Chapter 813: False Recovery

Chapter 813: Chapter 813: False Recovery

"Director Ju’s prescription perfectly targets the symptoms."

Li Xu nodded in approval. "For this kind of damp-heat encasement, the Warm Disease School’s combination of ’diffusing and venting’ and ’draining dampness’ truly has its unique merits."

Although Li Xu didn’t agree with some of Ju Jiahong’s aloof rhetoric, there was no denying that, in terms of practical prescribing skills, Ju Jiahong was the most capable new-generation practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine he had encountered so far.

"However," Ju Jiahong changed the subject, continuing with a smile, "merely clearing and draining is not enough. To stimulate the Yang Qi and thoroughly ’steam’ that bun, we can also draw inspiration from a famous prescription in the *Treatise on Cold Pathogenic and Warm Pathogenic Diseases*—the Ephedra, Aconite and Asarum Decoction."

Ju Jiahong gave Li Xu a slight nod of acknowledgment and continued. "For the human body, tonifying the kidneys and the spleen is the foundation of defensive qi. Aconite can strengthen the kidney fire, which is the true fire at the base of the stove. Xixin can not only assist ephedra in releasing the exterior and ventilating the lungs, but also help Aconite warm the yang, driving this heat directly to the head and face. In this way, once the clear yang rises, the shadows will naturally dissipate."

This argument possessed both the agility of the Warm Disease School and the fierce potency of the Typhoid School. The young doctors in the conference room nodded in agreement as they listened.

"I didn’t expect this exchange conference to turn into a private showcase for Ju Jiahong and Li Xu," a doctor in the back row muttered.

"Yeah. It makes sense for Director Ju to be this good, but this Li Xu... I’ve never heard of him before. Who would have thought a clinic doctor could possess such a miraculous ability to explain things?"

A person beside him sighed with emotion, "Looking at Director Zhu and the others’ expressions, they’re probably shocked too. The way these two collaborate, they’ve practically dissected this medical case down to the cellular level."

Ju Jiahong efficiently wrote out the prescription and handed it to the young patient’s parents.

Treating it like a priceless treasure, the couple thanked him profusely before leading the boy out of the conference room. Although the boy’s steps were still somewhat heavy, the gazes following him were now filled with hope.

Before the atmosphere in the conference room could fully settle, the next patient was escorted in by the staff. However, the moment this patient stepped into the room, the previously relaxed discussion instantly grew heavy and oppressive.

It was a male patient around fifty years old, supported by his daughter. The patient was extremely emaciated, exhibiting a sickly, lanky frame. Yet bizarrely, his abdomen bulged high, appearing abnormally large and forming a stark contrast with his spindly limbs.

His face was flushed red, but it wasn’t a healthy rosy hue. Instead, it was a superficial, rouge-like "floating yang" flush. Beneath that red lay a dull, lifeless, and even faintly bluish undertone.

Every step the patient took seemed extremely strenuous, accompanied by severe wheezing and heavy, rapid panting. Even during the brief few seconds it took him to sit down, his forehead became covered in a thick layer of cold sweat.

"COUGH... COUGH COUGH."

The patient began to cough violently. With every hack, it was as if all the oxygen had been drained from his body, leaving him looking extremely exhausted.

Once the patient was settled, his daughter explained his condition to the doctors present. "My dad has had rheumatic heart disease for many years; it’s an old ailment. In the past two years, his condition has deteriorated rapidly, and he’s been hospitalized five or six times for heart failure. Every time he gets injections and takes medication at the hospital, he improves for a month or two, but shortly after he’s discharged, the symptoms relapse."

Wiping away her tears, the daughter continued, "This time, it’s more severe than ever before. He hasn’t been able to lie down and sleep for four or five days. The moment he lies flat, he feels like he’s going to suffocate, so he has to sit up all night long. His belly is getting bigger and bigger, and his urine output is pitifully small..."

A staff member quickly brought over two thick pillows and placed them behind the patient’s back, allowing him to lean in a semi-recumbent position. Only then did the patient catch his breath slightly, though his breathing remained rapid.

Zhu Gaoyuan stood up. "This patient is a regular at our hospital. To be precise, he is my patient. I brought him here today, hoping we could brainstorm during this exchange conference."

His voice echoed in the quiet room, tinged with a sense of helplessness. "Before coming to our hospital, he had already undergone multiple treatments at several major hospitals in Feng City and across the province.

"The Western medicine diagnosis is extremely clear: rheumatic heart disease, mitral valve stenosis with insufficiency, and an enlarged heart. The trickiest part is that his heart function has reached Class IV, accompanied by severe pulmonary infection, pleural effusion, and even abnormal liver function. Clinically, this is practically indicative of end-stage heart failure."

Although most of the young doctors present were junior in their careers, being on the front lines meant they understood the cruelty behind these medical terms all too well. Class IV heart function meant that the patient would feel extreme shortness of breath even at rest; his life was already on a countdown.

Zhu Gaoyuan explained his thought process. "After I took over his case, considering his chronic severe illness, I diagnosed it as a typical dual deficiency of qi and yin, complicated by the stagnation of phlegm-fluid and turbid toxins.

"Therefore, my initial treatment approach was to ’tonify qi, drain the lungs, and relieve asthma.’ I considered the patient’s cough, shortness of breath, and the retention of fluids in his chest and hypochondrium. In Chinese medicine, ’the Foot Yangming channel governs descent.’ When the stomach qi descends, the turbid qi goes down with it. All turbid pathogenic factors, whether phlegm or fluid, should descend along with the Yangming qi.

"Hence, I heavily prescribed Astragalus Root and Codonopsis to tonify the qi, and added Solomon’s seal to nourish the yin, combining them with angelica root, purslane, and patrinia to clear heat and detoxify. At the time, working alongside Western medicine’s cardiotonic and diuretic treatments, the results were highly significant. After three doses of the medicine, the patient’s urine output increased about threefold. His ankles, which had been swollen like steamed buns, went down, and his wheezing improved noticeably."

Zhu Gaoyuan sighed, his tone abruptly shifting. "But the problem arose during the subsequent treatment. Although the swelling in his legs subsided and the pleural effusion decreased, the patient’s dry mouth symptoms increased rather than diminished, and his abdomen remained distended. Most crucially, his debilitating sense of lethargy and shortness of breath hasn’t changed at all. He can sit up for a while during the day, but at night, he still suffers from breathlessness and cannot lie flat. His tongue has also taken on this current shiny, red, and coating-less appearance."

After Zhu Gaoyuan finished speaking, the conference room fell into a deathly silence.

This vicious cycle of "visibly improving symptoms while the patient grows increasingly weak" was the "false recovery" that many traditional Chinese medicine practitioners feared most when dealing with critical illnesses.

Many eyes turned toward the front row. In their view, since even Zhu Gaoyuan was stuck, the only ones here who could likely break this deadlock were Ju Jiahong or the titan, Song Luojun.

Ju Jiahong stood up and walked steadily over to the patient’s side. He observed with meticulous detail, checking everything from the patient’s eyelids to his fingernails, and finally, his dry, cracked tongue.