Healing Doctor

Chapter 555 Earth Fangzi

After much pleading, Ji Xiang finally got his wish and returned to the ward with a feeding tube inserted.

The old man in the next bed said with a look of disdain, "You just said you couldn't put in a feeding tube, how come you chickened out so quickly?"

"Hehe, I was in so much pain that my brain wasn't working properly."

"I think you're the one who's not thinking straight now," said the woman taking care of the old man. "Your stomach doesn't even hurt anymore, and you're still stuffing tubes up your nose. Aren't you just making trouble for others?"

Ji Xiang smiled. So this was what empathy felt like. He looked the caregiver of the patient in the next bed up and down and asked, "What illness does the elderly person have?"

"They said it was an intestinal obstruction and gave us a tube of medicine. The name of the medicine sounded suspicious," the patient's daughter replied.

Her tone and expression revealed her attitude, especially the words "indecent," as if the attending physician had been groping her.

"What kind of medicine did they give you?" Ji Xiang asked.

"What's it called, Jetta?"

"Glycerin enema, it's a pretty good medicine."

"You think you know anything!" The patient's daughter sniffed and said disdainfully, "You just told us that the doctor doesn't know anything. Your stomach doesn't hurt anymore, but they still insisted on admitting you to the hospital just to make more money."

"Do I have any?" Ji Xiang scratched his head and decided to take the blame.

"The pain was so intense just now that my mind went completely blank, and I couldn't remember anything," Ji Xiang explained. "I'm much better now. I'll just do whatever the doctor says."

The patient's daughter looked at Ji Xiang with a strange expression, wondering why he had suddenly become a different person.

"That's just how he is," Ji Xiang's "lover" scolded. "When we met when we were young, he loved to brag and talk a big game, but when it came to actually doing it, he was a coward like a dog."

"Hahaha." The daughter of the patient in the next bed laughed.

"One day, I don't know what upset him outside, he came home throwing tantrums and pointing his finger at me, demanding to know what we'd eat for dinner. How could I tolerate his awful temper? I know he's just asking for trouble, so I just give him a few scoldings."

"As a result, after just one beating, he slunk off to cook a few minutes later."

As Ji Xiang's "lover" spoke, she gave him a smug look.

"Hey." Ji Xiang wasn't embarrassed. He had to empathize with all sorts of people. If he felt embarrassed or ashamed over such a trivial matter, then he wouldn't need to empathize.

Immediately, Ji Xiang asked, "Did you use Jieda?"

"Here you go, are you stunned by the doctor's scolding today? I can scold you a few times, but why are they scolding you!" Ji Xiang's "lover" asked in confusion.

"No," Ji Xiang said. "The doctor treated me well, and we had a friendly and cordial conversation."

He only gave one explanation before staring intently at the patient in the next bed.

"It was no use. They initially said they needed an enema, and I didn't know anything about it, so I just went ahead and did it. I happened to pass by the treatment room and saw a nurse preparing something for another patient's enema. That tube was so thick; they say they have to insert it into a swallow's nest!"

The daughter of the patient in the next bed gestured with her hand, and Ji Xiang frowned slightly. Neither a cleansing enema nor a laxative enema would require such a thick tube.

Exaggeration, but it must be "appropriate" exaggeration.

It is a rhetorical device.

"My dad doesn't suffer like that!" The daughter of the patient in the next bed said with great enthusiasm for a full three minutes before giving an affirmative answer.

Ji Xiang was also helpless; he had no idea why the daughter of the patient in the next bed was experiencing fear.

There are countless treatment options available in clinical practice, some of which are indeed difficult to accept, such as prolonged use of gastric tubes, urinary catheters, or endotracheal intubation, or mechanical ventilation.

However, the level of pain from enemas can only be described as moderate.

"So what are you planning to do?" Ji Xiang asked.

"I called people back home and they said they have a folk remedy," the daughter of the patient in the next bed said with a hint of pride. "This stuff is for constipation; it just helps to lubricate the stool."

That makes some sense. In fact, the principle behind enemas is similar, Ji Xiang thought to himself.

"People from my hometown say that if you can't defecate, eating two plates of fatty meat slices will solve the problem."

"..."

"I'm all ready, and it just so happens that my dad likes to eat meat."

"The doctor said I can't eat or drink," Ji Xiang said very seriously.

"The doctor said, the doctor said, everything is the doctor's word, what right do they have? These people are just scoundrels, not even as good as the barefoot doctors my dad used to be! Back then, doctors were dedicated to treating and saving lives, now they're just after money!" the daughter of the patient in the next bed said disdainfully.

Ji Xiang sighed inwardly.

Although it was just empathy, and a bizarre experience created by a piece of code or other cutting-edge technology, Ji Xiang still saw the old man in the next bed as a patient.

He couldn't help but say a few more words, until the daughter of the patient in the next bed looked at Ji Xiang with a glint of steel in her eyes.

Helpless, Ji Xiang muttered a few words, but seeing that it only aroused more resentment from the patient's family, he had no choice but to shut up.

With my "lover's" nagging in my ears and the nagging of the patient's daughter in the next bed, this experience of empathy was not pleasant.

In addition, Ji Xiang doesn't really like having a nasogastric tube inserted.

When the tube passes through the nasal cavity and pharynx, Ji Xiang will reflexively tear up. Although he has to endure it for the sake of treatment, constantly wiping away tears greatly reduces Ji Xiang's experience.

An hour later, the daughter of the patient in the next bed returned with a thermos that her family had brought.

She began preparing the meal.

The braised pork belly I made at home was almost entirely fat, with almost no lean meat.

With the slightest movement, the fat jiggled and swayed, glistening with oil, greasy and slippery.

The old man's spirits lifted upon seeing the fatty meat, unlike Ji Xiang, who was already overwhelmed after just one glance.

Let alone eating, Ji Xiang felt nauseous just looking at it.

The daughter of the patient in the next bed prepared minced garlic and soy sauce, and then served the elderly man his meal.

The old man clearly had a great appetite. He picked up a piece of fatty meat, the edges of which were trembling, dipped it in minced garlic, and put it in his mouth.

"Slurp~"

Ji Xiang vaguely heard the sound of fatty meat being "sucked" into mouths.

At the same time, Ji Xiang's mouth was secreting saliva. Ji Xiang subconsciously swallowed, and the gastric tube rubbed against the pharyngeal wall, bringing a wave of pain and discomfort.

The nerve reflex reached the lacrimal canaliculus, and Ji Xiang swallowed his saliva while crying, as if he was crying because he was craving something.

"I'm eating too." Seeing that the old man was eating heartily, Ji Xiang's "lover" seemed to be hungry as well, so he took out a thermal lunchbox to prepare his meal.

Countless acts of malice enveloped him from all around, especially with the aroma of meat and food lingering in the air. Ji Xiang felt as if the world was targeting him.

The more Ji Xiang cried, the more heartbroken he became.

For a patient with a feeding tube inserted who cannot eat or drink, the aroma of food can truly be considered one of the ten most cruel forms of torture.

No wonder so many patients wouldn't listen and insisted on eating. Ji Xiang swallowed hard.

The act of swallowing pulled on the gastric tube, causing another wave of pain, and tears streamed down my face.

(End of this chapter)