..."

After hearing Director Li's explanation, the doctors and nurses vaguely understood what had happened.

Seeing the light at the end of the tunnel during surgery should have been a joyous occasion, but the emotions of joy and celebration were shattered by that conversation.

Everyone was somewhat taken aback.

"Now we need to adjust the direction of the staples so that the tips avoid the inner wall of the throat," Zhao Zhe asked.

"Okay, all adjusted, ready to head out. 1~2~3~ Let's go!"

On the screen, the guide wire holding the staple moves little by little, with a thin staple hanging below.

The black image of the staples under the X-ray swayed and wobbled, as if about to fall.

Everyone’s heart is raised.

It has indeed been removed, but if it falls back down, the surgery could take an unpredictable turn.

God knows where the staples will fall.

Director Li pressed his hand on the table, leaned forward, and pressed his face almost against the screen, trying to make out the "thin" and barely visible images of the staples.

However, Ji Xiang and Zhao Zhe in the operating room seemed oblivious to the tension among the people in the control room. In less than 10 seconds, the catheter, guidewire, and staples disappeared from the screen of the DSA machine.

"Finished, that's a wrap." Ji Xiang turned his head, waved to the people on the other side of the leaded glass, pinched a staple between his thumb and middle finger, and narrowed his eyes into slits.

Finished?

Are you done?

Is that all?

The machine stopped, and Ji Xiang kicked open the airtight lead door and walked into the control room.

He held a staple in his hand, stained with blood and a thick, white secretion.

"Teacher Yang, Teacher Li, it's out."

"!!!"

Director Yang stared wide-eyed at the staple.

Despite the efforts of doctors from two hospitals and several different departments, the staples could not be removed.

It stubbornly remained in the patient's right main bronchus, and several failed surgeries seemed to tell people that only open-chest surgery, using the most invasive method, could remove it.

Director Li also tried it, but it still didn't work.

Why did everything change after that obsequious old doctor was replaced?!

Director Yang was somewhat confused.

However, it's a good thing no matter who takes it out. A smile appeared on Director Yang's face that he himself was unaware of, full of approval.

After glancing at Ji Xiang, Director Yang looked intently at Zhao Zhe.

"Dr. Ji is amazing!" Director Li said excitedly, his eyes slightly red.

"It's alright, it's alright."

"I guessed you might be able to remove the staples, but I didn't expect Dr. Zhao, whom you brought, to be so capable," Director Li praised.

"It's probably because we've collaborated on surgeries more often, so we're more skilled." Ji Xiang squinted, his smile hidden behind his mask. "When it comes to surgery, Director Li is miles ahead of us."

Director Li felt somewhat embarrassed by Ji Xiang's shameless and selfless flattery.

Ji Xiang placed the staples on the gauze and handed it to Director Yang.

"Teacher Yang, could you please show this to the patient's family?"

Director Yang took the gauze, glanced at it carefully, and nodded vaguely.

The professor of thoracic surgery next to them was examining the staples with great interest. Not having to perform surgery was a great thing for them, and their joy was only slightly less than that of the patient's parents.

Who wouldn't be happy if they did less work?

Ji Xiang turned around to help Zhao Zhe handle the final matters.

A few minutes later, the patient was lifted onto a stretcher and sent back to the ward, and Director Li gradually recovered.

He looked closely at Zhao Zhe, a strange feeling rising in his heart.

When Director Li first saw Zhao Zhe, he felt a sense of familiarity. Clinically, there was no shortage of experienced attending physicians like Zhao Zhe who knew both the explicit and implicit rules and were ruthless in their dealings.

They generally have limited abilities because their talent limits their ability to make further progress in surgery, and they can only be responsible for basic tasks.

Director Li could tell from Zhao Zhe's smug, subservient smile that he was the kind of person he was; his expressions, actions, and emotions all suggested he was the same kind of person.

but!

The surgery that just took place completely overturned Li Ming's understanding.

I tried it with Ji Xiang three times, a full three times, and each time we were just a hair's breadth off.

Although the error seemed minor, Director Li knew it was far from perfect, and he was completely unable to accurately coordinate with Ji Xiang.

I originally wanted to rest for a while before going on, but if it really didn't work, I would have to resort to open-chest surgery to solve the problem.

But Zhao Zhe was on the operating table without anyone realizing it, and the surgery was completed before anyone else even realized it.

Is it really as Ji Xiang said, that they just cooperated more?

Director Li didn't think so.

Instead of going with Ji Xiang and Zhao Zhe to take the patient to the hospital, he squatted in the changing room, waiting for the patient to arrive.

A dozen minutes later, Zhao Zhe came in to change his clothes.

"Dr. Zhao," Director Li greeted him with a smile.

"Director Li, hello, hello, why didn't you come down?" Zhao Zhe still had a subservient look on his face. When facing Director Li, his waist unconsciously bent down, and his humility was to the bone, becoming a part of him.

Director Li looked at Zhao Zhe and smiled wryly.

"Dr. Zhao, you don't need to be so polite."

"I've watched your surgical videos and benefited greatly from them. In a way, I'm your unofficial disciple," Zhao Zhe said.

"What?"

"At the National Interventional Radiology Conference nine years ago, you performed a demonstration surgery. I've studied that surgery many times; it was truly brilliant!"

Director Li himself had forgotten about the demonstration surgery nine years ago, and he was momentarily stunned when Zhao Zhe brought it up.

"you……"

"I used to be a grassroots doctor in a prefecture-level city in Northeast China. Our DSA machine was practically covered in mold and nobody knew how to use it. I figured it out on my own, figuring out interventional surgery."

Zhao Zhe wasn't too reserved in front of the unfamiliar Director Li, especially since the successful surgery had kept him in an excited state, and he started talking about his unpleasant past in LY City.

He spoke so rapidly that Director Li forgot to ask Zhao Zhe and Ji Xiang how many surgeries they had performed.

(End of this chapter)