85: Chapter 85 Three operating rooms? The first day this operating room is in operation?
"Sister Zhao!" Lu Chen called out to Zhao Yaqin directly. "Crush syndrome, left thigh compartment syndrome. I need to perform a fasciotomy for decompression immediately!"
Zhao Yaqin ran over and took a look.
"Fasciotomy? Have you ever done one before?"
"I haven't, but I understand the principles. The system... I have the theoretical foundation."
He almost slipped up.
Zhao Yaqin glanced at him.
"Where is Director Li?"
"Director Li is handling another severely injured patient."
Zhao Yaqin made a decision.
"I'll serve as your First assistant. Into the Operating Room."
"Okay."
The patient was wheeled into the Operating Room.
Zhao Ming was invited in once again.
"You again? The utilization rate of this Operating Room today is way too high. You're running back-to-back surgeries on the very first day it's opened?"
"Brother Zhao, thank you for your hard work."
Lu Chen said while scrubbing his hands.
"Never mind the hard work for a moment. You've performed a Splenectomy today, and now a fasciotomy. Just how many skills do you have as a Resident Physician that I don't know about?"
"You'll know everything once we finish this surgery."
"Then I'll keep a close watch. In case anyone asks in the future, I can vouch for you."
Zhao Ming began the anesthesia.
Lu Chen stood in front of the operating table.
The left thigh was severely swollen, the skin was a dark purple, and the surface was taut and shiny.
If pressed with a hand, it felt almost as hard as a wooden board.
The pressure inside the fascial compartment had reached its limit.
Lu Chen took a deep breath.
"Begin."
He made a longitudinal incision on the anterolateral side of the left thigh.
After incising the skin and subcutaneous tissue, the taut deep fascia was exposed.
The color of the fascia had already darkened.
"Fasciotomy."
The scalpel sliced open the deep fascia along the direction of the incision.
With one stroke.
The swollen muscle tissue immediately bulged out from the incision.
The pressure was released.
But this was only the anterior lateral compartment.
The thigh has three fascial compartments; the anterior, medial, and posterior all needed decompression.
Lu Chen continued the procedure.
He made a second incision on the anteromedial side, incising the fascia of the medial compartment.
Then, he turned the thigh over and made a third incision on the posterior side, incising the posterior compartment.
All three compartments had been decompressed.
The swollen muscles bulged out from each incision, and the pressure was completely released.
"Check the muscle viability in each compartment."
Lu Chen carefully observed the muscle tissue after decompression.
The color of the quadriceps in the anterolateral compartment was gradually recovering, and contractile function was present.
It was still alive.
The medial compartment was also recovering.
The posterior compartment...
A portion of the muscle had darkened and lost its elasticity.
"There is some necrotic muscle in the posterior compartment; we need to perform Debridement on the necrotic tissue."
Lu Chen carefully used surgical scissors to remove the obviously necrotic muscle tissue, preserving all tissue that still had viability.
Eye of Truth provided immense help during this step.
The system precisely marked the boundaries between the necrotic and viable areas.
Allowing his Debridement to be both thorough and conservative.
Not cutting away an extra bit of healthy flesh, nor leaving behind a bit of necrotic flesh.
Finally, the wound surface was irrigated with a large amount of normal saline, drainage strips were placed, and the wound was left open without Suturing.
The standard practice for a fasciotomy is not to perform Suturing, allowing the swelling to gradually subside before closing it in a second stage.
The surgery was completed.
It took twenty-six minutes.
Zhao Ming, standing by the side, didn't know what to say anymore.
"You really haven't done this before?"
"I really haven't."
"For someone who has never performed a fasciotomy, your decompression of the three compartments was smoother than any Orthopedics Department attending physician I've ever seen."
"The book described it in great detail."
"The book also describes how to perform a heart transplant. Can you do that too after reading it?"
"That's different."
"How is it different?"
"I haven't reached that chapter on heart transplants yet."
Zhao Ming was silent for two seconds.
"Are you joking with me?"
"No."
Zhao Yaqin was taking off her gloves on the side.
Her expression was somewhat complex.
From the time Lu Chen arrived at the Emergency Department until now, every time he displayed a new skill, she felt she had already seen his limit.
And then the next time, he would tell her that a limit did not exist.
"Alright, let's not talk about this anymore."
Zhao Yaqin interrupted Zhao Ming's questioning.
"There are still injured patients outside. Let's go."
Lu Chen followed her out of the Operating Room.
A system notification popped up.
[Ding! Emergency Operating Room task progress: 3 / 5]
[Calculating experience for this surgery]
[Surgical difficulty rating: Grade A]
[Triple experience critical hit triggered!]
Good news kept coming.
But he didn't have time to look at the detailed settlement data.
Because the Red Zone outside was still waiting for him.
...
5:30 PM.
The rescue at the mine collapse site was nearing its end.
The last batch of rescued miners was being delivered to the Hospital one after another.
Most of the minor injuries had already been triaged to the Yellow Zone and Green Zone for treatment.
There were still a few severely injured patients remaining in the Red Zone under continuous monitoring.
Over the past three hours or so, in addition to those two surgeries, Lu Chen had also treated various traumas for over twenty injured patients in the Red Zone.
Debridement, Suturing, hemostasis, fixation, and drainage.
He repeated these mechanically, but every time, it was precise and error-free.
His surgical gown was stained with blood.
The sweat on his forehead had dried and become wet, wet and then dried again.
But his hands had not trembled once.
"Dr. Lu."
Shen Xiaoning brought over a bottle of water.
"Drink some water."
Lu Chen took the water and drank half the bottle.
"You're tired too."
"I'm not tired!"
Shen Xiaoning's voice was firm, but Lu Chen noticed that her fingertips were slightly red.
That was from repeatedly opening sterile packs and handing over instruments.
"Go put on a bandage."
"No need, it's just a little bit."
"Go put one on."
"Alright, alright, alright."
Shen Xiaoning ran to the Nurse Station to put on a bandage.
Director Li Sen walked out of the office and looked around at the situation in the Red Zone.
"How is the situation with the severely injured patients right now?"
Meng Yan reported.
"Director Li Sen, as of now, the Red Zone has received and treated thirty-one severely injured patients. Among them, three were transferred to the ICU, two to the Department of Neurosurgery, one to the Department of Thoracic Surgery, one was transferred to the General Surgery Department ward after a Splenectomy in the Operating Room, and one remains under monitoring in the Red Zone after a fasciotomy."
"The rest have already been triaged and treated."
"Any deaths?"
"None so far, all survived."
Director Li Sen's expression did not change, but he nodded slightly.
All survived.
These four words carried immense weight in mine disaster rescue.
"How many surgeries did Lu Chen's Operating Room perform today?"
"Three. They were hand Debridement, Suturing, and temporary repair, a Splenectomy, and a fasciotomy for decompression."
"Three? On the very first day this Operating Room opened?"
"Yes."
Director Li Sen was silent.
He walked up to Lu Chen.
"You performed well today."
"Thank you, Director Li Sen."
"But your surgical volume today is already very high. If there are any subsequent surgeries needed, let Wu Fan and Sun Ji take them first. You should take a rest."
"I'm fine."
"I'm not talking about your subjective feelings; I'm talking about objective fatigue. Having performed three consecutive surgeries and treated over twenty traumas, your energy cannot be infinite."
Lu Chen thought about it.
He was indeed not tired.
The hand stability gain and energy assistance provided by the system made his endurance much stronger than that of an average person.
But Director Li Sen made sense.
Doctors are also human.
He couldn't just not rest because he felt fine.
"Alright, I'll go to the Duty Room and rest for half an hour."
"One hour."
"Forty-five minutes."
"One hour, no bargaining."
"Alright."
Lu Chen headed toward the Duty Room.
When passing the Nurse Station, Shen Xiaoning's voice came from behind.
"Dr. Lu! Would you like me to make you a cup of tea?"
"No need."
"How about coffee then?"
"No need for that either."
"What about hot milk?"
Lu Chen looked back at her.
"Are you a Nurse or working at a milk tea shop?"
Shen Xiaoning puffed out her cheeks.
"I'm trying to care about you, why are you always like this!"
"You should fix the bandage on your hand before worrying about others."
Shen Xiaoning looked down.
The bandage was stuck crookedly, right on her fingernail.
"Ah..."
Sun Ji, standing nearby, laughed out loud, then quickly stifled it.