Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 566 Be prepared
A week passed in the blink of an eye.

It was late May, the 21st, a Sunday, the solar term Xiaoman (Grain Buds).

Operating room at the General Hospital of Jiangnan Military Region.

Wearing surgical scrubs, a large mask, and a surgical cap, Chen Fan held a scalpel and casually made a small incision on the patient's back. His movements were slow but steady, from the epidermis to the dermis and then to the subcutaneous tissue, and a stream of blood flowed out instantly.

Dr. Gong, the chief surgeon of the General Hospital, couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat as he watched from the side.

Although X-rays have been taken every day for the past few days to confirm that the shrapnel is indeed moving away from the spine, the risks of surgery are still very high. On the one hand, the shrapnel is still very close to the spine, and if the surgeon is not experienced enough, even a slight mistake, such as the scalpel deviating by one millimeter, could cut a nerve.

On the other hand, shrapnel left in the body for so long has long been encased in human tissue, making separation a major undertaking.

Furthermore, shrapnel can rust inside the body. After removing the main body of the shrapnel, the rust remaining on the flesh and tissue must be cleaned thoroughly, otherwise it can cause postoperative infection, which in severe cases is no less harmful than leaving the shrapnel in the body.

If the patient hadn't insisted that Dr. Chen perform the surgery, and if a leader from the military region hadn't signed his approval, he would never have allowed such a young man to go to the operating table.

Even Chen Fan, who invented the Yunhu First Aid Method and used acupuncture to relieve patients' pain and push foreign objects out of their spines, couldn't do it.

Those two procedures are not the same as surgery. He had never heard of Chen Fan performing any major surgical operations, so of course he wouldn't dare to take the risk.

But the patient trusted him, and Chen Fan did have surgical records at Yunhu People's Hospital. Although the surgeries were not complicated, they meant he wasn't a complete novice, so they could only let him give it a try.

Then I'll stay by his side so that if anything goes wrong, I can take immediate action.

Under Director Gong's scrutinizing gaze, Chen Fan handed the scalpel to the nurse and whispered, "Tweezers."

A nurse immediately handed over the forceps.

He gently pressed his left hand near the wound, then reached in with tweezers and, before anyone else could react, pulled out a piece of blood-stained metal less than 1 centimeter in size.

Director Gong's eyes lit up immediately. "Hey, he's got some skills! He could remove the foreign object before even seeing it. I'm the only one in the whole hospital with that ability. I didn't expect him to be able to do it too!"

After placing the metal sheet into a special tray, Chen Fan began cleaning out the internal impurities.

The rust had turned into powder, mixed with the flesh and blood, making it extremely difficult to remove.

However, with his steady operation, all the impurities were removed in no time.

Turning his head to look at Director Gong, who was about to approach, Chen Fan couldn't help but laugh and ask, "Would you like to have another check-up?"

Director Gong turned to look at him, then at the wound, slowly withdrew his head, and then said with an awkward smile, "No need, it's very clean."

It's really strange. I'm a veteran with over 30 years of experience, and I can tell whether a wound has been cleaned properly.

But when performing this kind of surgery, it can take him more than ten minutes just to clean the wound. But look at Chen Fan, he only needs two or three strokes to clean it just as well as he can. His technique is nothing special. How did he do it?

Seeing that he stopped talking, Chen Fan continued to take the second piece.

The entire surgery took nearly an hour, involving removing shrapnel, cleaning, and finally suturing.

With his LV5 tailoring skills, the wound was stitched up beautifully, which surprised Director Gong once again.

After the last wound was stitched up, a nurse applied medicine.

Chen Fan took two steps back, and at Director Gong's signal, followed him out of the operating room, removed his mask and surgical cap, and went to the washroom to clean up.

Director Gong stood beside him and asked curiously, "Dr. Chen, who taught you the technique for cleaning impurities from your body? And your suturing technique is much better than what we developed ourselves."

While this hospital may not claim to be the best in the country, it can certainly be called a first-class hospital without any modesty, and no one would deny that.

Moreover, as an expert in the field, he frequently goes to top hospitals such as Peking Union Medical College Hospital and Tongji Hospital for academic exchanges, and he knows the best surgical techniques in the country.

But Chen Fan's surgical technique today opened his eyes to something completely new; it was something he had never heard of before, so he was naturally very curious.

Chen Fan washed his hands with soap, turned to look at him, and smiled, "Director Gong, it's no use asking. Even if I were willing to teach, you wouldn't be able to learn it."

As he spoke, he turned around, raised his hands, and moved his fingers. "This kind of thing relies on talent first and practice second. Even common surgical and suturing techniques will have completely different effects when used by different people, simply because the hands used for surgery are different. You must understand this principle, right?"

At this moment, Director Gong also came to his senses and said thoughtfully, "So it's not that your technique is so advanced, but simply because your method is more stable?"

Chen Fan shrugged. "That's exactly right."

Director Gong shook his head regretfully, "Then it has no value for promotion."

What he needs is a skill that every doctor, or at least most doctors, can learn, not just an isolated case.

Only better technology can better serve more people. As for individual cases, unless it is an extremely difficult surgery like today's, they are not that important.

This is not to say that individual cases are unimportant, but if they have no general value, there is no need to investigate them thoroughly.

Thinking of this, he completely gave up hope.

Chen Fan also expressed his helplessness.

He can't exactly say that the surgery was done well because his butchering skills were also at LV5, that mastering the art of butchering an ox was nothing, and that making an incision in a person to remove shrapnel was nothing.
The exquisite stitching also relies on LV5 sewing technology.

It would be quite difficult to accomplish this with only LV5 medical skills.

Or rather, the surgical outcome wouldn't be as good as it is now.

Of course, his current achievements are all due to his hard work in gaining experience. As the saying goes, three parts are destined by heaven and seven parts depend on hard work. Comrade Chen Fan's current achievements are a model of hard work!

At this time, Grandpa Xiang had already been wheeled into the ward. When Chen Fan arrived, Xiang Hongqi was by his grandfather's side, his face full of tension.

Chen Fan walked to the other side of the bed and smiled, "Didn't the nurse tell you that the surgery was a success?"

Xiang Hongqi looked up and smiled shyly, "I told you, but I'm still a little nervous."

Chen Fan sat down on the empty bed behind him, nodded and smiled, saying, "That's right, I'd be nervous too, he's my own grandfather. But it's alright."

He looked at Grandpa Xiang, who was still under anesthesia, with a hint of admiration in his eyes, and said softly, "For your grandfather, this surgical wound is probably not as serious as the injury he suffered in a small battle. He survived a hail of bullets back then, so this is nothing."

He paused for a moment, then continued, "But now I'm getting older, and my physical functions aren't as good as they used to be. I'll make sure you eat well these next few days. I'll make sure you get plenty of meat, eggs, and dairy products. These things aren't hard to buy now, unlike before when resources were scarce. I'll also make sure you eat plenty of fruit to get vitamins. I estimate you'll heal in about a week, and then we can prepare for the next surgery."

Today's surgery only removed three pieces of shrapnel from the back; there's still one piece in the chest, which will have to wait until next time.

This old man was really fierce in battle; his body is covered in countless scars.

Some TV shows or novels say that only those with scars on the front are true warriors, but that's not necessarily true. On a modern battlefield, when a shell explodes and shrapnel flies everywhere, how do you know whether the shell landed in front or behind?
If the shell lands behind you and you're even slightly close, you'll not only be hit by countless shrapnel, but the massive shockwave will also cause your back to be torn open.

Even in the era of cold weapons, there were still those who attacked from behind; there's no reason why someone with a wound in the back isn't a warrior.

Chen Fan shifted his gaze to Xiang Hongqi's face and said softly, "And you too, you must follow the prescription I gave you. Actually, you didn't have any serious illness; it was just a deficiency of trace elements caused by malnutrition when you were young. Many people are like you, but it's more serious because you have a weaker constitution from birth, but it's not incurable. You need to pay more attention to your diet and keep exercising. Mr. Li also said that health is the foundation of everything. Only when you take good care of your health will your grandfather be at ease."

Xiang Hongqi blushed slightly, seemingly a little embarrassed, and lowered her head to say softly, "Yes, I'll remember."

Chen Fan sighed slightly, feeling somewhat helpless.

Grandpa Xiang's grandson is only two or three years younger than him... Of course, that's the birth date registered after he transmigrated. If it were based on his actual age, he wouldn't know where to start counting.

When Xiang Hongqi was born, the country had only recently escaped famine. After the quota for urban residents was reduced, the country had not fully recovered and could barely make ends meet; nutrition was out of the question.

Ultimately, Xiang Hongqi, who was already congenitally weak, was unable to get adequate nutrition, which led to a chronic illness.

If this were in later generations, it would actually be simple. Take advantage of the current growth period, drink all kinds of oral liquids and nutritional supplements, and you can make up for it in a few years.

Now, the only treatment option is a combination of herbal decoctions, dietary therapy, and exercise. Drink a bowl of cheap herbal decoction every day, eat something good every few days, and ideally drink a glass of milk every day. Then, go to the park with the old men to practice Tai Chi. It should take about a year and a half to recover.

The two were chatting casually when, after a while, Chen Fan asked Xiang Hongqi to turn his grandfather over. "Back surgery is more complicated. He can't lie in one position for too long. He has to turn over every now and then, and his upper body has to be raised about 30 degrees to avoid putting pressure on the wound."

When turning over, be careful to move gently and slowly, and especially avoid touching the wound, otherwise it will affect the healing time.

Xiang Hongqi nodded earnestly, "I've got it."

Just as he was halfway through flipping through the book, Grandpa Xiang woke up.

He groggily opened his eyes, made out the two figures in front of him, and mumbled, "Director Chen, I feel dizzy."

Chen Fan: "Your anesthesia hasn't fully worn off yet, of course you're dizzy."

He paused for a moment, then said, "Don't worry, the surgery was very successful. We'll remove the shrapnel from your front in a few days. Once Hongqi has fully recovered, you'll have plenty of good fortune to enjoy."

Grandpa Xiang closed his eyes, grinning from ear to ear, "Thanks to your good fortune, thanks to your good fortune!"

Chen Fan helped him turn over, and seeing that the old man had fallen into a deep sleep again, he gestured to Xiang Hongqi to take good care of his grandfather, and then waved and left.

……

He had just stepped out of the ward when he was stopped by Director Gong again.

Director Gong rubbed his hands together, and said apologetically, "Dr. Chen, can I talk to you about something?"

Chen Fan closed the door behind him and said with a smile, "Go ahead."

Director Gong, "That's right, there are actually quite a few cases like Grandpa Xiang's. There are 33 cases registered in our hospital alone. They are all left over from the limited medical conditions and high surgical risks back then..."

Before he could finish speaking, Chen Fan interrupted him, saying as he thought for a moment, "I understand what you mean."

After pausing for two seconds, he looked at Director Gong and said, "It's like this, currently, besides my work at my unit, I also have study assignments to complete, so my time is indeed quite tight."

Honestly, he hasn't ridden horses, walked dogs, released hawks, hunted, or fished in a long time. He especially misses Gun Gun and the bamboo recliner at home.

After a moment of thought, Chen Fan came to his senses and continued, "For cases like Grandpa Xiang's, the most crucial thing is not the surgery itself, but the acupuncture treatment before the surgery. Only by creating suitable conditions can we create space for the surgery."

In this way, if I really need to intervene, I can perform acupuncture treatment on three patients per week. This number of three is also the limit I can currently handle, because this kind of acupuncture usually takes about 7 days, and each session takes half an hour to an hour, and it is very energy-consuming. If I do more than that, there may be problems, so I can only treat a maximum of three people a day, and then rotate them out every week.

As for the subsequent surgical treatment, your hospital can certainly handle it; that would be more efficient and allow you to treat more people more promptly. What do you think?

He could handle 3 people a week, or 33 people in total, which would take eleven weeks, less than three months.

Of course, this was only because these patients were all veterans; otherwise, he wouldn't bother with cases that wouldn't add much experience points.

Don't say he lacks awareness; if he did, his bones would probably be torn to shreds by now. Still want to live a good life? Dream on!
Upon hearing Chen Fan's words, Director Gong was overjoyed. He clenched his hands tightly and grinned, saying, "No problem, no problem, we'll do it your way!"

These cases were kept because of a lack of surgical space. As long as Chen Fan could isolate the shrapnel, it would be just a minor surgery to remove a foreign object from the body, which the hospital could easily handle.

This was just a spur-of-the-moment decision by Director Gong. Since it concerned an honored veteran, he still needed to report the details to his superiors and wait for approval before proceeding.

Moreover, although Chen Fan has a medical license, he is not a member of the health system. He has to send a letter to the provincial writers' association through the hospital to coordinate relationships with all parties before the matter can be implemented.

Right now, we're just confirming the parties' intentions with them.

After dropping Chen Fan off at the hospital entrance and watching him get into the car and leave, Director Gong couldn't help but sigh. He wondered what the Health Department was thinking, how could they let such a highly skilled medical expert leave?
If he were still in the health system, even at the Yunhu Health Department, I could find a way to transfer him over.

Even if it's just a special recruitment and being given the rank of colonel, it would be worth it!
At this moment, he completely forgot how he had doubts before the surgery.

……

Chen Fan returned to the Writers' Association. Although it was a day off, many people were still working at the office.

Whether it was work or just casual conversation, I don't know.

As soon as he entered the office building, someone asked, "Director Chen, how is Grandpa Xiang?"

Chen Fan stopped and said with a pout, "You guys are really something. One of our employees was hospitalized for surgery, but not a single person from the company accompanied him. What's going on?"

Just as everyone else was speechless, Xu Qizhen rolled her eyes and walked over, saying irritably, "What, aren't you from our unit? A deputy-level leader personally accompanying you, and even personally handling things, isn't that enough of an emphasis?"

Chen Fan's eyes widened. "Me, a surgeon, and I'm supposed to be responsible for accompanying and comforting people?"

Xu Qizhen slapped his arm. "What? Is that not allowed? If not, give back the case of Moutai you took from my office!"

Chen Fan stood at attention, ready to "complete the mission!"

Xu Qizhen couldn't help but smile, and the surrounding area erupted in laughter.

Before the laughter subsided, Xu Qizhen asked seriously, "How is Uncle Xiang?"

Chen Fan laughed and said, "Judging from my appearance, I can tell the surgery was a success."

Xu Qizhen breathed a sigh of relief. "That's good."

She then looked around and pulled Chen Fan upstairs.

Once they reached the top of the stairs, he whispered, "Someone from the Provincial United Front Work Department just came looking for you. They said your uncle is coming from America to see you. He'll arrive in Beijing tomorrow morning. We'll see if he flies over directly tomorrow afternoon or the day after. Anyway, you should be prepared."

Chen Fan was dumbfounded. "Uncle?"

Are you prepared? What kind of preparation?
Is this a case of switching the dragon for the phoenix?
It seems that DNA technology was invented in 1984, so it shouldn't be exposed now, right?

(End of this chapter)