43 Huge Scar (1/2)
*Wee woo… wee woo…*
The ambulance of Cangping District Hospital parked itself steadily at the entrance of Lower Groove Clinic. Two young adults got out of the ambulance, limping and putting on strong fronts. They then stood at the door. Together, they stared at the words ”Lower Groove Clinic” and sank into deep thought.
”The antler mark on my brother's arm was stitched by the doctor in this clinic. All of you have seen how the mark looks like now.” Lu Jinling moved past them with brisk steps and greeted Ling Jiezhou, who was at the door before she went straight into the clinic.
The two young adults then watched the red and yellow lights flashing on both sides of the door and continued to ponder.
”Going to a clinic is cheaper than going to the hospital. We're doing this for your own good.” Stinky Two got down from the driver's seat.
”Fine. If you've brought us to a clinic, then so be it. I used to have my stitches done in unlicensed clinics, and it was alright.” The young man spread his arms, then grimaced in pain.
When they entered the clinic, they saw a doctor laying under a tree while playing with his mobile phone. Lu Jinling moved towards Ling Ran and spoke to him while smiling.
”The patients are here, stop playing already.” To Ling Jiezhou, customers were gods, hence, he called out to Ling Ran while he moved towards the two young people courteously.
This was the difference between small clinics and large hospitals. Small clinics would have repeat customers. In fact, most of the patients in small clinics were repeat customers. The frail residents of a community would practically visit these clinics almost every year. Patients with chronic diseases would also always drop by to buy medication like Amlodipine [1] or Mayinglong Musk Hemorrhoids Ointment Cream [2].
Large hospitals were different, especially when it came to the surgical departments. If a guest returned about two or three times, then it would mean that he or she was about to return to the embrace of the earth.
The background music of a game chimed from Ling Ran's mobile phone.
Lu Jinling smiled and said, ”There's no need to rush. They drove all the way here without any problems. They'll be fine waiting for a few more minutes.”
Injured A: (⊙ˍ⊙)
Injured B: (⊙ˍ⊙)
”I'll stop playing now,” Ling Ran handed his phone to Lu Jinling and said, ”You play.”
”Umm... I don't know how to...” Lu Jinling suddenly regretted not learning how to play games.
Ling Ran put on his white coat and began to wash his hands before he said, ”It's alright. I often lose too.”
”Oh... okay.” Lu Jinling looked down and began to study the game. After half a minute, she suddenly realized that she was holding Ling Ran's mobile phone! 'Ling Ran's mobile phone is in my hands! I just have to exit this game...'
”Come and sit in front of me.” Carrying out debridement and suturing was now a breeze for Ling Ran. It was almost as easy as breathing, and it was especially so for common body parts such as the arm. Not only was he now extremely familiar with patients with regular anatomical structures, even if he ran into those with strange anatomical structures, he would not find them too bizarre to handle anymore.
As far as clinical medicine was concerned, those with different anatomy posed the greatest challenge to doctors. The most typical irregular type of anatomy were those with situs inversus. Individuals with this condition had their major organs positioned in reverse from that of a normal person. In conventional open-heart surgery, one would find the heart on the left side. However, when carrying out surgery for those with situs inversus, one would need to look for the heart on the right side. For a surgeon who had performed hundreds of identical or similar operations, this troublesome situation was similar to a basketball player suddenly playing on a wooden floor after getting accustomed to playing on concrete. They would only be able to get accustomed it after obtaining some experience by operating on several people with the condition. Also, they should not hope to be able to perform brilliantly just by having some experience.
Ling Ran was now looking forward to encountering more irregular anatomical structures, but unfortunately, the young man with the injured arm was just a normal human being. Even his muscles and out-turned skin tissue looked plain and normal.
”Doctor Xiong, please help the patient with the bruise.” After Ling Ran finished speaking, he concentrated on the patient before him.
No matter what, even if the person before him was a regular person and even if this was just a simple wound debridement and suturing, it was still surgery.
Ling Ran carefully cleaned up the patient's wound, injected local anesthesia, and mentioned that he was going to start suturing the wound before he inserted the needle.