Chapter 484: After the Knife: Tensions in the ER

Besides, whenever he performed surgery, Zhou Can always gave it his all.

Even if the occasional patient wasn’t satisfied with the outcome, from a professional standpoint, he felt confident his work could withstand scrutiny.

There was one unforgettable, eccentric patient—he’d come in for a simple hemorrhoid procedure, and not long after, suffered unbearable abdominal pain.

After some tests, it turned out to be acute appendicitis.

The patient ended up getting his appendix removed at the Third Hospital.

Once he recovered, he stormed into the ER at Tuyu, claiming Zhou Can had left him with a ‘hidden agenda’ during his hemorrhoid surgery, and that’s why he developed appendicitis less than a month later.

What could Zhou Can do when faced with a patient who was both ignorant and riddled with suspicion?

Take another case. He’d helped a woman two months pregnant with a wrist injury—he stopped the bleeding, stitched her up, and bandaged the wound. Her family insisted on speaking with him outside. Thinking they were just worried, Zhou Can changed and stepped out to have a word.

The man waiting wore designer clothes, looked about fifty, and carried himself with the aura of a successful businessman.

The pregnant woman herself seemed barely twenty—young and delicate.

These days, there was nothing rare about successful men marrying pretty young women.

Zhou Can asked what his relationship was to the pregnant woman. The man claimed to be her boyfriend.

Important distinction—boyfriend versus husband.

He pulled Zhou Can aside and lowered his voice. “Dr. Zhou, do me a favor. Tell my girlfriend the baby isn’t viable. Tell her it needs to go.”

As he spoke, he tried to slip Zhou Can a stack of cash.

With his experience, Zhou Can easily saw her wrist injury looked a lot like a suicide attempt.

He’d expected the boyfriend to be concerned for the unborn child, but instead, he wanted Zhou Can to persuade her to terminate the pregnancy.

Of course, Zhou Can refused outright.

He gave an immediate and firm rejection.

The man cursed Zhou Can for not knowing his place, and sure enough, soon after, Zhou Can received a message from the Medical Department.

Someone had filed a complaint against him.

So no matter how carefully doctors and nurses treat their patients, no matter how politely they deal with families, it’s impossible to avoid conflict with everyone.

Some patient and family requests simply can’t be met by the medical team.

If the person targeting Zhou Can was someone he’d treated—or a patient’s relative—that would be truly heartbreaking.

Suddenly, a name flashed through his mind.

Director Xueyan’s husband had once threatened Zhou Can. By nature the guy was hot-tempered and his character left much to be desired. Just seeing how he’d taken money from the Third Hospital and even dared trick his own wife—he was clearly bad news.

“Officer, I have someone in mind. He’s the husband of one of our doctors. He once suspected I was having an affair with his wife and threatened me in person.”

Zhou Can handed this lead over to the police.

“And was your relationship with his wife above board?”

“My relationship with Director Xue is completely proper. Aside from regular work conversations there’s nothing untoward between us. Besides, she’s fifteen or sixteen years older than me, and I have a girlfriend. There’s no chance of anything inappropriate. We always treat each other with respect—not even a stray comment. …So why would her husband think otherwise?”

“One night, after wrapping up the last surgery, it was already late. Former Department Head Dr. Hu Kan had asked me to help Director Xueyan manage Cardiothoracic, since the department was in crisis. So Director Xue and I discussed new ways to handle it. Maybe because our office door was closed the whole time, her husband found out and started suspecting something between us.”

When it came to things like this, Zhou Can told the truth.

After all, the police could easily find out if they checked.

Lying would only get him into unnecessary trouble.

And really, there was no need.

“Understood, we’ve made a note. If we open an official case, you’ll be notified. While the investigation is ongoing, please keep this quiet. Don’t discuss it with anyone so our work isn’t affected.”

“Thank you! Thank you!”

Zhou Can thanked them again and again.

On a late night like this, he truly appreciated the officers’ diligence. They hadn’t just brushed him off.

It left him grateful, with newfound respect for them.

……

When he got home, Su Qianqian threw her arms around him.

She didn’t say a word, just buried her face in his chest and wept.

“What would I do if something really happened to you?”

She sobbed as she spoke.

“Look, I’m fine! Don’t cry. I’ll be extra careful—you don’t need to worry.”

Zhou Can had already given her a brief summary of what happened over the phone.

There was no need to hide anything.

Because the whole thing was so dangerous, telling her meant she could be more vigilant.

Like last time, when she found out Zhou Can nearly got hit by a falling flowerpot on his way home, she’d wanted to rush over right away.

He told her the culprit was still hiding nearby, and her showing up wouldn’t help—in fact, it would only make things riskier. Plus, he wasn’t hurt, just a bit shaken.

In the end, she did as he asked and waited at home.

“Starting tomorrow, don’t walk to work. Drive, okay?”

“You got it!”

Zhou Can nodded, agreeing easily.

Falling objects from above are no joke. If it hadn’t been for his sharp instincts, dodging just in time, he didn’t even want to imagine what could’ve happened.

The next day, Zhou Can headed to work as usual.

His chest trauma patient’s bleeding was controlled, and left lung sounds had gotten much stronger.

There were way fewer bubbles in the water seal bottle.

All good signs.

Things were looking up for the patient.

Still, pneumothorax can easily return—even after discharge, recovery needs to be handled with care.

Another patient, transferred from Xinxiang Hospital with sternal osteomyelitis, was stable after surgery. Low fever subsided, blood pressure and heart rate were steady. Worried about further infection, the patient had been moved to the cardiothoracic ICU after talking it over with family.

Compared to regular wards, the ICU provides a sterile environment with better care all around.

Last night, Dr. Pu hinted he’d set his mind on joining Zhou Can’s team.

He hadn’t called or texted since… and Zhou Can figured he’d bring it up with Director Xueyan later. But she wasn’t in yet.

She usually arrived just before eight.

Nothing for it—he’d try again later in the day.

Back in the Emergency Department, Zhou Can was eager to level up his tissue separation skill. So he dove into surgery with extra zeal.

By around 10:40 in the morning, he’d already finished thirteen surgeries. Granted, several were minor first-level procedures.

Even so, his efficiency was jaw-dropping.

The fourteenth procedure was for a patient with severe rectal prolapse, now incontinent.

She was admitted through the ER yesterday, examined, and scheduled for emergency surgery today.

Normally, a case like this would go to Colorectal Surgery. Just waiting for a bed could take a day, then further tests and strategy meetings, scheduling—the whole process would drag out three or four days before surgery even began.

With the ER handling it, the wait time was cut in half.

She was admitted yesterday, surgery scheduled for this morning—and Zhou Can himself was handling it. His skills were now on par with most surgical chief physicians.

Now that his incision technique had reached level six, Zhou Can’s confidence was stronger than ever.

The patient had already been taken to the pre-anesthesia room.

Once the previous surgery room was turned over, they wheeled her straight inside.

For major surgeries, full or spinal anesthesia is needed. The attending doctor usually brings the patient to the pre-anesthesia area ahead of time.

In the past, the ER’s setup was crude. There wasn’t even a class 10,000 operating room.

Pre-anesthesia rooms? Forget it.

Usually the recovery room doubled for everything.

And the ER rarely handled level-three surgeries.

Really, only Dr. Xu had the skills for such procedures. But he’d been under a cloud ever since his incident and with Director Xie making his life tough. Plus, every department wanted to protect its own turf.

So they agreed with Director Xie’s efforts to suppress the ER.

That left the ER constantly struggling just to survive.

Mostly, they were stuck doing the most basic level-one and level-two emergency procedures. Anything big, all they could do was provide initial treatment—stop the bleeding, do CPR, stabilize the patient—and then call in a specialist to take over.

But thanks to Zhou Can’s hard work and the united effort of the whole department, the ER finally saw a turnaround.

Now they had their own class-100 operating room.

A proper transfer bay, a pre-anesthesia area, and a recovery room too.

The recovery room wasn’t just for waking patients—it’s also where post-op observation was done.

A separate post-op ward? Not even worth wishing for.

Still, with all the new amenities in the ER operating suite, Zhou Can, Dr. Xu, and the rest were more than satisfied.

Qiao Yu and Ma Xiaolan had already made up the bed right after the last surgery.

Together, they lifted the patient onto the operating table.

Now, all they needed was the anesthesiologist to get started.

This patient was a young woman of thirty-two.

Having completed all pre-op anesthesia prep, she lay there with nothing on… It’s just how it is—privacy just isn’t something doctors can prioritize in the operating room.

All they can do is throw every ounce of focus into treating the illness.

Many surgeries mean patients can’t walk in wearing any clothes.

Still, to spare patients’ dignity—especially female patients—doctors always drape them with disposable sterile sheets. Which shows just how important the pre-anesthesia area is.

The better equipped the OR, the lower the risk of infection.

A lot of surgeries require class-100 environments to minimize intraoperative infection.

“Ms. Cheng, how are you feeling?”

“It just hurts down there—my anus—and I’m scared.”

She looked genuinely miserable.

“Don’t worry. The doctors doing your surgery—Dr. Zhou and Dr. Xu—are among the best we’ve got. They already gave you a full assessment, and unless something unexpected happens, the operation is very safe. We’ve done tons of cases like this before with great results, so there’s nothing for you to be nervous about.”

Ma Xiaolan was a master at putting patients at ease.

Her skills as a surgical nurse were sharper than ever. Her professionalism had shot up too.

Actually, every member of the surgical team had grown so much.

“Sorry I’m a bit late! Hope I didn’t keep you waiting.”

The anesthesiologist arrived at last—fashionably late.

“It’s fine, we just got the patient settled. Dr. Qu, are we doing full anesthesia right away, or something else?”

Zhou Can always got along well with the anesthesiology team.

Today, it was Qu Zi from the department.

Honestly, OR teams rarely mixed up their pairings; each surgeon usually had a set group.

Like in General Surgery, Wu Baihe’s team would usually bring Director Feng along to handle anesthesia.

With lots of surgeries, fixed teams become an advantage instead of a stumbling block.

Sometimes a surgeon might be eager to operate, certain they can handle it, but after assessing the case, the anesthesiologist refuses to take the risk.

So what happens then?

If the surgeon can’t convince the anesthesiologist, the surgery simply can’t go ahead.

They’ll have to transfer the patient or try a different treatment.

A great anesthesiologist and a skilled surgeon, when they’ve worked together long enough, can become as in sync as a married couple.

A feeling most surgeons know well.

They might argue before and during surgery, but their common goal is always curing the patient.

Every successful surgery puts a smile on the chief surgeon’s face. Same goes for the anesthesiologist.

If something goes wrong during an operation, both of them get seriously anxious. No matter what it takes, they’ll fight to save the patient together.

There’s an old saying: The surgeon is like the husband, the anesthesiologist like the wife—it actually fits quite well.

Just like in marriage, there might be arguments by the bed, but they always make up by the pillow.

Surgeons and anesthesiologists might bicker, but neither can get by without the other.

In the OR, they’re inseparable partners—a true team.

“Given that she needs a rectal repair, let’s do general anesthesia!”

After a quick check of the patient, Qu Zi swiftly set up the monitors.

Zhou Can helped out from the sidelines.

Soon, the patient was fully anesthetized.

Because the surgery involved a private area, general anesthesia best protected her dignity.

“General anesthesia is fully established. Vitals are steady. You can begin.”

“Let’s get started!”

Zhou Can had been ready for this.

With so many surgeries in one day, time was of the essence.

He pulled back the sterile drape and saw the surgical field.

The prolapse was severe—her anal opening was larger than normal. When she’d come in, incontinence was already an issue.

Without a rectal repair, there was no hope for a cure.

“Wow, how did it end up this bad?”

Qiao Yu couldn’t help but gasp in surprise.

“Qiao Yu, you are so pure!” Ma Xiaolan teased with a meaningful smile.

Anesthesiologist Qu Zi kept a straight face, pretending to fixate on the monitoring screen.

Normally, anesthesiologists don’t stare at the monitor the whole time. Usually, they only glance up now and then.

The anesthesia nurse beside her was embarrassed too.

Remember to bookmark after reading—Jiangbian Yuweng’s reminder.