169: Chapter 169: How did he manage to choke on the light bulb candy?

The morning shift was fast-paced.

The shift handover was at 7:30, and patient intake officially began at 8:00.

It was Tuesday, and the patient volume in the Red Zone was above average.

In the morning, Lu Chen handled four emergency patients.

One was acute alcohol poisoning; he performed gastric lavage and rehydration.

One was sudden atrial fibrillation; after pharmacological cardioversion, he transferred the patient to the Cardiology Department.

One was an open ankle fracture from a fall from a height; after Debridement and fixation, he transferred the patient to the Orthopedics Department for surgery.

Another was an elderly patient with an acute attack of left heart failure; after using diuretics, vasodilators, and non-invasive ventilation to stabilize the patient, he transferred them to the ICU.

All four patients were handled cleanly and efficiently.

[Basic Surgical Operations (Master Level): Progress 96/100]

[Internal Medicine Diagnostics (proficient level): Progress 77/100 → 78/100]

Internal Medicine Diagnostics increased by one point.

Every reception of a critically ill patient was a practical training session, and the system's experience point accumulation was most efficient in such a high-intensity environment.

11:40 AM.

The Red Zone was temporarily empty.

Lu Chen was writing medical records when Meng Yan walked over from the Nurse Station.

"Dr. Lu, there is a patient in the Green Zone who wants to transfer over to have you take a look."

"What is the situation?"

"They said something is stuck in their mouth. The on-duty doctor in the Green Zone couldn't explain exactly what it was, just that it was quite unusual and wanted you to take a look."

Lu Chen frowned.

"Something stuck in their mouth? Is the airway affected?"

"No, breathing is normal, vital signs are normal, it's just that they can't close their mouth."

Can't close their mouth?

This description was a bit strange.

"Alright, I'll go take a look."

Lu Chen stood up and walked toward the Green Zone.

While passing through the emergency hall, he saw from a distance that a crowd had gathered at the door of the Green Zone clinic.

It wasn't medical staff.

It was patients and family members waiting for their appointments.

And these people had very subtle expressions.

Some were holding back laughter.

Some were covering their mouths.

Others were holding up their phones to film.

Lu Chen walked to the clinic door, and the Green Zone's on-duty doctor, Xiao Zhang, came up to greet him.

"Brother Lu, you're finally here. I really don't know how to handle this patient's situation."

"What is the situation?"

Xiao Zhang's mouth twitched.

"You'll know once you go in and take a look."

Lu Chen pushed open the clinic door.

There were two people sitting inside.

One was a middle-aged woman in her forties with a livid complexion; she looked like a parent.

The other was a teenager, around fifteen or sixteen, sitting in the treatment chair, covering his mouth with both hands, his eyes red, looking utterly desperate.

The teenager's mouth was open very wide.

It wasn't that he wanted to open it that wide, but that he couldn't close it.

Because a lightbulb candy was stuffed in his mouth.

Round and white, it was completely and perfectly stuck inside his oral cavity.

Lu Chen paused for a second.

Then he understood why the crowd outside was holding back laughter.

He walked up to the teenager and lowered his head to carefully observe the situation.

The shape of the lightbulb candy was indeed similar to a real lightbulb; the spherical part at the top was completely stuffed into the oral cavity, stretching both cheeks.

The teenager's corners of the mouth had been stretched until they were somewhat white.

The temporomandibular joint was in the maximum open position, and the muscles around the joint had begun to spasm due to prolonged overstretching.

That was the problem.

When the lightbulb candy was put in, the mouth could be opened to the maximum, allowing the sphere to slide in past the narrowest point of the teeth.

But after it went in, the space inside the oral cavity was filled by the sphere, and the tongue was pressed underneath, unable to move.

The masticatory muscles of the mandible began to spasm and contract due to the prolonged passive stretching, which instead caused the sphere to get stuck tighter and tighter.

To take it out, the mouth would need to open even wider than when it was put in.

But the spasming muscles would not allow him to do that.

Lu Chen activated the Eye of Truth.

[Eye of Truth scan complete]

[Patient Information: Male, 15 years old]

[Chief Complaint: Foreign body impacted in oral cavity for approximately 40 minutes]

[Eye of Truth Diagnosis: Lightbulb-shaped foreign body completely embedded in the oral cavity, bilateral temporomandibular joints are in maximum open position accompanied by masticatory muscle spasms, mild tearing of the oral commissure mucosa, tongue is compressed with mild edema, airway is not affected, swallowing function temporarily lost]

[Danger Level: Class C]

[Current Symptoms: Persistent foreign body impaction in the oral cavity, limited range of motion of the temporomandibular joint, inability to swallow saliva normally leading to continuous drooling, emotional tension exacerbating muscle spasms]

[Recommendation: First relieve the muscle spasms around the temporomandibular joint, restore mandibular range of motion before performing foreign body removal, consider local injection of muscle relaxants or infiltration anesthesia in the bilateral masseter muscle areas to relax the muscle groups]

[Warning: Prolonged impaction may lead to further tearing of the oral commissure mucosa and temporomandibular joint dislocation, immediate treatment is recommended]

Class C.

Not fatal, but it couldn't be delayed.

Lu Chen deactivated the Eye of Truth and looked at the middle-aged woman with a livid complexion beside him.

"Are you his mother?"

"Yes."

There was a suppressed anger in the middle-aged woman's voice.

"This good-for-nothing brat was scrolling through short videos and saw someone say that a lightbulb candy couldn't be taken out once put in the mouth."

"He didn't believe it and insisted on trying it himself."

"And look at the result, he really can't get it out!"

The teenager let out an indistinct whimper.

It was hard to hear what he wanted to say, but his expression clearly showed extreme regret.

Lu Chen nodded and then looked at the teenager.

"Listen to me, don't be nervous now, and don't bite down hard."

"The more nervous you are, the stiffer the muscles will be, and the harder it will be to take it out, understand?"

The teenager nodded desperately.

"How long has it been inside?"

The teenager held up four fingers.

"Forty minutes?"

The teenager nodded.

"Did you try to take it out yourself before?"

The teenager nodded again, then pointed to the corner of his mouth.

There were some slight bloodstains at the corner of his mouth.

Clearly, he had injured the oral commissure mucosa when pulling hard.

Lu Chen looked at the middle-aged woman.

"Ma'am, his situation is not particularly serious. What's stuck in his mouth is a candy product, not a real lightbulb. But you can't pull it out by force; pulling hard will cause the corners of the mouth to tear or even lead to temporomandibular joint dislocation. I need to give him an injection to relax the muscles around his mouth first, and then I will take it out."

"Can you take it out?"

"Yes."

"Then hurry up and take it out! This child has had his mouth open the whole way here, making him a laughingstock for so many people."

The teenager let out another indistinct whimper, and his eyes turned even redder.

Lu Chen didn't explain further and turned to say something to Xiao Zhang at the door.

"Prepare 2% Lidocaine, a 5ml syringe, a 25G thin needle, and bring another pair of examination gloves."

"Alright, Brother Lu."

While Xiao Zhang was getting the Lidocaine and syringe, Lu Chen began to communicate further with the teenager.

"What is your name?"

The teenager pointed to his phone.

A few words were typed on the phone screen: Wang Haoyu.

"Wang Haoyu, right? Junior high or high school?"

The phone typed out: Freshman in high school.

"You're a freshman in high school and you still do things like this? Didn't physics class teach you the principle of the minimum cross-sectional area for rigid objects passing through an opening?"

The teenager's face turned bright red, and he lowered his head.

His mother added another blow from the side.

"Physics, indeed. He scored forty-eight on his physics exam."

The teenager wilted completely.

Lu Chen's mouth twitched slightly, but he didn't laugh.

Xiao Zhang brought the items over.

Lu Chen put on his gloves and drew the Lidocaine.

"Wang Haoyu, I am now going to give you an injection of anesthesia on both sides of your cheeks. There will be a slight aching sensation."

"After the injection, the muscles around your mouth will slowly relax, and then I will help you take that thing out."

The teenager nodded frantically.

His expression was practically begging him to hurry up.

Lu Chen used his left hand to stabilize the teenager's head and held the syringe in his right hand.

He first performed a precise subcutaneous infiltration injection in the right masseter muscle area, then switched to the left side and repeated the same operation.

After the two injections, it was done cleanly and efficiently.

"Wait for three minutes for the anesthesia to take effect."

During the three-minute wait, Lu Chen took the opportunity to ask the teenager's mother a few questions.

"Does he have any drug allergies?"

"No."

"Has he had a history of temporomandibular joint dislocation before?"

"What joint?"

"That is, a dislocated jaw."

"No."

"Has he seen a dentist recently? Has he had any treatment done in his mouth?"

"He just had a cavity filled two months ago."

Lu Chen nodded and kept it in mind.