Chapter 417 - 267: Nature

Chapter 417: Chapter 267: Nature

After he left,

the office fell silent.

Liang Shaojun didn’t immediately go to order the autoimmune antibody panel. Instead, he chose to wait.

If it was just as Jiang He said, and the patient’s condition was drug-induced liver damage from taking some folk remedy,

then the current treatment plan would have to be completely scrapped.

Blindly using hepatoprotective drugs might instead increase the metabolic burden on the liver.

The top priority now was to identify the toxin, then administer a targeted antidote and promote excretion.

About forty minutes passed.

Meng Shiyu returned.

From the look on his face, everyone knew he had succeeded.

Sure enough, Meng Shiyu said, "Boss, you’re a genius. You guessed everything right."

Liang Shaojun immediately asked, curious, "What happened? Did you get it out of him?"

"I did. I went in and started by talking about the calluses on his hands. That led to the hardships of being a construction foreman, and then to his daughter’s upcoming college expenses. We talked for over half an hour. I waited until I saw he was on the verge of tears before I finally got to the point."

Meng Shiyu sighed. "He grabbed my hand and called me ’little brother.’ He said that for the past six months or so, he’s been... having problems in that department. His wife gives him hell about it every day. He felt it was too embarrassing to go to a hospital, so he bought two big bags of powder from a traveling quack doctor back in his hometown. It was supposed to help him regain his virility... I asked if he knew what the medicine was made of. He said he had no idea; he just heard from others that it was very effective."

"How long did he take it?" Jiang He asked.

"He took it for a week straight, one bowl mixed with water every morning and evening. He said he started feeling stomach pain and nausea the day before yesterday. Yesterday, he couldn’t take it anymore and came to the hospital. But he was afraid his wife would find out he spent several thousand yuan on fake medicine, and even more afraid she’d chew him out for being impotent, so he clammed up and didn’t say a word."

The truth was out.

It wasn’t some complicated, rare disease after all.

It was just a simple, straightforward case of drug poisoning.

This could have been solved so much earlier if the patient had just spoken up. But he had to hide it, causing his condition to gradually worsen.

In the end, he was only hurting his own body.

Liang Shaojun gave Jiang He a deep look.

He couldn’t control what the patient thought, but Jiang He... he was just too incredible.

He had keenly noticed the drop in cholinesterase and accurately deduced that the patient might be hiding his medical history.

Following standard procedure would have meant running a slew of expensive immunological tests, which would have wasted the optimal window for detoxification. The patient’s liver would have likely progressed to irreversible fulminant liver failure within two or three days.

Now... things were so much more efficient.

Xu Chen had been listening quietly from the side.

He pursed his lips, his heart already filled with immense admiration for Jiang He.

’I have to work hard. I want to become a doctor like Jiang He.’

It was also Song Yiming’s first time witnessing Jiang He’s incredible prowess in person.

He was beyond impressed.

To see right through to what was really going on in the patient’s head, all based on a minor fluctuation in a lab report.

’Is this the insight of a top-tier doctor? His experience is just too vast!’

’Uh... wait... Jiang He is only twenty-one. Where would he get that kind of experience?!’

’Damn it, he’s a monster of pure talent!’

Fang Mian was also seeing Jiang He in action for the first time.

But instead of surprise, he just felt flustered...

He was happy that Jiang He had asked him to join the medical team.

But in all this time, Jiang He hadn’t said a single word to him.

He was very worried.

He was worried that Jiang He might still be upset about what Aunt Wu had said before.

Just thinking about it made him feel awkward and anxious.

Sigh.

’If only I could find some time to talk to Jiang He alone.’

Jiang He said, "Old Liang."

"Here."

"Get that medicine of his tested immediately. Find out exactly what’s in it. For virility, folk remedies often use large doses of raw fleeceflower root. If I’m not mistaken, this is a classic case of mixed-type drug-induced liver injury. Change the medical orders: immediately start an IV drip of high-concentration Vitamin C to accelerate toxin oxidation; add an N-acetylcysteine, or NAC, injection to replenish hepatic glutathione and combat free-radical damage; and at the same time, put him on high-volume fluid replacement with a fast-acting diuretic to induce forced diuresis and flush the toxins from his blood."

Jiang He paused in thought, then turned to Meng Shiyu. "Also, Shiyu."

"Yes, Boss."

"Go talk to the family. Get a sample of the remaining medicinal powder and send it to the lab for an urgent toxicology screen. Focus on heavy metals, lead and arsenic. If the levels are too high, be ready to administer a chelating agent for lead removal."

"Understood!"

"Yes, sir!"

The medical team instantly kicked into high gear.

Ten minutes later, all treatment orders had been implemented in the ward.

Thanks to Jiang He’s precise judgment and calm command,

the patient’s crisis was nipped in the bud.

He should be thanking Jiang He. If this had dragged on any longer, the poor guy might never have been able to get it up again.

Jiang He took a sip of warm water and began to look over the charts of other patients.

Just then, the office door was pushed open again.

Han Yuan walked in, a strange expression on their face, and said,

"Director Jiang, the emergency department just called. They said a transfer patient just came in, and now the family is specifically asking to see you."

Jiang He frowned.

It was normal for the ER to send over difficult cases.

But usually, the ER would handle the initial admission and only call them for a consultation if it involved a specialized issue for the hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery department.

For a family to bypass departments and ask for a specific doctor by name right from the start was not standard procedure.

"What’s the situation? Is the condition critical?" Jiang He asked.

Han Yuan shook their head. "Not critical, but it seems a bit tricky. They transferred from City First Hospital, and... they didn’t follow the normal inter-hospital transfer protocol. They didn’t even bring a handover form from the attending physician..."

Jiang He asked, "How did they transfer without a handover form?"

Han Yuan said, "The family insisted on being discharged themselves. Attending Physician Zhao Yumin from the ER said that the moment the family walked in, they announced that Director Wang Zhengchu from City First Hospital couldn’t treat the illness and didn’t dare to operate on them..."

"Director Wang’s exact words to them were: ’I can’t do what you’re asking. Not even a god could do it!’"

"Then, I heard the family argued with Director Wang for a long time, insisting that he was incompetent and just wasting their time."

"So Director Wang said in a fit of anger: ’Fine, you don’t have to believe me! Go find a better doctor! The best hepatobiliary surgeon in Yangcheng is Jiang He at Affiliated Hospital No. 1. Go find him!’"

"And it seems the family took him seriously, because they immediately brought the patient and rushed over here..."