Chapter 268 - Last Resort (Part 2 of 5) (1/2)
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Zheng Ren disinfected the skin and covered the area with surgical drapes, then washed his hands again and placed a second layer of drapes.
He did not have to say a word; whenever he extended his hand, the correct tool would be placed in it by Xie Yiren.
Their synchronicity was astounding!
Zheng Ren decided to start with a 15 cm incision on the left side of the rectus abdominis.
Yang Lei and Zheng Ren had experience working together in the general surgery department, although they were dealing with simple appendectomies and hernias back then.
A scalpel was handed to Zheng Ren.
Incision, followed by a blunt dissection. The peritoneum was gently parted to gain access to the peritoneal cavity.
Yang Lei increased retraction to provide a better view for Zheng Ren to begin his work.
As the patient had not been eating or drinking much for the past two weeks, his gut was mainly filled with coagulated blood.
Zheng Ren recalled the imaging post-embolization and identified the part of the intestine that likely contained the bleed, pulling the segment free so that it rested above the body.
“Warm saline gauze.” It was his first spoken instruction.
It was an unusual surgery, requiring unusual procedures.
Xie Yiren nodded and got the circulating nurse to obtain gauze soaked in saline solution.
Zheng Ren was not rus.h.i.+ng the surgery. He simply covered the segment of the intestine with the gauze and the surgery came to a pause.
The three department chiefs in the control room had their jaws on the floor.
What was this procedure?
Normally, warm saline gauze was used to cover the incision when there was an abnormality observed partway through the surgery, requiring the surgeon to step out to inform the patient’s family. It was also used in intraoperative frozen section procedures to stall the surgery as they waited for the test results before proceeding with the next step.
Lastly, saline-soaked gauze was also used in situations where the surgeon had lost control of the procedure and had to wait for someone else to take over.
Zheng Ren’s application of the warm saline gauze did not fall into any of those categories.
The chatroom in Xinglin Garden exploded.
[What is the surgeon doing? Why did the surgery pause again?]
[Maybe there’s a switch and they’re waiting for another surgeon to a.s.sist?]
[Come on, I put down my beer and snuck into the nightclub toilet to watch this. And I’m using mobile data. What’s this pause for?]
Dissatisfaction festered in the livestream.
The general consensus was that the current surgeon was not the same one from the previous videos and the surgery was on hold, waiting for a.s.sistance.
The intestines were filled with blood and it was impossible to find the source of it all!
How ridiculous!
The audience expressed their anger through their comments, something they could not possibly do were they present in person.
If they judged the situation wrongly online, they could just log off the platform with a stung sense of pride, but that was not possible in real life. They would not offend a surgeon whose methods they could not even understand.
Zheng Ren waited for 30 minutes. This was a slow surgery, a contrast from his usual pace.
The warm saline gauze was replaced three times. Whenever Xie Yiren delivered the new gauze, Zheng Ren’s eyes crinkled above the mask and they exchanged a glance of good cheer.
“It’s great to have your own scrub nurse back, huh, boss?” Su Yun suddenly muttered from behind him.
Zheng Ren felt his body tense.
“Relax. I think the necrosis is almost done. Resection can start soon, but try to minimise it; I’ll look over the patient in the ICU.” With that, Su Yun walked out of the operating room without a backwards glance.
Once he had understood what Zheng Ren was doing, he did not bother watching the rest of the surgery.
He knew where the man stood in terms of surgical skill.
A few minutes later, Zheng Ren removed the saline gauze.