Chapter 116: Chapter 0113 – Intercept, Intercept!

“Should we call the police for help?”

The security team leader wasn’t sure if this was necessary.

“We have no choice. They are more capable than us. We have to find him. Otherwise, he could die out there at any moment!”

The word “death” was harsh and chilling, but it was necessary to emphasize the seriousness of the situation.

Yang Ping was absolutely confident in his judgment.

The spacious surveillance room was quiet and tense. Everyone had realized that their actions right now could save a life.

“Call in the police for help!” Director Han made the decisive call after a moment of thought.

Director Han trusted Yang Ping’s judgment, given that Yang Ping’s unconventional actions had always yielded success in the past.

Seeing the doctor’s determination, the Security team leader promised to give his all: “I’ll go to the police station.”

Located in Sanbo Hospital, the police station is manned by a police officer every day.

The huge screen in the surveillance center was divided into many sections, each correlating to a camera feed.

Dean Xia’s surveillance system, set in place by him, had become key in saving a life at this moment.

“I’ll call Director Guan over!” Director Han immediately made a phone call.

Director Guan was the head of the cardiology department and also the director of the chest pain center.

The chest pain center dedicated to the first aid of non-traumatic chest pain patients. Acute myocardial infarction, pulmonary embolism, aortic dissection, pneumothorax, etc., with acute myocardial infarction bearing the highest incidence rate.

Patients with acute myocardial infarction need to have their coronary arteries unblocked as soon as possible to be saved. If too much time is wasted, even divine intervention won’t make a difference.

Since the patient’s blood vessels were not completely obstructed at the moment, he felt fine. But his vessels were continuing to close up. Once completely blocked and he doesn’t get immediate medical attention, then the regrettable outcome is unavoidable. If he is far from the hospital, on an airplane, for example, the chances of saving him are slim.

Song Zimo, Zhang Lin, and Little Five all rushed over to help.

Song Zimo explained, “Director Tian is managing over there. There aren’t many patients, and Tang Fei is also helping. Director Tian asked us to come and assist.”

Director Guan rushed over hurriedly, dressed in a green scrub suit with sweat on his back as he had just completed his operation and left the operating table.

Director Han quickly briefed him on the situation: “We just attended to a patient with neck pain at the clinic. We suspect it’s an acute myocardial infarction, but the patient did not believe it and ran away.”

“Is this his ECG?” Yang Ping still had a piece of the ECG printout in his hand.

The initial ECG test was interrupted because the patient received a phone call and hastily got up from the examination bed and left. Therefore, the ECG record was incomplete.

Director Guan took the ECG paper and carefully examined it.

“ST-segment elevation! What are the symptoms?”

Years of professional accumulation enabled him to quickly realize the issue.

“Neck and shoulder pain for three days, probably referred pain; blood pressure: 152/102mmHg, body temperature: 38.0℃, developed a fever this morning; heard a weakened first heart sound and a galloping rhythm of the fourth heart sound in the heart apex area during auscultation, also a friction rub was heard over the pericardium; heart rate is 92 bpm, with irregular rhythm.”

“Acute myocardial infarction! The occluded coronary artery needs to be unblocked immediately, or he could drop dead at any moment. Currently, he’s in the compensatory stage. Once his blood vessels become completely blocked, his heart will become disorganized, which will lead to ventricular fibrillation and cardiac arrest.” Director Guan made an immediate and resolute diagnosis.

“He ran away, we’re currently looking for him.” Director Han frowned.

A bone doctor understanding so much about the diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases was something Director Guan had heard about Yang Ping. He had heard from Dean Zhuang that Yang Ping was the one who diagnosed the case of inferior vena cava thrombosis that required a filter implantation during an emergency case.

This type of acute myocardial infarction where the presenting symptom is not chest pain but neck pain, and other symptoms are atypical, is extremely rare and 90% of the time, it is misdiagnosed.

This young man’s fundamental skills were really exceptional, Director Guan couldn’t help but admire Yang Ping a little more.

Officer Wang from the police station came soon after. After understanding the situation, he solemnly stated: “I’ll immediately report back to the station and ask for support to track the vehicle he boarded and intercept it.”

Officer Wang was very responsible. He reported to the police station, which in turn had to report to the higher-level Public Security Bureau.

After several rounds of phone calls, Officer Wang said: “The car he got on is a Didi private hire car. It should still be on the airport highway according to our estimates. We have contacted Didi, asking the driver to inform the passenger; toll booth workers have also been notified to intercept him when he leaves the highway. If the car uses the ETC for automatic toll payment, it will be much harder to intercept as manual toll booth operators won’t be able to do so. We’ve also informed the traffic police to intercept at exits but as this operation involves quite a large area and given the limited police force, there are too many things to handle. I’m not sure if it will be executed in time.”

Although Yang Ping still felt uneasy, he knew this was the best they could do at the moment.

Everyone was on tenterhooks, although they were strangers, now a living life was at stake.

——

Xie Dongsheng was sitting in the car.

He was a bit angry today, annoyed that his cervical spondylosis was nearly sent to a chest pain center by the doctors.

His chest didn’t hurt at all, only his neck. What a mess. This isn’t how you look after patients. His neck wasn’t properly treated, everything was in shambles, it was blatant overtreatment.

His WeChat on his phone beeped.

“Dad, where are you?” It was his precious daughter with a cooling patch on her forehead.

Xie Dongsheng felt distressed: “Baby, didn’t you go to daycare today?”

“She has a bit of a fever. I just gave her some medicine. I took a leave and let her rest at home. Did you eat breakfast? Make sure you don’t starve yourself.” A soft voice from the side.

“Yes, I have eaten. Don’t worry. I’m on my way to the airport. There’s a light in the kitchen that’s out. Don’t try to fix it yourself, it’s dangerous! I’ll fix it when I get back. When you’re cooking tonight, open the kitchen door and let the light from the living room shine in.” Xie Dongsheng advised. He noticed the light was out this morning as he was leaving, but he didn’t have time to fix it since he was in a rush.

“My toy bear also stopped working, dad, you have to help me fix it.” The little girl was very well-behaved, pouting her cute mouth.

“Yes, good girl, listen to your mom. Dad will help you fix your bear when I get back.” Xie Dongsheng made a kissing gesture at his phone screen.

“Call us when you get there. The weather is cold in the north. I’ve packed cotton clothes for you in your suitcase. Don’t overwork yourself and don’t stay up late. Say bye to daddy.” His wife also moved into view.

After ending the video chat, Xie Dongsheng rubbed his neck. The kind of pain he couldn’t touch or press down on was uncomfortable. But it would gradually ease by itself, he had experience with it. It wasn’t the first time. The last cervical spondylosis outbreak was also after a late night.

He had reviewed the project plan dozens of times last night. There were no issues.

His phone rang again. It was his company’s boss: “Xie, do your best! The company has high expectations of you. I look forward to hearing good news from you.”

Xie Dongsheng secretly clenched his fists, boosting his own morale.

“I definitely will! Thank you, President Wu!” Xie Dongsheng guaranteed.

This trip to Beijing was to attend a customer company’s project briefing. The customer was very optimistic about this project. As long as he doesn’t mess up his performance, he should be able to secure the contract, which would allow him to be promoted to mid-level management next year.

The driver’s phone rang. A standard Mandarin-speaking customer service representative said: “——Please confirm whether the passenger in the car is Mr. Xie Dongsheng, Sanbo Hospital requests to notify: Mr. Xie is diagnosed with acute myocardial infarction, he may be in life-threatening danger at any time, please go to Sanbo Hospital’s chest pain center immediately for treatment, if you need help, please call——”

The driver got anxious: “Are you Mr. Xie Dongsheng?”

“Yes, keep driving, take me to the airport. Do I look like I need be rescued to you? This is clearly some young doctor’s misdiagnosis. The phone call even got routed here, truly astonishing.” Xie Dongsheng paused slightly, regaining his composure.

Last time during a medical check-up, a lump was discovered in his chest x-ray. They said it couldn’t be ruled out as a tumor and suggested he get a CT scan. Then they said it still wasn’t clear, so he had to have an enhanced CT scan done. He was tossed around for a long time.

For those few days, he was so stressed that he lost his appetite. He was a distraught man, sneaking into the bathroom to cry at night.

In the end, it turned out to be lymph node calcification!

What a false alarm. Xie Dongsheng was already familiar with this routine. This is how doctors were — sensing ghosts at the slightest gust of wind.

Over-treatment had reached such a level now. Every single person is a potential enemy.

“Or, let’s just get off the expressway and turn back to the hospital.” The driver didn’t want to take any risks.

“Keep going. It’ll be quicker to get to the airport now.” Xie Dongsheng encouraged the driver.

Well, the sooner he can get to the airport and drop off his passenger, the sooner it would no longer be his problem, the driver thought.

He hadn’t eaten breakfast this morning, and his old stomach ailment was acting up; he was feeling a bit nauseous.

Xie Dongsheng rubbed his stomach, winding the car window down a bit to let in some fresh air.

The car reached the highway exit. The barrier automatically lifted, and the sedan left the highway.

—

“He’s off the highway. There’s not much we can do in this kind of situation. We can only notify, we can’t enforce.” Officer Wang said, feeling helpless as he put down the phone.