Chapter 120: Regaining Consciousness

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

"Remember to arrange for the patient to begin rehabilitation tomorrow," Ling Ran instructed after he finished his surgery.

Different patients began rehabilitation at different times, and this was mainly determined based on the strength of the stitches. If the chief surgeon felt that the stitches were secure enough, the patients could begin rehabilitation the next day. Otherwise, rehabilitation would be slightly postponed.

A surgeon's skills in his sutures determined whether a patient could start rehabilitation early. On the other hand, late rehabilitation increased the risk of adhesion as well.

When Young Tie heard this, he felt less worried.

At least, the stitches holding the tendon together were strong enough. Based on the standards of the Hand Surgery Department, the base value of Ling Ran's stitches on Zheng Qi had already been achieved. As long as the tendon did not split, the patient would definitely score an "excellent" in his hand function analysis.

In an instant, Young Tie recalled the process of Ling Ran's surgeries. He was then dispirited by the fact that he only strived to achieve the base value when he performed his own surgeries. He had been learning the M-Tang technique from Department Associate Director Pan unofficially for a few years, and officially as well as seriously for over a year. But up until now, he never had the chance to become the chief surgeon in surgeries performed using the M-Tang technique. Department Associate Director Pan wanted the quality of his stitches to be above "excellent" before he would give him a chance. However, for the patient to score an "excellent" in his hand function analysis, all tiny details had to be taken into consideration during the suturing process...

Even though Young Tie had been trying for a long time, he had never been able to achieve the criteria. But he was not too anxious about it either, as the M-Tang technique was an extremely difficult surgical method to begin with. Not many people in Yun Hua City or even the Changxi Province could do it well...

Young Tie cast a profound glance at Ling Ran, and could not help but compare the process of Ling Ran's surgery to that of Department Associate Director Pan's.

Doctor Tie Bei shuddered violently. He was not willing to think about it any further.

"What time exactly is the rehabilitation starting?" Because Ling Ran looked stern to Young Tie from the back, he turned to ask Lu Wenbin.

Lu Wenbin flashed a mysterious smile. "The earliest would be five in the morning."

"Huh? Doing rehabilitation exercises at five in the morning?"

"Previously, I requested my patients to start rehabilitation at three in the morning. However, the patients and their family members weren't very compliant, and postponing it to five improved things." Ling Ran was also very resigned when it came to this matter. Even though he was already at the door, he had the time to turn around, face Young Tie, and answer.

Young Tie glanced at Lu Wenbin, feeling speechless. He could not help but ask, "What's the significance of doing rehabilitation exercises at three or five in the morning?"

"To fully utilize the rehabilitation room." Ling Ran glanced at Tie Bei and said, "The rehabilitation room we borrowed from the Hand Surgery Department is already full. If we still can't increase the number of rehabilitation rooms or increase the time we are able to use the room effectively, we'll have to stop carrying out surgeries."

"Heh heh... Heh heh..." What else could Young Tie say? Even though the rehabilitation room that the Hand Surgery Department lent to the Emergency Department was not big, considering the fact that each room allowed many people to carry out rehabilitation exercises at the same time, and each patient only needed to do rehabilitation exercises for around two hours per day, the rehabilitation room could still fit a lot of people.

However, the day the Hand Surgery Department lent the rehabilitation room to the Emergency Department, no one had expected Ling Ran to treat ten patients per day.

With the rate he performed his surgeries, the problem may not be solved even if they gave Ling Ran another rehabilitation room.

The treatment group Young Tie was a part of would already be patting themselves on their backs if they were able to complete ten major surgeries every week.

Thirty surgeries a month was considered the limit when it came to the surgical volume of a treatment group. The doctors would be able to fulfill the demands of various parties and complete their surgery quota without being too tired.

Ling Ran only needed three days to complete thirty surgeries. With such a frequency, everyone who knew the ropes would identify Ling Ran as a surgery maniac the moment they heard about it. And surgery maniacs, whether they were from the Changxi Province or Beijing, were always gigantic beasts who were able to swallow up all of a department's resources alone.

Another way to put it was, the more resources a surgery maniac's department had, the crazier he would be. Once, Dong Nianguo from Wuhan Union Hospital carried out more than one hundred heart transplants within a year and was ranked the world's top ten. If another doctor from another hospital was able to carry out ten heart transplants within a year, he would already grab the imperial robe and put it on himself as he yelled, "I'm the king of the world!"

Besides, if China had more heart donors and hospitals with better terms, it would be possible for Dong Nianguo to make the country number one in the world when it came to heart transplants.

However, in the end, surgery maniacs still had their actions limited by reality.

For example, there was a possibility that Ling Ran would be limited by the number of rehabilitation rooms available. And even after he solved this problem, there could be a lack of operating theaters for him...

Young Tie glanced at Ling Ran a few times. He sighed and said, "Waking patients up at five in the morning to do rehabilitation exercises isn't the best way to counter the lack of rehabilitation rooms, is it?"

Ling Ran nodded slowly and said, "It's indeed not very useful to start an hour earlier. But when we shifted it to three in the morning, many patients were either late or absent."

Young Tie saw the very distinct, troubled look on Ling Ran's face.

Young Tie screamed internally, 'What is there for you to be troubled about? What exactly is there for you to be troubled about?!'

Meanwhile, Lu Wenbin thought of something. He asked, "Doctor Tie, can the Hand Surgery Department solve this problem for us?"

Young Tie shuddered violently and shook his head non-stop. "The Hand Surgery Department has already given you a large rehabilitation room. How is it possible for us to give you more rehabilitation rooms? Moreover, you guys need more than a little bit of extra space."

"We have already made a request to Department Director Huo. Right now, the old storeroom is being modified. Once the modification is complete, and we have a larger rehabilitation room, we'll be able to return part of the rehabilitation room to you guys."

"Even so, the decision isn't up to me." As young Tie spoke, he glanced at Zheng Qi, who was lying on the operating table. He then said, "Well then, we'll see each other in the rehabilitation room at five in the morning."

After Young Tie said that, he quickly left.

Ling Ran did not bother to think about it too much. After he turned to make sure that the patient's condition was normal, he nodded and exited the operating theater. He then went to the operating theater next door to continue with another surgery.

However, Lu Wenbin stared at Young Tie's retreating figure and pondered a moment. He asked Su Jiafu a question while the man was still beside him, "Old Su, this patient will definitely be sent to the recovery room, right?"

"Of course."

"Can you call me when the patient wakes up?"

"What do you want to do?" Su Jiafu liked participating in Ling Ran's surgeries very much, and he was also already very familiar with Lu Wenbin. He chuckled and joked, "Our recovery room is under strict supervision. You won't be able to do anything."

The recovery room was also known as the postanesthesia intensive care unit (PACU). Even though the name sounded very grand, the scale of the PACU in each department differed. High-class PACUs were as grand as intensive care units (ICU) and were well-equipped because large amounts of money had been spent on them. For instance, the recovery room shared by all the departments in Yun Hua Hospital's surgical floor had more than twenty beds and required millions of RMB to be built.

On the other hand, the PACU in the Operating Area of the Emergency Department, which they installed themselves, was not so luxurious.There was also no need for it to be so luxurious because there were only four operating theaters in total. The recovery room was initially equipped with just two beds, three monitoring instruments, and a large amount of drugs. If you were to include the cost of the machines and the facilities, the recovery room might not even have cost 100,000 RMB to build.

Ever since Ling Ran's surgical volume increased, the recovery room had been expanded slightly. There were now six beds, with the same ratio of monitoring instruments, nurses, patient care assistants, and anesthetists installed. That was the extent of it. There were no more extra expenditures for the recovery room.

Lu Wenbin smiled in a servile manner and said, "Doctor Su, I'll give you two pork trotters in exchange for information."

Su Jiafu thought about it and said, "You're in charge of carrying all the stools today."

"Sure," Lu Wenbin immediately agreed.

After Lu Wenbin carried out a few more surgeries, he received Su Jiafu's call.

Lu Wenbin hurriedly gave preoperative instructions. Then, he turned and rushed straight to the recovery room. Upon arrival, Lu Wenbin saw that Zheng Qi's head was swaying.

"Mister Zheng, how do you feel?" Lu Wenbin asked, following the prescribed course of action.

"Oh... I..." Zheng Qi had just recovered from anesthesia. He was obtuse and his mind was in a mess. He only asked, "Where's Young Pan? Was Pan Hua the one who operated on me?"

"You know Department Associate Director Pan?" Lu Wenbin's eyes brightened.

"He's my wife's younger brother. Can you call him? And where is my wife?" Zheng Qi asked.

"I'll ask someone to send you back to the ward first." Lu Wenbin talked to the patient a little more before he left him with the nurse. Once he was a distance away from the recovery room, he took out his mobile phone. When he found Ling Ran's phone number, he shook his head firmly and continued to scroll downwards. He then found Huo Congjun's number and dialed it with a grin. "Department Director Huo, guess who I just met?"