When the Doctor Uses A Hack

It was like a bolt of lightning had shattered the persistence in her heart.

Her face was expressionless, yet tears streamed down incessantly.

Despair!

Helplessness!

All I want is a child, why is it so hard? God, I’m begging You…

Yang Siqi’s heart prayed ceaselessly, she seemed to see a candle flickering in the wind, just like her child, she wanted to protect it, but found she couldn’t touch it at all…

Fear!

Agony!

Resignation!

A multitude of helpless and sorrowful emotions enveloped her, wanting to shield him yet feeling utterly powerless.

Seeing this, Wei Junming hurried over and gently held his wife in his arms.

“It’s alright! It’s going to be alright! Wife… don’t be scared!”

“It’s really going to be okay, we’ve tried so hard for so long, God will surely help us.”

“Please don’t cry, I beg you, wife…”

Wei Junming kept comforting his wife, but as he spoke, he started to choke up himself.

…

…

Chylothorax used to be considered a difficult and complicated disease before the 21st century.

In the past, due to underdeveloped medical levels, if fetal thoracic effusion was found during prenatal screening, doctors would often consider the low survival rate of the fetus or suspect congenital abnormalities and thus suggest induced termination of the pregnancy.

However, in recent years, with the development of medical technology, the possibility of curing chylothorax in infants has greatly increased, and there will be no future sequelae.

Therefore, the local county hospital’s advice was very sensible!

Either induce termination, or transfer to another hospital.

Zhang Jinfeng looked at the couple Yang Siqi and her husband, his voice softened, “Yang, try to stabilize your emotions, we will organize treatment as quickly as possible. Such emotions can easily aggravate the condition of the fetus.”

His words stunned Yang Siqi, and she nodded incessantly, “Okay, Director, I’ll listen to you, I’ll do everything you say, it was you who helped me get pregnant, I believe you must have a way…”

At this moment, what else could the couple do but pray? They could only pin all their hopes on Director Zhang Jinfeng.

But…

They had no idea how to solve it!

After all… the child was still in the womb, it couldn’t be taken out, treated, and then put back in, could it?

That’s impossible!

At that moment, Shi Qi rushed in. Seeing all three gynecological directors present, he was momentarily taken aback, his heart skipped a beat, and he thought to himself: Something bad has happened, it must be serious!

People are like that, the more skilled, the more courageous. Without the assurance of ability, there is no confidence.

Zhang Jinfeng, seeing Shi Qi come in, was quite courteous.

“Director Shi, you’ve arrived, hurry and help us take a look,” Zhang Jinfeng called Shi Qi over.

With trepidation, Shi Qi approached, and the ultrasound doctor said, “Director Shi, this is the situation at hand, the ultrasound measurement shows about 250 milliliters of chylous effusion amassed in the fetus’s thoracic cavity. The intense pressure has compacted the lung tissue to a very small size, preventing alveolar development, and has displaced the heart to one side.

If we do not drain the thoracic fluid promptly, the effusion will continue to increase, and the fetus may suffer cardiac failure and die in utero.

And now the fetus’s heartbeat is already getting weaker!”

As Zhang Jinfeng watched the ultrasound screen, he said, “The best method right now is to immediately drain the chest fluid, to release the compressed lung area, let the alveoli expand and develop, and let the heart return to its normal position.”

“So, Director Shi, we now need to perform a thoracic puncture on the fetus, can you do it?”

Shi Qi was flabbergasted!

This has got to be a joke, right?

Performing a thoracentesis on a child through the mother’s belly? Are you sure you’re not messing with me?

Indeed, extracting pleural fluid is a relatively common investigative and therapeutic procedure for adults or infants after birth.

But Shi Qi had never heard of performing a thoracentesis on an unborn child through the mother’s abdomen.

This is simply unrealistic!

You have to understand, a fetus inside its mother’s uterus is not stationary but moves around — it doesn’t simply lie there ‘obediently submitting to the slaughter’ — and furthermore, this movement is erratic. One can’t see the heart through the belly, let alone through another person…

Therefore, the thought of performing a thoracentesis on a fetus inside the womb is an utterly horrifying and unimaginable feat.

The difficulty is extremely high!

Even higher than any other thoracentesis.

This type of fetal thoracentesis under ultrasound guidance, to extract fluid, had never been done before in Dongyang Province.

Even on a national scale, such an ‘over-the-hill hit-the-bull’ method is rare.

It really took someone like Zhang Jinfeng, an ordinary person wouldn’t dare to dream up such an exaggerated treatment method.

But now it was the most appropriate, the most in line with the current situation.

Not only Shi Qi, but the other two department heads nearby also showed surprise and anxiety, looking at Zhang Jinfeng as if they couldn’t believe their eyes.

This action… it seems a bit irrational.

Because if the puncture is inaccurate, it could potentially harm the fetus’s tiny heart and lungs, or even… lead directly to the death of the fetus.

How could Zhang Jinfeng come up with such a high-risk treatment method?

If something goes wrong, the gynecology department will have another medical dispute on their hands.

Shi Qi was made somewhat dumbfounded by Zhang Jinfeng’s near-crazy treatment plan. How could this madwoman come up with such a terrifying idea?

Shi Qi looked at Zhang Jinfeng, “Director… this… this is simply unrealistic. The fetus inside the mother isn’t always still, plus… the distance is also a big issue. Any movement from the child could harm its vital organs. A slight misstep and we can’t guarantee the child’s safety, so this treatment plan is practically unfeasible!”

“Once a special part of the child is injured, it’s impossible to treat it in the uterus. It could likely lead to the child’s death, so this plan… is too risky!”

“This method is completely impossible!” Shi Qi firmly denied, after all, in his many years of practice, he had never heard of such a treatment plan.

No sooner had Shi Qi finished speaking that Cheng Xin, who had applied to study under Zhang Jinfeng that year, suddenly said, “Actually, it’s not always that the patient keeps moving. There are certain times when they remain relatively still, and with accurate guidance under ultrasonography, a thoracentesis isn’t impossible.”

At that moment, everyone turned to look at Cheng Xin, the graduate student who had just arrived at the hospital a few days ago.

In fact, Cheng Xin knew she shouldn’t have been the one to speak up, as the experience, skill level, and expertise of everyone present far exceeded hers.

But what was the situation now?

The fetus’s life was hanging by a thread, it wasn’t the time for indecisiveness.

As a green, young doctor, Cheng Xin also had her principles and responsibilities!

Zhang Jinfeng turned and glanced at Cheng Xin, “Xiao Cheng, have you seen it done?”

Actually, this was also the first time for Zhang Jinfeng to do such a thing. After all, such a treatment plan was really risky, and ordinary people wouldn’t even think about it, but Zhang Jinfeng had come up with it.

Cheng Xin, nervous, spoke the truth, “This was taught by Teacher Chen in the thoracentesis class yesterday, oh, that’s Dr. Chen Cang from the emergency department of the Provincial Second Hospital!”

With this statement, the room fell into a strange silence.

Zhang Jinfeng then remembered the name Chen Cang; last month in the gynecological delivery room, it was Chen Cang who helped with the thoracic surgery. Zhang Jinfeng had been rather impressed with the young man at the time.

Hearing what Cheng Xin said, Zhang Jinfeng pondered that since Chen Cang could talk about these things, they must not be far-fetched, but plausible to execute.

Thinking this, Zhang Jinfeng said to Cheng Xin, “Call Chen Cang, never mind, I’ll call him myself!”

Zhang Jinfeng didn’t even finish speaking when he suddenly remembered he had Chen Cang’s number from when he said he would introduce his niece to him and hadn’t gotten around to it, so Zhang Jinfeng took out his phone and dialed it directly.

Meanwhile, Shi Qi was even more dumbfounded; how was it Chen Cang again?

ps: More to follow, you might have to wait 10 minutes, I’m checking for typos…