And finally, the patient’s chest was cut open.
“Peng, Dr. Liao.” Then, both doctors standing at each side of the patient’s torso had worked together to pry the rib cage apart.
Jiang Tingxu set the chainsaw aside, and the visceral noise finally vanished. When his heart laid bare, they had reconfirmed their diagnosis.
Deng Peng gasped and hissed. “Atherosclerosis.”
Mr. Ni’s current situation was grave. The penetrating aortic ulcer forming on the wall had been ruptured due to hypertension, tearing the initially thick aortic wall into two layers. The aorta was now only left with a thin outer membrane, and there was a high risk of sudden death due to aortic rupture.
Once the aorta had ruptured, no surgery or treatment in the world would be able to save Mr. Ni. The doctors were unsure if his current condition was a blessing or hell. Because he was so close—so close to flatlining.
…
Mr. Ni’s surgery had taken a long time. After all, it was open-heart surgery. He had been sent into the operating room at 7.15 a.m. and hadn’t come out since, even when it was already noon.
Five hours had passed. No one in the operating room had eaten anything nor sipped water. The reason being was because once they had eaten or gone to the lavatory, they had to scrub in and disinfect again before wearing their surgical gowns. It was too delaying.
Halfway through, Mr. Ni had a cardiopulmonary arrest. Every medical staff in the room was on edge, yet it was a fortune that they had managed to resuscitate him.
As they were about to finish the procedure, Deng Peng, who was suturing, asked the group, “Tingxu, Dr. Liao, are you guys hungry?”
Duh, it was almost 2 p.m. The trio didn’t even have breakfast before this emergency. And it was already past lunchtime—how would the surgeons not be in hunger? They were starving—hungry as a bear.
Liao Jiayu coughed. “Dr. Deng, we could only make it if you’d be quicker in your job.”
It was their duty—they must finish stitching up before they could leave.
The corner of Deng Peng’s mouth had twitched. “Okay, I’m almost there. Hold on, just gimme two more minutes.”
The anesthetist standing behind them was speechless. He voiced out, “Hey, you can’t leave all at once. Someone should stay until the patient wakes up.” He was, too, hungry. There was no way he’d let them surgeons have the anesthesiologist cleaned up their mess again.
Uh…
Jiang Tingxu and Liao Jiayu didn’t utter a word. It was Deng Peng who had spoken again. “Say, bro, if you were to give us an accurate time, how much longer till the patient wakes up?”
The anesthetist was the only one who’d know when the patient would wake up from the anesthetic. “Another half an hour.”
For a moment, Deng Peng had kept quiet.
Outside the operating room, Mrs. Ni had waited with Ni Xiaona, who was still in a wheelchair. Standing by their sides were two police officers and Ni Xiaona’s boyfriend. As for her boyfriend’s mother, she had already been taken into custody.
It couldn’t be helped. Everyone had said that that woman was the one who had provoked Mr. Ni to this extent. With so many witnesses, the police could only bring her in. How they would proceed from there would depend on the doctors’ diagnosis.
The door to the operating room had opened around 2.30 p.m., and Mr. Ni was pushed out.
“Dad? Dad?” Ni Xiaona wheeled herself forward in her wheelchair, crying out anxiously.
Mr. Ni, who had just finished his surgery, was fatigue. He had no energy left to open his eyes, not to say to respond to his daughter’s calling.
The anesthetist who was following behind reminded, “The patient is weak now.”
“Th-then my father would be alright, wouldn’t he?”
“The surgery was timely. Mr. Ni wouldn’t have been so lucky if they were five minutes late.”
Mrs. Ni and Ni Xiaona let out a smile, relieved as they’d heard this. As long as Mr. Ni was alive, it was better than anything.
At this instance, the two police officers at the side came forward. “Good day. We’re Yun City Police Department. May I know who the chief surgeon is?”