“Let’s begin the shift handover now… Four patients were admitted yesterday…” The nurse on night duty, who seemed to be a recent hire, was very nervous facing the sudden arrival of the generally known as extremely strict Director of the Internal Medicine Department. Xu Ze could even detect the dry tone in her voice.
“Bed 63, Jiang Tianli, female, admitted due to chest tightness and shortness of breath for over ten days. Diagnosis considered… General condition this morning is acceptable… Chest tightness and shortness of breath have improved compared to before…”
“Critically ill patient in Bed 35, Zhang Lizhi, male, 45 years old, acute myocardial infarction… Currently still in a coma…”
“Zhang Lizhi?” Hearing this, Xu Ze, who had been wearing a calm expression all along, subtly furrowed his brows. The name seemed somewhat familiar…
However, Xu Ze frowned and thought for a long time but couldn’t recall if he knew the person. There were too many people with the same name nowadays, so he didn’t pay it any more attention.
After the nurse finished the handover, the doctor on night duty took over and continued. The doctor on call was called Hu Xiaojiang. He carefully introduced the patients admitted yesterday and those in critical condition one by one, then said to the Cardiology Department Director Zhang Jiangyou and Zhang Li De with a smile: “The critically ill patient in Bed 35 is in serious condition. I would like to ask Director Zhang and Director Zhang for a consultation…”
For a critically ill patient in his own department, the department director naturally had to conduct a consultation. So Zhang Jiangyou smiled and nodded, then looked at Zhang Li De. Whether Director Zhang felt like taking a look depended on his own inclination.
However, Zhang Jiangyou believed that Director Zhang would probably agree, because… that young man was by his side. With such an opportunity, Director Zhang wouldn’t let the young man miss it…
Sure enough, Zhang Li De smiled and nodded, saying: “Alright… since we’re here, let’s take a look together…”
A consultation with the head of internal medicine is naturally scheduled to take up his time, and there must be a sufficient number of accompanying personnel—this is a matter of protocol. Therefore, when Director Zhang announced the consultation, the other doctors had no choice but to put aside their work and accompany him.
At times like this, a very spectacular scene always appeared in the hospital corridors. A very imposing doctor, carefully accompanied by two other doctors, strode forward, followed by a line of attending physicians, regular doctors, rotating doctors, interns… all in order of seniority…
It looked very impressive, causing patients and their families all along the corridor to show awe in their eyes…
A ward round or consultation by the Internal Medicine Director was a very dignified affair. Zhang Li De always enjoyed this feeling; after all, there were only a handful of people in the whole hospital with such privilege.
Accompanied by Hu Xiaojiang, the group quickly entered the ward for Bed 35.
Xu Ze never really liked the oppressive atmosphere in critical care wards. Every time he entered such a ward, he, being very sensitive to his surroundings, would unconsciously raise his slender eyebrows slightly.
He was still following behind Zhang Li De, ahead of the attending physicians, as he walked into the ward.
As soon as he stepped inside, the stifling air of the ward rushed towards him again. Xu Ze lightly pressed his lips together, allowing himself to slowly get used to it, before following everyone else’s gaze towards the patient on the bed.
The patient at that moment had an oxygen tube inserted, eyes tightly shut, face pale, lying supine on the bed. Several ECG monitor leads were attached to his chest. If not for the slight rising and falling of his chest, he would almost look like a dead person.
But looking at the man’s appearance, Xu Ze felt he did seem somewhat familiar. He dug deep into his memory again, but unfortunately, he still couldn’t figure out who this was…
At that moment, the pretty middle-aged woman who had quickly stood up from the caregiver seat beside the bed – likely Zhang Lizhi’s wife – Xu Ze glanced at her and found he didn’t recognize her either, which put his mind at ease.
This Zhang Lizhi might be someone he had seen before, but probably wasn’t an acquaintance; otherwise, he should remember… Thinking this, Xu Ze shook his head and stopped dwelling on it.
Beside them, Hu Xiaojiang introduced the doctors to the woman: “This is Director Zhang Li De from our Internal Medicine Department, and this is Director Zhang Jiangyou from our Cardiovascular Medicine Department. They have specially come today for your husband’s consultation!”
The woman quickly looked at Zhang Li De and Zhang Jiangyou, her eyes brimming with tears of gratitude: “Thank you both for the trouble, Directors. Please give him your utmost attention. My husband… I entrust him to your care!”
Zhang Jiangyou nodded and said with a smile: “Please rest assured. We specially invited Director Zhang today, and we will do our best!”
Hearing that Director Zhang placed such importance on her husband’s condition, the woman felt slightly relieved and quickly stepped aside to let the doctors examine him.
Zhang Jiangyou nodded at Hu Xiaojiang, signaling him to start reporting the medical history.
As Hu Xiaojiang began detailing the history, everyone quickly quietened down and listened attentively to his introduction of the patient’s condition.
“The patient was transferred from another hospital to our department around 8 PM last night due to sudden severe pain in the precordial area. Upon admission, the patient was already unconscious and had urinary and fecal incontinence… ECG showed extensive myocardial infarction. After emergency thrombolytic and reperfusion therapy, the patient’s condition stabilized slightly, but is still poor, remaining in a deep coma!”
After finishing his report, Hu Xiaojiang carefully stepped aside, waiting for the two directors to conduct their examinations…
Zhang Jiangyou looked at Zhang Li De beside him and smiled: “Director, will you do it, or shall I?”
Zhang Li De smiled, then turned to Xu Ze behind him and said: “Xu Ze… you examine him first.”
“Alright, Director Zhang…” Xu Ze nodded gently. He was already prepared. With patients like this, Zhang LiDe always let him take the lead.
With a calm expression, Xu Ze stepped forward, stood on the right side of the bed, and began a comprehensive and detailed physical examination.
Seeing Xu Ze step forward, the woman who had been watching was startled. She murmured inwardly: “Xu Ze?”
She then took a closer look at the handsome, refined young doctor across from the bed, and her confusion deepened: “He looks a bit like him… but he should be a junior now… there’s no way he’s already working at the hospital…”
“Hmm… it probably isn’t him. This Xu Ze seems even better-looking than the Xu Ze on my daughter’s phone…”
Xu Ze, however, didn’t notice this family member paying such close attention to him. When he examined patients, he was always highly focused, which was why he often discovered things others missed.
After completing the examination, he nodded and stepped back. For a myocardial infarction patient like this, many general signs weren’t obvious. Apart from being unconscious, having coarse breath sounds, weak heart sounds, and slightly rapid breathing, there weren’t any other major abnormalities.
After Xu Ze finished, Zhang Li De asked: “How is the condition?”
“There aren’t any particularly obvious signs… but it’s not good.” Xu Ze was very straightforward.
Zhang Li De nodded, then stepped forward himself to examine the patient again. For doctors, especially senior ones, they were extremely cautious with every patient. Although he trusted that Xu Ze wouldn’t miss anything, he still conducted a thorough examination from start to finish.
While Zhang Li De was examining, another person entered the ward from outside. It was a young girl, her face haggard, carrying a small insulated food jar. Reaching the ward entrance and seeing so many doctors inside, she was momentarily stunned, then startled. She quickly squeezed in. Seeing her mother standing there with no unusual expression on her face, she relaxed slightly.
Then, carefully holding the insulated jar, she walked over to her mother and gently placed it on the bedside table. She glanced at the elderly doctor examining her father, then whispered to her mother: “Mom… what’s this?”
“Shh… don’t make a sound. Dr. Hu invited two directors for your father’s consultation… Don’t disturb them,” the woman quickly whispered to her daughter.
“Oh…” Hearing this, a hint of excitement appeared on the young girl’s face. She looked hopefully at the elderly doctor examining her father, wishing he could come up with some better methods to help her father recover soon…
Seeing that the elderly doctor seemed to need more time, the girl couldn’t help but let her gaze wander over the surrounding doctors. She thought excitedly to herself: “With so many doctors watching here, this elderly doctor must hold a very high position and certainly be very skilled…”
As she was analyzing, she inadvertently caught sight of a somewhat familiar figure. Her heart unexpectedly skipped a beat, and she looked up in disbelief towards this person.
“Ah…” Seeing that familiar yet unfamiliar face, more handsome and refined than before, the girl couldn’t help but cover her mouth with her hand and let out a low exclamation.
Since everyone in the ward was carefully keeping quiet, afraid of disturbing Director Zhang’s examination, the girl’s low exclamation was very clear in the room.
Everyone was startled and frowned slightly at this somewhat imprudent girl. Seeing that she immediately covered her mouth, they withdrew their attention and refocused on Director Zhang’s examination.
Only one person, after lightly glancing at the girl, showed an extremely strange expression in his eyes. He looked at the girl, then at the patient in front of him, and finally understood why the patient’s name sounded so familiar and why the man’s face also seemed familiar. So that was it…
The girl’s mother was also looking at her daughter with a strange expression. Seeing her astonished look, and the flash of peculiar light in the young doctor named Xu Ze’s eyes, she finally confirmed it: this Xu Ze… was that Xu Ze…
She was just extremely curious as to why Xu Ze had appeared here and seemed to hold a position of no low status among these people…
