The Enhanced Doctor
Chapter 59 - 059 Swollen Finger

Chapter 59: 059 Swollen Finger

(Thank you 08a for your encouragement and reward)

Liu Banxia had already fortified his confidence, but he also knew that he couldn’t afford to make any mistakes in front of Qin Hai during this time.

He looked around but didn’t see Qin Hai. Something’s off. Qi Wentai isn’t here either. Could they be hiding somewhere, plotting?

"Dr. Chen, where’s Director Qin?" Liu Banxia asked Chen Jianxin, who was on duty that day.

"Qi Wentai took on a patient with gallbladder polyps complicated by acute cholecystitis. He’s gone to perform a cholecystectomy," Chen Jianxin said with a smile.

Liu Banxia’s face immediately fell. Qi Wentai has taken the lead again! I’ve only done one appendectomy, and he’s already removing gallbladders.

That’s a Level III surgery in general surgery! This is the advantage of having connections. Otherwise, what attending physician would let a second-year resident perform such an operation?

"Haha, regretting it now? Take it slow," Chen Jianxin teased.

"How could I not regret it? Hey... where’s Wang Chao?" Liu Banxia then asked.

"They’ve had their fill of meat; they have to let us have some soup, right? Wang Chao was sent to be the Second Assist. Don’t you go wandering off, kid. It’s just the two of us now," Chen Jianxin said.

Liu Banxia nodded with a smile. "Not many patients last night, so I’m full of energy."

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw Qiaoqiao bouncing in from outside, carrying a large bag of snacks.

"Is Tang Dou’s problem solved?" Liu Banxia asked.

Qiaoqiao gave him a thumbs-up. "You’re truly amazing! You’ve made me so happy."

Liang Xiaolin, who happened to be walking by, heard this and shivered. Has society become this open already? I’d better go change the patient’s dressing.

"We got the X-rays. The pet hospital said the bone fragments are perfectly aligned; they didn’t need to do anything more. Here, this is from Tang Dou to thank you," Qiaoqiao said, handing the snacks to Liu Banxia.

Liu Banxia accepted them without ceremony. "You’re going to have your hands full for a while; you’ll have to watch it closely. Is Tang Dou still in the car? You should get going."

Qiaoqiao turned and skipped out cheerfully.

"What was that all about?" Chen Jianxin asked curiously.

"Hehe, Dr. Chen, I’ve also been studying some bone-setting techniques in my spare time. Watching Director Xu’s methods last time really made me itch to try," Liu Banxia said with a grin.

"You kid, you’re full of surprises. Are you confident? If you really are, and we get a similar patient today, I’ll let you try your hand. But you have to be realistic; there are responsibilities involved," Chen Jianxin said.

"Don’t worry. Whether it’s bone-setting, fasciotomy for decompression, or tendon suturing, I’ve practiced them. I’ve been reading up on it for days. I just wasn’t paying close attention before, so I didn’t grasp all the details," Liu Banxia said, overjoyed.

Chen Jianxin nodded without saying anything further.

Just like that, Liu Banxia was ecstatic. It wasn’t that general surgeons couldn’t perform such procedures; it was just that sometimes, for convenience, they would refer them directly to orthopedics. But whether to refer or not depended on the attending physician’s stance. Since Chen Jianxin had given the green light, it meant there was no issue. And, as he’d said, it came with responsibilities.

Liu Banxia then headed straight for Treatment Room One, where he still had to "guide" Dr. Liang Xiaolin. Since treating patients doesn’t grant proficiency points anymore, I might as well use this chance to get closer to Liang Xiaolin.

After three dressing changes and one suturing, a young couple entered. The young man’s right hand’s finger was wrapped in gauze.

"What happened to your finger?" Liu Banxia asked.

"I don’t know what happened. It’s been a bit itchy these past few days. I put some ointment on it yesterday, and today it has a burning sensation," the patient said.

"Let me take a look," Liu Banxia said, putting on sterile gloves.

When the gauze was removed, Liu Banxia saw that the first phalanx of the patient’s right index finger showed slight swelling, and the skin color was a bit dark. There was also some rash, which stopped about 0.5 centimeters from the second phalanx.

He first rinsed it with saline solution, then carefully wiped it with sterile cotton swabs soaked in saline.

"Doctor, it feels cool and quite comfortable when you wipe it. Did I use the wrong medicine? I used Bactroban," the patient asked.

"We still need to take a closer look. I think the color of your finger looks a bit off. How many days has it been like this? Did it start suddenly, or was it due to an injury?" Liu Banxia asked.

"It just happened suddenly. Let’s see... counting today, it’s been four days? At first, it was just a little itchy, so I didn’t think much of it. Yesterday, after I put on the medicine, it started to feel like it was burning and swelling," the patient said after thinking for a moment.

"Alright, let’s observe it for now. The current swelling suggests signs of infection. We’ll mark the boundary of the infection, and you’ll need to stay in the hospital for a few hours," Liu Banxia said, taking out a marker pen and drawing a line at the border. "Don’t wipe off this line, and keep a close eye on it. For now, just wait in the observation area. If you see the swelling or rash cross this line, you must tell me immediately."

"Doctor, is it very serious?" the patient’s female companion asked.

"Right now, we’re still in the diagnostic phase. If it doesn’t cross the line, it indicates a mild infection that we can control with antibiotics. If it does cross the line, it means the infection is somewhat aggressive, and we’ll need to do a tissue biopsy to determine the treatment plan," Liu Banxia explained.

DING! Received 50 experience points, 30 points in Diagnostics skill.

"Don’t worry too much. Generally, it shouldn’t be a major issue. Since this wasn’t caused by an injury, there’s usually not much to be alarmed about," Liu Banxia added, seeing their concern.

"Do you think it could be a really severe infection? If it is, would his finger... need to be amputated?" Liang Xiaolin asked worriedly after the patient left.

Liu Banxia shook his head. "It’s too early to tell. If it were caused by an injury, I would have ordered a biopsy right away. I examined it carefully just now; there are no signs of paronychia."

"Let’s observe first. Although sometimes we do need to describe the condition as more serious to patients so they don’t neglect it, we can’t overdo it either. Being a doctor... it’s really not easy."

Liang Xiaolin nodded. Although she hadn’t been at Second Hospital for very long, she had already encountered a fair number of cases: the postmortem C-section, the baby with congenital heart disease, and yesterday’s appendicitis patient. Every patient has their own hardships.

Thinking about this made her a bit gloomy. All these memorable cases seemed to involve this unreliable Liu Banxia.

Was he trying to make a move on me those first two times we interacted? He clearly just gets by on his looks, and he even brought his girlfriend to the hospital to show off or something.

Her thoughts ran wild, and the way she looked at Liu Banxia became inscrutable.

Liu Banxia was completely baffled. I didn’t say anything just now, did I? What’s up with her?