The female patient, in addition to gastric cancer, also suffered from three missing teeth, multiple soft tissue contusions, and a slight concussion, among other issues.
Zhou Can couldn’t help but sigh when he saw these results.
He finally understood why the woman had been crying.
She was only 22 years old, and not bad-looking at all; in fact, she could be considered quite beautiful.
Tall and slim, she had an impressive figure.
Her skin had the sickly pallor of wax; without illness, without malnutrition, her skin wouldn’t even need much care to be fair and radiant.
It’s said that men fear choosing the wrong profession, while women fear marrying the wrong man—an adage that has stood the test of time.
Had she married the right person, she’d surely be a dazzling beauty now. Marrying the wrong one had turned her into what she was now: young and so terribly misused that her very life was at risk.
When girls choose a boyfriend, if they only look at his surface and listen to his sweet nothings, the bitter end is that they have to swallow the suffering themselves.
"Did Director Shang mention a treatment plan?"
Zhou Can inquired of the nurse responsible for patient admission.
They are charged with tasks such as assigning patient beds, entering basic information, processing medication orders, handling billing, and so on. Nurses tend to have good knowledge of patients’ basic information.
Here, I must mention that the chief nurse is responsible for assigning beds, while the care nurse makes the beds.
It’s evident that even among nurses, there is a hierarchy.
The care nurse is also the one who takes the vital signs and fills out the monitoring forms.
"Director Shang suggests hospitalization for surgery followed by chemotherapy to consolidate the effects. The patient’s current prepayment for hospital expenses is far from enough, and the details of the treatment plan require further discussion," the nurse said with a concerned glance at the female patient.
She spoke in veiled terms.
But as an insider, Zhou Can understood immediately.
Hospitals aren’t charities; they may provide some urgent rescue for critically ill and life-threating conditions, but for cancer patients who can’t afford healthcare costs, they’re likely to be left to die.
Expecting the hospital to front the cost for surgery and chemotherapy is out of the question.
Zhou Can sighed inwardly; he felt sympathy for the patient’s plight but was powerless to help.
Without financial support from family, the patient might very well be rushed to discharge tomorrow.
The quality and quantity of medication would also be significantly compromised.
That she was admitted at all was probably due to Director Shang’s generous heart.
Tu Ya had a bed utilization evaluation system where long hospital stays or subpar treatment quality led to deductions and fines. As department income is at stake, doctors are usually very cautious when deciding to admit patients.
After reviewing the patient’s files, Zhou Can performed a brief check-up. Aside from irregular bouts of stomach pain and an inability to eat, she seemed reasonably well in other respects.
He returned to his office to update the patient’s medical record. Before he was finished, the admission nurse called him at the door.
"Dr. Zhou, there’s a new patient in bed 79; could you please go and take over?"
"Another patient assigned to me?"
Zhou Can was a bit agitated.
It seemed like after proving his ability and earning preliminary trust from Director Shang, they now wanted to exploit his labor to the fullest.
He was supposed to join the outpatient clinic this afternoon.
If Zhou Can was responsible for too many patients, he wouldn’t be able to get away at all. How could he go see patients in the clinic?
"Don’t complain! In our department, only the competent residents get to be in charge of many patients! Director Shang specifically named you to handle this patient!" the nurse explained with a smile.
Zhou Can couldn’t help but force a smile; he wasn’t the naïve professional easily lulled by sweet nothings.
He didn’t fancy the prospect of being honored with the responsibility of managing many patients to exhaust his labor.
But when Director Shang personally arranges something, he really had no way to refuse.
Following the nurse to the ward, he saw that the previous occupant of bed 79 had just been rushed to discharge, and a new patient had arrived. Also a woman, around forty, with exquisite makeup and the poise of an urban beauty.
Even in her sickbed, she appeared very competent.
Compared to the female cancer patient in bed 77, this woman’s treatment was much, much better.
She was surrounded by five family members, all well-dressed.
A middle-aged man who looked like the sort of successful and wealthy person in his casual attire appeared to be around the same age as the patient.
The elderly couple chatting with the patient at the head of the bed, by their looks, seemed to be her parents.
There was also a woman in her fifties with permed, brown-dyed hair, holding an LV bag, dressed fashionably.
It seems the rich gather with the rich, successful with successful.
Conversely, the poor are surrounded by the poor.
The adage ’birds of a feather flock together, people are known by the company they keep’ was demonstrated to the fullest extent.
This phenomenon was a natural and objective law amongst humans.
The strong prefer to associate with the strong, the weak with the weak.
A poor person with a total net worth of less than two hundred yuan and a monthly income of less than two thousand would naturally flee when in the company of a rich person with a net worth of over ten million and a monthly income over one hundred thousand. The overwhelming pressure from the rich is too much to bear.
No one likes to seek out suffering.
Watching rich people enjoy lavish meals while you can only gnaw on plain buns, not even willing to spend two yuan on a bottle of mineral water, resorting to cheap tap water instead.
When they walk together, onlookers gaze at the rich with respect and envy, whereas they look at the poor with scorn and disdain.