Surgery Godfather

“Can I?”

Director Mei doesn’t hesitate when it comes to performing a hysterotomy, no one in the hospital is more adept than him.

Director Ke has only performed a few hundred while Director Mei performs several every day resulting in more than ten thousand in total, with no intent to brag.

As the knife cut through the skin of the abdomen, blood pouring out rapidly due to coagulation dysfunction making it appear rather daunting.

Bipolar coagulation is their only option. Despite having an autologous blood recycling machine and plenty of allogeneic blood prepared, heavy blood loss and massive consumption of clotting factors may lead to disseminated intravascular coagulation.

Both directors are highly experienced surgeons. They handle bipolar coagulation skillfully, accompanied by buzzing sounds and occasional tiny sparks, effectively stopping the bleeding from the skin.

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The two of them haven’t collaborated in a while. When Director Ke first performed fetal surgery, he was not familiar with entering the uterus and always called Director Mei for assistance.

As he got more proficient, they collaborated less. But this patient is unique and high-risk which brought the two back together to operate.

Director Mei is one of the few male obstetricians, handsome just like the current popular attractive actors. If he was a bit younger, he could easily fit into the entertainment industry.

His fingers are slender, instrumental in playing the piano quite well. Each year at the New Year’s hospital gala, Director Mei’s piano performance has become a traditional program.

“Don’t rush, let’s stop the bleeding first.”

After halting any superficial bleeding, Director Mei started an incision in the deep fascia.

His hands have delivered over ten thousand babies, constantly entering the uterus from the abdomen, a process he knows like the back of his hand.

Director Mei always handles each procedure carefully, each movement as light as possible. Whenever he performs a cesarean section he always personally removes the baby, conscious not to cause any harm to the little ones.

His assistants often question why his removal of babies always feels like a sacred ritual. Director Mei replied, “You young people wouldn’t understand. Every baby I deliver is not ordinary, they might grow up to be a Nobel laureate, a national leader, or historical figures that change the world. We must carry a responsibility to history!”

The bleeding is well controlled. Even with coagulation dysfunction and the self-clotting ability of human blood weakened, the bipolar coagulation in the hands of the surgeons makes up for this flaw. It carbonizes and shrinks the ends of the blood vessels with heat, thereby achieving physical hemostasis.

Abdominal skin, subcutaneous tissue, deep fascia, muscles, peritoneum, up to the uterus, Director Mei paused, “Check the blood loss. How much is it now?”

“600 milliliters!” The patrolling nurse counted the blood pads, checked the suction bottle, did a quick calculation, and came up with the number.

The bleeding was concerning as the fetus hadn’t shown up yet. Director Mei frowned, “We need to be careful when opening the uterus, don’t let the amniotic fluid soak the wound!”

“This is not a delivery, the pressure won’t be high.” Director Ke assists Director Mei the whole way.

“We still don’t completely understand the mechanism of amniotic fluid embolism, it’s better to be cautious.”

“Yes, indeed, there is definitely a high risk.”

“Shall I start?” Director Mei spoke loudly, alerting the anesthesiologist to keep an eye on the expectant mother’s vital signs.

Director Mei delicately cut into the uterus and then performed hemostasis. The little one had curled up inside, with his hands touching his neck, exactly where the tight coil was located, seemingly trying to rescue itself.

“Without our assistance, you won’t get anywhere. Don’t worry, darling. We’re here,” Director Mei said with an empathetic tone.

He touched the fetal’s heart with a finger, “The heartbeat is still there but it’s slowing down, we need to speed up.”@@novelbin@@

“Old Ke, I’ll leave the rest to you. All I know is how to enter and then take it out,” Director Mei finished his task.

Director Ke grabbed Director Mei’s hand, not for any other reason, but he was afraid that Director Mei, used to performing C-sections and extracting babies, might reflexively take out the baby.

“Stay still, I’ll take care of this!” Director Ke said carefully.

The microscope was wheeled over. Director Ke adjusted it to suit his needs, he angled it just right and started the procedure under the microscope. Although he manipulated for a while, he was unable to speed up for fear of errors.

“Xiao Yang, you give it a try!”

As an honest man, Director Ke wanted to see who between him and Yang Ping would be quicker, so higher safety could be ensured by letting the fastest one finish the operation.

Director Han on the sidelines said, “Xiao Su, where’s Xiao Su? Let Xiao Su assist on the table!”

“Xiao Su had something to deal with today, he went to pick up his uncle and aunt,” Yang Ping swiftly replied.

Director Han uttered a sound of acknowledgment and began personally directing the scrub nurse to pass instruments, ensuring the rhythm of surgery.

Yang Ping had already drafted the plan in his mind. A tiny scalpel lightly cut through the neck area, following a circular route, making intersecting incisions at a slanting sixty-degree angle, equidistant and parallel, encircling the entire area.

Director Mei steadied the baby’s position with both hands, allowing changes to the head position as Yang Ping worked. This allowed the scalpel to complete the pattern of circular incisions.

The ‘Z-shape transformation’ was simple, yet it embodied human geometric wisdom. It didn’t remove anything, nor did it add anything, it just formed a circle of triangular flaps from a ring of incisions. These triangular flaps interlocked, were rearranged, and magically, the tight bandage disappeared.

The surgical scalpel, like the paintbrush in an artist’s hand, sliced through each skin flap down to the deep fascia, examining whether the nerves and blood vessels underneath had ruptured or were blocked. They were confirmed to be intact.

He proceeded to juxtapose the triangular flaps in a continuous misalignment, then stitched them together using tiny absorbable sutures.

Director Ke was about to offer the young surgeon some tips, but the latter was too nimble for him.

“Slow- careful- slower- oh my- don’t be so quick!”

Director Ke’s heart pounded as he squinted into the eyepiece of the microscope. The scalpel in his visual field moved too fast. Young man, take it easy, you’re scaring me.

“Xiao Yang, take it easy. My heart is on edge. This is a bit scary, it’s making my blood pressure go up. Don’t perform surgery like this next time, t’s prone to complications!” Director Ke gasped for air.

Director Mei didn’t understand Director Ke’s words since he hadn’t watched the surgical procedure unfold. Old Han stood aside, laughing, “Old Ke, your bravery only reaches as big as a sesame seed.”

“I was wondering why Orthopedics progressed so swiftly lately. Old Han, you have so many talented subordinates. Now the Trauma Orthopedics department also wants to compete with the affiliated hospital for dominance. Sports Medicine is also catching up fast. Once you get Spinal Joint surgery up and running, you can establish a hospital within a hospital.” Director Mei, having nothing to do, kept the fetal position steady.

“Can I hold it for a while?” Director Ke offered to help hold the baby in position.

“No, you can’t handle it, I better do it.” Director Mei refused to let go.

The ‘Z-shape’ transformation on the baby’s neck was completed, the bandage was untied and the fetus was out of danger. Director Ke checked the time. The surgery had only been half an hour so far. The subsequent operations on the limbs could be performed more leisurely.

The process of loosening the bandages on the limbs was very similar to the neck, with even lower risks. After resolving the bandages on the limbs, it was time for the fingers and toes. These needed to be reshaped and separated.

The entire fetus was less than thirty centimeters long, and the fingers and toes were as tiny as rice grains. Cutting them was no different from carving rice.

If there was the slightest carelessness, a shaking hand, a finger would disappear. Imagine having to search for a missing finger in the amniotic fluid. How exasperating could that be?

He swapped the scalpel blade for a finer one.

“Slowly, slowly!” Director Ke got anxious again.

A person who has never driven fast and suddenly gets to sit in the passenger’s seat of a race car driver. The driver stomps on the gas pedal and speeds frantically, it would make anyone go pale with fear.

“Stop shouting, let him work, he won’t make a mistake.” Old Han saw that Director Ke’s constant reactions were not only unhelpful but interfered with Yang Ping’s surgery.

After the finger separation was completed, the lymphedema at the distal end of the toe band was much larger than normal. Yang Ping drew out the lymphatic fluid from inside, then performed a reshaping operation on this enlarged toe, reducing it to its normal size.

“Xiao Yang, is this your first time performing fetal surgery? You’re so skillful?” Director Ke truly could not believe this was Yang Ping’s first time performing this operation.

No matter how you look at it, it didn’t seem like it was his first time. His movements were incredibly seasoned and experienced. That kind of skill could only be attained with decades of experience, yet he was so young.

“Orthopedic doesn’t have any fetal surgeries for him to do. He can drive right away once he gets in the car!” Director Mei’s words were interesting.

“A natural-born old driver!” Director Ke agreed.

“There are people that are natural-born drivers? I took my driver’s license test, and for the second subject, I had to retake it once and I am still stuck on the right-angle turn. Now I dare not take the test anymore.” A young circulating nurse who had stepped out to fetch something just came back in. Hearing the conversation about driving, she was very interested.

Director Ke said seriously, “Then you should invite Doctor Yang to take you for a drive, then you would be proficient.”

“Really, Doctor Yang? Old driver, can you make time to bring me out for a drive one day?” The circulating nurse found a pro.

Everyone in the operating room burst into laughter, leaving the circulating nurse puzzled. What was everyone laughing at?

“You can ask him to give you a ride, but you must ask Nurse Su whether she agrees or not.” said the scrub nurse.

“It’s just a drive, she wouldn’t be that petty, right?” The circulating nurse still didn’t understand.

With a tone of criticism, Director Mei said, “The orientation of young people has not been well handled, whoever is the senior teacher should be held accountable.”