Surgery Godfather

Dean Xia, with several deputy deans and the department directors of the surgical system, stood in a line on the steps outside the Emergency Department’s main entrance.

Below were doctors, nurses, postgraduates, interns from various departments, anyone who was free came to join in, and the more people there were, the livelier it looked.

First, Dean Xia gave a stirring speech, then each department director pledged selfless dedication and teamwork to develop and strengthen the center.

Finally, Dean Xia unveiled the silk red cloth with a grand gesture.

The golden lettering “Trauma Emergency Center” was revealed.

There was a loud round of applause.

A few short days later, at a little past seven in the morning, the dedicated line of the Trauma Emergency Center was put to use.

A nearby factory caught fire, and the higher-ups demanded that Sanbo Hospital promptly dispatch helicopters and ambulances for the rescue operation.

The ground and air teams set off simultaneously. A helicopter could carry five people: two crew members, a doctor, a nurse, and a seat reserved for the patient. It was equipped with advanced emergency equipment, including a ventilator.

The helicopter arrived first, landing in a nearby football field.

The doctor and nurse, carrying emergency kits, walked towards the accident scene.

A pillar of heavy smoke climbed upwards like a giant dragon.

The surroundings were in utter chaos; paramilitary police had marked off a large circle area with warning tapes. Announcements were being made over loudspeakers, but people were still crowding around, unwilling to leave, pushing and shoving each other.

Red fire trucks were stationed all around, high-pressure water jets crisscrossing, aimed at the collapsed building. Ambulances were flashing red lights, lined up one after the other, parked nearby.

This morning, there had been a fire at this factory. Though the fire was eventually put out, the building had collapsed, burying eleven people, eight of whom were firefighters.

Then, another person was dug out.

“Make way! Make way!” Firefighters carried a person out of the heavy smoke on a stretcher.

“Hang in there, Qiangzi! Hang in there, you hold on!” The firefighter supporting the stretcher yelled, sobbing, his voice breaking.

“What’s the situation?” The deputy mayor, who was in charge of the rescue operations, wearing a helmet, immediately rushed over, followed by other staff.

“Our comrade. He’s conscious, his right upper limb has been crushed, broken into several pieces, we’re still looking for a thumb,” the firefighter said in a rushed tone.

“Be quick!”

“Which is the nearest hospital?”

“Sanbo!”

“Send to Sanbo Hospital, Sanbo hospital’s ambulance!”

“Over here!” The ambulance also arrived, and the doctor immediately raised his hand, the paramedics ran over, grabbing the stretcher.

The fridge was opened; the severed limbs were counted and recorded one by one, sterilized gauze wrapped around them, put into plastic bags, and placed inside the fridge, dry and cold refrigeration. A venous access pathway was opened on the other forearm, and saline was already being administered. The ambulance had automated testing equipment, so blood samples were immediately drawn for tests. The hospital was called to prepare red blood cells and plasma.

“Quick! Back to the hospital.”

“Report, traffic jam, it’s the rush hour for work.”

“Traffic jam? Damn it! Traffic cops! Dispatch a patrol car, several motorcycles, go and clear the traffic, those who don’t make way, flip their cars.” The deputy mayor started cursing.

“No need, we have a helicopter, it’s parked at a nearby football field, we’ll drive the patient to the helicopter, we can get there quickly.”

“Helicopter, right! The patient is in your hands now, we’ll send somebody after you.”

“Qiangzi, hold on! Brothers, we’re going back in–” Several firefighters, once again courageously rushed into the ruins.

“Report to the Mayor, six individuals have been rescued, four firefighters, two workers, one has been sent to Sanbo Hospital, the other five have been sent to People’s Hospital and Medical University Affiliated Hospital.”

After finishing the call, the deputy mayor, his head buzzing, leaned over with his hands on his waist, his clothes soaked with sweat, stared blankly at the smoking ruins. There were still five people buried inside, their fate unknown.

A few days after the establishment of the Trauma Emergency Center, it welcomed patients in this manner.

Ding-dong!

Mission: A stunning feat, surgery for a hero– five-section limb replantation!

Reward: 16000 points + random gift pack!

Five sections severed, it gives goosebumps just thinking about it. It seems the building collapsed and was hit by a machine that happened to have several blades attached to it.

Yang Ping and Old Han headed straight for the helipad, the dedicated elevator goes directly there, the helipad was already crowded with people. Next to the landing pad, Director Xiong and several doctors and nurses were waiting, next to them was a large box containing prepared emergency medicines and equipment.

“Yes, yes, yes! Our helicopter will be landing soon, the rescue team has already been assembled, all personnel are in place, rest assured, we will complete the mission.” Dean Xia was sweating profusely, his shirt back soaking wet.

“Director Han, Director Xiong has already informed you of the basic situation. The helicopter will be back soon, take a look at the patient as soon as it lands, immediately develop a plan, assemble the best team, and carry out the surgery quickly.” Dean Xia looked up at the sky.

The helicopter approached from afar, the sound of the engine grew louder, it circled above the rooftop before landing steadily on the helipad. The wind stirred up by the rotors blew everyone’s hair to one side.

The patient was stretchered out and rushed towards the elevator on the rooftop. Emergency doctors and nurses immediately moved forward, even as they followed the stretcher from which they extracted blood from the placed intravenous cannula, and sent it to the blood transfusion department for cross-matching. This speeds up the blood transfusion process.

“Complete the preoperative examination, go directly to surgery!” Director Xiong waved his hand.

“Secretary Luo from the municipal government is on his way. The rescue team– Secretary Luo is the team leader, I’m the deputy, and you are the chief expert. The command centre is stationed in our surgical building conference room. Secretary Luo requested that the entire rescue process be broadcast live in the conference room. Mayor Li is in Beijing for a meeting and is very concerned about this accident, and is rushing back.” Dean Xia tried to explain everything in a few sentences.

“Song Zimo, Lu Xiaowu, and Zhang Lin are already in the surgical room, we are going downstairs right now to prepare for surgery.” Old Han got excited.

Soon, Dean Xia arrived at the conference room, followed by Secretary Luo and representatives from the armed police, health, and public security department. The attendant guided everyone to their seats in the front row.

“Secretary Luo, please have a seat! We have organised the hospital’s elite to participate in the rescue. Our chief expert, Professor Han Jianguo, comes from the Magic City Sixth Hospital and has abundant experience in trauma orthopedics.” Dean Xia led Secretary Luo to his seat.

Secretary Luo put his document bag on the table, with a solemn look on his face: “Hmm, I just heard from the health bureau that Professor Han is a well-known professor in domestic trauma orthopedics. Mayor Li just spoke with me on the phone for half an hour, instructing us to spare no effort, to save patients, and prioritise people’s health.”

“Yes, we will fulfil the trust placed in us by the people. Secretary Luo, you will be able to see the entire rescue process on this screen here, and command the entire process.”

“Great, I was just about to mention live video broadcasting. Mayor Li also wants to see the scene as soon as possible. Also, to strengthen the rescue force, the city has contacted Professor Hong Zhigang from Magic City Sixth Hospital, a top orthopedic expert in the country. He will connect with us via video at that time to instruct the surgery.” Secretary Luo adjusted his hair.

“Professor Hong Zhigang is the senior of our Director Han.” Professor Xia explained.

“Then that’s a strong combination.” Secretary Luo settled into his seat.

“Xiao Yang, are you confident enough? If not, I’ll do it myself.” In the changing room, Old Han asked while changing his clothes.

Yang Ping nodded: “No problem, I will give it my all.”

“Good! Remember, stay calm, ensure the quality of the anastomosis, this multi-segment limb injury is severe, and highly contaminated. The blockage of any anastomosis will cause our previous efforts to be wasted. Don’t bear any psychological burden, I will bear all the consequences! Do it as you did with the baby finger replantation, go all out. I will say it again, if there is any problem, I will take all the consequences!”

“Understood!” Yang Ping had changed clothes and put on his mask and cap.

Old Han took out a cigarette, sniffed it, put it back, and pressed his hand on Yang Ping’s shoulder, saying: “Let’s go!”

The whole hospital displayed high professionalism. Everyone stayed calm, keeping to their roles, cooperating with each other, allowing work to proceed smoothly.

The surgery required a long time, with tracheal intubation for general anaesthesia.

“Anesthesia successful, you can start the operation now!” Anesthetist Liang Jing, said calmly, then added: “I will take care of the patient, you guys go ahead.”

Old Han commanded the surgery room again like the previous time, the operation was divided into two groups, with two operating tables. Yang Ping and Song Zimo washed the injury site on the near end, Tian Yuan and Fang Yan washed the severed limbs, and the rest of the people helped accordingly–setting the body position, lifting the hand, and passing things.

“Go for it!” Tian Yuan made a gesture, sending an encouraging look.

Song Zimo also gave a thumbs-up: “Go for it!”

“Go for it!” Yang Ping responded, his heart surging with emotions.

After washing, everyone went to wash their hands.

Song Zimo disinfected the spread, Yang Ping immediately put on the gown and gloves.

The scrub nurse, Su Yixuan, her bright eyes, long eyelashes, flickering, she clenched her small fist and said to Yang Ping: “Brother Ping, go for it! I believe in you.”

The sound of the anesthesia machine puffing air, the circulating nurse bustling about: “8 units of red blood cells, 1600 millilitres of plasma, are being infused.”

“Blood pressure stable, vital signs stable!”

“Micro instruments, ready!”

“Microscope, ready!”

Pre-surgery check—

Start!

Yang Ping held a pair of tweezers in his left hand and sharp tissue scissors in his right, and began to debride the wound. He carefully identified and thoroughly removed the foreign bodies, necrotic tissue and non-viable tissue; neatly trimmed the skin; found, trimmed, and marked every blood vessel, nerve, muscle, and tendon.

After cleaning this side, rinse again. They then separately debride the severed limbs with Tian Yuan’s group, finding and marking the blood vessels, nerves, and tendons. The severed limbs, after both groups have cleaned them, come together and are rinsed again.

The radial and ulnar fractures are reset, and the steel plate is placed. The three steps of temporarily fixing the steel plate with reduction forceps, drilling holes, measuring depth and tapping, are completed in one go. Then the screws are screwed in one by one. And then the hand and finger fractures are fixed with 1.5 and 1.0 Kirschner wires.

Successful connection of the severed limbs’ skeleton, the basic shape restored, the rest is the connection of the severed blood vessels, nerves, and tendons.

Tendon sutures–!

Connecting the tendons first? Old Han was sitting a few meters away, staring at the screen on the wall of the surgical room: “Xiao Yang, hurry up and connect the blood vessels! Reduce ischemic time.”

“No delay, connect them level by level, from deep to shallow, there’s no need to rigidly connect the blood vessels first, it won’t cause much delay!” Yang Ping’s tone was confident.

“Within a certain time, connecting them level by level can reduce interference with the already connected blood vessels, ensuring the highest quality of connection.” Yang Ping added, this was his confidence in his speed.

Old Han had complete confidence in Yang Ping’s abilities, so he didn’t say anything else, just focusing on the screen to provide necessary support at any time. After all, Yang Ping was still young and inevitably lacked experience.

In fact, when Yang Ping was fixing the fracture, he deliberately slowed down. Because he knew that his fracture surgery level was far behind limb replantation. But this kind of radial and ulnar fracture is not a problem for any orthopedic specialist, and it had little impact on the overall surgery time.

The large screen was divided into two halves, one half displaying the surgical video; one half connected to Professor Hong Zhigang in Magic City.

At Magic City, Professor Hong was holding a conference, a national orthopedic trauma web meeting. Professor Hong requested for the surgery live broadcast to be connected to the conference platform.

This way, he could remotely instruct the entire surgical process and let all the national participants see the live broadcast of the five-section replantation. After all, five-section replantation was very rare, whether it succeeded or failed, it was an excellent communication opportunity.

Moreover, he wanted to see how his junior, Han Jianguo, created a miracle.

The first fracture, the first blood vessel.

Beginning the connection.