“In a moment, you will all say that you are my distant relatives. Let me talk to Doctor Ling and have him suture you himself,” Doctor Qu stood in front of the bed and spoke solemnly to Dong Xiaoning and her family.
The Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Center had a large number of beds and was now far from full, which basically guaranteed that each patient could have one room to themselves.
Doctor Qu stood in the ward and puffed his chest out righteously.
If he wanted to do something, then he would see it through. Doctor Qu wanted to get the details of Dong Xiaoning’s surgery set in stone, and he also wanted to see everything fall into place.
“Thank you, Doctor Qu, thank you,” Dong Xiaoning’s father thanked him excitedly, and he wanted very much to take out the money in his pocket to turn it into a red envelope.
Now, he was rather displeased with the posters that said ‘Our doctors reject red envelopes posted everywhere in the hospital. If he could not give out red envelopes, he would not be at peace with himself. If he did not give the red envelope, he could not show his gratitude toward Doctor Qu, who had been so enthusiastic. Dong Xiaoning’s father was in great discomfort.
Doctor Qu had a very calm expression as he said, “The chief surgeon often has his assistants do the suture, and different doctors perform sutures very differently. I’m telling you this now, but just keep it in your heart. Don’t publicize this and said that I said it. I will not admit it after I leave the hospital.”
“Okay, okay.” Both Mister and Misses Dong nodded.
“How… how big will the scar sutured by Doctor Ling be?” Dong Xiaoning lay on the operation table. By the time of the surgery, the courage on her face had vanished, and it was replaced by a mixture of nervousness and worry.
Doctor Qu smiled at Dong Xiaoning. He touched his smooth, bald head with his hand and said, “The size of the scar will still be considered as large, but if it’s by Ling… Doctor Ling, he might use intradermal suture, and so, the scar will look lighter.”
“How… light?” Dong Xiaoning might have previously been willing to receive an Achilles tendon repair with a big incision in order to continue training, but when the moment arrived, she thought about the possibility of her calf sporting a long scar and the possibility that she might never be able to wear skirts and shorts. She was understandably uneasy, but she still hoped that the surgery could help her a little.
Doctor Qu could not help but think of his daughter. He thought of his daughter’s happy look when she saw a new dress. He once again forced his face into a neutral expression and said, “In short, unless you do a limited incision or minimally invasive surgery, Ling Ran is the one who can most probably make the scar look the lightest when it comes to open surgery.”
Eliminating hypertrophic scars was a very minor yet difficult medical problem.
For example, half of Yun Hua City’s Lower Groove Clinic’s current income came from Miao Tansheng’s cosmetic sutures. The only reason patients were willing to pay such a high price was that they did not want scars or hoped that their scars could be lighter.
But if they wanted to make the scar a little lighter or to make scar tissue grow a little lesser, that would then turn into a grand problem. Various research institutions had invested huge amounts of money, time, and other resources for this. But when their research results finally reached the patients, those results could only be reflected on the patients depending on the doctors’ skills.
Madam Xu then persuaded her daughter, “Ning Ning, you should think about it again. Let’s do a limited incision. You might still be able to continue with your training, right?”
Those words were actually directed at Doctor Qu, but Doctor Qu would not take over this conversation.
In the case of Dong Xiaoning’s Achilles tendon rupture, even if they did a large incision, they still required very good skills before they could suture the tendon well. Limited incisions were not requirements for sports training. Even for sports enthusiasts, after they received an Achilles tendon rupture repair with a limited incision, they had to put a stop to their hobbies for a long time.
If athletes stopped training for a few years, what was the point of training again after they stopped for a long period of time?
The sixteen-year-old Dong Xiaoning understood Doctor Qu’s stance toward the matter and nodded solemnly again before she said, “I’m not going to change my plans, I want to train.”
As her mother, Dong Xiaoning’s mother let out a heavy sigh, not knowing how to persuade her daughter anymore. She could only blame her husband. “Of all the name we could have chosen, we chose Ning. And that word rhymes with another word that means difficult to deal with. What are we supposed to do when she becomes difficult? Also, I told her to stop training, if she continues, she’s the one who gets hurt.”
Doctor Qu let out light coughs a couple of times.
As an attending physician, he did not want to listen to the patient’s family internal strife. If there’s anything they wanted to say, they should at least only do so when he was gone.
The two parents did not say much anymore. Instead, they began inquiring about the details of the surgery again.
In a short while, Ling Ran came in for his ward rounds.
This kind of ward rounds performed before the surgery was mainly for the chief surgeon to understand the patient’s condition. There was no need for in-depth checks. However, when he saw Doctor Qu, Ling Ran was a little puzzled.
Right before the patient and her family, Doctor Qu directly requested that Ling Ran perform the closing of the incision.
He was not afraid that Ling Ran would reject the request. After all, it was barely a hassle.
As expected, Ling Ran nodded after he heard the request, and he took the MRI scan before he looked at it. “In this case, having a 5-inch incision should be enough.”
There was a difference of one inch if the incision she had to get was 5 inches instead of 6 inches. Dong Xiaoning was a little happier, and she quickly asked, “Can it be smaller?”
“Didn’t you say you still wanted to go for training? If we use Plan A, 5 inches is already the smallest.”
“Oh.” Dong Xiaoning could only utter in concession. She looked at Ling Ran’s face before she bowed her head and kept quiet.
After Ling Ran left, the Dong family thanked Doctor Qu again. Dong Xiaoning was even more uncertain. “Doctor Ling is so young, did he really treat Liu Weichen?”
“It’s not just Liu Weichen. He also treated many other athletes,” Doctor Qu flippantly commented and was in no mood to continue elaborating. “Please get ready. Once you reach the operating theater later, just relax, The Achilles tendon repair is still considered as a well-developed surgery…”
In the operating theater, when Ling Ran saw that Dong Xiaoning was pushed into the operating theater, he nodded at her.
The young nurse told her. “Doctor Ling deliberately waited for you in the operating theater today.”
Dong Xiaoning asked dumbly, “Why did he wait for me?”
“This is because many chief surgeons are usually the last one to come in,” the young nurse revealed a secret that was not a secret at all.
Dong Xiaoning did not quite understand what she meant, so she went on to the topic that she was concerned about the most. She asked, “Doctor Ling, you will be personally performing the suture for me, right?”
“Yes.” Ling Ran confirmed again.
“Then does that mean that you will usually not suture for other people?”
“Not really.”
“So, who would you suture and who would you not?”
Ling Ran was stumped by Dong Xiaoning’s question. He thought about it carefully and said slowly, “It’s mainly based on the amount of hair that needs to be shaved.”
“What?” Dong Xiaoning, who was only 16 years old, did not understand.
Ling Ran flicked his wrist and gestured at the anesthetist whose surname was not Pan to begin putting her under.
The patient soon fell asleep, and Ling Ran slowly marked her leg before he slowly made an incision.
“In a moment, you will all say that you are my distant relatives. Let me talk to Doctor Ling and have him suture you himself,” Doctor Qu stood in front of the bed and spoke solemnly to Dong Xiaoning and her family.
The Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Center had a large number of beds and was now far from full, which basically guaranteed that each patient could have one room to themselves.
Doctor Qu stood in the ward and puffed his chest out righteously.
If he wanted to do something, then he would see it through. Doctor Qu wanted to get the details of Dong Xiaoning’s surgery set in stone, and he also wanted to see everything fall into place.
“Thank you, Doctor Qu, thank you,” Dong Xiaoning’s father thanked him excitedly, and he wanted very much to take out the money in his pocket to turn it into a red envelope.
Now, he was rather displeased with the posters that said ‘Our doctors reject red envelopes posted everywhere in the hospital. If he could not give out red envelopes, he would not be at peace with himself. If he did not give the red envelope, he could not show his gratitude toward Doctor Qu, who had been so enthusiastic. Dong Xiaoning’s father was in great discomfort.
Doctor Qu had a very calm expression as he said, “The chief surgeon often has his assistants do the suture, and different doctors perform sutures very differently. I’m telling you this now, but just keep it in your heart. Don’t publicize this and said that I said it. I will not admit it after I leave the hospital.”
“Okay, okay.” Both Mister and Misses Dong nodded.
“How… how big will the scar sutured by Doctor Ling be?” Dong Xiaoning lay on the operation table. By the time of the surgery, the courage on her face had vanished, and it was replaced by a mixture of nervousness and worry.
Doctor Qu smiled at Dong Xiaoning. He touched his smooth, bald head with his hand and said, “The size of the scar will still be considered as large, but if it’s by Ling… Doctor Ling, he might use intradermal suture, and so, the scar will look lighter.”
“How… light?” Dong Xiaoning might have previously been willing to receive an Achilles tendon repair with a big incision in order to continue training, but when the moment arrived, she thought about the possibility of her calf sporting a long scar and the possibility that she might never be able to wear skirts and shorts. She was understandably uneasy, but she still hoped that the surgery could help her a little.
Doctor Qu could not help but think of his daughter. He thought of his daughter’s happy look when she saw a new dress. He once again forced his face into a neutral expression and said, “In short, unless you do a limited incision or minimally invasive surgery, Ling Ran is the one who can most probably make the scar look the lightest when it comes to open surgery.”
Eliminating hypertrophic scars was a very minor yet difficult medical problem.
For example, half of Yun Hua City’s Lower Groove Clinic’s current income came from Miao Tansheng’s cosmetic sutures. The only reason patients were willing to pay such a high price was that they did not want scars or hoped that their scars could be lighter.
But if they wanted to make the scar a little lighter or to make scar tissue grow a little lesser, that would then turn into a grand problem. Various research institutions had invested huge amounts of money, time, and other resources for this. But when their research results finally reached the patients, those results could only be reflected on the patients depending on the doctors’ skills.
Madam Xu then persuaded her daughter, “Ning Ning, you should think about it again. Let’s do a limited incision. You might still be able to continue with your training, right?”
Those words were actually directed at Doctor Qu, but Doctor Qu would not take over this conversation.
In the case of Dong Xiaoning’s Achilles tendon rupture, even if they did a large incision, they still required very good skills before they could suture the tendon well. Limited incisions were not requirements for sports training. Even for sports enthusiasts, after they received an Achilles tendon rupture repair with a limited incision, they had to put a stop to their hobbies for a long time.
If athletes stopped training for a few years, what was the point of training again after they stopped for a long period of time?
The sixteen-year-old Dong Xiaoning understood Doctor Qu’s stance toward the matter and nodded solemnly again before she said, “I’m not going to change my plans, I want to train.”
As her mother, Dong Xiaoning’s mother let out a heavy sigh, not knowing how to persuade her daughter anymore. She could only blame her husband. “Of all the name we could have chosen, we chose Ning. And that word rhymes with another word that means difficult to deal with. What are we supposed to do when she becomes difficult? Also, I told her to stop training, if she continues, she’s the one who gets hurt.”
Doctor Qu let out light coughs a couple of times.
As an attending physician, he did not want to listen to the patient’s family internal strife. If there’s anything they wanted to say, they should at least only do so when he was gone.
The two parents did not say much anymore. Instead, they began inquiring about the details of the surgery again.
In a short while, Ling Ran came in for his ward rounds.
This kind of ward rounds performed before the surgery was mainly for the chief surgeon to understand the patient’s condition. There was no need for in-depth checks. However, when he saw Doctor Qu, Ling Ran was a little puzzled.
Right before the patient and her family, Doctor Qu directly requested that Ling Ran perform the closing of the incision.
He was not afraid that Ling Ran would reject the request. After all, it was barely a hassle.
As expected, Ling Ran nodded after he heard the request, and he took the MRI scan before he looked at it. “In this case, having a 5-inch incision should be enough.”
There was a difference of one inch if the incision she had to get was 5 inches instead of 6 inches. Dong Xiaoning was a little happier, and she quickly asked, “Can it be smaller?”
“Didn’t you say you still wanted to go for training? If we use Plan A, 5 inches is already the smallest.”
“Oh.” Dong Xiaoning could only utter in concession. She looked at Ling Ran’s face before she bowed her head and kept quiet.
After Ling Ran left, the Dong family thanked Doctor Qu again. Dong Xiaoning was even more uncertain. “Doctor Ling is so young, did he really treat Liu Weichen?”
“It’s not just Liu Weichen. He also treated many other athletes,” Doctor Qu flippantly commented and was in no mood to continue elaborating. “Please get ready. Once you reach the operating theater later, just relax, The Achilles tendon repair is still considered as a well-developed surgery…”
In the operating theater, when Ling Ran saw that Dong Xiaoning was pushed into the operating theater, he nodded at her.
The young nurse told her. “Doctor Ling deliberately waited for you in the operating theater today.”
Dong Xiaoning asked dumbly, “Why did he wait for me?”
“This is because many chief surgeons are usually the last one to come in,” the young nurse revealed a secret that was not a secret at all.
Dong Xiaoning did not quite understand what she meant, so she went on to the topic that she was concerned about the most. She asked, “Doctor Ling, you will be personally performing the suture for me, right?”
“Yes.” Ling Ran confirmed again.
“Then does that mean that you will usually not suture for other people?”
“Not really.”
“So, who would you suture and who would you not?”
Ling Ran was stumped by Dong Xiaoning’s question. He thought about it carefully and said slowly, “It’s mainly based on the amount of hair that needs to be shaved.”
“What?” Dong Xiaoning, who was only 16 years old, did not understand.
Ling Ran flicked his wrist and gestured at the anesthetist whose surname was not Pan to begin putting her under.
The patient soon fell asleep, and Ling Ran slowly marked her leg before he slowly made an incision.
