Chapter 306: Selling Sneakers
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Ling Ran returned to the operating theater filled with blue and green colors. He subconsciously heaved a sigh.
There were just too many patients and family members.
Although two doctors from the Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Center were there to help, and Yu Yuan aided beside him, Ling Ran still spoke until he felt despair.
He had never talked so much in school before nor at home.
Ling Ran had never received one kind of training—how to communicate.
Fortunately, he still knew how to carry out a socially expected medical conversation as a medical student. Hence, he would not anger the family members on the spot. Of course, this was mainly because the patients and their families had clear minds. Everyone rushed to seek medical treatment from Ling Ran. They did not seek for Ling Ran’s smiling face. Even if Ling Ran was a little blunt in his words, they would not offend the doctor on the spot.
But when they were not in front of the doctor, everyone would not be so obedient and respectful.
w.a.n.g Fangjun had his back turned toward Ling Ran, and he was being issued spinal anesthesia. At that moment, he laid on his side, and he could not help but said, “Your Doctor Ling is too difficult to talk to. He’s so straightforward. I asked him, what if I would like to play basketball in the future? Do you know what he replied?”
“Just quit.” The anesthetist disinfected him while talking.
“Huh? How did you know?” w.a.n.g Fangjun was greatly surprised.
“You ruptured your Achilles tendon, what else can you do besides quit basketball?” The anesthetist whose surname was not Pan was not motivated to perform spinal anesthesia. He issued the anesthetics quickly.
w.a.n.g Fangjun grunted. Once the feeling of being issued anesthetics was gone, he began to slowly be unable to feel anything below his waist. He opened his mouth and said, “Liu Weichen could still partic.i.p.ate in the compet.i.tion on TV. Didn’t Kobe also continue to play basketball?”
“Do you want to get a large incision to suture your Achilles tendon? Just so you know, that incision will be 6 inches long,” the anesthetist whose surname was not Pan asked in a very relaxed manner.
The hair on both of w.a.n.g Fangjun’s legs was disinfected and shaved. He silently imagined the six inches in his mind, shook his head, and said, “Can you make the incision a little smaller?”
“You still can’t play basketball even if we used a limited incision on your Achilles tendon repair. The minimally invasive surgery you do now has the smallest incision,” the anesthetist whose surname was not Pan said, “By undergoing an Achilles tendon repair with a large incision, you have to recover for a few months, then undergo rehabilitation, then only can you play basketball. Would you pay such a high price for basketball?”
“Then the many new shoes in my house have to be thrown away? That’d be too wasteful.”
“Then, just wear it on normal occasions.”
“It feels a bit weird if you’re putting on sneakers but you’re not playing basketball.” w.a.n.g Fangjun was obviously a chatty patient. He did not stop talking even when he was already sent to the operating table.
Ling Ran coughed a few times before he approached the operating table. He looked at w.a.n.g Fangjun before he asked the nurse to put on his surgical gown.
w.a.n.g Fangjun saw Ling Ran come, and he wisely ended the topic.
“Regional anesthesia?” Ling Ran liked patients who cannot talk. So he still tried his luck.
The anesthetist whose surname was not Pan nodded and said, “The patient insisted on regional anesthesia.”
“Okay.” Ling Ran was reluctant to transfer the patient to other people, hence he could only accept the patient’s choice.
Although from a doctor’s point of view, the side effects of regional anesthesia and general anesthesia were not that much different, patients did not think so.
In this Achilles tendon repair required a large incision, they could still issue general anesthesia, but for minimally invasive surgery, spinal anesthesia was enough.
“Prepare a tourniquet for the injured limb.” Ling Ran might have obtained the Perfect Level Achilles Tendon Repair Technique, but he had not performed many minimally invasive surgeries before.
Ling Ran raised both the ankle joints and pressed down on the patient’s legs.
“The leg hairs aren’t shaved clean.” Ling Ran looked at the calf and regarded it with slight disdain. Although it would not affect the operation, why was there still a few hairs left when most of the other hair had been shaven?
The circulating nurse who was responsible for skin preparation was stunned for a moment before she hastily said, “The backs of his legs are completely shaven.”
“Shave it again.” Ling Ran’s request was very strict.
The circulating nurse had to shave the patient’s legs again.
w.a.n.g Fangjun felt strangely embarra.s.sed. He said, “I am a man with more leg hair than others…”
“Us shaving your hair has nothing to do with your genetics.” Ling Ran interrupted him.
w.a.n.g Fangjun felt even more puzzled. “Is it not my hair you are shaving?”
He heard the sounds typical of hair being shaved, but w.a.n.g Fangjun’s legs could not feel anything, and he was almost convinced himself.
“I am going to perform two incisions to see the situation.” Ling Ran waited until w.a.n.g Fangjun’s legs were completely shaved and disinfected again before he picked up the scalpel.
Achilles tendon repairs performed using large incisions were usually S-shaped incisions that were five-inches long, and the minimally invasive was a 0.3-inches long incision close to the Achilles tendon to reveal the tissue surrounding the Achilles tendon.
Compared to surgeries carried out with large incisions, minimally invasive surgeries had a greater need for MRI scans. Since they would not be cutting open the skin to look at the tendon, it was necessary to determine the position by scans. For example, Achilles tendons that suffered from multiple ruptures, Achilles tendons which had breakpoints close to the muscle, and ruptures close to the end of the Achilles tendon would need to be treated with open surgeries. This was the case for several other patients.
w.a.n.g Fangjun’s Achilles tendon rupture was not problematic. It was just a simple rupture. Ling Ran chose the position and then used a.s.sal’s minimally invasive surgical stapler for Achilles tendons to staple the ruptured ends together.
“Increase the pulling force of the hemostatic forceps a little more.” Ling Ran performed the surgery while he explained, “The inner ankle should be located at the inner side of Achilles tendon, this is determined by a.s.sal…”
Yu Yuan listened attentively and obediently did what she was told.
The doctors were all busy concentrating on the tasks at hand. The patient w.a.n.g Fangjun slowly felt bored.
“Speaking of which, does that mean I really can’t play basketball anymore?” w.a.n.g Fangjun tried to start talking about everything and nothing.
“No, you can’t!” Yu Yuan took a peek at Ling Ran and answered on his behalf.
“I still have a few pairs of basketball shoes. I’ll just sell them off. Do you guys want it? I have a pair of Air Jordans that are considered brand new. I only wore them about three or four times, definitely not more than ten.” w.a.n.g Fangjun quickly pushed the topic forward.
Two doctors who were stripping his tendons silently raised their heads and silently lowered their heads to continue stripping his tendons.
Once w.a.n.g Fangjun started the topic, he could not stop. He said, “It is very expensive to do surgery in your center. I have to pay on my own for this minimally invasive small machine to be used on me, right? That’s about thousands of RMB. If you like Air Jordans, why don’t you buy them so that you can give me a discount?”
Yu Yuan remembered Lu Wenbin and said, “We have a doctor who bought Air Jordans before, but unfortunately, he is not in Shanghai.”
“Even doctors can afford Air Jordans now? You guys are really rich.” w.a.n.g Fangjun paused a while before he laughed and said, “I can’t play basketball anymore anyway, I’ll sell two pairs of Off-Whites at a discounted price of 10,000 RMB. It’s mainly because it’s too expensive to see a doctor. Otherwise, I would not give them up. ”
Ling Ran was extremely disturbed by the noise. He stopped moving his hands, and he looked at the anesthetist.
The anesthetist whose surname was not Pan was ready to chat with the patient when he saw Ling Ran’s expression, so he obediently took out two syringes and injected them into the patient.
w.a.n.g Fangjun soon fell unconscious.
A tranquilizer was different from general anesthesia. It was specifically used to deal with patients under regional anesthesia. Some regional anesthesia surgeries required two or three hours, perhaps even more. If a tranquilizer was not used, the patient may not be calm.
In a minimally invasive Achilles tendon repair technique surgery, a tranquilizer was not needed. But in the face of different patients, it was clear that different strategies had to be used.
When the chief surgeon was not able to tolerate their voices anymore, time would not be the first factor of consideration.
The nurse waited until the patient fell asleep before they deliberately tested him to see whether he was truly asleep. They then let out a sigh, “This is my first time seeing a patient who is so chatty.”
Ling Ran glanced at her and continued performing surgery.
Without any room to continue chatting, the nurse could only give up while she sulked.
The operating theater returned to Ling Ran’s favorite state—silence.
Ling Ran performed surgeries all the way until it was time for him to clock off work. He finished all eight patients.
After was.h.i.+ng up, he saw the pharmaceutical sales representative Huang Maos.h.i.+ waiting at the entrance.
“Doctor Ling, was the minimally invasive surgical stapler for Achilles tendons useful?” Huang Maos.h.i.+ smiled.
“There was no problem during the operation. Let’s wait and see the prognosis,” Ling Ran replied.
“Okay, okay… Right, Doctor Ling, Academician Zhu just arrived at the Operating Area.”
“Oh?”
Huang Maos.h.i.+ tried to recall something for some time before he suddenly patted his head. “Academician Zhu left a book for you. I’ve such a bad memory. He said he placed it at the entrance.”
Ling Ran then went to the nurse’s desk at the entrance and took a printed book.
When he flipped it open, he saw a few impressive words on the first page: Zhu-Ling Achilles Repair Technique.