Surgery Godfather

Chapter 189: Chapter 0180 Two Instrument Nurses

Dr. Yang Ping is quite busy now, with surgeries scheduled from Monday through Friday, only having time off on weekends.

However, elective surgeries are not performed on weekends at the affiliated hospital. After Su Nanchen pondered over this, he eventually scheduled the surgery for Thursday morning, as this was the only time when Yang Ping could spare an hour, and the operating room of the affiliated hospital could barely manage to arrange some extra hands.

Su Nanchen’s requests were too high, for this surgery, he demanded the operating room to allocate two efficient instrument nurses. The annual surgical volume of the affiliated hospital’s orthopedics surpassed ten thousand, performing surgeries almost daily from dawn to dusk, they were always short-staffed, how could two instrument nurses be assigned, not to mention efficient ones.

For such a request, if it had been made by someone else, the head nurse would directly refuse, and not scolding would be considered politeness; However, Su Nanchen’s status was special, being the son of the hospital director, everyone had to respect him.

The head nurse of the operating room was an old subordinate of Su Nanchen’s mother, from all aspects, she had no choice but to try her best to fulfill these peculiar demands.

The head nurse looked over the surgeries scheduled on her computer for this week over and over again, making adjustments left and right. Her head was throbbing, she felt dizzy until she confirmed that she could arrange for two senior orthopedic instrument nurses on Thursday morning. These two nurses were top professionals, the backbone of the affiliated hospital’s operating room, and the outstanding soldiers under the head nurse’s command.

As for doctors, Su Nanchen assigned Doctor Yao and Dr. He to the platform, specifically to deal with the tendon; also, he assigned a graduate student to hold the leg.

As for himself, he would come up to coordinate at the time, to coordinate these people well. He was genuinely afraid of a repeat occurrence from Liquan Hospital, where he was embarrassed because the others couldn’t keep up the pace as he was operating in the away games.

Su Nanchen sent such a luxurious line-up because there was no other choice, last time he witnessed Yang Ping performing a surgery, the assistant could not keep up, causing frequent stops, this should not happen in the affiliated hospital.

Dr. Yang Ping was to set off early in the morning, around seven, it was too late for ward rounds. He assigned his work to Song Zimo, fortunately, Song Zimo was capable, otherwise, he would not have had the time to perform surgeries externally.

Song Zimo reminded him: “Senior brother, I have scheduled the reconstruction of the multidirectional unstable shoulder joint, accepting the patient around ten, you must be present for this surgery. Can you make it back on time? If not, shall I push it further?”

“No need to postpone it. They start at half past eight over there, finishing before half past nine, I will be back around half past ten when you are about to formally start the surgery.” Yang Ping was very confident, hastily grabbing his bag.

Su Nanchen set off early in the morning, arriving at Sanbo Hospital at seven to pick up Yang Ping, he parked his car in the parking lot and waited for him, Yang Ping got into the car in a hurry: “I must be back at the hospital before half past ten, can we start on time at half past eight?”

“We can start on time, everything is ready.” Su Nanchen confirmed.

Starting the surgery at half past eight, finishing within an hour, getting off the platform at half past nine, and rushing back to Sanbo by half past ten, the schedule was tight. For a four-tendon reconstruction, finishing within an hour, no one would believe it. If Su Nanchen hadn’t witnessed Yang Ping’s monstrous surgical skills, he wouldn’t have believed it either.

All of a sudden, he remembered a term used by Chen Liquan: “Perverted!”

At this moment, only this term could do justice to the situation.

Both four-tendon reconstruction surgeries were to start at half past eight. For the other surgery, Professor Ye was invited. Professor Ye usually performs surgeries on the weekends. However, he had another gig for the weekend, a local big shot had offered a high price to have Professor Ye there. As it happened, this Thursday he could make time, so he decided to come over this Thursday and consequently, both surgeries were scheduled together.

The operating room of the affiliated hospital was similar to Sanbo Hospital’s, just that there were more operating rooms and a larger operation volume. The giant electronic screen on the wall was filled with surgeries.

When Su Nanchen took Yang Ping into the operating room, Doctor Yao and Dr. He were already sterilizing and prepping.

Shao Wei and Old Zhou, one from neurosurgery, and the other from thoracic surgery, were also very interested. Upon hearing that Yang Ping was coming to perform a surgery, they quickly found substitutes and had been waiting in the operating room for a while.

Lin Hao had just started his shift, he had not been assigned to a specific group yet, temporarily playing the role of a guerrilla, so he had lots of free time. He was quite interested in these two surgeries, having studied them for a long time and had in-depth discussions with Su Nanchen.

“Good morning, Doctor Yang!” Huang Jiahui came over early. n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Yang Ping nodded as a greeting.

For Yang Ping, Su Nanchen called Huang Jiahui for the instruments in advance. If someone asked for surgery, they had to call for instruments in their hand, this was a rule.

“Doctor Yang!”

As soon as Yang Ping entered the operating room, Shao Wei and Old Zhou came up to shake hands and greet like old friends.

The two had dined together, thus they were familiar with each other, Su Nanchen didn’t have to introduce them. Lin Hao didn’t know Yang Ping, so Su Nanchen introduced: “This is Dr. Yang Ping from Sanbo. To be honest, given his skills, I should be calling him teacher.”

“You’re joking, Su!” Yang Ping laughed.

“This is Lin Hao from our department, Dr. Lin, just returned from the United States. He’s a top disciple of the master of international sports medicine, Dr. Robert.”

Everyone was a doctor, so no need to keep using the title doctor, it was tiring for every ear; it was more refreshing to simply address someone as Doctor So-and-So.

“Amazing, Dr. Robert is the current chair of the North American Arthroscopy Association!” Yang Ping complimented him.

“Not at all!” Even though Lin Hao was humble by words, his heart was already elated, and he could not help but show a hint of arrogance on his face.

“This surgery has quite a difficult balance to maintain, over in the U.S.–”

Lin Hao had just returned from the United States, he spoke a mix of Chinese and English, exuding a sense of sophistication.

After making some polite compliments, Yang Ping hurried away to examine the patient’s scans in front of the light box, totally uninterested in listening to Lin Hao’s lengthy theorizing. Lin Hao’s speech abruptly ceased since there was no audience; Su Nanchen, Shao Wei, and Old Zhou all followed Yang Ping to look at the scans.

Lin Hao was the complete opposite of Su Nanchen. He was extremely arrogant, but also had the qualifications to back it up. Graduating from Xiehe’s eight-year program and being a student of a famed master, it would be difficult for him to keep a low profile. Usually, he was the center of attention, which made the recent snubbing he received feel rather unpleasant.

“The quad rebuild process is much more intricate than just adjusting tension and balance. He’s a soccer forward, unlike ordinary people. Static balance is only the basis, but dynamic balance is the key. Dynamic balance and static balance are two completely different concepts. If any tendon slackens or becomes tense during motion, it could cause other tendons to overload or fail, resulting in surgery failure. An overloaded tendon could even rupture.”

This is just like a set of precision gears; if one gear goes wrong, the entire gear system fails.

Adjusting dynamic balance is a worldwide problem. Some doctors try to use photography and sensor technology to capture situations of humans in motion, digitizing it and then adjusting it accordingly based on the data. But it is still far from ideal.

The structural ability Yang Ping obtained from the system space – especially from dynamic construction – was particularly helpful when conducting such surgery. A few days prior, he started to build models in his mind, then used these models for dynamic simulation in order to find the optimal adjustments for the tendons.

For Yang Ping, constructing static models was relatively easy, but dynamic construction was still challenging. It took days to construct a complete dynamic model for the knee joint, and only then could he simulate action scenarios to find the best methods for adjusting the dynamic tension and balance of the structures.

Yang Ping patiently explained everything while Su Nanchen nodded along like a diligent student, asking questions about anything he didn’t understand. Lin Hao felt Su Nanchen was being overly humble. Was it really necessary? His excess humility was also tarnishing the reputation of their hospital.

Furthermore, Lin Hao developed a sense of disdain for Yang Ping. He looked pompous acting wise beyond his years. The fact he brought his own equipment dealer and requested for two instrument nurses made it seem even worse. Even their casual conversations were short and cold, showing lack of consideration.

“Hurry up, Doctor Yang needs to leave by half past nine.” Su Nanchen instructed.

Dr. Yao and Dr. He started connecting various tubes and wires, while the patrolling nurse was busy connecting various instruments, flipping switches, and adjusting settings.

“Let’s go scrub in!” Su Nanchen announced when the preparation was nearly done.

“Sorry for the inconvenience, Brother Su! I’m really pressed for time today, we have to get things moving along.” Yang Ping felt guilty seeing how many resources he was monopolizing. He didn’t demand this.

He wanted to finish up the operation within an hour? Even Doctor Robert typically takes at least three hours, and that’s when everything goes smoothly and adjusting the tension and balance of the tendons takes less time.

If one wasn’t pursuing surgery quality and just mindlessly implanted the tendon, then it would be a different story. Building a model airplane and constructing a real airplane are two completely different concepts.

What’s the level of skill this guy actually possesses? Lin Hao wondered.

In a hundred meter sprint, the world record is 9.8 seconds. If someone told you they ran it in 6 seconds, would you believe it? No one would.

That was pretty much Lin Hao’s mindset at the moment. This Yang Ping guides a procedure, which even Dr. Robert usually completes in three hours, in such a heedless manner, saying that he would be done by half past nine as he has another surgery after, Yang Ping is indeed quite the character.

“Everyone, keep up and stay focused!” Su Nanchen reminded them again.

While the doctors were well-prepared, having watched Yang Ping on rounds, the two instrument nurses were already giggling at this point. Su Nanchen seemed rather strange today. Why was he assigning so many people for the task, and yet still worried they wouldn’t be able to keep up?

“Nanchen, what is all this about?” Lin Hao couldn’t hold back his confusion.

It’s the first time he’s performing a surgery here,” Su Nanchen explained. “It wouldn’t be good if our instruments staff was dragging him down.”

The Head Nurse came in again, “Is the professor here yet, Nanchen?”

Immediately, Su Nanchen introduced her, “Head Nurse, this is Doctor Yang from Sanbo, who I invited. This is our Head Nurse.”

Yang Ping promptly greeted her, leaving the Head Nurse a little embarrassed. This young doctor was the invited professor? She had seen plenty of people in her time, but no matter how she looked at it, this youngster didn’t appear to be a professor.

What on earth was Su Nanchen up to? The young master of the Su family usually had a sharper mind than anyone else. What was going on now? His actions were downright absurd. But the Head Nurse didn’t want to say any more and walked away. Su Nanchen didn’t bother explaining either. Some things just couldn’t be reasoned out.

“Doctor Yang!” The patient, not under general anesthesia yet, heard Yang Ping’s voice and called out to him.

The patient’s head was covered by sterile cloth and a headrest, making his voice rather weak.

Yang Ping had made time to come and visit the patient that Tuesday afternoon, even spending a full hour chatting with him. After that, the patient developed a strong trust in Yang Ping.

“Don’t worry, you don’t need to be nervous!” Yang Ping raised his voice so the patient could hear him.

“Thank you, Doctor Yang. I’m okay, don’t worry about me.” The patient’s voice echoed like he was talking inside a box.

Yang Ping requested a sciatic nerve and femoral nerve block, but the anesthesiologist hesitated. As an anesthesiologist frequently involved in orthopedic surgeries, he was well aware that such operations could last for several hours. If complications occurred, it would take even longer.

To play it safe, he chose combined spinal-epidural anesthesia. This type of anesthesia allows a small tube to be left in the epidural space of the spine. If the procedure took longer than expected, it would be no problem. More anesthetics could be administered through the tube to prolong the effects of the anesthesia.

Quickly, Su Nanchen led Yang Ping away to scrub in, conscious of the fact he had another surgery waiting for him back home.