75: Chapter 75 You're just a young person performing such major surgery, who will be responsible if something goes wrong!
Meng Yan brought Zhang Ge's wife in.
The woman's eyes were severely swollen, she was clutching a handful of tissues, and her whole body was trembling.
Lu Chen turned around to face her.
"Ma'am, let me explain your husband's condition."
"Go ahead, speak!"
"There is a large amount of blood and gas in his left thoracic cavity, which is compressing his heart and right lung. If we don't perform Closed Thoracic Drainage for decompression immediately, his heart will stop within ten minutes."
The woman's face turned pale instantly.
"Then, then hurry up and do it!"
"The problem is that your husband had chest surgery twenty years ago, and there are extensive adhesions inside his thoracic cavity. Conventional drainage methods won't work; we must find a position without adhesions to insert the tube. The procedure is extremely difficult, and any slight carelessness could lead to more severe bleeding."
"Then, then what should we do..."
"The expert from the Department of Thoracic Surgery is currently in surgery and cannot come down. It will take at least forty minutes for them to arrive, but your husband cannot wait that long."
The woman grabbed Lu Chen's arm abruptly.
"Then can you save him or not!"
"I can do it now, but the risk is very high. I need you to sign the informed consent form."
The woman glanced at him.
Then her gaze fell on the name tag on his chest.
Resident Physician.
"You? You're just a Resident Physician?"
"Yes."
"No way! I want an expert! I want the director to do it! You're just a youngster performing such a major surgery; who will take responsibility if something goes wrong!"
Lu Chen did not get angry.
He had anticipated this reaction.
"Ma'am, I understand your concerns, but the reality is that this procedure cannot wait any longer."
"I don't care! Anyway, I won't let you do it! Call your director here!"
"The director is not at the Hospital."
"Then call another expert! You can't just let a Resident Physician do it! How many years have you been working? Huh? How many surgeries have you performed?"
Lu Chen looked at her.
The alarm sound from the monitor suddenly became more frequent.
Systolic blood pressure 68.
Blood oxygen 79%.
Shen Xiaoning looked at the screen nervously and whispered.
"Dr. Lu, the blood pressure has dropped again."
Lu Chen did not urge the family member.
He just stood there quietly, waiting.
The woman was still shouting there.
"Is your Hospital like this? Such a big thing happened, and you can't even send out an expert, just sending a youngster to fool people. What kind of Hospital is this!"
"Ma'am."
Lu Chen's voice was not loud, but it had a power that made people calm down.
"You can scold me, and you can question me, but your husband's heart will not wait for you to finish scolding."
The woman's voice stopped abruptly.
"There are two choices now: you sign, and I will do it immediately, and I will do my best to save him."
"Or you don't sign, and we continue to wait for the expert."
"But before the expert arrives, your husband will likely not be able to hold on."
The Resuscitation Room became quiet.
Only the alarm sound of the monitor kept ringing.
Beep, beep, beep!
Beep, beep, beep!
The woman's lips were trembling.
She lowered her head and looked at her husband lying on the bed.
The man's face had already turned cyanotic.
His chest was heaving violently, and every breath was very difficult.
The woman's tears fell again.
"You... can you really save him?"
"I will give it my all."
Lu Chen did not say "I can."
Because in medicine, there is no one hundred percent.
But his tone made the woman feel something.
It was not confidence.
It was responsibility.
"Sign, I'll sign."
Meng Yan immediately handed over the informed consent form.
The woman signed her name with trembling hands.
"Please, you must save him..."
"I understand."
Lu Chen turned around.
In that instant, his whole demeanor changed.
The gentle expression disappeared.
Replaced by a calmness to the point of extreme focus.
"Shen Xiaoning, number 28 chest drainage tube, heparin saline flush, water seal bottle ready."
"Already prepared!"
"Brother Wu, help me fix the patient's position, raise the left side appropriately, but do not exceed thirty degrees. I need the area from his left anterior axillary line to the posterior axillary line to be fully exposed."
"Understood."
"Sister Meng, Vitamin K1 intravenous push, give 10 mg first to correct coagulation, and also apply for frozen plasma."
"Okay."
Lu Chen put on sterile gloves.
His hands were very steady.
There was no trembling at all.
The effect of the title [newcomer: surgical blade] was silently taking effect.
Hand stability increased by 10%.
In the upcoming operation, this 10% bonus would be critical.
...
Lu Chen stood on the patient's left side.
The position was set.
The skin of the left chest wall shone with a cold light under the wiping of the disinfectant.
His eyes were scanning that area.
The safe window provided by the system was clearly displayed in his field of vision.
Sixth intercostal space, two centimeters posterior to the anterior axillary line.
That position was emitting a faint green light.
Only three centimeters wide.
Beyond three centimeters were dense adhesion bands.
Inside the adhesion bands were dilated collateral blood vessels and lung tissue stuck together.
If the incision was off, everything would be lost.
Lu Chen picked up the scalpel.
"Are you ready?"
Wu Fan nodded on the opposite side.
Shen Xiaoning stood next to the instrument table, her hands clenched tightly, her knuckles white.
She did not understand the technical details of this surgery.
But she could feel the heavy atmosphere in the Resuscitation Room.
"Begin."
Lu Chen's knife fell.
Two-centimeter skin incision.
It landed precisely in the center of the three-centimeter safe window at the sixth intercostal space.
No deviation.
Not even a millimeter.
After cutting the skin and subcutaneous tissue, he switched to a vascular clamp.
Bluntly separated the intercostal muscle layer along the upper edge of the rib.
Every movement was precise to the millimeter level.
Wu Fan watched from the side, holding his breath.
He had performed ordinary Closed Thoracic Drainage.
But he had never seen anyone perform every step so precisely.
When Lu Chen's hand was separating the muscle layer, the force used was extremely meticulous.
Too light, and it wouldn't separate.
Too heavy, and it would penetrate the parietal pleura, causing uncontrollable damage.
And this force, Lu Chen grasped perfectly.
The parietal pleura was exposed.
This was the most critical step.
Penetrate the parietal pleura and enter the thoracic cavity.
But this patient had extensive adhesions in the thoracic cavity.
After penetrating the pleura, the drainage tube must be accurately inserted into that three-centimeter-wide, no more than eight-centimeter-deep channel.
A slight deviation would be the end.
When ordinary doctors reach this step, their hands will tremble a little.
This is human instinct.
Because he knows that the next step determines life or death.
But Lu Chen's hand did not move at all.
He gently punctured the parietal pleura with the tip of the vascular clamp.
An extremely faint "pfft" sound.
The parietal pleura was penetrated.
A large amount of gas and dark red blood surged out instantly.
"Negative pressure released!" Shen Xiaoning shouted while looking at the monitor.
The downward trend of blood pressure stopped.
But it was not over yet.
The hardest step was coming.
Drainage tube insertion.
Lu Chen picked up the number 28 drainage tube.
He did not use the conventional blind insertion method.
Because blind insertion on this patient was equivalent to gambling with his life.
He first probed into the thoracic cavity with his index finger.
His fingertips touched the inner wall of the thoracic cavity.
Adhesions.
There were adhesions everywhere.
His fingertips were groping between the adhesion bands.
Searching for the safe channel marked by the system.