Chapter 883 - 424: The Middle-Aged Man’s Embarrassment, Vascular Problems?

Chapter 883: Chapter 424: The Middle-Aged Man’s Embarrassment, Vascular Problems?

"Have you gone to the hospital for an examination or treatment?"

Li Jingsheng asked the patient.

Logically, if the patient’s leg was injured and continued to hurt, they would definitely have gone to the hospital for a look.

No matter how carefree, one would at least go to a pharmacy to buy something like safflower oil or Bone Setting Water to apply.

It’s unlikely they would be in pain for over a month and still calmly act like nothing happened, ignoring it.

"I went to the pharmacy, spent over a hundred on medicine, and I’m still using it! It’s just not very effective. Plus, my job is quite busy, so I’ve been putting it off."

"You’ve been putting it off for over a month of pain?"

Li Jingsheng asked him.

"What else can I do? There’s a child to raise at home, plus the mortgage and car loan. Even with both my wife and I working, we barely make ends meet. I can earn eight to nine thousand yuan a month, and when business is good, I can make about twelve thousand, but our child attends a foreign language school and learns piano, dance, and calligraphy, which costs a lot."

The man lamented to Li Jingsheng.

Many patients like to lament to healthcare professionals.

Some are truly distressed, simply looking for someone to confide in for some comfort and sympathy. Others deliberately talk about their hardships, hoping the doctor will prescribe less costly medicine or alternative options.

After all, the cost of treatment once a patient enters the hospital is significantly influenced by the doctor’s decision.

A simple prescription for a couple of tests, like twenty-four-hour blood pressure monitoring, can cost hundreds.

The second hospital charges 240 yuan for twenty-four-hour blood pressure monitoring.

Tests like this have a lot of flexibility.

Unless it’s a special or serious case, such tests may not be necessary.

From a doctor’s perspective, as long as the conditions for the test are met, it can be ordered.

More tests can reduce misdiagnosis and missed diagnosis.

But from a patient’s perspective, 240 yuan is a significant expenditure if they pay out of pocket.

Adding other lab and test fees, before treating the ailment, they could easily spend over a thousand yuan.

This man’s monthly income of eight to nine thousand, even over twelve thousand, is considered high.

Yet, judging by his clothing, he seems quite modest.

"How many children do you have?"

"Just the one, and I feel like it’s hard to support even just them."

The man replied.

"Is the foreign language school a private elite school?"

"Yes! Isn’t it important for children to start learning a foreign language well from an early age? We sent them to a foreign language school for 130,000 yuan a year. The teachers there are mostly foreign, and everyday communication is in a foreign language, providing a good environment for language learning. It is indeed expensive, but as long as the child has a promising future, it’s worth it."

The man’s sentiment reflects the mindset of many parents.

Everything is for the child.

To Li Jingsheng, educational investment is indeed important. But it should also be within one’s means.

Private elite schools are extremely expensive and not affordable for most families.

Additionally, many costly extracurricular programs are essentially intellectual tax.

Some spend over seven hundred thousand yuan on one-on-one private tutoring, only for their child to score just over thirty on an exam. The parents sued the tutor in anger.

There are many similar cases.

Not all private tutors are useless, but the more expensive ones have a higher probability of being a waste.

Moreover, this patient enrolled their child in three specialized tutoring classes. Can the child really handle them all?

The fees for any specialized tutoring don’t come cheap.

Of course, this is their family matter, and Li Jingsheng naturally wouldn’t interfere.

"Where exactly on your left leg was injured at the time?"

Li Jingsheng asked to quickly change the subject.

Otherwise, this father with a lot of grievances could talk for hours.

"Look, it’s around the ankle area."

The man pulled up his pant leg a bit, showing Li Jingsheng.

"Where does it hurt now?"

Li Jingsheng asked.

Earlier, when watching the man walk, his left leg seemed almost unusable.

This suggests the pain is significant.

"It seems like this whole part hurts. Especially painful when standing on the left leg, like being pricked by a needle."

"With such severe pain, why didn’t you let your wife or family accompany you? What if you fall? It’s quite dangerous."

Li Jingsheng squatted down to begin examining the patient’s left leg.

"My wife earns six to seven thousand yuan a month, which is considered good. But she often works overtime. Seeing she’s busy, I came alone as today was just unbearable. Mainly, our off days rarely coincide."

The man explained.

Li Jingsheng found no abnormalities at the injured ankle area—no blood clots or bruising. Only a small area of fading pigmentation above the ankle bone remained.

This indicates where the injury was.

"Raise the pant leg a bit more, let me check the entire calf."

He couldn’t yet determine if an ankle bone injury was causing the entire left leg pain, or if there was another issue.

One thing was clear, no matter how injured, a left leg issue shouldn’t make the right hand hurt.

As the man rolled up his pant leg, he looked pained as he used his right hand.

This indicated there was also an issue with his right hand.

What could it possibly be?

With his clinical experience, Li Jingsheng couldn’t comprehend why a left leg injury would cause right leg pain.

Then, as he squeezed the patient’s calf.

"Ow... it hurts, it hurts!"

For a man in his late thirties, if the pain wasn’t severe, he wouldn’t be acting so affected.

Li Jingsheng tried pressing the patient’s ankle bone again, especially examining around the joint.

He found that the bone position and bone quality of the ankle joint were normal.

The possibility of ankle joint dislocation can be basically ruled out.

Carefully feeling the bone, the ankle bone also seemed to have no obvious fracture.

This is strange.

The injury was clearly to the ankle, so why did it turn into calf pain instead?

"Do you remember the exact day you got injured?"

"It was on the 12th of last month. I remember the company pays on the 15th. I was thinking if there really was a problem, I would wait until I got paid to go to the hospital for an examination. If it really came to it, I could borrow money and pay it back in three days."

This man is truly having a hard life.

He obviously earns eight to nine thousand a month, and his wife makes six to seven thousand. Together, after taxes and social security, they still have fourteen to fifteen thousand.

Yet, there isn’t a single bit of savings at home.

This kind of family financial situation is certainly very unhealthy.

After all, they are already thirty-seven or thirty-eight years old.

Li Jingsheng really wanted to say that cultivating the child is important, but it’s best to do it within one’s means.

For any family, the adults are the most important.

Buying insurance should also prioritize the adults.

Because if adults have an accident, fall ill, and can’t afford treatment, leaving behind children, the consequences are unbearable for them.

On the contrary, if you prioritize buying insurance for the adults, even if the child unfortunately gets a serious illness, it would not result in unbearable consequences. In the worst case, borrowing or fundraising could still get the child treated.

Li Jingsheng calculated that the patient was injured on the 12th of last month, which is now almost fifty days ago.

It has already far exceeded a month.

"Does your thigh hurt?"

Li Jingsheng asked the patient.

"It seems to hurt a bit."

"Then let me check it for you!"

When he pinched the patient’s femur, he hadn’t even applied force, and the patient was already screaming in pain.

Additionally, he noticed that the patient’s left lower limb seemed to be slightly swollen.

While pinching, the internal blood vessels felt somewhat hard.

It’s hard to say.

In general, a normal person’s leg texture, in a naturally relaxed state, should be relatively soft.

But this patient’s deep muscles felt somewhat hard.

This indicated that there might be vascular issues.

"Does your waist and abdomen hurt?"

"No pain!"

Get on the inside examination bed and lie down, I’ll press your abdomen to check.

Li Jingsheng had the patient lie down properly inside.

The patient’s judgment is sometimes inaccurate. Particularly when there are multiple pains in the body, they might be somewhat dull to some not-so-obvious hidden pain.

After examining the waist, abdomen, chest, and other torso parts of the patient, no abnormalities were found.

No obvious tenderness or similar was found either.

No swelling of the lymph nodes was noted in the axillary and inguinal regions.

This suggests that the problem should be concentrated on the left lower limb.

"Does your right leg hurt?"

"No pain, only the right hand hurts."

The patient shook his head.

Out of caution, Li Jingsheng still checked the entire right lower limb of the patient.

No pain appeared in the right leg.

"Let me take a look at your right hand."

He had the patient take off his coat and then checked the right hand.

There were no obvious signs of external injury, but the patient did have a faint redness in the right hand’s elbow vein.

This is a very peculiar manifestation.

A normal person’s superficial veins are bluish, not red.

"Was your right hand injured when you fell?"

"Shouldn’t have been. It was about a month after the fall that my right hand started to ache slightly. Recently these two days, it has been getting more and more painful. Don’t you find it strange? Even if my right hand was indeed injured in the fall, it would hurt at most by the next day. How could it possibly start hurting only a month later?"

Even the patient himself found this symptom very bizarre.

"Let me check the muscles and bones of your right hand."

Li Jingsheng tried pinching, and again, the patient screamed in pain.

It was very similar to the pain situation in the left leg.

Additionally, muscle contraction phenomenon was also present. It felt relatively hard to touch, but different from muscle contractions due to spasms.

Muscles that are cramped feel rock hard when touched.

This patient’s condition is truly peculiar.

"Alright, you should first get a vascular ultrasound. After you get the results, come straight back in to find me."

Li Jingsheng wrote an ultrasound check application for the patient.

Ultrasound is quite useful for checking blood circulation.

It is generally used as a primary examination method commonly in clinical practices.

The cost is also relatively cheap.

Doing a CT, or even an enhanced CT right away, the patient might not be able to accept. It also does not comply with regulations.

Based on the initial examination of this patient, Li Jingsheng considered that the probability of vascular issues was the highest.

But if the blood vessels have problems, why would it cause the right hand to hurt as well?

Moreover, what is causing the redness in the inside elbow vein of the right hand?