Surgery Godfather

Chapter 338: Chapter 0321: Brain-Machine Interface

Takahashi arrived at the department precisely at six in the morning. After completing his tasks as per Zhang Lin’s request, he started making tea for him.

He weighed twenty-nine tea granules using an electronic scale and recorded it in his notebook. He decided to start with this weight from today, adjusting based on Zhang Lin’s satisfaction until he found the optimal tea leaf weight.

Takahashi also recorded and calculated the time for making tea, the time when Zhang Lin started working, and the cooling rate of a cup of tea. He ensured that when Zhang Lin arrived at work he would have warm tea that was not too hot.

In Japan, Takahashi had some knowledge about tea ceremony, but China and Japan are different, and brewing a satisfying cup of tea in Dr. Zhang’s simplified method entirely relied on meticulous experiences.

“Takahashi, did you buy this electronic scale just for making tea?” Li Guodong thought Takahashi was conducting some experiments.

Takahashi was very satisfied with his tea-making. After rubbing his hands, he said: “Yes, the tea granules are of different sizes. It is hard to get accurate measurements by merely calculating the granules. Only precision weighing can ensure accuracy.”

Takahashi was so diligent in making tea for Zhang Lin, to the point of even using an electronic scale with a precision of 0.001 gram. Li Guodong was amazed at how serious Takahashi was about making a cup of tea, as if he was conducting an experiment.

The speed of Takahashi’s transformation—from arrogant and rude to humble and obedient—was so swift that it was hard for Li Guodong to believe.

Xu Zhiliang also reported to the department early. After not being able to find a job in his specialty despite being an Orthopedic doctor, he switched departments and joined the Emergency Department, in order to stay in a good hospital. Today, he finally got the opportunity to join the Orthopedic Department and return to his original profession.

He greeted everyone with a nod and a smile. Some young nurses who knew him covered their mouths and giggled, because he stuttered when talking. It was rumored that the pants he wore had a hole on the buttocks, which was quite unusual in the hospital. Some tried to peek at his buttocks discreetly, but it was obscured by his white gown and could not tell whether there were really a hole or not.

Professor Zhang was now living comfortably, as the lukewarm tea was already placed on his desk when he sat down. He leisurely opened the lid and took a sip, “Good, there’s progress, although it’s still a tiny bit strong.”

Takahashi, who was standing by his side, listened attentively to Zhang Lin’s feedback and immediately recorded his comments into his notebook, deciding to slightly reduce the amount of tea leaves starting from tomorrow.

Unfazed by people giving him sidelong glances, stutter Xu moved to an inconspicuous corner and started studying the human skeletal model alone.

As Yang Ping entered from the door, everyone immediately stopped what they were doing, stood up and greeted in unison, “Good morning, Dr. Yang!”

Over time, a sense of reverence known as prestige gradually grew in everyone’s heart. Xu Zhiliang, who had been studying the skeleton model, also stood up straight and expressed his heartfelt admiration.

Being able to showcase his talent under such a figure, Xu Zhiliang felt invigorated, his heart surging with pride and joy.

There were several surgeries scheduled in the morning, including lumbar disc herniation, cervical spondylosis, pelvic tumor, and one percutaneous kyphoplasty. Yang Ping let Xu Zhiliang perform surgery as the Chief Surgeon, wanting to evaluate his surgical skills while observing from above the operating table to ensure there wouldn’t be any safety issues.

When Xu Zhiliang performed surgery, he completely transformed into a different person—confident and calm, speaking and moving fluently without stuttering.

Zhang Lin could hardly believe that this was the same Stutter Xu. There were several occasions that Zhang Lin ignored the instructions given by the Chief Surgeon and was severely scolded by Xu Zhiliang, while Yang Ping just watched and smiled from the operating table.

After a few surgeries, Xu Zhiliang not only followed standard operating procedures but also operated very quickly, and his fundamental skills in surgery were excellent, nearly catching up with Song Zimo.

Those who have great skills are bold. No wonder he could extend the wound on the abdomen at the emergency scene, reach in to block the aorta, and perform bare-handed hemostasis.

Yang Ping felt like he had found a treasure. After interviewing several doctoral candidates in the Human Resources office, not one of them was satisfactory. Surprisingly, he picked up a gem in the Emergency Department.

Having seen Xu Zhiliang’s surgical skills after just a few operations, there was no need for a three-month probation period. After finishing the surgeries, Yang Ping said to Xu Zhiliang in the changing room, “I will make a call later, and you will go to the Human Resources department to process the department transfer procedure tomorrow.”

“No need — for the three-month probation period?” Xu Zhiliang had already prepared for the three-month probation period.

Yang Ping shook his head, “No need. Others need a three-month probation period. You, Xu Zhiliang, only need to prove yourself in one day. From now on, do well in the Comprehensive Orthopedics. If you need anything, tell me directly. If you find WeChat convenient, just send me a WeChat message.”

Xu Zhiliang nodded in gratitude, “Is this — approval —?”

Being so excited, it took him quite a while to say the word “approval”.

“Passed with full marks,” Yang Ping said satisfied, while Takahashi also gave a thumbs-up to Xu Zhiliang.

Zhang Lin always had the desire to assert his dominance over newcomers, but in the operating room, Zhang Lin, who was scolded by Xu Zhiliang, did not dare to cross swords with this stutterer. Little Five, who was standing aside, couldn’t help but smirk—Zhang Lin was pretending to be superior but instead made a fool of himself.

In the afternoon, the Comprehensive Orthopedics discussed Yu Shuilian’s case in the conference room, learning from the rescue and surgery of this patient and discussing the next treatment plan.

Yu Shuilian’s condition was temporarily stable. Song Zimo also took time out to attend the case discussion in the department. Everyone gathered together, and the atmosphere was excellent.

Upon seeing Song Zimo, Xu Zhiliang was ecstatic: “Dr. Song, it’s been a long time—”

“Nice to meet you!” Song Zimo shook his hand.

He recognized stutter Xu from the Emergency Department, although they hadn’t interacted much. They had only played chess a few times. Song Zimo didn’t even know that stutter Xu was also an orthopedic specialist.

“When will we play another game of blindfold chess?”

“You still want to play blindfold chess with me?”

In Sanbo Hospital’s chess and card games, Wen Zhong from the Spine Surgery Department lost his chess game to Song Zimo. stutter Xu from the Emergency Department also lost his Go game to Song Zimo. He had been dwelling on his defeat, remaining unconvinced.

Little Five came over with several jigsaw puzzles and placed them on the conference room table.

“What are you doing with these?” Zhang Lin asked.

“They’re teaching aids—for the lecture later.” Xu Zhiliang replied annoyed.

Zhang Lin cast him a glance and decided to keep his distance, not daring to sit next to him.

Doctors, graduate students, standardized training students, and interns, everyone was present. The case discussion began promptly at three in the afternoon. They first discussed the next step in the treatment plan, then Yang Ping explained the key points of the surgery.

Dr. Song, having been taking care of the patient in the ICU all along, acted as the attending physician and reported the case: general situation, medical history, physical examination, auxiliary examination, treatment process, current difficulties, and the next treatment plan.

“The main risk she currently faces is infection and organ failure. Fortunately, so far, there has been no infection or organ failure.” Song Zimo posed the problem.

“If she can make it through the critical phases of infection and organ failure, the next thing to consider is the second stage of surgery, to reconstruct her anus and urethra, and establish urinary and defecation function,” Xu Zhiliang was very positive and didn’t stutter.

“For the reconstruction of the urethra, I suggest a multi-curved reconstruction. Looking at the normal anatomy, the female urethra is shorter and straighter than the male’s, making it easy for bacteria to invade the urethra from the outside and enter the urinary tract. This is why females are prone to urinary tract infections, “Takahashi quickly spoke up, glancing at Yang Ping halfway through his statement.

Seeing Yang Ping nodding and encouraging him, he continued: “In this patient, the urethra is already damaged. If we still adopt a straight and short reconstruction during the procedure, urinary tract infections will still easily occur. Compared to normal people, her ability to resist infections is weaker. In order to reduce future urinary tract infections, I suggest we use a multi-curved long diameter urethral reconstruction to reduce future urinary tract infections.”

Typically, in case discussions, doctors, from resident physicians to attending doctors, then to deputy senior and senior doctors, gradually upgrade, and finally, the department director summarizes.

However, in case discussions in Orthopedics, Yang Ping broke the convention. Participants are not divided by rank, everyone is free to comment, and in the end, Yang Ping summarizes everyone’s opinions.

“The patient has a hard time accepting her disability. We need to rebuild her psychological state. I suggest that a complete psychological counseling plan should be designed specifically for this patient to provide long-term psychological counseling and reshaping,” a graduate student spoke up.

“Very good! Everyone is participating very actively. Don’t be afraid of saying something wrong,” Yang Ping encouraged everyone.

One of the standardized training students mustered up his courage to speak: “The patient is still in the ICU. I think we should let her son and husband visit her in the ICU every day. It would be best if her son looked a bit sloppy. Seeing her pitiful son, she wouldn’t bear it in her heart and would muster up the courage to keep living, which I think is more useful than any psychological counseling.”

Another female student quickly added: “I know of a disabled person who lost both his lower limbs from the root of his thigh. He later became a calligraphy artist and is quite famous. We can contact this calligraphy artist and let them meet. A real-life example would let Yu Shuilian know that her life is not at a dead end, that she still has intrinsic value, and she is valuable to both her family and society.”

“We should guide her to train the strength of her upper limbs early, so that she can use her upper limbs to walk in the future.”

The discussion was very lively, everyone unleashed their imagination and spoke freely.

“We can be slightly more optimistic. If she can safely get through this critical period, we can use axillary chest wall support and neuroprosthetics in the future,” Song Zimo sounded even more optimistic.

Xu Zhiliang’s knowledge also proved to be vast: “Musk owns a company that is at the forefront of neuroprosthetic research. They have managed to train monkeys to feed themselves using a mechanical arm through a brain-computer interface.”

“The Advanced Telecommunication Research Institute in Kyoto, Japan, has even created practical mechanical arms. If needed, I can contact ATR. We have collaborated with them to develop power aids for patients with lower limb paralysis. In experiments conducted on patients with spinal cord injuries, it has been very successful,” Takahashi was increasingly engaged in the discussion.

“Stanford’s team in the United States also has successful cases. Their findings were published in Nature. They have progressed to human trials. The trial subjects are paralyzed patients. When the patient tries to move their hand, functional magnetic resonance imaging is performed on the brain to determine the precise area of the motor cortex. Then a chip is implanted in this area of the patient’s brain. When the patient wants to move their hand, motor nerve signals are translated into electric pulses to drive the muscles in the arm. By stimulating electrodes, the arm muscles contract according to the will, completing tasks like clenching, extending, grasping, and even playing games or guitar,” Song Zimo’s setup was very effective.

Originally, they only intended to discuss the second stage of the reconstructive surgery in this session. However, the discussion unexpectedly evolved into how to let Yu Shuilian stand and walk again due to everyone’s high enthusiasm.

It seemed that they all had lofty visions, looking far ahead. Yang Ping was very pleased.