Chapter 95: Chapter 0093 Panda Blood
“Ding Dong!”
“Task: The Sanctity of Medicine! Rescue a patient with a life-threatening chest and abdominal penetrating injury, reward twelve thousand points.”
The system is always there, just silent.
The sanctity of medicine!
Not understanding why this task has such a serious name – isn’t every surgery upholding the sanctity of the art of medicine?
Yang Ping is very familiar with this phrase, it’s a part of the medical student’s oath.
“–I am determined to do my utmost to eliminate human suffering, assist in achieving perfect health, uphold the sanctity and honour of the art of medicine, save lives, attend to injuries, not avoid hard work, persist in pursuit–”
The art of medicine, by its inherent nature, requires a somewhat transcendental pursuit.
After washing his hands, he returns to the operating room.
“Leave this to us, you go take care of other things!” Tian Yuan says to Director Miao, there were still seven seriously injured patients who need treatment, and Director Miao is absolutely essential.
Director Miao instructs Director Zhang of General Surgery and Director Li of Thoracic Surgery to assist Director Tian in completing the surgery, then he hurries out.
The temperature in the operating room is maintained at 28 degrees Celsius, and Zhang Lin and Little Five have already got the patient into position.
This position is challenging to set, the pillows and fixed plates used for the lateral position are largely useless here.
A small pair of fixed plates can only be used at the sacrococcygeal part and the pubic symphysis, to just barely stabilize the patient in the lateral position.
They cut off all of his clothes, cleaned around the wound and the whole body with saline gauze. The wound couldn’t be irrigated for the moment, it would have to be done in the middle of surgery.
“Zhang Lin and Little Five, go wash your hands. Song Zimo, cooperate with Yang Ping. Zhang Lin and Little Five, come help me. Director Zhang, Director Li, please help Doctor Yang.” Tian Yuan assigns the surgical staff.
“You be the chief surgeon!” Tian Yuan turns to Yang Ping and says firmly.
This procedure will require simultaneous operations on the chest, abdomen, and back, but the chest and abdomen are relatively harder. There should be a chief surgeon on the operating table to orchestrate the entire surgery.
“Thank you!” To decline would be to waste time. Yang Ping appreciates Tian Yuan’s trust.
Su Yixuan and another surgical nurse, Zhou Can, have already put on their surgical gowns and are each organizing their instruments.
There are two surgical instrument tables, Zhou Can will assist Director Tian’s operation, and Su Yixuan will assist Yang Ping’s.
The cleaning of the body with saline has been completed, Song Zimo has also come in after washing his hands, Yang Ping and Director Tian begin to sterilize together.
Around the wooden stake are all black blood clots, and some blood is still seeping out from inside. The wound isn’t bleeding much anymore, because the pressure from the wooden stake has acted as a natural hemostatic, preventing rapid blood loss.
The wooden stake is tilted, slanting downwards from the back, piercing through the chest and abdominal cavitities. There are still some broken pieces of leather on the stake, the truck probably made a sudden stop and inertia caused the wooden stake to fly forwards like an arrow, piercing through the car, the seat, and the victim’s body.
This kind of rescue is a great test of professional capabilities; without enough experience, the victim can easily bleed out on the spot.
They are cautious not to disturb the blood clots around the wooden stake during disinfection, so as to not break the temporary balance and induce massive bleeding.
This is an extremely difficult operation. One misstep, and the patient will die on the operating table.
This kind of surgery is akin to breaking into the prison of the God of Death, having to bypass numerous visible and hidden traps to snatch a life back from the hands of death. The probability of success is extremely low, but as long as there is a glimmer of hope, doctors must give it their all.
The preparation of the surgical field is complete, no need for preoperative verification, the name on the medical record isn’t even filled out yet, just temporarily labelled as ‘John Doe 1’.
Disinfect, prepare the surgical field!
Every step is timed to the second, stepping to the beat of the second hand.
“Blood pressure is 80/35mmHg, oxygen saturation is 92%, heart rate is 120 beats/minute–”
As long as blood pressure can still be measured, there are signs of life, but it has already dwindled to a small spark, and it’s uncertain how much longer this spark can endure.
Why isn’t the blood up yet? Yang Ping asked, in his role as the chief surgeon.
Blood drawing, blood type testing, blood cross-matching all require time.
It’s been no more than a few minutes since the patient entered the operating room from the emergency department.
“Can you hurry the blood bank?” Yang Ping orders.
The circulating nurse was about to place a call just as the cordless phone in the operating room rang. The nurse picked it up; it was a call from the blood transfusion department.
“Type A, Rh negative blood type!”
The news hit like a bolt of lightning!
Panda blood, a rare and precious blood type.
The entire Shipo blood bank only has 4 units of Rh negative erythrocytes in storage, a number that includes all nearby counties and cities. There’s only one unit of type A Rh negative erythrocytes.”
This blood type has a three in a thousand probability among the Han people, and then it has to match the same type of ABO blood group, making the chances of successful blood matching less than three in ten thousand.
With only one unit of erythrocytes, how can this patient be saved?
Without blood, in such a state, a cut would cause blood loss, leading to certain death. There’s no other way around it; no conjure can turn corn-stalks into needles.
The news was immediately reported. County Chief Wu, President Dong, the Director of Health Bureau, and the Director of Blood Bank were urgently planning countermeasures in the temporary command center.
Already two victims of this traffic accident have lost their chances of reaching the hospital. Out of the eight who were rushed here, it is uncertain how many can be saved. The pressure is immense.
“Keep seeking help from neighboring cities and counties, and widen the search range to include counties outside the province!” County Chief Wu made a resolute decision.
No one could have predicted that the patient would have Rh negative blood type. The odds were very low. Thankfully, the director of the blood center was meticulous and had wisely collected all available Rh negative erythrocytes from neighboring counties already. They were on their way.
The Director of the Blood Bank immediately made calls, using several phones: the one in his hand, the one on charging, cycling their usage.
Once the call ended, he said in a despondent tone, “I’ve checked with all our neighboring counties in other provinces. They only have two units of Type A Rh-negative, and it will take over an hour for the fastest unit to arrive here.”
An hour… by then, it will have been too late.
“Have them send the blood, immediately. But this is too slow. We need to think of other ways.” County Chief Wu decreed, his eyes sharp, holding a cigarette burning down to his fingers, oblivious of the heat.
“The blood bank keeps records of Rh negative individuals in our county. We can go through the records, call them, and have them come in to donate blood on site,” the Director of the Blood Bank suggested, chastising himself for forgetting about the record in the heat of the moment.
County Chief Wu immediately gave the order. “Start calling, one by one. Get help from the police to locate them, convince them, then have the local police stations bring them in to donate blood. They’ll each receive a ten-thousand-dollar reward. Remember, do not force them, we must follow the principle of voluntariness; good explanation work must be done!”
The Blood Bank Director started making calls, notifying his subordinates to go through the records and call for potential donors.
There were very few people on the list. Many had gone off to work elsewhere, and most of the phone numbers left couldn’t be reached. Occasionally there’d be a successful call, but the person would be miles away.
Time was flowing away, second by second.
A WeChat group! Of course, it’s the best and fastest method. The director suddenly realized.
There are self-established WeChat groups for this panda blood in various places. There’s a big group for the entire Nandu Province. If the message is sent to the group, we can find out who is closest. We might be able to find a few.
The Blood Bank specifically designated a person to join all the major groups in our province, but the person left the job recently and nobody took over his tasks. No one was appointed to join the group, they didn’t even know the group existed. A tiny oversight in the day-to-day work has now magnified into an irreparable loophole, a fatal weakness.
“Who knows the group? Left the job? Don’t you have his WeChat or phone number? Quickly, find him, ask him to add you to the group and post the call for help.”
The Director was practically roaring into the phone. He couldn’t afford any issue at this point. He had just become the Director; his position was still on shaky ground.
The phone rang. They had found him. The internet is wonderful, allowing people to connect anytime, anywhere.
“Quickly, post the message to find anyone near Shipo with Rh negative Type A blood. Let me repeat, Rh-negative Type A blood. I’ll send it on WeChat, check again.”
The trembling, excited hand of the station chief sent out the WeChat message.
This small group was the patient’s lifeline.
Without blood, saving someone with such trauma would be impossible.
The WeChat message was sent. The rescue team in the blood bank gathered around the office table, all eyes glued to the phone, waiting for responses from the group.
A few replies popped up in the group. The closest was a three-hour drive away. Desperate times, yet too far away to help.
The Director was also glued to his phone, praying desperately for someone to come forward.
Finally, another message came in. There was one right in Shipo.
“Shipo, there’s one person right in Shipo.”
The Director nearly jumped up!