The Surgeon's Studio

After wrapping up, Zheng Ren sat down for a rest. Before he got the chance to catch a breath, there was someone knocking on the door. The person looked familiar but he could not remember who he was.

The person was holding a bag of films.

Maybe they were one of the patient’s family members. Had they met before?

“You’re…” Zheng Ren asked.

“Hi, Chief Zheng. I’m Cheng Lixue from the Secondary Hospital,” He said carefully while walking toward Zheng Ren in a humble manner.

“Hmm? Chief Cheng?” Zheng Ren finally remembered.

Cheng Lixue was rather bitter.

To be ignored by a young doctor… It was apparent that he was a nobody to him. He could not even recognize him even though they had met before and shared a meal together.

It was not surprising since the young doctor in front of him was an expert in the interventional surgery field and specialized in TIPS surgery.

Although he had yet to gain fame, it was just a matter of time for him to receive the recognition he deserved with the skills he had.

Cheng Lixue quickly set himself straight and bowed deeply even though he was much older than Zheng Ren.

His action startled Zheng Ren. He was wearing a black suit and had a serious expression on his face. With a white flower pinned on, it looked as if he was paying respects to a deceased person.

Only then did Zheng Ren noticed that he was still sitting on down in his chair.

The person in front of him was a department chief from the Secondary Hospital who was much older than him. It was not polite of him to remain seated.

He hurriedly stood on his feet and said smilingly, “Chief Cheng, please excuse me. I just came back after dealing with some matters and I’m not thinking straight, do forgive me.”

It was unsure when Zheng Ren had started addressing him as an equal rather than using honorifics.

The only consolation Cheng Lixue had was that Zheng Ren’s attitude remained well.

“Chief Zheng, I watched your TIPS surgery. It’s a world-class performance.” Cheng Lixue explained his intentions of visiting him. “I applied to the Secondary Hospital and they sent me here to learn TIPS surgery from you.”

Zheng Ren stared blankly at Cheng Lixue who was already in his fifties, not knowing how to respond.

He initially thought that the Secondary Hospital would send a doctor in their thirties, or at least below forty to learn TIPS surgery from him. He did not expect them to send their department chief.

The main worry was that even if he was willing to teach everything he knew, would the man be able to cope?

Chief Cheng Lixue was different from Professor Rudolf Wagner. The professor was a pioneer in interventional surgery. After sharing his idea on liver DW-MRI, the professor was able to provide suggestions and open up more possibilities.

Zheng Ren was certain that Professor Rudolf Wagner had fully grasped the new diagnostic and surgical methods of TIPS surgery.

However, the professor was still not up to his level because unlike him, the professor did not have help from the System.

Could Chief Cheng be up for it?

There was a peculiar expression on Zheng Ren’s face, but Cheng Lixue understood his reaction.

He would never have come to learn TIPS surgery in Sea City General Hospital if it was not for the high-pressure working environment in the Secondary Hospital.

Cheng Lixue had to pay quite a price to compete for the chance to learn.

However, it was just a matter of time of facing the realities in order to acquire new skills.

A forty-year-old deputy chief in his department was promoted and took half the staff with him. The interventional department was separated into two and he was only left with administrative authority. He had no say in clinical matters.

He had no choice but to put his pride aside and come to Sea City General Hospital to learn TIPS surgery.

Cheng Lixue’s general surgical skills had been deteriorating since long ago. ‘Time and tide wait for no man,’ was a cold and hard truth for general surgeons, and even more so for interventional doctors.

Nevertheless, he was unwilling to succumb to fate.

Before coming over, he mentally prepared himself to accept the role of a student and learn as much as he could, leaving behind the department chief attitude.

However, the reaction he received was not what he had expected.

Chief Zheng really needed to work on his emotional intelligence.

Cheng Lixue felt frustrated but had to suppress his emotions.

“Boss, I’m done with the 64-slice CT scan with 3D-image reconstruction.” Professor Rudolf Wagner walked in at this moment, breaking the awkwardness between them.

Cheng Lixue stood up subconsciously and made eye contact with the professor.

A few years ago, he went to Heidelberg University for an exchange program. When he first saw the professor, he was wearing a white lab coat and his golden locks swayed in the air. The way he commanded others left a strong impression on Cheng Lixue.

However, the professor was not aware of his presence. He walked straight up to Zheng Ren and said, “Boss, please take a look at the scan and comment on my work.”

“Uhm.” Zheng Ren clicked on the 64-slice CT scan with 3D-image reconstruction on Zheng Yunxia that the professor had done and slowly went through them slide after slide.

64-slice CT scan with 3D-image reconstruction? By himself?

Cheng Lixue had just arrived moments ago, but he was already learning new things.

These scans were usually done by the CT room technicians with the software. Why did he do them himself?

Judging from the professor’s enthusiasm, Cheng Lixue guessed that he probably learned how to do it recently. The way he presented it to Zheng Ren was like a primary school student showing off his homework to his teachers and parents.

Zheng Ren gave an indifferent response. His ‘uhm’ sounded quite blasé.

Cheng Lixue quickly composed himself. If a top surgeon like Professor Rudolf Wagner could stay behind in Sea City to learn from someone younger than him, who was he to complain!

He inched closer to Zheng Ren and tried to find an angle to look at the computer screen behind the professor’s giant figure.

The 64-slice CT scan with 3D-image reconstruction was not new to Cheng Lixue as it was related to radiography.

However, the images he saw were beyond his knowledge.

He was entirely perplexed by the images of intricate arterial networks.

They were images of hepatocellular carcinoma with lipiodol deposition. It should be from a patient who had received multiple surgeries.

After glancing through the images, Zheng Ren extracted one of the earlier ones and compared it with the current scan.

Cheng Lixue’s eyes instantly widened.

He had yet to learn about TIPS surgery but he had fifteen years of experience in the treatment of lung cancer using interventional surgery. He certainly understood what those images were indicating.

The tumor was approximately 10cm in the older scans accompanied by vascularization to supply blood, indicating late-stage carcinoma.

Cheng Lixue was not aware of the patient’s current condition.

Judging from the scans, the patient would be incredibly lucky to survive for 6 months.

However…

Did all these scans belong to a single patient?

“Chief… Chief Zheng, you performed the surgeries on this patient?” Cheng Lixue felt a little insecure.

He excelled not only in TIPS surgery but also in liver cancer interventional surgery.

“Uhm, the first treatment was 2 months ago, followed up with consolidation therapy. This is the third surgery. The patient should be able to fully recover,” Zheng Ren briefly explained to him while he continued to compare the scans.

Fully recover…

Was he being serious or joking?

“Chief Zheng, it’s possible to…recover?” Cheng Lixue asked cautiously.

“Who the hell are you?” Professor Rudolf Wagner glared at Cheng Lixue and asked in a strong accent. He hated being interrupted by others when he was in the middle of a discussion about the patient’s scans with Zheng Ren.