Chapter 16: Jin Xia Suturing Technique!
In a barbecue stall in Long County, business wasn’t very brisk.
Lu Cheng and Chen Song sat opposite each other in a corner. After Lu Cheng ordered, he handed the menu over and poured an ice-cold beer, saying, “Teacher Chen, is there anything else you’d like to add?”
“I’m treating today, please don’t be polite.”
Lu Cheng ordered first, after all, he was in Long County, and Lu Cheng knew which places had good flavors and what the specialties were.
Chen Song shook the menu he was holding. He had intended to make Lu Cheng “bleed heavily” and overcharge him, but after seeing Lu Cheng’s order, he not only didn’t add dishes but actually removed a few: “Treating is treating, but don’t waste food.”
“Wasting food is the greatest disrespect to gourmet food,” Chen Song said seriously.
Lu Cheng explained, “Teacher Chen, you should be here for the first time, and I don’t know your taste, so I thought I’d let you try more.”
“A toast to you, to cleanse your palate.”
In the boring summer, Chen Song was alone in Long County. Although he was often invited to drinking parties by Lin Qianlong and others, the content of their conversations was essentially meaningless.
Chen Song preferred to discuss professional knowledge with Lu Cheng alone: “You’ve practiced the modified Kessler technique to this point, which can be considered barely entering the threshold. You can now go into clinical practice and truly solve problems for patients.”
“Moving forward, you’ll be pursuing higher surgery quality, rather than just practicing to complete tendon suturing surgery.”
“Looking at the summary points you sent me, you must have also consulted quite a few professional books!”
“The Tsuge suturing method and the Tang method are two indispensable classic techniques for tendon suturing in hand surgery. In terms of applicability, the Tsuge suturing method developed by Japanese doctors is even broader.”
“Therefore, the Tsuge suturing method is what you should delve into next.”
“One thing we need to be clear about: patriotism is patriotism, but Tsuge, a good technique developed by Dr. Tsuge, we should learn it if we can, because learning it will allow us to better solve problems for patients.”
Lu Cheng replied, “Teacher Chen, as long as it’s a good technique, of course, I will learn it.”
Chen Song explained, “For flexor tendons in zones 1 and 3, and extensor tendons in zones 2, 3, and 7 of the hand, the most recommended suturing technique is the Tsuge suturing method.”
“Although many professors in China have tried to replace it with the Tang method or modified Tang method, currently, there is no substantial evidence to replace it in tendon suturing in these zones.”
“If there’s an opportunity, we can also try to cover it with other suturing techniques, but now, as beginners, we still need to learn this technique…”
“For tendon injuries in different locations, finding the appropriate corresponding technique makes it difficult to have problems.”
“Regarding the Tsuge suturing method and the Tang method, will you find the practice materials yourself, or should I help you find them?” Chen Song asked Lu Cheng specifically.
Lu Cheng quickly said, “Teacher Chen, I can find the materials myself.”
“It will be more trouble for you to offer some guidance at the appropriate time…”
Regardless of whether they were master’s or doctoral students, even the most obedient and cherished students would not dare to ask their mentors to find materials and feed them back.
It’s the opposite of what should be!
Learning a technique is your own business. You can seek your mentor for advice when you have questions and accept their guidance at the appropriate time.
Hoping a teacher will mentor you like a high school student, forcing you to learn a technique, is absolutely impossible.
University students are already adults, and adults should be responsible for their own futures and every choice they make.
Chen Song thought for a moment, then asked with confusion, “Lu Cheng, I see you have a strong desire to learn, and your aptitude is not bad. Have you never considered taking the postgraduate entrance examination before?”
Lu Cheng’s attitude towards learning is upright and proactive; he shouldn’t be someone who wouldn’t think of taking the postgraduate entrance examination.
Lu Cheng replied frankly, “Teacher Chen, I certainly took it, but I didn’t make it…”
“Didn’t make it? Why?” Chen Song pressed.
“I didn’t have my own published paper…” Lu Cheng gave a wry smile.
As an undergraduate from an ordinary family, even studying at Hanshi University, he couldn’t even find the door to the laboratory or the direction of the research group during his undergraduate studies. Where would he get academic papers?
Upon hearing this, Chen Song felt something was amiss: “Failed because you didn’t have your own paper? That’s not common. Which hospital did you apply to?”
“Huashan Hospital Orthopedics,” Lu Cheng said.
Chen Song immediately understood, his tone slightly surprised: “Huashan Hospital? The master’s quota at Huashan Hospital is so much smaller than the doctoral quota, and you dared to apply?”
Huashan Hospital’s orthopedic department is extremely strong, especially hand surgery, which can be considered the best in the country. Even the hand surgery department at Jishuitan Hospital may not be stronger than Huashan Hospital’s hand surgery department.
In the strong departments of such top teaching hospitals, the number of master’s quotas is less than the number of doctoral student quotas. Studying for a master’s degree essentially means pursuing a direct doctorate. It seems like a postgraduate entrance exam, but it’s actually a direct doctorate assessment.
Lu Cheng touched his nose: “After all, I was young and impulsive. At the time, I also felt my revision went well.”
“I also didn’t understand the essential rules of the postgraduate re-examination, so I got a bloody nose.”
“Then why didn’t you retake the exam?” Chen Song asked again.
If the first attempt failed, there’s a second attempt. Lu Cheng could get into the master’s re-examination interview at Huashan Hospital, so wouldn’t it be a sure thing to get into a 211 university the next year?
Lu Cheng didn’t reply, but first poured Chen Song another glass of beer.
Gurgling sounds and foam rose together. Foam overflowed the rim of the glass, gurgling down onto the table and forming water stains.
Only then did Lu Cheng stop, bit his lip, and then smiled, saying, “Teacher Chen, in the final analysis, it’s still because I was young, impulsive, and ignorant.”
“Back then, my written examination score for the master’s program was first. The teaching secretary at Huashan Hospital individually informed me of my failure in the re-examination and explained the reasons, suggesting I go for adjustment early. I wasn’t very convinced.”
Chen Song was understanding and could empathize with Lu Cheng’s lack of conviction: “And then?”
“Then I got a bloody nose, right? I didn’t even have the chance to return to my alma mater. Hanshi University Zhongnan Hospital wasn’t short of applicants for master’s degrees, okay? In principle, they didn’t accept adjustment quotas.”
“I thought, so be it for standardized training. I don’t believe standardized training can’t kill those few people. I must take the professional route, and then I’ll step back. Teacher Chen, you know, top hospitals like Huashan Hospital have a ‘Ladder to the Azure Clouds’ for professional and academic postgraduate students, with standards for ‘exceptional recruitment’…”
“After all, I was young. After starting formal standardized training, I realized that the knowledge I learned during my undergraduate studies was useless in clinical practice.”
“Compared to the senior master’s students, my rookie status was immediately exposed.”
“At Zhongnan Hospital, the level of attending physicians was often ridiculed by the directors leading the teams. With my meager skills at the time, I couldn’t even get onto the operating table.”
“Without the mentor and direct senior brother guiding me meticulously, no matter how hard I tried, I could at best barely match the level of other master’s students of the same year. I was completely unable to stand out.”
“Learning…” Lu Cheng bit his lip. “Teachers are very important.”
“Especially in learning medical techniques, teachers are even more important… Otherwise, you won’t even know which way to turn for the treatment of a disease.”
“The information and knowledge available online are nowhere near the entry level.”
“For example, the modified Kessler suturing technique. If I hadn’t asked the friend I met during my standardized training, how would I have known how to practice it?”
Lu Cheng said frankly at this point: “So I am very grateful, very, very grateful that Teacher Chen can take time out of his schedule to guide me.”
“I will also cherish this opportunity very, very much.” Lu Cheng’s voice was not choked with emotion, but filled with emotion and calmness…
“Not so arrogant anymore?” Chen Song didn’t sympathize with Lu Cheng but shot him a cold arrow.
Lu Cheng was not angry. Chen Song’s perspective was different from his. In Chen Song’s view, what he had done was deserved. His expression was obsequious: “I’ve had enough of suffering losses, and now I’m willing to listen to advice…”
“At your age, it’s a bit late to still be listening to advice.”
“I don’t even know what to say about you.”
“Stubborn? You didn’t achieve fame by being stubborn. Medicine is not as simple as you think, and learning techniques is not as straightforward as studying textbooks and doing practice questions…”
“These surgical techniques, in modern society, if you go back two hundred years, they were considered secret family skills passed down only to a select few.”
“Many directors in prefectural city hospitals, county hospitals, and provincial hospitals, if they don’t know a certain technique, they just don’t know it. They wouldn’t dare to say they can thoroughly figure it out themselves, but you…”
“Serves you right! Absolutely deserves it!” Chen Song’s scolding was a bit harsh.
A familiar yet strange beautiful face flickered in Lu Cheng’s mind, and he smiled: “Yes, it serves me right, I deserve it!!”
