[Today's Intel: Patient Xia Lei. Two months ago, during his appendectomy at City Second Hospital, his left kidney was...]
"Huh???"
When Li Xu saw the intel, he was stunned at first, then it all clicked into place.
'No wonder things felt so off when I was taking Xia Lei's pulse yesterday.'
'His right pulse was deep, thready, and weak—so faint in one spot that I could barely find it.'
'No wonder Xia Lei had been feeling so weak, getting completely exhausted from the slightest exertion.'
'No wonder he was having urinary problems and issues with his sex life.'
'Damn it, he only has one kidney left. Of course there are problems!!'
Li Xu was silent for a long ti.
He quietly walked to the bathroom, washing his face as he thought.
'Does Xia Lei know his kidney was taken?'
'Probably not.'
'Does the Second Hospital know?'
'Of course they do. They're the ones who did it.'
'Was it the act of an individual doctor, or was the hospital involved?'
Li Xu didn't know.
He had a gut feeling that this went deep.
"Sigh!"
Even after finishing breakfast, Li Xu still felt a sense of powerlessness.
He found Xia Lei's diagnostic record and dialed the number on it. "Hello, is this Mr. Xia?"
"Speaking. Who is this?"
"This is Li Xu from Li's Traditional Chinese dicine Clinic. You ca in for a consultation yesterday."
"Oh, oh, it's Doctor Li. Is there sothing I can help you with?"
"Did you take the dicine yesterday? Did you notice any effects?"
"Er... to be honest, I didn't feel any effect."
"That's to be expected."
"???"
Xia Lei was a bit confused.
'Then why did you prescribe that dicine if it wasn't going to have any effect?'
Li Xu continued, "You should go to the hospital for a check-up. Make sure you get an ultrasound."
"I already have. I've been checked several tis. The doctors said everything is fine, and that I'm just recovering slowly," Xia Lei explained.
"Did you get checked at City Second Hospital?"
"Yes, that's where I had my appendectomy."
"Go to a different hospital for your check-up."
"Huh?"
Xia Lei was even more confused, but he didn't overthink it.
'Maybe Doctor Li just thinks the dical standards at City Second Hospital aren't very good.'
"Alright."
Xia Lei agreed.
To be honest,
he had his own doubts as well.
It had been two months, and to still not be recovered from an appendectomy was definitely unusual.
He had been wanting to go to a different hospital for a check-up for a while now.
Xia Lei hung up the phone.
His wife ca out of the kitchen with a glass of freshly ward milk. Seeing the expression on her husband's face, she asked with concern, "What's wrong? Who was that on the phone?"
"It was Doctor Li from that traditional Chinese dicine clinic yesterday." Xia Lei took the milk, the warmth spreading through his palm from the glass. "He suggested I go to another hospital to get checked again."
His wife put down the rag in her hand and sat down across from him. "I've been thinking it's strange, too. It's been two months since your appendectomy, but you're still so weak."
She reached out and stroked her husband's gaunt cheek. "Since Doctor Li is suggesting it, why don't you take the day off and go get it checked out today?"
Xia Lei nodded and took out his phone to ssage his supervisor at work, requesting the day off.
"I'll go to City First Hospital. I hear their urology departnt is very good."
Xia Lei finished his milk, then got up to change his clothes.
...
The outpatient hall of City First People's Hospital was bustling with people.
Xia Lei queued up in front of a self-service registration kiosk. When it was his turn, he inserted his dical insurance card and selected a regular appointnt in the urology departnt.
As he typed his na on the touchscreen, the system seed to freeze for a second before displaying a "Registration Successful" ssage.
Xia Lei didn't notice a nearly invisible red triangular icon flash for an instant next to his na.
"Number 23, please proceed to Urology Consultation Room 3 on the 3rd floor."
The machine dispensed a registration slip, and Xia Lei took it and squeezed into an elevator.
On duty in Consultation Room 3 was a male doctor in his fifties. His na tag read: "Attending Physician, Liu Mingde."
Xia Lei handed over his registration slip and insurance card. Dr. Liu swiped the card on a reader, and the computer screen lit up.
"What seems to be the problem?" Dr. Liu asked.
Xia Lei described his symptoms in detail: persistent fatigue, a dull ache in his lower back, frequent and urgent urination...
He made sure to ntion that he had previously undergone an appendectomy at City Second Hospital.
After listening, Dr. Liu typed a few things on his keyboard. "Let's get an ultrasound. It might be a minor urinary tract infection caused by poor postoperative recovery."
The printer spat out a lab order, which Dr. Liu signed. "Go queue up at the Ultrasound Departnt on the second floor. Bring the results back when you're done."
The waiting area outside the Ultrasound Departnt was packed.
Xia Lei took a number and saw that there were still over twenty people ahead of him.
He found a seat in a corner and took out his phone, scrolling through the news to pass the ti.
"Number 175, Xia Lei, please proceed to Examination Room 3." Nearly two hours had passed by the ti his na was finally called.
Inside Examination Room 3, a female doctor in her thirties motioned for him to lie down on the examination bed.
"Lift up your shirt and pull your pants down a little." The doctor put on gloves and squeezed so gel onto the transducer probe.
Xia Lei couldn't help but shiver as the cold gel touched his skin.
The doctor began to move the probe, her eyes fixed on the monitor.
Xia Lei tried to turn his head to look at the screen, but the doctor stopped him. "Don't move. Keep your breathing steady."
The examination lasted for about ten minutes, longer than Xia Lei had expected.
The doctor's expression gradually grew puzzled. She adjusted the angle of the probe several tis and even switched to another one to re-examine him.
"Doctor, is there a problem?" Xia Lei couldn't help but ask.
The female doctor didn't answer right away, instead remaining focused on the screen.
After a mont, she suddenly stopped, picked up the internal phone on the desk, and dialed a short extension.
"Director, could you co to Room 3 for a mont? We have a special situation," she said in a low voice.
In less than a minute, a man with salt-and-pepper hair walked in briskly.
The female doctor stepped aside and whispered a few words in his ear. The director nodded and personally took the probe to perform the scan again.
Xia Lei's heart began to race. He was sure they had found sothing wrong.
But when he asked again, the director just gave him a kind smile. "It's nothing serious. There might be so interference in the image, so we're just double-checking."
Another five minutes passed before the director finally put down the probe and nodded at the female doctor. "That's enough. Handle it according to standard procedure."
The female doctor printed out a report and handed it to Xia Lei. "Take this back to your attending physician."
Xia Lei took the report. It read, "Bilateral kidneys are normal in shape and size. No significant abnormal echoes detected."
He breathed a sigh of relief, yet he couldn't shake the feeling that sothing was wrong—the two doctors' reactions clearly didn't seem like an "everything is normal" situation.
Back in Consultation Room 3, Dr. Liu glanced at the report. "Nothing serious. You're probably just weak from the surgery. I'll prescribe you so nutritional supplents. Go ho and get more rest."
Xia Lei opened his mouth to say sothing but stopped himself, ultimately just nodding.
"Next!" Dr. Liu pressed the call button.
Xia Lei walked out of the consultation room with his prescription and went to the pharmacy to get his dication.
The line at the pharmacy wasn't long, and Xia Lei soon received a few boxes of vitamins and nutritional drink mixes.
...
「anwhile.」
Back at the clinic, Li Xu muttered to himself, 'He should be done with his check-up by now. Why hasn't he called ?'
Unable to wait any longer, he called Xia Lei again. "Mr. Xia, how did the check-up go... What? Everything's normal? That's impossible. Can you bring the ultrasound images over for to take a look?"
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