Surgery Godfather

Chapter 138: Chapter 0134: He Has a Way

As soon as he returned to the ward, the system announced the task had been completed.

“Ding dong! Perfect surgery, mission accomplished, awarded 16,000 points! A large number of trust values in reality has also been added.”

The points now total to 26,000; not much, but way better than before. If before he was constantly struggling to make ends meet, he can now be considered as out of poverty, his basic needs have been met, and he is trying to achieve a better standard of living.

The system has been much more generous; most of the task rewards are now more than ten thousand points. As the water level rises, the boat floats higher. The price of surgical training in the store has also increased significantly.

Right now, Yang Ping is like a poor middle-class person. The rewards for each task are high, but the high costs of various surgical training classes always leave him unable to save more points. n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

After Song Zimo finished writing the surgical record, he began to study Yang Ping’s surgical pictures and recalled the surgical process of today. Usually, he didn’t see Yang Ping practice at all, and as soon as the surgery started, the results were incredible.

“To achieve high-quality sutures in this kind of surgery, it’s necessary to plan the distribution of each stitch beforehand. You should be able to draw a diagram of the torn meniscus before surgery and simulate the distribution of sutures on the diagram.”

Yang Ping felt the need to give him some guidance to help him progress faster, which would in turn make the whole team progress faster.

“How do you control the tension of each knot?” Song Zimo thought this was the most crucial question.

“Controlling the tension is difficult. If you aren’t sure when tying a knot, don’t cut the thread, manage the tail thread first, and tie the knots once all sutures are finished. Each knot is locked step by step, locking it bit by bit each time, and after several rounds, the tension of several knots will be more balanced.”

Song Zimo listened attentively, and Yang Ping’s simple guidance cleared up a lot of things in his mind. He doesn’t know that this is the conclusion of thousands of arthroscopic surgeries performed by Yang Ping, which has been easily taught to him.

“When suturing, should the inflow tube be turned off to eliminate the turbulence caused by the inflow on the meniscus? If water is flowing from the entrance, should it be blocked?” Song Zimo asked all he could.

Yang Ping nodded: “Yes, to get the most perfect suture, interference must be reduced to a minimum. The flow of water is the greatest interference, which may affect judgment on coaptation and tension during suturing.”

Admiringly, Song Zimo replied, “I understand.”

“For any surgical and medical activities, you must first do it right, then do it well!” Yang Ping summed up succinctly.

“Allocating the distribution of suturing thread well means doing things right. Without proper distribution, no matter how the tension is controlled, such a perfect effect can’t be achieved. If the distribution of suturing thread is rational, what’s left is to get the coaptation and tension control right, which is part of doing things well.”

Song Zimo proved to be intelligent and had an extraordinary comprehension ability.

“Just like that liver cancer patient at Overseas Chinese Building, one must first determine the correct method — training for nerve root block, before striving to implement it. A correct method is needed before making effort, otherwise, the effort could be counterproductive.”

Yang Ping continued to explain with examples.

Song Zimo was pleased. He learned a lot today, it seemed that he satisfied his assistant, who finally started communicating with him. Before, he didn’t say a word after finishing a surgery.

Meanwhile, Zhang Lin was busy creating posters for the academic conference on his computer, improving the introduction of guest participants. Little Five peered over, “Are you looking for beauties during work hours?”

Zhang Lin retorted, “Brother Five, look carefully, she is a guest participant, a Japanese doctor!”

Little Five widened his eyes, “A doctor? Really? She’s so beautiful.”

The Japanese lady was indeed beautiful, not sure if the photo on her introduction was just gorgeous, or she was naturally so beautiful.

Zhang Lin gave Little Five a disgusted look, “Brother Five, do you really need to look so closely? Don’t tell me she looks familiar. She’s a real doctor, has nothing to do with those Japanese ladies you’re familiar with. Look, a talented graduate from the Medical department of Tokyo University.”

“This lady surnamed Park (pu), she’s Korean, right?” Little Five sat and watched Zhang Lin working on the post while he already changed another one.

“Can you have some manners, that character is read as ‘piao’!” Zhang Lin said, clearly disdainful.

“Israel is also Asia? Isn’t it Europe?” Zhang Lin changed another poster, Little Five saw it was an Israeli doctor.

Little Five was even more annoyed, “Brother, it would be better if you keep quiet and don’t embarrass yourself. Israel is authentically an Asian country. Are you going to move it to Europe?”

“Hey Fatty, what delicious food did you bring? Get some over here.” Little Five stopped talking to Zhang Lin and saw Liang Fatty bringing a bag of things.

Fatty quickly hid the bag behind him, “You can’t touch this. It’s for my diet. I’ve decided to eat only two meals a day, breakfast and lunch, and for dinner, I’m eating this.”

“Seriously Fatty, let me see.” Little Five quickly grabbed his hand and opened the bag.

“Chocolate balls!”

Little Five laughed until his stomach hurt. He had never seen someone who doesn’t eat dinner to lose weight but eats chocolate instead.

—

Jiahui finished assisting the surgery and didn’t delay for a second. She immediately delivered the anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction instruments to the operating room and handed them over to Su Yixuan.

The instruments were kept at her home, a three-bedroom apartment where one room had been emptied out to operate as a storage room for all kinds of instruments. Whenever Yang Ping needed them they could be sent over right away.

On her way home, she felt exceptionally hungry, realizing she hadn’t had breakfast yet. However, she was overjoyed inside knowing that her product would finally see use today and could still be used in the future.

Ruixing’s products have never made a significant mark in frontline cities, despite considerable efforts. After much difficulty, they did manage to make inroads into several large hospitals, becoming standby suppliers. However, the instruments that were delivered and kept in storage were close to expiry, without even being used.

Many reasons account for this, the most important being the undeniable gap in product quality. It was said that a hospital director used them once, experienced a jam, and was so annoyed that smoke almost came out of his nostrils. Eventually, after much effort, he managed to cut off the sutures and re-suture the wound.

The furious director threw the suturing gun to the ground in front of the Ruixing representative, saying, “Don’t you ever come back!”

In crude terms, he was told to “Get lost!”

During training, the instructor said that some hospital directors might have terrible temperaments and could curse at others. If faced with such a situation, it was important to remain calm and keep a smile on their faces.

Jiahui had always been nervous, fearing she would be scolded. However, Doctor Yang didn’t say a single foul word. Although he wasn’t overly enthusiastic, he did not cast blame or berate others. He completed the surgery in just over ten minutes.

Her brother said about Yang Ping, “A man who is not greedy for money always plans far ahead!” He also emphasized repeatedly to focus on helping with Yang Ping’s surgeries and on nothing else.

Before she knew it, she was already home. Jiahui began to record everything again.

The position of the equipment trolley could be tweaked today; whenever anyone is reading films beside the lightbox or observing surgeries on the screen, don’t offer them stools. Only when they move back to the corner to rest, should a stool be brought over; the moment Yang Ping steps down from the operating table, immediately help untie his surgical gown. Don’t wait for him to start doing it himself.

There are twenty-four meniscal suturing guns left in reserve at Sanbo. The next time she goes, she should bring a few more to ensure they have at least thirty in reserve.

Was there anything else she overlooked?

Oh, breakfast. Remember to eat breakfast next time.

It looked like everything was covered. Before going to bed tonight, she would have to check everything again. Jiahui closed her notebook, she encouraged herself to stabilize and expand this business line.

—

At noon, Su Nanchen finished performing surgery and was about to eat when he saw Yang Ping’s message on WeChat. He then enlarged the photo.

A single photo said it all. The quality of the meniscal suture was perfect, with a neat and wrinkle-free alignment. Predicting the tension on a few sutures required immense precision, achievable only with the experience of conducting thousands of such surgeries.

Upon calculating the time, the surgery, which probably started at half past eight, was concluded before nine o’clock, meaning it didn’t last more than half an hour. Adjusting tension on a few sutures at such a pace would require getting it right on the first try.

If it were him, he might have managed to achieve this by adjusting the tension bit by bit. However, getting it right in one try would be very difficult.

This man was indeed better than him, Su Nanchen had to admit.

He was mulling over a complicated case he had on hand. He wondered whether to discuss the treatment plan with Yang Ping?

The patient was a national-team female 5000-meter runner. She had previously sustained injuries at the junction of the calcaneal tendon and the triceps surae, which led to a loosening of the calcaneal tendon, severely affecting her performance.

Although her diagnosis was clear, and the treatment protocol was determined to involve shortening of the tendon, the process posed a problem. The tendon needed to be cut in a Z shape, then a part of the muscle tendon had to be removed and reattached.

Once the tendon was severed, even if it was sutured, no matter how high the suturing standard, or how well the wound healed, the original composition of the fiber tissue wouldn’t be a perfect assess to provide the requisite strength to the wound, with a certain degree of scar tissue inevitably forming during healing. Scar tissues, which are connective tissues, do not have the same tenacity and elasticity as fibrous tissues.

The result of such a surgical intervention was akin to diluting the composition of the tendon. While this wouldn’t affect an ordinary person significantly, it would gravely impact a long-distance runner.

Why did some athletes suffer a poor prognosis despite receiving treatments for chronic damage causing tendinitis?

These athletes, despite having access to the best medical resources, the world’s top surgeons, and the best rehabilitation teams, were unable to note substantial improvements.

The issue was not with the treatment, but with the fact that the tendon had degenerated like a rope that had been soaked in water for too long and had snapped, needing to be knotted together. No matter how skillful the knot, it didn’t matter. The problem wasn’t with the knot, but with the rope itself. Once pulled, it would snap again.

Because of these considerations, this particular patient had been hesitant to undergo a tendon-shortening surgery and was unable to find satisfactory solutions after several trips abroad for medical consultation.

Since the patient was registered in G City, they came to the First Affiliated Hospital admiring Professor Su’s reputation, hoping to find a better solution.

“Nanchen, eat up quickly. We still have a few surgeries this afternoon.” Professor Su noticed Su Nanchen staring blankly at his phone.

“Look at this patient’s meniscal suture.” Su Nanchen handed his phone over.

After examining the photo, Professor Su exclaimed appreciatively, “What a quick progress. The quality of this suture is perfect, completely free of wrinkles; The alignment is very flat, and the distribution of the six sutures is reasonable.”

Blushing, Su Nanchen confessed, “It wasn’t me who did this, it was Doctor Yang from Sanbo Hospital.”

“Yang Ping? The one who proposed the sniping from behind the wall to Chief Han during the consultation?” Professor Su appeared surprised.

With a serious look on his face, Su Nanchen said, “Yes! I have been thinking about our long-distance runner who is preparing to undergo tendon shortening. I want to hear his thoughts. I feel he might have a solution!”

“Sure, contact him!” Professor Su agreed with Su Nanchen’s idea.