Chapter 39: A Critical Diagnosis Under Pressure

Her daughter is in critical condition, and there’s a real risk of losing both lives. Smiling now would be terribly inappropriate.

Having irritated the family, further discussion became impossible.

Zhou Can decided to be completely forthright.

“Our department’s head and attending physician are doing everything they can with the diagnosis. But your daughter, being pregnant, presents a far tougher challenge than an ordinary patient. For now, we suspect the lesion may be intracranial. Director Zhu has personally intervened and secured support from several top-tier departments. They should be here soon.”

Zhou Can wanted the family to know that reinforcements were on the way, so they needn’t worry about the rescue team’s capabilities.

This was his way of reassuring them.

The elderly lady showed no reaction to Director Zhu’s personal involvement.

It seemed she had been informed all along.

Once she heard that doctors from several top departments had been summoned, the old lady’s expression softened a bit.

“I’m just a junior doctor. I’m here only to quickly gather more case history to help us pinpoint the cause accurately.”

Zhou Can’s candidness actually pleased the old lady.

Her attitude toward him warmed considerably.

“Young man, if you have any questions, ask away!”

“This is your daughter’s first pregnancy, correct?”

Zhou Can asked directly.

“Yes.”

The old lady sighed heavily.

“My daughter has hypertension, and doctors advised against pregnancy. But she longed for a child so much. This pregnancy holds special significance for both her and our family. She even told me, ‘Mom, the child in my belly is the only bloodline left by Haowei in this world—a gift from heaven. Even if it costs my life, I must bring this child into the world.'”

Unable to suppress his curiosity, Zhou Can asked, “If I may ask, did something happen to your daughter’s husband?”

“My son-in-law is a narcotics detective. During an operation, he was stabbed twenty-seven times—his intestines even spilled out. Yet, driven by sheer determination, he managed to pin the drug lord down until his comrades arrived and apprehended the criminal. Then he closed his eyes forever.”

Tears glistened in the old lady’s eyes as she recounted her son-in-law’s heroic deeds.

Zhou Can was deeply moved by her story as well.

The peace that ordinary citizens enjoy hinges on the silent vigilance of heroes.

A husband willing to sacrifice everything to protect people from the scourge of drugs truly earns heartfelt respect and gratitude.

At that moment, he resolved to do everything in his power to save the pregnant woman and protect her baby.

After all, that child was the only living legacy of a hero.

“When did your daughter first develop hypertension?”

He pressed on with his questions, eager to gather more details.

“Around the age of twenty-one. Back when she was a student, she pushed herself too hard and neglected her diet, which led to her developing hypertension. Later, as the pressures of work and study increased, her condition not only failed to improve but worsened. Sigh—she’s just too stubborn, prioritizing work and study over her health.”

Thus, the pregnant patient in the emergency room had been battling hypertension for a full fifteen years.

This was a crucial clue.

It could help guide the diagnosis.

“Does your daughter have any other underlying or significant medical conditions?”

Zhou Can, ever cautious, continued his inquiry.

“Nothing else of note. She sometimes suffers from headaches and fevers, but nothing severe,” the old lady replied after careful thought.

“Alright, thank you for your cooperation. Please take care—you’ll still need to care for your daughter,”

Zhou Can, noting her advanced age, offered some reassuring words to boost her confidence.

“Alright, thank you!”

The old lady then walked over to the bench opposite the rescue room and sat down.

Carrying the updated case details, Zhou Can entered the rescue room.

“Everyone, we’ve just received a key piece of information from the family. The patient has had hypertension for over fifteen years.”

Deputy Director Han Changqing’s eyes lit up immediately.

“This information is incredibly timely! With the patient’s high intracranial pressure and long-standing hypertension, it could well be hypertensive encephalopathy,” Han Changqing exclaimed excitedly.

Director Lou, pleased with the significant progress in the case, smiled broadly.

He gave Zhou Can an approving glance.

“This kid has done it again.”

It seemed that communicating more with the family, rather than solely focusing on the resuscitation, was essential.

In the Emergency Department, the urgency of treating critically ill patients often overshadows detailed family communication.

Furthermore, families, gripped with worry for their loved ones, can become agitated. If doctors delay treatment to ask too many questions, they risk misunderstanding and even anger.

This greatly increases the risk of conflict between doctors and patients.

Doctors, wary of repercussions, tend to keep interactions to a minimum.

Usually, they just ask a few simple questions when taking a case.

Deputy Director Han Changqing had already begun screening for hypertensive encephalopathy.

Yet Zhou Can continued scrutinizing the patient.

Something about the patient didn’t fully add up with a typical hypertensive encephalopathy. Early symptoms usually involve a headache at the back of the head, not an immediate onset of consciousness loss leading rapidly to coma.

Deputy Director Han, anxious to diagnose before other departments could intervene—both for face and glory—rushed to pinpoint the cause. Such impatience, however, was dangerous.

It could easily lead to a misdiagnosis.

Zhou Can felt as though Han was forcing the hypertensive encephalopathy diagnosis on the patient.

“Fifteen years of hypertension, a pregnant woman carrying a child, advanced maternal age, fainting, confusion, and a continuously falling fetal heart rate…”

Zhou Can linked these symptoms, the medical history, and his test results.

Despite his deep thoughts, nothing concrete emerged.

He then shifted his perspective. Given the patient’s high education, she would surely understand basic medical knowledge.

She must have been well aware that hypertension during pregnancy is extremely dangerous. Since she made it through nearly six months of pregnancy without incident, she must have kept her blood pressure under excellent control.

Then what caused her blood pressure to spike so suddenly?

Zhou Can felt he might have just grasped the key to the mystery.

His gaze swept over the pregnant woman once more.

Ever since he’d entered the rescue room, he had found something slightly off about her face.

Could it be due to cyanosis of the lips?

That didn’t seem likely.

He leaned in closer for a better look.

Given that he had just made a small breakthrough, no one was here to criticize him.

“Xiao Zhou, take notes. Diagnosing hypertensive encephalopathy isn’t something you can explain in just a few words,” Deputy Director Han Changqing said, assuming Zhou was there to learn his diagnostic method.

“Yes, sir!”

Zhou Can replied, though his eyes showed he wasn’t paying any attention to Han’s technique.

When his gaze landed on the patient’s eyebrows, he finally understood why her face looked a bit off.

Her eyebrows had simply not been drawn properly.

The curves were actually quite beautiful, suggesting she had good artistic skill.

However, the symmetry was off, and the ends were somewhat crooked.

Normally, one wouldn’t expect such a basic mistake.

Zhou Can couldn’t help but recall a description from a medical textbook: “Gestational hypertension is a systemic condition that can lead to retinal disease and blurred vision, even blindness.”

This independent woman would undoubtedly have done her makeup beautifully before going out to visit her parents.

If she noticed uneven eyebrows, she would have redone them.

But she hadn’t.

That left only one possibility: she hadn’t noticed the error because her vision had already started to fail.

Perhaps it wasn’t severe enough to cause alarm, so she brushed it off.

[Pathology Diagnosis Experience +0.2]

The sudden gain of 0.2 experience only confirmed that Zhou Can’s diagnosis was on the right track.

Normally, diagnosing a patient would earn one full experience point.

This situation reminded him of a time in the Surgical Department with Dr. He. The patient then suffered from multiple conditions, and Zhou Can managed to diagnose only one, earning partial credit.

Hence, he received only a fraction of the experience.

Now, the gain of just 0.2 experience suggested that not all of the patient’s conditions had been identified.

Nonetheless, Zhou Can felt tremendously encouraged.

Diagnosing such a challenging case would greatly enhance his skills.

Treating minor ailments like colds for a lifetime would make him nothing more than a mediocre doctor.

Only by constantly tackling high-difficulty cases could he rapidly improve his expertise.