Chapter 312: A Handful of Hope: The Clinic’s Quiet Battles

“Everyone, don’t rush. Please fill out your medical records properly, and I’ll call you up one by one.” Ji You worked hard to keep order.

She was the very picture of a competent nurse.

A good woman, they say, can navigate both the formalities of the living room and the challenges of the kitchen.

But an excellent nurse isn’t just skilled with needles and bandages. She has to communicate well with patients and keep things running smoothly in the clinic.

“Dr. Zhou, my son hurt his left hand. Could you take a look?”

A young mother, worry etched on her face, stood at the front of the line with her child cradled in her arms.

The little boy looked no older than two or three, his big eyes still glistening with fresh tear tracks. Clearly, he’d just cried not long ago.

After a quick physical exam, Zhou Can noticed a mild hematoma on the boy’s left wrist.

Not only that, the boy seemed unable to use his left hand at all. He wouldn’t even try to move it.

“How did this happen?”

“He was playing at breakfast, rolling a boiled egg across the table. While chasing it, he slipped off the chair and fell.”

It always seems like little boys are more prone to tumbles. Maybe it’s because they’re rowdier than girls.

And they tend to be a bit bolder too.

No surprise they’re more likely to get into trouble.

“Did he hit his head at all?”

“I don’t think so! I was eating with my head down. By the time I heard the thud, he’d already fallen to the floor.”

Even after talking with the mother, Zhou Can stayed cautious.

Hurting a hand is usually a minor thing for kids. Their bones are so flexible, most injuries amount to nothing worse than a dislocation or joint sprain. Actual fractures are pretty rare.

Head injuries, on the other hand, are much more dangerous.

Many children’s skull bones don’t fully close until they’re a year or two old. That soft spot, known as the fontanelle, is what people often talk about.

When newborns arrive, there’s a gap on the top of their heads—that’s the fontanelle. It’s a result of the skull not being completely fused yet. There are two: the anterior fontanelle, shaped like a diamond on the crown of the head—

—and the posterior fontanelle, near the back of the head, looking more like a triangle.

The fontanelle only has a layer of scalp above it. Underneath is the meninges, brain tissue fluid, and the brain itself. If you gently rest your hand on a baby’s fontanelle, you can feel it beating softly.

If a child’s fontanelle hasn’t closed by age two, it might mean there’s a problem, like calcium deficiency or slow development—definitely something for a doctor to check out.

Still, Zhou Can worried about a possible head injury, especially things like internal bleeding.

He checked the boy thoroughly. There weren’t any bruises or swelling on his head, and the boy didn’t flinch or cry when he touched his scalp—so most likely, nothing serious.

“I’ll order an X-ray for him first. Take him to get the scan done, and try not to bump his injured wrist. We need to see if the bones are broken or not.”

Zhou Can explained carefully, and the mother took her son off for the exam.

The next patient was—surprisingly—another child.

This boy was a little older, maybe five years old.

“Dr. Zhou, we saw you on TV treating kids with hand injuries. You’re amazing! Could you check if my boy’s hands are treatable?”

The boy’s father looked just a couple of years older than Zhou Can, maybe twenty-six or twenty-seven at most.

Hard to believe some folks his age already had kids old enough to help carry groceries.

It made Zhou Can understand his parents’ constant nudging about marriage. When parents see people their child’s age already having families, it’s only natural to worry.

“Hey, was he born with this?”

Zhou Can noticed the boy looking embarrassed, keeping his hands tucked away.

His father took charge, gently putting the boy’s hands on the exam table. It was obvious—the child’s fingers couldn’t straighten, curling into hooked shapes like bird talons.

His thumb could extend but couldn’t open outward.

This would make it hard for the child to grip anything properly.

“I noticed a few days after he was born that his hands weren’t like other kids’. The fingers wouldn’t straighten, and they slanted sideways. When he got a bit older, using his hands became even harder. I argued with his mom over it so many times. Eventually, after he turned three, she left—and never came back.”

As the father spoke, his regret was plain as day.

“Dr. Zhou, if you can cure my son’s hands, I’ll do everything I can to bring his mother back.”

Usually, families don’t air their dirty laundry in front of a doctor.

But maybe this man really was eaten up with regret, desperate to find a way to bring his wife home.

He probably figured: fix the child’s hands first, and it would be easier to convince his wife to return.

“A child without a mother is the one who truly suffers. No matter if you can cure his hands or not, you should still try your best to find his mother. It’s not the boy’s fault—being born with these hands is already hard enough. If you can give him a warm, whole family, that will mean the world for his future.”

Zhou Can rarely got involved in patients’ family matters.

But this time, he made an exception.

Kids born with disabilities are more likely to struggle with self-esteem. They’re sensitive and need love from both parents.

“You’re right. Looking back, I was too young, too clueless to cherish what I had. When my son was born with disabled hands, I kept blaming her. Now I regret it so much—how could I put that on her? I’ve tried to find her these two years, but she just won’t forgive me. That’s why this time, I’m set on getting my son’s hands fixed first. Maybe then she’ll have a change of heart.”

While his father poured his heart out, the boy just stared down at the tabletop, silent and withdrawn.

He seemed especially closed off.

It was impossible not to feel for him.

“Hey, don’t be scared, buddy. Let me check your hands, maybe I’ll find a way to help you get better!”

Zhou Can gently reassured the boy.

Then he got to work with a thorough physical examination.

As he checked, he also asked the family more about their medical history.

“Anyone else in your family with hand or foot deformities?”

“No. All of us—my siblings, parents, grandparents—are completely normal.”

“What about his mother’s side?”

“I asked her at the time. Her siblings, parents, grandparents—they all have healthy limbs too.”

“Was there any chance you and your wife are related by blood?”

“No, not at all.”

“During the pregnancy, did the mother take any medications?”

“We were pretty careful back then. Even if she caught a cold, she’d just drink ginger and brown sugar tea, never took any medicine.”

So family genetics, close kin marriage, and medication issues could basically be ruled out.

“What kind of work did she do then? Did she come into contact with radiation or dangerous chemicals?”

“She and I both worked at a food factory. I don’t think there were any of those hazards.”

“Alright, take your son for a blood test and an X-ray. Later, I’ll examine his hand bones. Most likely, he’ll need corrective surgery. If the joints are seriously malformed, surgery might not be possible, but as long as there’s any hope, I’ll give it my all. You have my word.”

Zhou Can knew this family was special.

Fixing this boy’s hands would not only light up a dark path in his life, but might also put a broken family back together.

……

About an hour later, the little boy with the hurt wrist came back from the X-ray.

Zhou Can took one look at the film and broke into a smile.

“Your son is really lucky—his wrist is just bruised on the surface, not a bone injury.”

“Really? That’s fantastic!”

The boy’s mother looked as elated as if she’d just hit a jackpot.

“Kids bounce back fast. Get some medicated red flower oil or something similar and rub it on at home, and he’ll heal in a few days.” Zhou Can told her.

“Thank you, really! By the way, does the hospital sell that kind of medicine? You doctors know best, and your prescriptions are always higher quality. The medications here are more reliable.”

The mother clearly trusted Zhou Can through and through.

“No problem. I’ll write him a prescription—just pay and pick it up from the pharmacy downstairs. You can apply it several times a day, but be careful he doesn’t try to taste it.”

Zhou Can prescribed the most common bruise-healing ointment for the little boy.

Topical medicine was pretty safe, all things considered.

The only thing to watch out for was making sure the kid didn’t get curious and lick it.

Once they finished up, the boy with the deformed hands came back from his own tests.

First, Zhou Can checked his bloodwork. Everything looked normal.

Then he turned to the hand X-rays.

Wow. The finger joints were tilted outward, and the knuckles were bent. On the left hand’s side view, it looked like a curved hook; the right hand looked even scarier—like a bird’s claw.

The front view was just as startling—the bones were totally misshapen.

After reviewing the X-rays, Zhou Can examined the boy’s hands again.

The skin on the palm side was taut and short. Correcting with surgery might mean stretching the skin. The thumb was drawn inward, unable to spread, and the web between the thumb and index finger was really narrow.

Trying to stretch it a bit, Zhou Can found the webskin barely moved—it must have lost elasticity after so long drawn inward.

The thumb joint itself was also extremely rigid.

The thenar muscle was underdeveloped, looking shriveled, almost malnourished.

A diagnosis popped into his mind—congenital windblown hand deformity.

That means the hand is bent in the direction the wind blows. The condition was first described and named in France back in 1897. Leave it to the French to give even illnesses a romantic touch.

Medical journals Zhou Can had read described three main hallmarks of this deformity.

Ulnar deviation at the knuckles, flexed finger joints, and an adducted thumb with a narrowed web space.

You notice the bending and deviation first, but it’s actually the thumb’s limited movement and the narrowed web that most affect hand function.

Besides these three classic signs, the condition can also come with vertical talus bones and short stature.

Zhou Can studied the boy’s X-rays, looking for the cause and for possible surgery options.

Abnormal palmar fascia, intermetacarpal ligaments, and interdigital ligaments were all likely contributors to the defect.

He also had to think about the finger bones pulling off toward the ulna, and the imbalance between the flexor and abnormal extensor muscles making it even harder to fully flex or extend the fingers.

On top of that, the boy’s left wrist was already flexed, most likely limiting the use of his shoulder and elbow.

The odds of a successful correction through surgery were slim.

Zhou Can had only trained in orthopedics for three months, with the last month mostly spent in the manual reduction room. Tackling this case on his own would be anything but simple.

“Dr. Zhou, is there a cure for my son’s hands?”

The father looked at him, eyes full of hope.

For Zhou Can, this was just another medical case—but to this family, it would change their entire lives.

“I can’t promise a perfect cure, but from the films, I think we can try multiple corrective surgeries. With time, the outcome should be pretty good.”

Zhou Can took a moment to weigh his words before replying.

It was impossible to fully fix such severe deformities with only a single surgery.

Even with several operations, all you could do was try your best. No doctor would dare give a guarantee.

“About how much would all this cost?”

Hearing there was hope, the father brightened a little.

But for families with little money, the treatment fees are a huge weight.

Every day in the hospital—especially in the intensive care unit—families of all ages crouched in the corridors and cried their hearts out. Steep costs are another mountain that seems impossible to climb.

There’s the bond of family on one side, the crushing weight of medical bills on the other. That is the brutal reality of adulthood.

“It depends on the treatment, but for your son’s case, expect somewhere between 70,000 and 90,000.” Zhou Can could only give a rough estimate.

The expenses fluctuate a lot, depending on response to treatment, the child’s health, infection risk, and how the surgery goes.

Treating a single hand costs about 30,000 to 45,000.

If the outcome of bone correction or skin grafting isn’t ideal, costs go up fast. If infection or bone collapse occurs during surgery, the bills can skyrocket.

“That much?” The father’s face fell and his voice grew hesitant.

“Because surgery takes more than one session—it’s a long process. If you can gather around 70,000, you should be able to apply for the operation. With birth defects like this, the earlier you start, the better the results and the lower the costs. Recovery and hand training after surgery will also be much smoother.”

Zhou Can thought simply: if the family managed to scrape up 70,000, he wouldn’t mind donating another 20,000 himself if they ran short.

It all hinged on how hard the family was willing to try.

If they wouldn’t even do that, Zhou Can wasn’t about to play the role of savior.

He lived by one principle: only help those who try to help themselves.

People who just give up and wait for others to rescue them—no wonder even the authorities find them frustrating.

The father took a minute or two to think. He even took out a battered phone to use as a calculator, punching in numbers to see how much he could pull together.

Zhou Can watched as he entered the first number—probably his savings.

He kept adding up, one figure after another.

“Seventy thousand is doable. I worked it out. If it’s not enough, maybe the hospital could let me owe the remainder. I work a year, live frugal, I could save thirty or forty thousand and pay the rest back with interest.”

The father spoke to Zhou Can with complete sincerity.

“I’ll talk to the hospital and get you every fee reduction I can. For now, this is only a preliminary plan and estimate. The actual surgical plan will need to be discussed with the orthopedic team. Do you live in this city?”

Zhou Can asked.

“Yeah, I work at the food factory and stay in the dorms with my son.”

That probably meant there wasn’t any family home in the city.

“Wait here. Let me check with Director Zhang.”

Zhou Can got up and walked over to Zhang Bihua, explaining the boy’s situation quietly.

“Director Zhang, do you think we should refer this child to Tuyu Hospital for the corrective surgery?” That was the main thing Zhou Can needed to confirm.