Chapter 327: Uncovering the Real Cause

Judging by her condition, it doesn’t look like asphyxia.

Zhou Can frowned, lost in thought. For the moment, he really couldn’t figure out what was wrong with the elderly woman. Could it be a brain hemorrhage?

But her blood pressure was perfectly normal. Normally, even if she had something like a cerebral aneurysm, a mild shock shouldn’t be enough to rupture it. Besides, the human body isn’t as fragile as we think.

Just then, several other pediatricians and nurses arrived to help.

Whenever a critical patient needs to be rescued, medical staff always pull together. It doesn’t matter which department—it’s always like this.

There’s really only one exception.

When rescuing a patient involves major risks.

For example, there’s a risk of being extorted by the patient’s family or if the patient tends to be very troublesome, even acting unreasonable before emergency care is needed.

Doctors and nurses are human too. When they know acting on their own could bring serious trouble, they naturally weigh the risks and act accordingly.

Expecting medical staff to always act like saints is just unrealistic.

“Dr. Zhou, do you know what’s wrong with her?”

“No idea yet! She mentioned having high blood pressure before passing out, but she’s been taking her medication as prescribed. I checked her blood pressure; it’s normal. Her heart rate is a bit fast but overall alright. She started feeling ill after hearing about her granddaughter’s serious condition. She says she feels weak all over, has a headache, and chest tightness. Oh, and right before fainting, she broke out in a cold sweat.”

Unable to determine the woman’s illness on the spot, Zhou Can repeated the patient’s symptoms and the sequence of events for everyone.

“Director Yan is here! Let her have a look!”

In moments like these, when a patient needs urgent rescue, the authority and experience of a top expert really matter.

Since no one could find out the cause in such a short time, there was no way to start targeted treatment. With some fatal conditions, starting rescue even a second earlier could save a life.

Director Yan stepped forward, leaned over to listen to the patient’s breathing, checked her mouth and nose, then lifted her eyelid for a look.

“Her breathing sounds scary but there’s no immediate danger. Forehead feels a bit warm—has anyone checked her temperature?”

A true expert really is different.

Just her calm presence and natural authority were enough to steady the room and put the medical staff at ease.

“Temperature hasn’t been checked yet!”

Zhou Can had been focused on ruling out hypertension and heart disease—the highest-risk conditions—and hadn’t even thought to take her temperature.

One quick-thinking nurse had already slipped a thermometer under the patient’s arm.

While that was happening, Director Yan asked Zhou Can for a detailed account of the patient’s symptoms.

After listening, she said evenly, “It shouldn’t be anything too serious. I can see her eyes are a bit red and swollen, like she’s been crying a lot. She’s probably exhausted, plus she’s not young anymore, and worrying about her granddaughter’s health has left her emotionally drained. The bad news about her granddaughter overwhelmed her, triggering abnormal neural activity and finally causing her to faint.”

Hearing Director Yan’s theory, the other doctors nodded in agreement.

Her explanation really fit the facts and made perfect medical sense.

On top of that, Director Yan was highly respected in Pediatrics and known for her exceptional skills and experience.

“Is the temperature ready?”

Director Yan turned to the nurse taking the patient’s temperature.

Admiring looks and general agreement with her diagnosis were nothing new to her.

So her face barely changed.

“37.3. Looks like a slight low-grade fever,” the nurse reported after checking the temperature.

Usually, 37.1℃ is considered the threshold for a low-grade fever. This was only 0.2 degrees above that. In practice, doctors look at the full picture and most of the time treat this as normal.

“That matches my judgment—it’s just emotional stress leading to abnormal neural discharges. Rapid heartbeat after a scare is perfectly normal. Let the patient rest for a bit and she’ll likely recover soon.”

Once she knew the patient’s temperature, Director Yan delivered her diagnosis.

“Maybe… maybe the old lady really is sick too.”

Zhou Can was still deep in thought, feeling like he was onto something but not quite able to say for sure.

It wasn’t until the nurse reported the patient’s temperature that he realized it could be an actual low-grade fever.

“Dr. Zhou, why do you think that?”

Director Yan had just given her diagnosis and now Zhou Can was basically contradicting her in front of everyone.

Still, she wasn’t upset.

She actually wanted to hear Zhou Can’s reasoning.

“Because the old lady’s granddaughter had the same symptoms—fever, chest tightness. They live together, their symptoms are so similar, I think it might be an infectious disease.”

Zhou Can’s thought process was becoming clearer.

“Exactly! They might both have the same illness—the grandmother and granddaughter.”

One doctor jumped in, “But headaches and fever aren’t that common for many infectious diseases. Could it just be the flu?”

“The flu’s basically ruled out! The girl’s symptoms look a lot like the flu but both her blood and urine tests say otherwise,” Zhou Can argued.

If this illness were that easy to diagnose, he would have spotted it already.

“White blood cells and platelets are so low? And her urine protein is 4+, could it be nephrotic syndrome?” Director Yan took a look at the girl’s test results and immediately suspected a kidney disease.

Imminent uremia often comes with such symptoms.

Actually, the girl’s symptoms also matched leukemia, but leukemia typically shows a spike in uric acid levels in the urine.

And since she showed protein in her urine, leukemia could pretty much be ruled out.

So kidney disease seemed likely.

With her wealth of experience, Director Yan naturally considered that first.

But Zhou Can’s gut said it wasn’t kidney disease.

“I lean toward another diagnosis—some kind of serious illness that’s caused kidney failure and organ damage. Maybe even multiple organ failure.”

Zhou Can shared his suspicion.

Director Yan was contradicted twice in a row, and some doctors shot Zhou Can odd looks.

To them, this young doctor was too full of himself.

“Dr. Zhou’s possibility does exist. The old lady seems stable—no emergency care needed. She can be sent to observation to recover on her own, but her vital signs still need to be monitored closely just in case.”

Director Yan gave her recommendation.

She held the highest authority there—no one objected to her taking charge.

“As for the girl’s diagnosis, that’s your call, Dr. Zhou! If you can’t figure it out, just leave her for the morning case discussion. I’ve got plenty of patients waiting—I need to head back.”

Having her judgment overridden twice made her a bit unhappy.

But at her level, she was far too magnanimous to take offense. She’d just come to help with the old lady’s rescue; now that was resolved, she let it go.

The hospital had always used a “first doctor responsibility” system—whoever sees the patient first is responsible for them from start to finish.

She had the old lady wheeled to the observation unit, clearly not agreeing with Zhou Can’s theory that both women had an infectious disease.

“Uncle, please, save my grandma! I’m begging you!”

The little girl, wiping her eyes, pleaded with Zhou Can.

Maybe because she’d seen Zhou Can for her own treatment and spent more time with him, she now instinctively trusted him to handle her grandma’s crisis.

“Don’t cry, don’t cry! This doctor here is the best among us—she’s already checked on your grandma and there’s no danger. You can relax; as doctors, we won’t leave you two alone.”

While soothing the girl, Zhou Can watched the nurses and other doctors transfer the elderly woman onto a rolling stretcher.

This kind of stretcher is standard for moving unconscious patients in hospitals.

“Director Yan, I’m still a little worried this could be infectious. The observation area is full of children—even newborns and moms with their babies. They’re all vulnerable. To be safe, could we move both the lady and her granddaughter somewhere more isolated?”

Zhou Can always paid extra attention to safety.

Maybe that’s just what it means to have a healer’s heart.

If either of them really did have an infectious disease that spreads through the air or droplets, the consequences could be disastrous.

Hearing Zhou Can call attention to this twice, the doctors and nurses who had just moved the old lady became anxious. In healthcare, getting infected by patients is a risk you can never ignore.

No one wants to be the unlucky one.

“Dr. Zhou’s concerns make sense. Assign them to Room 0 for now. Once we’ve figured out what’s going on, we’ll make further arrangements.”

Even though this was her first time working with Zhou Can, Director Yan had heard stories about him.

She knew the young man was anything but ordinary.

She wouldn’t dream of brushing off his diagnosis.

Room 0—it’s a special room you can find in some major hospitals, sometimes called the isolation room.

For example, if a patient has HIV, hepatitis B, possible rabies, and needs to be hospitalized for observation, Room 0 is where they go, to keep others safe.

Some hospitals just send anyone with an infectious disease straight to the Infectious Diseases Department.

Each hospital does things a little differently.

Tuyu Hospital was founded by foreigners, and Room 0 had always been a feature.

It’s not a set room but moves around as needed.

“Sweetie, you just stay with your grandma, okay? I’ll ask one of the nurses to take your blood sample for more tests—that way, we can figure out what’s behind your symptoms and your grandma’s as soon as possible.”

Zhou Can spoke gently to the girl.

Then he looked at the nurse who had taken the lady’s temperature.

“Miss, can I trouble you to take a blood sample from her too? Her illness is actually pretty serious and no one knows when her grandma will wake up. I’ll fill out the test order—once we have the sample, I’ll send it off. Hopefully, we’ll get the results after two this afternoon at the latest.”

It was almost noon by then, and Zhou Can was getting anxious that the girl’s illness would be delayed.

She’d already been sick for two days and looked extremely weak.

The girl was so sensible—she really tugged at everyone’s heartstrings.

As long as he could help, Zhou Can would go all out for the grandmother and granddaughter.

“Sure thing!”

The nurse agreed straight away.

A lot of nurses were especially kindhearted and always rooted for the weak.

Zhou Can filled out the test requests. Once the nurse finished drawing the blood sample, the doctor personally helped with the errands—first paying at the window,

since the old lady was unconscious and there was no way to dig through her bag for an ID.

Paying at the window was the only fast solution.

Once he paid, he sent off the samples.

The outpatient department closed for lunch.

Work resumed at one in the afternoon.

Doctors got about half an hour for lunch and another half hour for a break.

When work started back up, Zhou Can kept thinking about the girl’s test results and went to check, but the biochemistry report still wasn’t ready.

Too many patients at Tuyu Hospital needed biochemical tests, and even with lots of lab staff working fast, results still took an hour or two.

Some of the biochemical items just took a long time to run.

He had just walked into Clinic Room 17 and hadn’t even sat down when that gambling-addict mother brought her son in.

“Dr. Zhou, I called everyone but couldn’t borrow a penny. Could you at least give my son some medicine?” Her eyes were red and her lashes still wet with tears.

It seemed calling around and failing to borrow money had pushed her to the brink, and she’d been crying.

Hitting middle age and having zero credibility is a bitter fate.

If nothing else, when trouble comes, nobody’s willing to trust you enough to lend a hand.

This woman must really know what helplessness feels like.

Being abandoned—there’s no pain quite like it.

“Let’s get you and your son’s names and address registered first! The hospital will see what it can do to help.” Zhou Can didn’t mention the Neighborhood Committee yet.

If he said that straight out, she’d get scared off and refuse to cooperate with registration.

After registering, he asked for her ID and carefully double-checked the details.

One glance at her ID showed she was already thirty-eight years old.

It really was sad for her.

But her son was the one suffering most.

He was only three and a half, and already so sick with no one to care for him.

“Is the child’s father still refusing to pay for treatment?”

“I called him. He’d lost money gambling and yelled at us instead. Now I don’t even dare call him again. He’s got a terrible temper—if I bother him about this again, he might hit me.”

It was clear she was afraid of the boy’s father.

“Alright, the hospital will try to help however we can. For now, take your son home.”

Zhou Can sent the mother and son on their way.

She hesitated for a moment but ultimately left with her child.

She probably wanted to ask how the hospital would help, but held back.