Path of Medicine With a System
chapter-125

Zhang Fan’s scheduled prostatectomy was the first scheduled surgery of the day. The urology department had a special endoscopic surgery room of its own where the department nurses took turns being the operating room nurses. Prostatectomy involved electrosurgical excision, which required a large amount of rinsing solution. The floor would be completely wet by the end of an electrosurgical excision surgery. Also, the doctor would need to wear a special waterproof plastic surgical outfit.

Vice Director Wang Zongkui and all three attending physicians in the urology department came over to watch Zhang Fan’s first urological surgery. Wang Zongkui was here because he was worried that Zhang Fan wouldn’t be able to accomplish the surgery, while the attending physicians were here to watch Zhang Fan make a joke of himself. If Zhang Fan didn’t even know how to use the endoscopes properly, he wouldn’t even need to start on the urological surgery! The attending physicians would laugh at Zhang Fan until he died!

The surgery began. Some nurses helped support the old man as he walked into the endoscopic surgery operating room. The old man saw that there were quite a lot of doctors in the room, so he commented, “What, none of you have ever seen an old man’s penis before?”

“Oh! Sir, they’re all my higher-ranking doctors. They’re here to observe as part of the surgery’s rules.” Zhang Fan couldn’t really explain, so he made something up to fool the old patient.

“Ah! You need to work much harder! Why are all of them ranked higher than you!” the old man responded. His attitude and tone were just like an old policeman’s. He definitely still had the same attitude as when he had been the head prison warden. Those who didn’t know what was going on would probably think that Zhang Fan had once been a prisoner in his prison!

The anesthesiologist began the anesthesia. Zhang Fan washed his hands and disinfected, then installed the endoscopes, and started operating the electrotome (an electric cutting instrument used in electrosurgery). The other doctors all watched Zhang Fan’s every movement closely.

Actually, Zhang Fan had never used endoscopes in real life before. However, he had practiced more urological surgeries in his System than any of the attending physicians in the department already. This was because back when Zhang Fan was rotated into the internal medicine departments, he would always mentally enter his System and practice surgeries to help wake himself up whenever he got tired from studying medical textbooks.

Zhang Fan proceeded with the surgery slowly and steadily. Although his surgical assistant Lu Shuyan was a master’s degree student, she had her master’s degree in gynecology, not urology. She wasn’t very familiar with some of the equipment used for urological surgery. Zhang Fan was in no hurry, so he explained each and every piece of urological equipment that she didn’t understand how to use to her. Although he was nominally explaining things for Lu Shuyan, he also intentionally spoke in a loud voice so that the other doctors could all hear that he knew what every piece of urological surgery equipment was.

Zhang Fan guided the endoscope into the urethra to provide himself with excellent vision. Rinsing and electroexcision began. The prostate seemed just like a piece of tofu under the endoscopic mirror, though this piece of “tofu” would have some toughness to it. Zhang Fan started cutting off the prostate in a really gentle manner together with the rinsing!

Zhang Fan’s movements were quite precise. He gently removed the prostate layer by layer. It all seemed quite simple as all he needed to do was cut with the electrotome. However, it would be impossible to control the strength required for this precisely without several years of experience.

The other three urology attending physicians had all been in urology for several years before performing their first prostatectomies. When they watched Zhang Fan’s movements, whoa! Was this Zhang Fan really just a resident doctor? To be quite honest, none of the three attending physicians were as skilled as Zhang Fan in controlling the proper strength so precisely.

Zhang Fan’s movements were far too well practiced. There were no problems whatsoever. Every single cut he made was almost the exact same thickness. This was the best evidence of his skill. As Vice Director Wang Zongkui watched the surgery, he commented, “This is what surgery truly is!”

It would have been fine if he hadn’t said anything, but his comment made the three attending physicians rather embarrassed.

Two of the attending physicians slowly started leaving the operating room. “How ridiculous. He’s too amazing. Did you guys notice that his cuts are made with almost identical strength every time? Even our Director Li isn’t that amazing, right?” remarked attending physician Chen Xinyuan. He was a veteran attending physician who found Zhang Fan’s skills to be inconceivable.

“Sigh! What time warp in the future did he arrive from? If he joins our urology department in the future, he’ll instantly have a medical team of his own, sigh! It took so many years for us before we could have our own teams! Yet, he can already lead a team as a rotation doctor. Truly, that old phrase was so correct—comparing yourself to others can anger you to death!” These comments were from the youngest attending physician in the department, whose name was Heimduller. He had only gotten married recently, so he wanted to make more money. That was why he was worried about Zhang Fan being new competition!

“With Zhang Fan’s skills, there’s nothing we can do if he decides to join our department. Did you see how Director Li was acting around Zhang Fan? Director Li was so polite and smiling so much! When have you ever seen our director being so polite to us before? So, young man! Don’t even think about causing any trouble, as Zhang Fan won’t be afraid!”

“Sigh! I hope that he decides to join a different surgical department, then! There’s not much to be had in our department to begin with, so if a wolf joins us… Sigh! There’s so much competition out there, and life is hard!” Heimduller said rather depressedly.

The two doctors were no longer in a mood to chat. Both of them went to prepare for their own surgeries which were scheduled after Zhang Fan’s. Since Zhang Fan’s movements were so precise and swift, it seemed likely that he would be finished soon.

Vice Director Wang Zongkui also saw that Zhang Fan was almost finished with the surgery. However, the last parts of the prostatectomy would be the most dangerous for the patient. If the doctor wasn’t careful with controlling the strength used on the electrotome, it would be quite easy to penetrate the prostate and injure the patient. If Zhang Fan seemed like he was going to cut any further, Vice Director Wang was prepared to speak up and stop the surgery. However, he was worried for nothing, because Zhang Fan finished the final cut with zero problems. Zhang Fan then said, “Okay, I’m going to remove the endoscope now.”

Vice Director Wang folded his arms and praised Zhang Fan, “Not bad at all, Doctor Zhang! Your movements are well-practiced! Are you intending on joining our urology department in the future? Once your rotations are finished, you’ll be able to instantly become independent if you join our department.”

“It’s still quite early for me. There’s still many departments that I haven’t been rotated through yet. Director Wang, should I write the medical report like normal?”

It was a habit of lower-ranking doctors to address vice directors as “Director” whenever the director wasn’t around.

“Yes, normal is fine. Remember to use hemostatic medicine in a timely manner. Pay close attention to the patient for three days following the surgery.”

“Okay.”

The surgery was now over. Lu Shuyan helped Zhang Fan to take off his special plastic surgical clothing. “You really are amazing. You probably didn’t see the attending physicians’ expressions, as you were busy with the surgery. They had such ashen faces! You really scared them! Still, it felt really good. I just slightly prettied myself up and put on some light makeup, but none of them actually wanted to take and teach me! Just who do they think they are!” Lu Shuyan was rather displeased that none of the attending physicians had selected her.

“You’re exaggerating! Aren’t you in a new medical team now? It’s not like either of us are ranking higher than the other. In our team, we can discuss everything. I’ll go give the patient medical advice and you can write the medical report, or would you prefer to do things the other way around?”

“Sigh! You’re a sly one! You’re already giving the commands, so do I have a choice? I’ll go write the medical report. Just when can I finally finish the rotations? I honestly don’t want to keep being rotated anymore. In front of you, my three years as a master’s degree student are just like nothing. I can’t feel superior at all!”

“Haha, when you’re in the gynecology department, feel free to show off as much as you want to me! I’ll definitely call you ‘Teacher’ when I see you!”

“Damn you! I won’t write medical reports for you if you keep making fun of me!” Lu Shuyan laughed as she playfully shoved Zhang Fan.

The other urology department attending physicians now had slightly less hostile expressions to show Zhang Fan now that he had finished his first urological surgery. It wasn’t nearly as bad as on the first day that he’d joined. Although they still weren’t very friendly, they would at least nod and greet him upon seeing him in the hallways. If Zhang Fan didn’t have any actual skills despite being assigned to lead his own medical team right when he joined the department, the attending physicians would steal every last one of his patients!

After the old man patient returned to his patient room to rest, his oldest son came over to find Zhang Fan. Yesterday, the son’s classmate, who was the medical imaging director, had told him about Zhang Fan refusing to eat a meal together with the patient’s family.

The patient’s son was truly worried. He knew that most normal people would be unable to deal with his father’s bad temper. His father would treat everyone as if they were prisoners due to his former job as head prison warden. This made the patient’s son really worried that his father had made Zhang Fan angry.

“Doctor Zhang! You must be tired after the surgery! Would today be convenient for you? I’d like to invite you to eat a meal together with my family. We’ll be troubling you often again in the future, so we’ll really feel bad if we don’t at least treat you.”

“It’s alright, there’s truly no need. The medical imaging director already talked to me and let me know that my patient is his friend’s father. There’s truly no need to be so polite with me. I’ll definitely do the best I can for your father. No need to eat a meal together. Please feel free to talk to me if there’s anything at all.” Zhang Fan also spoke quite politely.

Later when Zhang Fan got off of his work shift, the patient’s children were waiting for him at the hospital entrance. Without saying anything, they stuffed a black bag filled with two cartons of smokes into his hand, and then instantly left.

There were too many people at the hospital entrance, so Zhang Fan didn’t say anything. He decided to simply accept the smokes as it seemed obvious that the patient’s children wouldn’t feel reassured if he didn’t take anything. However, Zhang Fan intended to pay for the value of the smokes and put it towards the patient’s hospital fees.