“No… I do not agree to such an attempt. The First Affiliated Hospital has never had a precedent like this… Acupuncture for a heart attack patient? That’s not like treating post-stroke sequelae from a cerebral infarction… Director, I am firmly against it.” Facing his superior, Director Zhang Lide of the Internal Medicine Department, Zhang Jiangyou still held his ground.
Zhang Jiangyou, the director of the Cardiovascular Medicine Department, was an extremely meticulous person. Although Xu Ze’s recent performance had surprised him, even shocked him, getting him to agree to Xu Ze’s proposal of performing acupuncture on a critically ill, comatose heart attack patient was naturally out of the question.
“Director Zhang… The patient’s condition isn’t good right now. I believe that if we continue like this, his prognosis won’t be very favorable. However, I am reasonably confident I can help the patient recover quickly. Moreover, the family has agreed and will sign the consent form. I think this shouldn’t be a major problem.” Xu Ze looked at Zhang Jiangyou sincerely. “Director Zhang, I know you’re not familiar with traditional Chinese acupuncture, but we can’t limit our perspective to just one field…”
“In the field of cardiovascular diseases, you are an expert, but you can’t deny the powerful efficacy our traditional medicine can have in certain areas. So, I hope you can give me a chance, and also give this patient a chance… I believe I won’t let you down.” Faced with Zhang Jiangyou’s refusal, Xu Ze didn’t back down at all and argued his case based on reason. He knew that if he couldn’t perform the electro-acupuncture, the likelihood of Zhang Linyun’s father recovering under the current circumstances was very slim.
Whatever the reason, Xu Ze wanted to fight for this chance, because if Zhang Jiangyou disagreed, the electro-acupuncture treatment would absolutely not be possible.
Looking at Xu Ze’s clear eyes, which were full of sincere pleading without any trace of ulterior motive, Zhang Jiangyou sighed softly. Then he looked at Zhang Lide beside him. “Director Zhang, do you also think so?”
Seeing that his stubborn subordinate seemed to have been swayed by Xu Ze, a faint smile appeared on Zhang Lide’s face. He nodded. “Old Zhang, Xu Ze’s acupuncture does have some quite special effects. Since the patient’s family agrees to sign, let him try… We can’t just assume something doesn’t exist just because we haven’t seen it, right?”
Zhang Jiangyou understood Director Zhang’s meaning. He silently nodded, then looked up at Xu Ze and sighed helplessly. “Alright… Xu Ze, go ahead then… But you need to know, I’m entrusting the reputation that our cardiology department here at the First Affiliated Hospital has built up over so many years into your hands. You absolutely cannot make any mistakes. Otherwise, if word gets out, I, Zhang Jiangyou, won’t have the face to continue in the cardiovascular field…”
“I understand. Please rest assured, Director Zhang…” Having finally obtained Zhang Jiangyou’s consent, Xu Ze couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.
With this obstacle overcome, the rest was up to him. He hoped nothing would go wrong… Xu Ze silently reminded himself.
With Zhang Jiangyou’s approval, there were naturally no issues with the attending physician, Hu Xiaojiang. And with this authority, Xu Ze even managed to secure a better, private room for Zhang Linyun and her family, citing treatment needs. This made Zhang’s mother look at Xu Ze with even more gratitude.
The new room was much more spacious than the previous one. At this moment, Zhang Jiangyou, Zhang Lide, Hu Xiaojiang, and two nurses were standing solemnly not far from the bed, watching Xu Ze’s every move.
Although they had agreed to let Xu Ze use acupuncture to treat the patient, that didn’t mean they were truly at ease. So, before Xu Ze started the acupuncture, they had arranged themselves in this formation.
Ready to spring into action and resuscitate the patient immediately if anything went wrong…
Feeling the waves of tension emanating from behind him, Xu Ze could only smile bitterly to himself. He had never used acupuncture to treat a heart attack patient before either. This was a first for him, like a young lady getting married for the first time – he’d have to take it step by step and explore as he went. And now, with so many people watching so nervously, he was starting to feel a bit apprehensive himself.
“Ah…” Xu Ze gently shook his head, trying to force these distracting thoughts out of his mind. He steadied himself and began to act.
Watching the two directors, three doctors, and two nurses all looking so serious, Zhang’s mother felt her heart flutter with anxiety. But she couldn’t back out now. She could only glance at her daughter beside her. Seeing that her daughter didn’t seem particularly nervous and actually appeared quite confident, she felt a little more at ease.
Xu Ze pulled out a silver needle, choosing a small one about an inch long, and officially began.
He took a few alcohol swabs from the nurse beside him, gently disinfected an area on Zhang Lizhi’s chest, and then quickly inserted the silver needle between the fourth and fifth ribs.
“Ah…” Seeing where Xu Ze had inserted the needle, Zhang Jiangyou behind him couldn’t help but let out a startled exclamation. “Is this acupuncture? Who does acupuncture like that? This is clearly an intracardiac injection… Performing an intracardiac injection while the heart is still beating normally – the man is crazy!”
As he spoke, he moved forward to stop him, but Zhang Lide grabbed his arm. “Old Zhang, don’t act rashly… Let’s observe first…”
Hu Xiaojiang, standing nearby, had also been on edge. He was just as startled by Xu Ze’s action. When Zhang Jiangyou started to move, he was about to follow suit and stop Xu Ze. But seeing Zhang Jiangyou being held back by Director Zhang, Hu Xiaojiang didn’t dare to intervene either.
Zhang Jiangyou looked at Zhang Lide, who was gripping his arm tightly. Hu Xiaojiang looked at Zhang Jiangyou. Neither of them understood why Director Zhang was so insistent on protecting Xu Ze at a moment like this.
Everyone knew what acupuncture was, but had anyone ever seen someone stick a silver needle directly into the heart? And aiming precisely for the spot used for intracardiac injections? This was clearly someone acting foolishly, applying Western medical knowledge under the guise of TCM acupuncture…
However, Xu Ze was too focused to notice what was happening behind him. The thumb and index finger of his right hand gently held the silver needle. Bioelectric energy had already been channeled into the needle as it pierced down between the fourth and fifth ribs.
As the needle tip entered the heart muscle, Xu Ze immediately sensed the feedback from the bioelectric energy and stopped its further advance.
After releasing the needle, Xu Ze breathed a soft sigh of relief. The heart muscle isn’t very thick. Keeping the needle tip within the muscle wall without penetrating into the heart chamber, all while the heart was still beating, was an extremely difficult task.
Even with the help of bioelectric energy for detection and guidance, it wasn’t easy. Xu Ze wiped the fine beads of sweat from his forehead, turned his head, looked at Zhang Jiangyou and Hu Xiaojiang who were staring at him angrily, and gave a slow smile, signaling for them to relax.
Seeing Xu Ze acting so casually, signaling them not to worry, Zhang Jiangyou quickly checked the patient. He saw the silver needle inserted into the patient’s chest, gently pulsating with the patient’s breathing, while the patient himself showed no unusual reaction. Only then did Zhang Jiangyou breathe a sigh of relief.
He was about to speak when he saw Xu Ze reach out and grasp the needle again. Zhang Jiangyou quickly swallowed the words he was about to say, afraid that startling Xu Ze might cause his hand to slip and kill the patient.
Xu Ze’s ring finger gently touched the needle handle, feeling the slow, rhythmic thumping of the heart beneath the needle. His hand gently swayed with the rhythm, but never left the handle. He didn’t let the needle tip advance even a fraction further. He just continuously channeled bioelectric energy into it.
At this point, Xu Ze ignored the fact that so many people were staring at him. He gently closed his eyes. He needed to focus all his concentration on sensing the condition of the blood vessels within the heart muscle. This required extreme focus without a moment’s distraction. If the needle tip accidentally penetrated the heart chamber, there would be big trouble.
As his consciousness, along with the bioelectric energy, slowly entered the heart muscle, strange images began to vaguely form before Xu Ze’s eyes. In a dark red field of vision, countless tiny tubes stretched out in all directions, forming an intricate network. Streams of crimson liquid flowed rapidly within these tubes.
“These should be the capillaries inside the heart muscle…” Xu Ze thought to himself, looking at these tiny vessels.
Confirming that his consciousness had penetrated the patient’s heart muscle, Xu Ze steadied himself and began to observe carefully. The blood vessels in the heart muscle are extremely dense and numerous. He had to quickly locate the blocked main vessels and then try to clear them.
Observing these tubes one by one, Xu Ze relied on the bioelectric energy to help with detection. But the number of vessels was simply too vast. To save energy and time, he had to try and filter out the most likely vessels to investigate.
After examining several vessels, Xu Ze finally spotted over a dozen relatively large ones. Strangely, the blood flow speed within them was much slower than in some of the smaller vessels he had just seen.
“Found them… it must be these…” Xu Ze nodded to himself. Generally, larger vessels have faster blood flow. But these dozen or so were clearly larger, yet their blood flow was slower than in smaller ones. This meant there was definitely a blockage at the end of these vessels. Tracing them would surely lead to the obstructed area.
Thinking this, Xu Ze chose one of the largest vessels and rapidly propelled his consciousness, along with the bioelectric energy, into it…
Xu Ze’s consciousness moved swiftly against the blood flow, rounding three or four bends and encountering several forks. But for Xu Ze, who had a solid grasp of human anatomy, choosing wasn’t too difficult. Following the direction of the blood flow, he located the largest branch opening and surged forward.
Meanwhile, Zhang Lide and the others behind Xu Ze watched as he stood bent over, hand on the needle, eyes closed as if in a daze. They looked at each other in bewilderment…
“What on earth is this kid doing? Does he even know acupuncture?” Zhang Jiangyou finally couldn’t contain himself and whispered to Zhang Lide, looking at Xu Ze who had maintained the same posture for over half a minute.
