Chapter 40

The patient was a man in his forties, short and fat, with slightly crooked teeth.

He was wearing a floral shirt, Hermes crocodile skin belt, and a ridiculously extravagant diamond ring on his hand.

The young lady pushing his wheelchair had a beautiful face, a model’s physique, and a pair of slender long legs that were distractingly long and curved. She had an LV bag hanging diagonally on her body.

As the wheelchair entered, a wave of strong perfume scent hit them.

“Professor Zhang, hello. Finally, I was able to get an appointment with you,” the patient was visibly excited, shaking Professor Zhang’s hand and trying to stand up from his wheelchair.

Elder Zhang held patient’s hand, and immediately patted his hand, “Sit down, sit down and talk. Calm down.”

Professor Zhang glanced at the computer screen from over his reading glasses, “You’re from Shanxi?”

“Yes, from Shanxi,” the patient replied while sitting down, “I’ve been waiting in line for three months just for this appointment.”

The hospital does have VIP examination rooms. Professors of distinguished reputation like Elder Zhang could take advantage of a VIP appointment for 2000 RMB. If money is not a concern, you can get a VIP appointment and avoid the long wait. After all, not many people are willing to pay 2000 RMB for an appointment.

However, Elder Zhang is stubborn. He does not take VIP appointments and only sees patients with general specialist appointments. Furthermore, he turns a deaf ear to all forms of line-jumping, whether it’s through connections or backdoor channels. He insists on maintaining queue order, no matter who the patient is. They either see another doctor or wait in line.

The graduate student and the young lady assisted the patient to lie down on the examination bed. Elder Zhang conducted a detailed physical examination, asked about the medical history, leaving no stone unturned. He put on a glove, poked the pus-filled sinus and asked, “Three years ago? Six surgeries?”

“I had a car accident three years ago, my tibia here was fractured, and it was an open one. I had an intramedullary nailing surgery. Pus started to leak from the wound three months after the surgery. I had several surgeries afterwards, they scraped the bone, filled the bone, even grafted skin from my thigh here, but all was in vain. If one part healed, another part would break and pus would leak out. It has a foul smell,” Patient responded to Elder Zhang’s question with an elaborative answer, even using several professional terminologies.

Indeed, there was a strong smell of pus.

“Your condition is very serious and complex!” Elder Zhang said with gravity.

Disaster! The patient’s mouth half-opened and he asked shakily, “Professor, is there hope for recovery? It’s been years, I have been to every nook and corner of Beijing and Shanghai. I consulted with all the renowned professors in the country, and all of them suggested amputation. We heard that Professor Zhang you might have some solution, so we travelled all the way from Shanxi again. Tell me, is there hope?”

Professor Zhang remained silent with a serious expression, took off his gloves and headed to wash his hands after completing the examination. The patient quickly got off the bed, sat in the wheelchair and started moving towards Elder Zhang, “Is there hope? Professor, is there any hope?”

Elder Zhang wore a solemn expression, “This condition is really, really severe, but there might be hope, only that–”

“Only what, Professor?” The patient seemed agitated.

After washing his hands and drying them using a piece of paper towel, Elder Zhang turned back, sat down in the chair and slowly said, “Only that it will cost a lot of money, a lot of it.”

A look of despair on the patient’s face turned into a smile immediately, “You scared me, professor. Money is not a problem. You don’t need to worry about that. As long as I can be cured and my limb can be saved, no matter the cost.”

“It’s not a small sum of money. The expenses will be hefty as hospitalization will be a long process. And, there will be multiple surgeries involved. Plus, the success rate is not 100%,” Professor Zhang enunciated distinctly.

“Professor, I trust you. I want you to treat me. If even you can’t cure me, then I’ll accept my fate. I’m just in my forties, if I lose this leg, I’ll feel terrible just even by thinking about hopping around on one leg,” The patient started holding back his tears as he spoke.

“You can get a prosthetic leg, a high-tech one, even if it costs millions,” Professor Zhang suggested.

“But it won’t be my own, right? You mentioned there’s a chance if we can afford the expenses. I say, go ahead, let’s give it a shot,” The patient had made up his mind.

“This is not a small sum, it ranges from hundreds of thousands to millions. In your case, it’s complex. The entire infected bone needs to be sawed-off, only the healthy parts at both ends will be left. Then, we will need to install a frame to extend the healthy bones to reach to each other gradually. This entire process will take one to two years. During this period, we need to fill the void with antibiotic-containing calcium sulfate. You will also have to take intravenous antibiotics. I’m not even talking about other things, just the cost of the extension frame alone. The lower-end ones will cost tens of thousands, and the high-end ones will cost hundreds of thousands,” Elder Zhang explained.

“What’s the difference between the cheaper and more expensive ones?” The patient was curious.

“Let me put it this way. What’s the difference between a BMW that costs two million and a Wuling Hongguang that costs fifty thousand? One can argue, ‘no difference’. They both are cars, and they both have four wheels and can go on the road. But still, there is a difference, isn’t there? You can’t say a BMW is the same as a Wuling Hongguang,” Elder Zhang said, trying to explain the difference.

“I get it! Let’s finalize it, use the expensive frame. Start the procedure now. Get the card! You clumsy fool, quickly get the card. Swipe it!” The patient made up his mind on the spot.

The woman who was accompanying the patient started rummaging through her LV bag to find the card. To her surprise, she pulled out a bunch of credit cards, unsure of which one to swipe.

“Calm down. It’s not now. You need to be hospitalized. The expenses will be charged when you get admitted, not now,” Professor Zhang knocked on the desk.

The lady then put the cards back into her bag.

“Oh, professor. Thank you so much. You’re like our second parents. I feel our efforts were worthwhile in making this trip,” The patient was so excited that he was becoming emotional.

“There is hope, we’ll do our best. You don’t have to be so anxious,” Elder Zhang comforted him.

The patient wiped his tears and said, “Thank you, professor. I got a sense of the situation. I’m a businessman and I’ve met plenty of people from all over the place. I must say this is the first time meeting such an responsible professional like you, professor. You took your time to unwrap my bandages, examined my wounded leg. I feel reassured. Can I get your phone number, professor? If it’s not too much trouble?”

Professor Zhang patted his shoulder, “No need to take my number. Don’t mention it. After getting admitted to the ward, just listen to the doctors and focus on getting recovered. I will check up on you occasionally.”

“Ah, you have to come and see me. When the time comes for surgery, you have to do it yourself, professor,” The patient gripped Elder Zhang’s hand.

Meanwhile, the graduate student had prepared the hospitalization notice and handed it over to the patient, “The beds are limited. You’ll have to wait. You can go back to your accommodation for the time being. We will give you a call as soon as a bed becomes available.”

“Why wait for a bed? Get him a VIP ward!” Elder Zhang seemed dissatisfied with the way the graduate student had handled the situation.

The patient was deeply moved once again, “Yes, yes, yes. Book a VIP ward. I want to move in right now!”

“The patient has been waiting for so long. Why does he need to wait more?” Elder Zhang said.

Elder Zhang was so considerate, it made the patient even more delighted. He should have chosen this hospital from the start, he had wasted several years going around aimlessly without finding a competent doctor. Today was his lucky day.

After seeing this patient, Elder Zhang noticed that Yang Ping was still standing in the consulting room. He only realised his presence right now when he saw him.

“Why are you still standing here?”

“Me?” Yang Ping did not know how to respond.

Elder Zhang asked, “Do you have something to say?” He then totally ignored Yang Ping, and started speaking,

“I’ve told you, young doctors, again and again, a physician should have benevolence and excellent medical skills. You should also be flexible. Look at that patient, he came here with only 4000 RMB. Is he supposed to stay crippled just because he could not afford more? We should try our best to find ways to treat him, for 4000 RMB there should also be a corresponding treatment plan. Could he not go to Beijing because he can’t afford to buy a flight ticket? Now, look at this tycoon, millions for him is a night at the card table. If you’re not going to earn his money, whose money will you earn? And you were going to admit him to an ordinary ward? You were not using your brain. The objective is always the same, to cure the disease. But the process is always different. It’s just like diet pills. There are cheaper ones, which are just regular bitter pills. Then there are the expensive ones, consuming them will make you feel like you’re experiencing your first love again. Both are just pills, the effect is essentially the same, but the experience is not.”

Yang Ping was enlightened by this comment. It was almost like he was achieving enlightenment.

Watching Elder Zhang, an image appeared in Yang Ping’s mind – the image was of the Chan Buddhist monk.