Surgery Godfather

Chapter 134: Chapter 0131: Surgery of Professional Athletes

Zhang Lin led the patient to the doctor’s office.

The patient’s name is Luo Xiaohu, a male, fourteen years old, a key player in the provincial youth soccer team, he plays very well and is expected to join the national youth team.

The worried faces of his parents, who pushed him in a wheelchair, were hard to miss. Since the opening of the Orthopedics Department, all three patients they had seen were brought in wheelchairs.

Luo Xiaohu had loved playing football since he was a child. He was very talented, and his family was financially well-off to support his passion. He even had a year of intensive training in Brazil. His parents had pinned great hopes on him, eagerly anticipating that he would become a football star and bring honor to the family.

When professional athletes get injured, their demands for restoration of function are much higher than ordinary people’s. They are also familiar with doctors in the industry. They are very careful about their choice of treatment once injured.

Injuries are inevitable in football. Every time Luo Xiaohu got hurt, even if it was a minor ankle sprain, he would go to Fuer Hospital to see Dr. Su. Especially after Dr. Su returned from studying abroad, Luo Xiaohu consulted only him, and had great trust in him.

This time, he got injured during a game. The team doctor performed immediate first aid, and then promptly sent him to Fuer Hospital to see Dr. Su. Dr. Su examined him, performed an MRI scan which revealed a Grade III tear on the medial meniscus, requiring surgery.

A Grade III injury signifies a tear. Luo Xiaohu’s meniscal tear was quite serious. It wasn’t a general tear, but a compound tear. The tear was longitudinal, diagonal, radiated, and flap-shaped, with several tearing points. This type of tear is very difficult to suture.

Dr. Su is very skilled at arthroscopy, having trained under a well-known international sports medicine master at the Special Surgery Hospital in New York. Unfortunately, Dr. Su had so many surgeries lined up that it would take two weeks to get to this one.

The earlier the meniscal suture surgery, the better the healing. Much like a wound, the earlier you suture it, the better the healing. After two to three weeks, the tear becomes chronic, the success rate of healing decreases, and the quality of healing also deteriorates. If you want to increase the probability of healing, you need freshening treatment such as filling the wound edges with blood clots to promote healing.

Waiting two weeks might not be a big deal, but it was unacceptable for Luo Xiaohu’s parents. He needed the surgery at the optimal time.

Luo Xiaohu’s parents planned to fly to Sanbo Hospital in Beijing, but since they didn’t have any acquaintances there, it could possibly take longer. Even if they were admitted into the hospital, it didn’t necessarily mean that the best doctor would perform the surgery.

Therefore, they sought help from Su Nanchen, asking how they could arrange the surgery as soon as possible. Su Nanchen recommended that they come to Sanbo to find Doctor Yang, claiming that his surgical skills were even better than his own. Luo Xiaohu’s parents knew this was modesty. In G City, there was no one who could outperform Su Nanchen in arthroscopy. But as someone recommended by Su Nanchen, they knew this doctor must be a formidable figure in the field, perhaps even someone recently returned from the United States.

Not wanting to waste any more time, Luo Xiaohu’s parents immediately came to Sanbo Hospital to find Doctor Yang.

While Doctor Yang was in a meeting, Father Luo read Doctor Yang’s personal profile on the corridor wall. He discovered that Yang was still young, an attending physician, but his profile had nothing particularly noteworthy, including no experience studying abroad.

The ward was empty, and Father Luo felt uneasy. Su Nanchen was also young, but it was different; their son was a professor, and an expert who studied in the United States.

Could it be possible that Dr. Su recommended a random doctor just to appease them? It wasn’t possible! Father Luo hesitated; his son had a promising future and he couldn’t afford to jeopardize his career because of this meniscal injury.

“Doctor Yang, Dr. Su recommended us to come see you. He said you’re very experienced in this field. You’ve definitely performed surgeries on many professional athletes, haven’t you?” Father Luo asked tentatively.

“Each patient’s condition is unique!”

Doctor Yang didn’t directly answer his question. He hung the MRI film: “The medial meniscus is severely torn. It’s a compound tear, with vertical cuts, radiated cuts, inclined cuts, and a flap-shaped piece. Luckily, the 2 to 4 millimeter part of the meniscus which is attached to the joint capsule is unharmed. This is like the hoop of a barrel. As long as the hoop is still there, we can restore the normal function by fitting the pieces back together one by one. We’ll arrange surgery for tomorrow. Perfect suture of this kind of tear under arthroscopy is very difficult, but we can do it.”

Despite his youth, he spoke with the confident calm of a seasoned professor. Doctor Yang’s strong presence increased Father Luo’s trust and at least he didn’t plan to leave.

“Thank you, we’ll get admitted to the hospital right away.” Father Luo said. It seemed they didn’t have a better option.

Zhang Lin gave them the hospital admission notice and instructed a nurse to arrange a bed for them while they went through the admission procedure.

Father Luo then wheeled Luo Xiaohu into the ward, followed by Mother Luo. In the corridor, they ran into the old lady who had synovial chondromatosis.

The old lady was practising walking with a walker. Sometimes she lifted the walker and tried to walk on her own. Seeing Luo Xiaohu on the wheelchair, she commented, “Here comes another one who couldn’t be treated properly outside.”

Hearing the lady say ‘treated properly outside’, Father Luo wondered what she meant.

“Auntie, are you also a patient here?” Father Luo asked.

The lady shot him a look: “If I’m not a patient, why would I wear a patient’s gown and exercise in the hospital?”

“I’m sorry, Auntie, I mean what kind of illness do you have? Did you also have surgery here?” Father Luo was trying to gather some information from her.

“My disease might scare you if I told you. It’s best not to ask. Seeing you with a bag full of films, I assume the case is too severe to be treated outside, so you came to see Doctor Yang?” The auntie stopped exercising.

“How do you know?” Father Luo asked.

“A friend of mine had a knee problem and always had weak legs. She had surgeries at Fuer and Fuer Hospitals but they had no effect. So she came here to find Doctor Yang. As soon as she finished her surgery here, she recovered immediately. She was wheeled into the operating room for her surgery and walked out of it on her own after the surgery.” The auntie spoke clearly.

“Is it true? Is he that good?” Mother Luo was skeptical and wanted to inquire further.

“I myself couldn’t walk for several months. I had the surgery this morning. As soon as I left the operating room, I could walk with the aid of a walker,” The old lady resumed practising walking with her walker.

Hermes was coming out of the suite ward at the end of the corridor and overheard their conversation. He interjected, “Oh my, you’ve come to the right place. I waited three months just for registration, and then stayed near the hospital for another three months, in order to wait for the professor’s surgery. Professor Zhang of this hospital is nationally renowned. When he broke a bone himself, he specifically asked for Doctor Yang to do his surgery. The next day after surgery, he could walk normally.”

Hermes touched his hip, explaining with gestures.

Father Luo was pleased this time, this big brother obviously looked wealthy, with a leggy model pushing his wheelchair; not just anyone could afford such a lifestyle. Surely this man wouldn’t make carelessly decision when it came to medical treatments.

“This department has just been established, specializing in difficult surgeries. The doctors here are top-notch and can handle what others can’t.” Hermes left this remark and was pushed away by his wife, leaving a trail of perfume in the hallway.

The couple felt reassured. If the patients had such confidence, and Dr. Su strongly recommended it, then Dr. Su would not blindly recommend something that might tarnish his reputation.

Father Luo felt that his initial distrust when they first met was quite impolite, even though it was discreetly shown. He thought it was necessary to build rapport.

After settling Luo Xiaohu down in the ward, Father Luo returned to the doctor’s office. Yang Ping was discussing surgery instruments with Song Zimo.

“Hello, Doctor Yang!” Father Luo was extremely polite, his courtesy laced with guilt.

“Hello, is there anything else?” Yang Ping could tell he had something to say.

“I came over for the surgery consent.” Father Luo found an excuse, anyway, he needed to sign the consent form.

“Oh, Dr. Zhang will get your signature later.” Yang Ping was busy and had no time for small talk.

“Then I’ll go back to the ward and wait, thank you, Dr. Yang, I’m counting on you tomorrow.” Father Luo shook hands with him.

“Don’t worry, we will do our best. Make sure your child has a good rest tonight.” Yang Ping reassured him.

Parents can worry so much. Ever since his child started playing football, he worried about the child getting injured every day. This time the child was injured and they found Dr. Su, but his surgery schedule was put off. Actually, Dr. Su said that the delay wouldn’t have much impact.

Although insignificant, an impact is still an impact, and they wouldn’t tolerate even a tiny bit. He considered going to Sanbo Hospital in Beijing, but he didn’t know who performed the best surgery. Even if they got in quickly, it didn’t guarantee that the best doctor would perform the surgery, which would affect the child’s future sports career.

The one and a half meniscus operation was worrying the whole family, but now they could finally let relief wash over them.

“Ding dong! Task: Complete a professional athlete’s meniscus surgery. If the level reaches perfect, you can receive 16,000 points while also gaining a lot of trust value in reality.”

The threshold for triggering system tasks by current events is much higher now, which means the tasks are more challenging. Trust value is what Yang Ping needs the most.

Yang Ping recalled Luo Xiaohu’s MRI images he had just viewed. This is a professional athlete’s surgery, any flaw can affect the subsequent function.

If the operation is not done well, it will affect the trust of subsequent patients; if it is done well, they can accumulate some trust points.

Based on the MRI images, Yang Ping constructed a mental image of Luo Xiaohu’s knee joint, the shape of the meniscus, and the image of the torn meniscus. He simulated the process of meniscus suture in his mind to find the optimal suturing method.

In the past, the importance of the meniscus was not fully realized, so it was simply removed. The entire meniscus was cut off.

Then gradually people began to realize the importance of the meniscus. After the meniscus was removed, the degeneration and wear of the knee joint accelerated. A person in their 30s or 40s had a joint comparable to a 60s or 70-year-old’s.

With the deepening of research on the meniscus, the idea of preserving the meniscus and repairing it as much as possible was proposed. The methods and instruments for repair have also been continuously improved, moving from the initial anchor sutures to the meniscus arrows, to the various disposable full-internal suture instruments we have now.

The so-called full-internal suture, the entire suturing process does not require any extra skin incisions. It can be completed through two 0.5 cm small holes in the arthroscope.

The level and quality of the sutures are getting higher and higher, and the postoperative effects are also getting better and better.

After picturing the surgery in his mind, Yang Ping entered the system space and spent 10,000 points to purchase training in 500 cases of meniscus suturing surgery.

After finishing, he came out of the system space, went to the operating room to check the instruments, and personally checked all the instruments for the first meniscus suture.

“This is a domestically-made instrument, stocked in the surgery center. We in Sports Medicine use it sparingly, so I brought over extra. I have checked all the seals and expiration dates, there are no issues. We have thirty needles prepared here, which should be enough.”

Xiao Su showed Yang Ping the gadgets in the sterile material warehouse, the place was neatly organized, with each sterile package being placed on the shelf, centered and just at the edge of the front.

It’s really reassuring to have Xiao Su prepare the instruments!

After checking the instruments, Yang Ping returned to the ward. Song Zimo informed him: “The manager from Ruixing Company, who is in charge of our hospital, is waiting in the meeting room.”

Yang Ping left all these surgical preparations to Song Zimo.

Arriving at the meeting room, a girl dressed in professional attire sat inside. Her face still had a fresh-out-of-college look.

Yang Ping thought she looked very familiar, he seemed to have seen her somewhere before.