Chapter 61: No Surgery Needed!
“Brother, look, after the surgery and under anesthesia, your thumb and index finger have quite smooth passive flexion and extension, with no obvious blocking sensation.”
“Fortunately, my luck was good enough that no blood vessels or nerves were injured, otherwise the surgery would have been more troublesome.”
After the surgery, Lu Cheng took off his sterile surgical gown, picked up his mobile phone, and played the ‘passive rehabilitation’ video he had recorded during the operation.
Under the shadowless lamp, Lu Cheng’s features were sharp and defined, his tone grave and mature, giving people a sense of conviction.
When the young man was butchering a chicken, he happened to cut the flexor tendon in District Two. After the injury, he could move his hand, but his fingers were disobedient and couldn’t bend.
“Doctor Lu, so the postoperative rehabilitation should be good, right?” the young man asked Lu Cheng. He wasn’t concerned about the surgical details, only the final outcome.
“After the surgery, you need to follow the postoperative instructions and work hard on rehabilitation. The prognosis is good. For flexor tendon injuries in District Two like yours, I’ve done six so far.”
“The worst one still had acceptable finger flexion, but the muscle strength in his fingers was a bit less than before, which is unavoidable.”
“Functional range of motion definitely takes priority over muscle strength rehabilitation,” Lu Cheng reassured him.
“Now that the surgery is done, don’t worry too much. Just focus on your rehabilitation.”
“Furthermore, for this type of flexor tendon injury in District Two, regardless of where you have surgery, there’s a non-optimal rate of over ten percent. Xiangya Hospital and Xiangya Second Hospital are the same, and so are other hospitals.”
“The internet is advanced now; you can search for ‘No Man’s Land Tendon’ yourself and find out.”
“Of course, I’m not saying this to avoid responsibility; I told you this before the surgery.”
After hearing this, the young man thought for a moment before saying, “Doctor Zhang said that your tendon suturing technique is better than doctors in the prefecture. Is that true?”
Lu Cheng replied, “I don’t know, we haven’t compared. Doctors operate on their own cases. Actually, Doctor Zhang was just joking; doctors don’t deliberately tear others down to lift themselves up.”
The patient was then transferred from the emergency operating room… Upon returning to the ward, he saw several people nearby who also had tendon ruptures and were recovering well, which finally put his mind at ease…
His girlfriend, however, after seeing him settled in bed, said with some worry, “Shang Jun, I just looked it up. Tendon ruptures in your area are very difficult and complex to operate on. We should have gone directly to the prefecture…”
“I don’t think so. Doctor Lu didn’t say he wouldn’t belittle others to elevate himself, which proves he has real strength. On the other hand, that Doctor Zhang seems a bit of an amateur.”
“Truly skilled people don’t bother to belittle others to boost themselves.”
“Doctor Lu probably doesn’t lack patients, which is why he frankly suggested we get a referral. Look at the other doctors at the county hospital; they more or less imply you should stay…”
Shang Jun, being in a technical field himself, understood this point deeply.
“Really? But the internet says that if tendon ruptures here are not handled well, you can easily lose function.” The woman was still worried.
“A certain kind of confidence cannot be faked,” Shang Jun nodded.
Hearing this, a middle-aged brother from the next room chimed in at the opportune moment, “Let me tell you something. Actually, the orthopedics department at the hospital has a professor from Xiangya Hospital’s Hand Surgery department who specializes in tendon suturing.”
“He even came to our department a few days ago and personally said that Doctor Lu’s current tendon suturing level is a six-four split with him, with Doctor Lu at six and him at four.”
“The professor said it himself! I heard it with my own ears.”
“The professor also said that Lu Cheng’s surgery fee is too low. If you went to the prefecture or Xiangya Hospital, it would be at least thirty to forty percent more,” the middle-aged man said with a smile, flexing his wrist.
Shang Jun and the woman fell silent after hearing this, and then a hint of glee flickered in their eyes.
…
“Brother Lu, come here quickly. A patient with a fracture has arrived, and the on-duty doctor in orthopedics said to send him straight up for admission.”
“He’s not coming down anymore,” Lu Cheng said as he arrived at the general ward, before he could even start writing his operative note. Tian Zhuang added.
“I don’t know how to assess it either. Brother Lu, you used to be in orthopedics, so you should be able to evaluate if surgery is needed, right?”
Lu Cheng tilted his head and scratched his scalp, “Who’s on duty in orthopedics today?”
“I think it’s Doctor Tian Shan,” Tian Zhuang replied.
“The patient is getting X-rays done, and the results will be out soon, Brother Lu.” Tian Zhuang showed Lu Cheng a flattering smile, no longer acting haughty.
“Okay, let’s go take a look together,” Lu Cheng said.
Brother Tian Shan, it is rumored, has direct family ties to the County Health Bureau. The County Health Bureau is the most direct sword hanging over the People’s Hospital. Local officials are more influential than higher-ups, and he was doing quite well for himself.
The Emergency Department requested a consultation. Remote image consultation is a tactic of the orthopedics on-duty old hand.
Tian Zhuang returned to his workstation and refreshed, “Brother Lu, the X-ray results are out.”
Lu Cheng turned sideways and scrolled with his mouse.
Although he hadn’t officially dealt with orthopedic disease types for a long time, Lu Cheng had been an orthopedic doctor for seven years. Reading medical images and his theoretical knowledge were deeply ingrained in him; it was his most familiar field.
“There’s a fracture!”
Lu Cheng immediately grasped the key point: “Elbow joint, radial head fracture.”
“Classification, Mason II type. No elbow joint dislocation.”
“No associated ulna fracture, the distal radioulnar joint and metacarpals are tightly aligned, and no fracture line was found,” Lu Cheng read out the details of the medical image reading as he reviewed it.
“So, should we issue a hospitalization certificate?” Tian Zhuang turned his head, his eyes alert.
Generally, orthopedic fractures are consulted by the orthopedics department and handled by them.
“Huh? A hospitalization certificate?” Lu Cheng tilted his head, slightly surprised.
“You’re not issuing one?” Tian Zhuang asked.
“No, fractures in this area don’t require hospitalization. We’ll just put a plaster cast on him later.” Lu Cheng said.
“No surgery for a fracture?” Tian Zhuang’s expression faltered.
Tian Zhuang’s question made Lu Cheng doubt himself a little, but after carefully recalling, Lu Cheng suddenly understood—
Radial head fracture is the localization, and Mason II fracture is the classification, assessing whether surgery is indicated.
Surgical treatment for Mason II fractures is not superior to conservative treatment, so surgery can be avoided.
Since Tian Shan from Orthopedics was not coming, it meant the patient was left to the Emergency Department to handle.
“Doctor, how am I? Is there a fracture? The pain is unbearable.” The patient had only had an X-ray taken and rushed back to the emergency surgery clinic afterward.
Lu Cheng straightened up and looked at the person who had arrived, a young man around thirty-two or thirty-three, and said, “There is a fracture, but the situation is manageable. We’ll put a plaster cast on you later, and you can rest for a while.”
The young man was a bit panicked when he heard there was a fracture, but he was relieved when he heard no surgery was needed, “There’s a fracture but no surgery required?”
“Can it be reduced manually?” Self-media is very developed now, with a lot of marketing for manual reduction.
Lu Cheng said, “It’s not manual reduction. Not all fractures require surgery, and not all fractures need manual reduction. It’s just that this patient’s condition is quite appropriate.”
“You’ll wear a forearm sling, get some anti-swelling medication, and go back to use ice packs locally. After forty-eight hours, switch to hot compresses.”
“Of course, if you want surgery, you can go directly to orthopedics. The orthopedic doctor said you can go straight up to find him.”
“It’s up to you to choose!” Lu Cheng emphasized.
The textbook states that surgical treatment is not superior to conservative treatment, nor is it weaker.
Seeking monthly tickets.
