163: Chapter 163 A patient wants to present a banner of appreciation?
The third day after the liver transplant surgery.
At 7:45 in the morning, Lu Chen appeared at the Red Zone handover desk on time.
Last night's shift was relatively stable; only two trauma cases and one acute alcohol poisoning came in, which Sun Ji handled without waking him.
After the handover, Lu Chen took the ward round notebook and headed straight for Bed 1.
Wang Jianguo's transitional ward was in the innermost part of the Red Zone, a private room with the curtains half-drawn, sunlight shining through the gaps onto the row of medicine bottles on the bedside table.
Wang Hui sat on the escort chair by the bed, holding a bowl of white porridge, feeding his father spoonful by spoonful.
Seeing Lu Chen enter, Wang Hui immediately stood up.
"Dr. Lu!"
"Sit down, keep feeding him, don't move."
Lu Chen walked to the bedside and first glanced at the data on the monitor.
Heart rate 72, blood pressure 118/76, oxygen saturation 98%.
Very stable.
Then he opened the medical record folder and flipped to this morning's lab results.
Total bilirubin had dropped from 287 on the first post-operative day to 94.
ALT had dropped from 1,200 to 380.
Albumin had risen from 21 to 29.
Prothrombin time had returned from 23 seconds to 16 seconds.
Every piece of data was moving in a positive direction.
The function of the new liver was steadily recovering.
Lu Chen closed the medical record folder and lifted the quilt to check the drainage tube.
The color of the drainage fluid had changed from dark red on the first post-operative day to pale yellow, and the volume was also decreasing.
No signs of a bile leak.
"Brother Wang, how are you feeling today?"
Wang Jianguo leaned against the head of the bed; his complexion was still sallow, but it was much better than the gray, deathly color of three days ago.
"Dr. Lu, I feel much more energetic this morning and ate nearly half a bowl of porridge."
"Any abdominal bloating?"
"A little yesterday, but it's better today."
"What about bowel movements?"
"I had one this morning, and the color was normal."
Lu Chen nodded.
Intestinal function was recovering, which was a good sign.
He turned to look at Wang Hui again.
"How about you? Does the wound still hurt?"
"It doesn't hurt much anymore; it just pulls a bit when I bend over."
"That's normal; the muscles around the incision are still healing. Don't bend over too quickly, take it slow."
Lu Chen made a few notes in the ward round notebook and wrote down today's adjustment plan for the doctor's orders.
The dosage of anti-rejection drugs needed fine-tuning based on blood concentration levels; he had already confirmed this part with Professor Liu Chongli's team over the phone last night.
"Alright, you're recovering well, keep it up."
"Dr. Lu."
Wang Jianguo suddenly spoke, his voice a bit raspy.
"What is it?"
"My wife went to have a Silk Banner custom-made yesterday and said she's bringing it over today."
Lu Chen looked up at him.
"Taking care of your health is more important than anything; a Silk Banner is really not necessary."
"No, this must be given."
Wang Jianguo's eyes turned slightly red.
"My life was retrieved by you from the operating table. Even Professor Liu said it couldn't be sutured, but you stepped up."
"If you don't accept it, my wife might stand in the Emergency Department lobby and cry all day, believe it or not."
Lu Chen was silent for a second.
"Alright then."
"Thank you, Dr. Lu."
"Don't thank me every day; finish the porridge."
Lu Chen turned and left the ward.
As he walked into the corridor, Meng Yan happened to be walking over from the Nurse Station, holding a receipt.
"Lu Chen, Wang Jianguo's family is here. They're waiting outside to present a Silk Banner; go and receive it."
"Sister Meng, can't they just leave it and go?"
"No, they had it specially made. You have to show your face; it's the rule."
Lu Chen sighed.
He dreaded these kinds of occasions the most.
...
At the entrance of the Red Zone.
Wang Jianguo's wife, Ms. Zhang, stood there holding a bright red Silk Banner, neatly folded.
Two relatives were with her; one was holding a phone ready to take pictures, and the other was carrying two large bags of fruit.
"Dr. Lu!"
As soon as Ms. Zhang saw him come out, tears immediately started falling.
"Don't cry, Sister-in-law."
Lu Chen quickly reached out to take the Silk Banner.
"Your husband is recovering quite well; you should be happy."
Ms. Zhang nodded vigorously while wiping away tears.
"I am happy, I am, but as soon as I think about what happened in the Operating Room that day, I can't control myself."
"If he were gone, our family would be finished."
"He's fine now, so don't dwell on the past."
Lu Chen unfolded the Silk Banner and took a look.
Eight large characters were embroidered on it: Miraculous Hands and a Benevolent Heart, Bringing the Dead Back to Life.
It was signed by Wang Jianguo's entire family.
"Thank you, Sister-in-law."
"We should be the ones thanking you!"
At this point, Meng Yan walked over from behind and grabbed Lu Chen's arm.
"Come on, stand properly, let's take a photo."
"Sister Meng, that's not necessary, is it?"
"Of course it is! This is the first Silk Banner the Red Zone has received this year. We must take a photo and hang it on the wall later."
Sun Ji appeared out of nowhere and stood next to Lu Chen.
"Come on, let me share some of the glory."
Wu Fan poked half a head out of the Resuscitation Room.
"Wait for me, I'm coming too."
Zhao Yaqin passed by with her cup; she looked at the scene, shook her head, but still came over to stand with them.
Shen Xiaoning ran over from the Yellow Zone and stood at the very end, her dimples showing as she smiled.
Meng Yan took out her phone and took several photos of the group.
"Alright, alright, everyone disperse. Back to work."
Ms. Zhang said thank you several more times before being pulled away by her relatives.
Lu Chen had Meng Yan put those two bags of fruit at the Nurse Station for everyone to share.
Shen Xiaoning ran over to help open the bags, saying as she did so.
"Dr. Lu, where should we hang the Silk Banner?"
"Sister Meng said to hang it on the wall."
"How about hanging it behind your workstation? That way, people will see it as soon as they walk in."
Sun Ji took a bite of an apple next to them.
"That's a high-level suggestion; if it were me, I'd hang it like that too."
Wu Fan tossed an orange segment into his mouth.
"Stop messing around. If Director Li sees a Silk Banner hanging on the wall of the Red Zone, he'll scold us for engaging in formalism."
"Then hang it in the department corridor?"
"The corridor would be fine."
Lu Chen didn't join the discussion.
He put down the ward round notebook, opened his computer, and began entering today's doctor's orders.
It didn't matter where the Silk Banner was hung.
But Wang Jianguo's recovery data indeed made him feel much more at ease.
The pressure from that surgery had been completely lifted.
Next would be the daily consultations and continuing to accumulate experience.
...
At the same time.
In the General Surgery Department Duty Room.
Dr. Ma Xu sat at the computer, chewing on a breakfast bun, chatting with a young Resident Physician next to him.
"Would you say that Lu Chen is impressive? He definitely is, but do you know what actually happened with that surgery?"
The young Resident Physician leaned in.
"What happened?"
"In a surgery lasting over nine hours, Professor Liu Chongli was the lead surgeon from start to finish. He did the Donor Liver Procurement, the Recipient Diseased Liver Resection, the Portal Vein Anastomosis, and the Biliary Reconstruction."
Dr. Ma Xu counted on his fingers.
"Lu Chen just went up and sutured one blood vessel—that hepatic artery. How long did it take? Ten minutes at most."
"And then? The news is covered with his name—'turning the tide,' 'a twenty-four-year-old Resident Physician creates a miracle.'"
"Do you think that's fair?"
The young Resident Physician thought for a moment.
"But I heard that Professor Liu couldn't suture that vessel, so he took over."
"Who told you he couldn't suture it? Were you in the Operating Room?"
Dr. Ma Xu scoffed.
"Those reports are all packaged by the hospital office for publicity purposes, piling the credit onto the young doctor."
"If Liu Chongli really couldn't suture it, would he let a Resident Physician do it? Is he being irresponsible to his patient or to his own career?"
"It was nothing more than the difficulty being a bit high, so Professor Liu let him try his hand. But as it turned out, it became his credit."
While they were speaking, the door to the Duty Room was pushed open.
Section Chief He Zhongfeng stood at the door, hands in his white coat pockets, his face expressionless.
"Ma Xu."
Dr. Ma Xu looked up.
"Section Chief He?"
Section Chief He walked in and casually closed the door behind him.
"What were you just saying?"
"Nothing, just chatting."
"Just chatting?"
Section Chief He glanced at him.
"You said that the part about Liu Chongli not being able to suture that vessel himself was just packaging?"
Dr. Ma Xu smiled.
"Section Chief He, I was just making small talk with a colleague, it's not like I'm saying it outside."
Section Chief He's voice flattened.
"Let me tell you something."
"That day during the surgery, I was outside the Operating Room listening to the intercom the whole time. Liu Chongli tried three times, and every time the needle went in, it almost tore through the recipient's arterial wall. He stopped on his own initiative."
"Then Director Li Sen vouched for Lu Chen, and only then did Professor Liu let him go up."
"After going up, Lu Chen performed a Parachute Suture on a 1.8mm variant hepatic artery. He succeeded on the first try, with zero leakage after opening the blood flow."
"After Liu Chongli came down, he said one thing: he said that in the entire province, there are no more than five people who can achieve that level of precision under those conditions."
Section Chief He looked at Dr. Ma Xu.
"Why don't you go and try Suturing one?"
Dr. Ma Xu's smile froze on his face.
"Section Chief He, I was just speaking casually."
"In the future, speak casually like that less often."
Section Chief He turned and pushed the door open to leave.
Leaving Dr. Ma Xu stunned in place, his expression looking very unpleasant.
The young Resident Physician next to him lowered his head, pretending to look at the computer screen.
He didn't dare to utter a single word.
Section Chief He left the General Surgery Department Duty Room and walked along the corridor toward the Medical Affairs Department.
After walking a few steps, he felt a bit surprised himself.
Speaking up for Lu Chen like this was something he definitely wouldn't have done a month ago.
But after that facial Suturing surgery, some things had indeed changed.
His uncle-in-law's face was recovering incredibly well.
When the stitches were removed on the fifth post-operative day, the experts from the Plastic Surgery Department specifically came to take a look and said the precision of the Suturing was textbook-level, and the probability of scar hyperplasia was almost zero.
Section Chief He's uncle-in-law was a performer; that face was his livelihood.
Lu Chen hadn't just saved a face; he had saved a person's career.
This favor was too heavy.
So heavy that Section Chief He had to repay it.
At the very least, regarding this matter, he couldn't let others throw mud at Lu Chen behind his back.