Chapter 296 - Three blood vessel brothers (2/2)

Both patients with anaphylactoid purpura had classical examples of the disease. Purpura appeared all over their bodies, especially the back, thighs, and shins. It was as if they had dyed themselves purple.

One anaphylactoid purpura patient was an adult, while the other was a child. The adult patient was a 28-year-old small business owner from inland China. He was in the renovation business, and he did the work himself. Since the Spring Festival was now over, the government had stopped supplying heating[1], which meant that it was the busy period for renovation in Chasu City.

He worked a little too hard on multiple renovation projects at once, causing problems to appear in his body.

“Doctor Ruan, what symptoms did the small business owner have that caused him to visit the hospital?”

“Him?” Ruan Yuan and Zhang Fan walked in the hallway towards her office as she recalled the symptoms. “His family brought him over when I was on duty sometime in the middle of last month. At that time, he had such a severe nosebleed that it kept bleeding through all the toilet paper stuffing his nose. He then started having a fever after he was hospitalized. It was almost impossible to detect any blood platelets in his body at that time. I immediately categorized him as being in critical condition.”

“What about after that?” Zhang Fan inquired.

“After he was hospitalized, I prescribed antihemorrhagic medication for him, along with blood transfusion. Even after many different examinations, it was still impossible to find the specific cause of his condition. He had so many blood platelets transfused into him, but his condition didn’t improve at all.”

With some fear with what had happened previously, Ruan Yuan then said, “His family members were so angry with me, yet it was impossible to clearly diagnose him. His condition at the time was so severe that it would be impossible to transfer him to another hospital. He would never make it to Raptor City successfully by car. A few jolts on the road would likely cause major internal bleeding for him. No flight attendant would possibly allow him to fly by plane with so much purpura all over his body. Thus, his family spent so much on medical fees every day, yet his condition wasn’t improving at all.

“Everyone in our department treated him together for more than two weeks. Our Director Li already contacted an expert doctor from the provincial hospital. Just as the expert doctor was about to come over, the patient’s condition started improving and his blood platelets started gradually increasing.”

“What was the cause of his condition, then? Was that ever discovered in the end?” Zhang Fan then asked as they walked together.

“There’s nothing that can be confirmed for certain. However, the patient’s family started treating me much better since his condition improved, and I was also able to ask the patient regarding his medical history.”

Ruan Yuan then looked all around her before she whispered to Zhang Fan, “I think his bleeding was actually caused by the nature of his work. He didn’t wear any personal protective equipment at all while renovating. He worked with all sorts of paint, glue, and other chemicals, which is the most likely cause of his bleeding that had no apparent reason.”

She then continued as if she was worried that Zhang Fan wouldn’t believe her. “Last year, a female coworker of my husband was in a hurry to move into her new home that had just finished renovating because she was past 30 years old already. She then got married and became pregnant. Can you guess what happened after?”

“What happened?” Zhang Fan asked. He wasn’t interested in gossip here. He was interested in learning what had happened in a medical situation as a way to learn more experience.

“A few months after she got pregnant, one day, she suddenly started feeling pain in her abdomen while at work. Her coworkers hurriedly took her to the hospital. The checkup revealed that her fetus was deformed!”

“Sigh!”

“What happened was truly heartbreaking. Both husband and wife were getting older. They finally had a child, yet the fetus was deformed. Both of them cried so much in front of the gynecology and obstetrics department. That’s why, honestly, it’s better to just renovate as simply as possible! There are so many problems with Chinese renovation companies nowadays! If you really want a new house, it’s best to let it air out for at least half a year! An entire year would be better!” Ruan Yuan recommended to Zhang Fan.

“What about the child patient with anaphylactoid purpura? What happened with him?”

“Oh, you mean that little fatty? Ha, his parents are too busy with work to take care of him. He’s only in his second year of elementary school, yet he’s already so fat that he can barely walk. His parents are so terrible. They only care about making money. They give their son 50 yuan every day for eating and drinking whatever he likes. The kid just eats food from outside every day. What does he even understand at his age? He always drinks soft drinks and he always buys all sorts of junk food from food stalls around his school whenever he’s hungry.

“The end result was that either because of some dried tofu or fried spicy sticks that he ate for lunch, the boy didn’t know which, he started having a fever and becoming delirious later that afternoon in class. This was followed by large patches of purpura appearing all over his body. When he was brought to the hospital, he looked just like a round meatball covered in purple dye. His head teacher was a really young woman who was so scared that she didn’t even remember how to talk anymore.”

“Oh, I can see that he still has a little bit of purpura.”

“This is nothing at all. He’s already recovered. You didn’t see what he looked like on his first day here. That was truly a frightening sight.”

Ruan Yuan and Zhang Fan arrived at her office as they chatted. They then saw Wang Yanan and Jia Suyue waiting for them there. The two women were really surprised to see Zhang Fan. Jia Suyue’s face suddenly became bright red! She immediately pulled Wang Yanan with her and tried to leave!

Wang Yanan was also feeling somewhat awkward! She directly asked Zhang Fan, “How come you’re at the hematology department?”

“Why do you think? I’m on rotation here. What are you two doing?” Zhang Fan asked in confusion.

“I’ll talk to you later. I need to drag Jia Suyue back here first!” Wang Yanan then chased after Jia Suyue!

“Oh!”

[1] TL/N: In China, heating is controlled by the government and shut off at a certain date each year.