"What? Something stuck in the esophagus?" Jin Mingcheng's expression changed slightly at the news, and he hurriedly ran out.
An esophageal foreign body can be very dangerous. Typically, when there's an obstruction in the esophagus, especially if it's large, it can compress the trachea and cause suffocation. If rescue isn't timely, the patient could suffocate to death.
Jin Mingcheng quickened his pace, still questioning, "What's the foreign object?"
"It's a soda bottle cap," the nurse on the phone explained quickly.
Upon hearing this, Jin Mingcheng suddenly slowed his steps.
"Has the patient shown any signs of suffocation?" A strange expression crossed his face.
"Not yet, but the ridges on the cap can allow for breathing," the nurse clarified.
Jin Mingcheng nodded slowly.
So, this foreign object isn't immediately life-threatening for the patient. He turned to Gu Tao, who was still anxious about being discovered by the mayor for taking undue credit.
What exactly went wrong that led to this exposure?
Jin Mingcheng immediately thought of Fang Zhiyan, whom he had threatened earlier. When he spoke with him, he hadn't seemed nervous at all; he didn't act like a newcomer intern. Could it be that he had sabotaged things? If that was the case, the traditional medicine hospital couldn't keep him—if the mayor asked about the situation, Fang Zhiyan would be a ticking time bomb. He needed to find an excuse to get rid of him.
Connecting this situation with the patient who had an esophageal foreign object, Jin Mingcheng decisively spoke into the phone, "No, I can't handle this right now."
"I have a seventy-five-year-old man who needs urgent care; he has acute left heart failure and is in critical condition."
"Here's the plan: call the new intern doctor and have him take care of it."
"What?" The nurse on the other end sounded incredulous.
Have an intern handle a case of esophageal obstruction? Even though it wasn't immediately life-threatening, Fang Zhiyan was still just an intern; what could he possibly do?
"Director!" the nurse began, but Jin Mingcheng hung up the phone.
He returned to his office, glancing anxiously at his watch.
"Director, aren't we going?" Gu Tao asked, sounding worried.
"Don't worry, the patient isn't in immediate danger. We'll go in ten minutes," Jin Mingcheng replied, his brows furrowed as he thought quickly. With Fang Zhiyan's abilities as an intern, he certainly wouldn't be able to handle the esophageal obstruction. He would likely be at a loss for what to do and might even receive complaints from the patient.
After ten minutes, he would go personally to handle the patient and, in the process, address Fang Zhiyan's failings.
Meanwhile, on the other end of the line, the nurse, having had her call disconnected, helplessly dialed Fang Zhiyan's number to inform him about the patient's situation.
Fang Zhiyan was surprised when he received the news. He wasn't shocked by the peculiar nature of the patient's condition but rather that he was actually being allowed to treat this patient independently. Though he didn't understand why, his sense of responsibility towards the patient urged him to rush over.
Outside the emergency room, Nurse Shen Qingyue was anxiously pacing back and forth. When she spotted Fang Zhiyan, she waved her hand, calling him over, "Over here."
"Qingyue, how is the patient?"
"Esophageal obstruction; a soda bottle cap is lodged. The patient mainly feels the foreign body sensation, with some signs of suffocation, but there is currently no danger to life," she explained as she led him inside.
Fang Zhiyan raised an eyebrow at the mention of the esophageal obstruction and the soda cap. This kind of condition would have been a trivial matter for him in his previous life. However, in the early twenty-first century, it could be quite the headache.
If luck was on their side and the cap was made of plastic, it could slip down into the esophagus and, with the action of gastric acid, might not corrode but could soften and eventually be excreted. But if the cap was stuck, it could damage the esophageal lining. The foreign object might penetrate through the esophageal mucosa to the muscular layer or even through the entire wall of the esophagus. In such cases, surgical intervention would be required to remove the object.
This situation was indeed tricky. Fang Zhiyan understood the implications, and Shen Qingyue was also experienced enough to know this. She looked at him with a helpless expression, not expecting Fang Zhiyan to take any substantial action. She simply hoped the director would quickly finish with the previous patient and then take over this case.
Entering the emergency room, Fang Zhiyan carefully examined the patient.
"Doctor, please help! My brother is choking on a soda bottle cap!" The patient's family pleaded, but the voice sounded oddly familiar.
Fang Zhiyan looked over in surprise, and the patient's family member mirrored his astonishment. They spoke simultaneously.
"Teacher Xu?"
"Fang Zhiyan?"
Nurse Shen Qingyue looked back and forth between them; it seemed they knew each other.
"Teacher Xu, this is your brother?" Fang Zhiyan asked, his face filled with shock.
Xu Qiushuang was equally surprised. "Yes, my brother accidentally swallowed a soda bottle cap."
"Turns out you're a doctor here." Xu Qiushuang exclaimed in awe. She had always thought Fang Zhiyan was just an ordinary grassroots doctor or a small clinic doctor, considering the Fang family's limited means. She never expected him to be a doctor in the emergency department of a traditional medicine hospital.
"Yeah," Fang Zhiyan nodded, but this wasn't the time for reminiscing. He turned to Shen Qingyue and confirmed, "The director really wants me to take care of this patient?"
"Yes, the director is currently treating a patient with acute left heart failure and is expected to come over once he's done," she replied.
"If you don't feel confident, we can wait for the director to arrive."
Before she could finish her sentence, Fang Zhiyan waved his hand to interrupt her. "No need for that, I can handle it."
For others, this would be a complex and even challenging issue. But for Fang Zhiyan, his previous experience as a surgical expert made handling such matters a breeze. It wasn't that he had some sort of cheat, but rather that the advancements in medicine, even just over a few decades, created a significant gap.
In the early twenty-first century, few people would use an endoscope to retrieve a foreign object, especially in a small city like Jiang'an.
Fang Zhiyan quickly instructed the patient to get an X-ray while he rushed to the endoscopy room. Fortunately, it wasn't yet off-duty hours, and the endoscopy room, part of the gastroenterology department, was still open. Fortunately for him, the attending doctor in charge was still there and agreed to let Fang Zhiyan use the endoscope.
Moments later, Xu Qiushuang arrived back with her brother and the freshly developed X-ray. After examining the X-ray closely, Fang Zhiyan hesitated before saying, "Teacher Xu, could you please run out and buy a condom?"