Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 176 Veterinarians Treat Patients
Chen Fan quickly checked her over. Her face was pale, her lips were bloodless, and her eyes were closed, but she showed no other signs of pain. His initial assessment was that she had fainted due to low blood sugar.

Press the wrist pulse again.

Oh, I forgot I don't know how to take a pulse, but her hand is really thin, the veins are bulging.

He's so thin, no one would believe he's not malnourished.

Chen Fan used a little force to help her sit up, then turned around and pulled her onto his back. He picked up his travel bag, supported his thighs with both hands, and ran home with all his might.

The falcon immediately took flight, chirping as it flew towards the educated youth settlement.

Going to Dr. Zhang in this situation won't help; let's take him home first.

Objectively speaking, after this period of contact, Chen Fan can basically conclude that Dr. Zhang's medical skills are very limited, roughly equivalent to those of a rural veterinarian.

They don't know how to take a pulse or perform acupuncture, so their judgment of the illness mainly relies on experience. They then prescribe medicine or give injections based on that experience.

For example, the medicine he prescribed for Chen Fan was a formula for treating colds caused by wind and cold, plus fever reduction and sweating. It cured the illness with just one dose, not because of his superior medical skills, but because the formula in the "Barefoot Doctor's Manual" was appropriate for the symptoms.

It's also possible that the medicinal herbs available these days are truly effective.

In other cases, such as when it's impossible to determine whether it's a cold or a heat rash, he... well, people won't go to him; he usually just toughs it out on his own.

Only patients who can't endure the pain will ask him to come to their homes to prescribe medicine. When the specific cause of the illness cannot be determined, Dr. Zhang's most common treatment for such severe cases is to give an injection, and the medicine he uses is the most common antibiotic these days, "gentamicin".

Young people may not have heard of gentamicin because it was later banned or its use was restricted.

Gentamicin has significant ototoxicity, causing deafness in many patients, especially children. It is not uncommon for a single injection of gentamicin to result in lifelong disability.

Even if the probability is only one in tens of thousands, when magnified to the whole country, with such a large population base, the number of victims is not small.

In this day and age, there are quite a few antibiotics with side effects, such as tetracycline. Many people born in the 60s and 70s have yellow or gray teeth because they ate too much tetracycline when they were young, which caused them to develop "tetracycline teeth".

Everyone knows the classic Spring Festival Gala dance "Thousand-Hand Bodhisattva". But few people know that among the 21 deaf and mute dancers, 18 were deaf due to drugs. The culprit is aminoglycoside antibiotics, such as streptomycin, gentamicin and kanamycin, with gentamicin being the most widely used.

He learned about gentamicin because he liked the show and specifically searched for information about the actors.

In the 70s and 80s, this antibiotic was widely used throughout the country. People would take an injection for external injuries and inflammation, for colds and fevers, for gastroenteritis, and so on.

Unfortunately, the availability of medicines in that era was extremely limited. Without these antibiotics, the number of deaths would have been much higher.

In contrast, the situation was even more dire in the 50s and earlier, when even antibiotics, which had no side effects, were not available.

Faced with this situation, Chen Fan could only thank Dr. Zhang for not having a fever when he came over; otherwise, he might have activated a skill: lip reading.

He'd rather not have it.

So if he takes Sister Jiang to see Doctor Zhang, Doctor Zhang is very likely to give her an injection of gentamicin, and then there's that one in tens of thousands chance...

Oh shit, it's over.

However, Chen Fan didn't dare to remind Doctor Zhang not to use it.

This thing is used all over the country and has saved countless lives. If he dares to say that this thing has great side effects, whether it can save people is unknown, but he is very likely to get himself into trouble.

The prerequisite for saving others is protecting yourself; this matter can only be discussed when there is another opportunity.

Moreover, there are currently no better alternative drugs available, so we have to choose the lesser of two evils.

……

Chen Fan ran back to the educated youth settlement in one breath, entering the courtyard gate panting. Jiang Lili came out upon hearing the noise, her face full of smiles, "You're back! The food will be ready soon."

As soon as she finished speaking, she saw the woman on Chen Fan's back and was stunned. Who was this?
Chen Fan strode to her room door. "Come here quickly and see if it's your sister."

Jiang Lili was stunned. Sister?

The next second, she immediately ran forward, but her legs went weak and she almost fell to the ground.

Stumbling and falling, Jiang Lili stumbled to the doorway and went inside, holding onto the doorframe.

Chen Fan was placing Sister Jiang on an empty bamboo bed, using a travel bag as a pillow, and helping her lie down comfortably.

Jiang Lili rushed over and immediately recognized her as her older sister. She hugged her tightly, crying and calling out, "Sister, sister, wake up, sister..."

Chen Fan wiped his sweat. "Don't cry. Go get a basin of hot water to wipe her down. I'll get some sugar water; she probably has low blood sugar."

Hearing his words, Jiang Lili felt as if she had found a pillar of support. She quickly stood up and hurriedly tried to leave.

Chen Fan quickly called her back, "Wait."

Jiang Lili turned around, her face deathly pale, and stared blankly at him. "Huh?"

Chen Fan walked over, placed his hands on her shoulders, squeezed them firmly, looked at her, and said seriously, "Calm down. You can't do anything like this. Your sister will be fine. You must calm down, do you hear me?"

Jiang Lili was panting heavily, staring at him without blinking.

After a while, he let out a long breath, and his face regained some color. He nodded vigorously, "I...I'm calm."

Chen Fan patted her shoulder again, "It's okay, I'm here."

Jiang Lili forced a smile, then took a deep breath before turning and walking out, her steps much steadyer this time.

Chen Fan glanced down at Sister Jiang and checked her breathing and pulse again. Based on his veterinary skills, he felt that she should be fine.

Suppressing laughter.

These days, veterinarians can really treat people, and some veterinarians are even more skilled than barefoot doctors. There was once a veterinarian in Jiangsu who switched to being a barefoot doctor. With his excellent medical skills, he rose to the position of director of the town health center and served in that position for twenty years. It wasn't until he was about to retire that his superiors respected his personal wishes and transferred him back to the veterinary bureau.

Chen Fan's veterinary skills have now reached LV3, making him a qualified veterinarian. While he may still be lacking in the ability to treat human illnesses, he is perfectly capable of judging whether a person is in a dangerous situation.

While Jiang Lili went to fetch water, Chen Fan also returned to his room, made a bowl of brown sugar water, and even cracked an egg into the sugar water. After stirring the egg, he made a bowl of piping hot egg drop sugar tea.

When the item was brought to Jiang Lili's room, she was carefully wiping her sister's hair, face, hands, and all the dusty areas.

Chen Fan brought over the sweetened tea and put it aside first, saying, "It's a bit hot, let it cool down a bit before drinking."

Then he walked to the foot of the bed and took off Sister Jiang's shoes and socks.

Jiang Lili looked at him, puzzled.

Chen Fan looked up at her and smiled. "If you faint, you can massage your temples or philtrum. However, these are both important acupoints. I haven't learned acupoint massage, so I'm afraid I won't be able to apply enough pressure. Therefore, I massaged the Yongquan acupoint on the sole of her foot. She should wake up soon."

He then sat down, grabbed his feet and placed them on his lap, supporting them with one hand and pressing them gently with his knuckles with the other.

After a while, Sister Jiang suddenly exhaled a long breath and slowly woke up.

(End of this chapter)