Chapter 495: A Kind Word Can Change a Life

“Excuse me, could you please go and pick up your child’s bone marrow cell culture results and the repeat blood culture report?”

Zhou Can intentionally sent the family member out of the room.

The patient’s mother wasn’t naive—she understood there were things her son didn’t want to say in front of her.

“Xiao Wei, answer Dr. Zhou’s questions honestly. I’ll go fetch your test results.”

“Okay!”

It seemed like there wasn’t much communication between the patient and his parents.

Every time Zhou Can did his rounds, he’d never seen the patient chatting with his parents. Usually, the patient lay in bed playing on his phone while his mother either napped at the bedside or stared at her own phone.

In the morning, she would bring hot water to wash the patient’s face and hands.

Once his mother left, the patient lowered his voice. “Dr. Zhou, I’ve got a girlfriend now. She’s actually the class belle!” He couldn’t hide his pride as he mentioned her.

“Really? That’s impressive!”

Zhou Can thought to himself that students who hadn’t really left school—even if they were already adults—still had a certain innocence to them.

Society was like a giant dye vat; it could turn pure young men and women into wily old hands.

A university campus definitely had its own social drama, but compared to the real world, it was practically a greenhouse.

“Look, this is my girlfriend. Isn’t she pretty?”

The patient unlocked his photo album, scrolling to show Zhou Can a picture of his girlfriend—as if to prove he wasn’t bluffing.

Zhou Can saw a sweet-faced girl, lips puckered playfully, both hands raised in the classic peace sign beside her cheeks.

“She is really pretty. You must have beaten a lot of competition to win over the class belle.”

“Of course! When it comes to online games, I’m always the top player. And I can draw, especially portraits. A lot of teachers say I have real talent. If you’re willing, someday I’ll draw your portrait and give it to you.”

“I’d love that! I had no idea you were so talented. No wonder you landed the prettiest girl in your class.”

Zhou Can thought some rebellious young men might look tough on the surface, but it was just an act.

This guy was only twenty, yet his health was already in crisis. If no one guided him, and something really did happen to him, it would be such a waste.

“Xiao Wei, some things are hard to say, but you just offered to draw me a picture. That tells me you’re a loyal and grateful young man. As your doctor, I have to be honest with you—if you keep living like you have, skipping meals, staying up late, not exercising, there’s a good chance you won’t make it to thirty. If that happens, your girlfriend would be heartbroken.”

Sometimes serious problems needed strong medicine.

With young people going through a rebellious phase, the best way was to talk about things that mattered to them personally.

Otherwise, even if the sky fell, they wouldn’t care.

There’s always someone taller to take the hit, after all.

Zhou Can rarely used words like “death” when talking to patients.

But telling this patient he wouldn’t live past thirty if he didn’t change—it wasn’t exaggeration. Under certain conditions, stomach ulcers could easily turn into stomach cancer.

And digestive tract diseases? Colon and rectal cancers were both extremely common.

Just the digestive tract alone harbored all kinds of dangers. Chronic lack of sleep and erratic eating led to weak immunity and a greater risk of serious diseases. …”Is it really that serious?”

The patient was still young. Zhou Can’s warning about dying before thirty made his face go pale.

“Not exaggerating at all. You were lucky to be saved this time. But don’t worry, Earth keeps spinning no matter who’s gone. If something ever happens to you, your girlfriend will find someone new. She’s so pretty, she could meet someone rich—her life might not be so bad. It’s your parents I’d worry about. Burying their own child, getting bullied and struggling when they’re old…”

Zhou Can had his own way of shaking rebellious youth awake.

The more urgent the matter, the calmer he’d sound—like a stranger commenting on fate.

“Please don’t scare me… I don’t want to die. Is there anything I can do?”

The patient was no match for Zhou Can; he quickly gave in and started desperately asking how he could live better.

Zhou Can was secretly amused, though his face remained serious.

“Of course there are ways—but I’m not sure you’ll really stick with it!”

“I promise I will! Please, just tell me!”

“First off, you need to have breakfast on time every day…”

Patiently, Zhou Can listed out everything the patient should pay attention to.

It was a lot to remember, so the patient started jotting things down on his phone right away.

Seeing his attitude change, Zhou Can was quietly pleased. His words had gotten through.

He hoped the young man would really drop those bad habits and stick to it.

When Zhou Can saw that his special medical skill experience points had suddenly increased, he froze.

That surprise caught him completely off guard.

“Benevolent Heart” experience points always felt like a mystery. How did you even increase this skill? What was it good for, anyway? Zhou Can still had no clue.

He thought back and guessed that this time, it must be because he’d gone beyond his normal duties—helping the patient understand his health and change his habits.

As for the big reward of a thousand experience points, maybe it was because this was his first time helping a patient in this way.

Everything about it was built on compassion and skill, all rooted in care for the patient.

When he left the ward, Zhou Can couldn’t keep the smile off his face.

Convincing someone to change their habits was sometimes even harder than treating disease. Fortunately, this conversation went really well.

Every time Zhou Can guided someone toward a better path, he found new insight and understanding.

……

A week later, the patient was discharged after his treatment.

His parents brought Zhou Can a thank-you banner with gold embroidery that read, “Kindness and skill warm the heart; medical ethics and compassion forge the healer’s soul.” Off to the side, in smaller letters: “Thank you, Dr. Zhou, for healing our son.” Their names were embroidered as well.

The date was stitched onto the other side.

Banners like these, Zhou Can had received many times before.

Still, every time he got one from a patient or their family, he felt a genuine happiness.

It was a form of positive feedback from those he’d helped.

If he ever ran into a patient or family member who showed up with a knife threatening doctors, well—that was the negative kind.

By comparing both kinds of feedback, doctors could adjust the way they worked and aim for a more harmonious doctor-patient relationship. …One day, Zhou Can was doing outpatient shifts in pediatrics when his phone kept buzzing from incoming calls.

He checked and saw it was Director Xueyan from cardiothoracic surgery.

Ever since Director Xueyan’s ex-husband tried to have Zhou Can killed, things between them had grown strangely complicated.

To be fair, Zhou Can didn’t blame Director Xueyan at all.

After all, she was a victim too.

Still, perhaps out of guilt, she called far less often than before. When they met at work, she was quieter around him.

This was the first time she’d called him at work since the incident.

“Sis Yan!”

Once he picked up, Zhou Can greeted her.

“Mm. Something happened in cardiothoracic surgery, and I have a feeling there’s some sort of plot behind it.”

She was clearly desperate—that’s the only reason she’d call Zhou Can for help now.

“Don’t worry, just talk it through.”

Zhou Can tried to soothe her with a gentle tone.

Ever since that wave of talent poaching hit their department, cardiothoracic surgery had not only survived but kept growing—thanks to Zhou Can’s help and some clever strategies.

Now, the number of emergency and outpatient cases in cardiothoracic surgery had increased by nearly half, almost back to its former peak.

Back then, that was Dr. Hu Kan’s glory days, before anything bad had happened. Those were his brightest moments.

It was the highest point in Dr. Hu Kan’s career.

After overcoming so many hurdles to help the department rise again, it really hadn’t been easy.

Zhou Can felt he had finally kept his promise to his mentor.

“Just now I was on shift in the outpatient clinic. A patient with myocardial infarction and coronary artery disease came in. He was very clear about his condition and told me almost all three of his heart vessels were blocked. At the time, I didn’t think much of it. I had tests done, then told him we could admit him and try a stent surgery. The patient agreed.”

Director Xueyan began to explain what had happened.

“I don’t see a problem with that!”

Zhou Can was confused—was Director Xueyan just trying to chat and break the awkwardness between them?

“But during his visit, the patient must have secretly recorded and live-streamed everything. Not long after, a nurse told me the patient kept streaming with his phone after being admitted. He told his viewers all about his hospital stay and treatment.”

She explained.

“Even so, that’s not a big deal. If he wants to stream, let him stream.”

Zhou Can had seen this kind of thing plenty of times.

Patients or their families recording doctors without permission happened fairly often.

Once staff found out, sometimes they’d record things themselves as a precaution. It also meant using defensive medical measures just in case.

“When I took that case, I got a sense of the patient’s situation and let him get imaging. I told him, right there, that we’d try to fix everything with a stent surgery. But after seeing the coronary angiogram, the reality was much worse. All three main vessels were completely blocked—the only thing keeping his heart alive was a single unexpected collateral vessel. Each of those main vessels was so blocked, it’s basically impossible to do a stent.” … “If we try open-heart surgery, his risk of dying is extremely high. And he’d definitely smear us online if things went wrong.”

Director Xueyan sounded frustrated as she recounted the situation.

After so many ups and downs, she knew the power of public opinion inside and out.

There were already a lot of eyes on this patient’s case. Even the slightest mistake could doom the entire cardiothoracic department.

It could take hundreds of successes to build up a department’s reputation.

But just one incident is all it took to destroy it.

“Why do you think it’s a setup? Maybe this patient is just a professional streamer, making a living online.”

Zhou Can asked, still puzzled.

“This guy has more than two million followers. I managed to track down his live-stream account. Every time he goes live, there are at least ten thousand people watching—sometimes even over thirty thousand. Through his stream, I learned he’d already visited the Third Hospital. A Japanese expert in cardiac surgery there told him directly they couldn’t do a stent because his vessels were too blocked.”

“After that, his audience went off on the Japanese expert—criticizing his skills, saying he couldn’t even perform a simple heart stent. When I took the case, I honestly didn’t have enough experience with interventional surgery. And without seeing the angiogram, I said the stent might work, which was careless. Now that I’ve seen the imaging and know it can’t be done, it’s like I’ve publicly contradicted myself.”

Now she was truly in a bind.

She’s the chief and a star doctor in cardiothoracic surgery at Tuyu, but now she was flip-flopping.

First saying she could help, then saying she couldn’t.

This wasn’t just embarrassing—it could drag down all of cardiothoracic surgery, maybe even Tuyu Hospital’s reputation.

“Here’s what you should do: don’t panic. I’ll come by after my pediatric shift and take a look myself. Meanwhile, get every necessary test done for this patient. With people like this, you need solid grounds for defensive medicine. Better to over-test than risk missing something that comes back to bite you.”

As a doctor, Zhou Can really disliked patients who didn’t respect the medical staff.

Director Xueyan was under fire this time.

Next time, it could be someone else—or even Zhou Can himself.

“Once I realized he was secretly streaming, I activated defensive medicine. Too bad I caught it a little late.” Director Xueyan sounded full of regret. “I’m terrified this whole thing could collapse everything we’ve worked so hard to rebuild in cardiothoracic surgery.”

“Don’t be scared, Sis Yan. As long as I’m here, we’ll face it together. When siblings work as one, there’s nothing they can’t overcome!”

Zhou Can was calm as ever.

The problem had already happened, so all they could do now was solve it.

When men face danger or challenges, most won’t back down. They grit their teeth and push forward.

“Dr. Zhou! Dr. Zhou! There’s a child with Dr. Zhuang—a baby with bluish skin, looks like something’s stuck in the throat. Dr. Zhuang needs your help right away.”

“Got it!”

Without hesitation, Zhou Can got up and rushed out.

“Sorry, please wait a bit. There’s an emergency next door.”

“It’s okay. My child just has a cold and fever. Take your time.” The baby’s mother was kind and completely understanding.

“Thank you!”

Zhou Can hurried into Dr. Zhuang’s clinic and sure enough found an infant, no more than eleven months old.

Dr. Zhuang specialized in neonatology, so he mostly treated babies under a year old.

Sometimes he saw kids as old as two or three.

Medically, many doctors referred to children under three as infants and toddlers.

It’s worth noting: the law says adulthood is eighteen, but humans are capable of reproduction sooner. Most girls become capable at thirteen or fourteen, sometimes as early as twelve.

Boys were usually a bit later—really fertile around fifteen or sixteen.

In ancient times, girls could get married at thirteen.

Especially during war, rulers wanted population growth, so if a girl wasn’t married by thirteen, her family was taxed and given extra labor every year.

Zhou Can saw the baby’s parents in a panic, while the grandmother wept nearby, blaming the daughter-in-law for what happened.

Jiangbian Yuweng reminds you: Don’t forget to bookmark after reading.