The words "major surgery" excited both Yan Feifan and Yu Suye, but they also knew it ant another night's rest was going down the drain.
Yan Feifan quickly ate the chocolate and snacks Yu Suye handed him as he hurried back.
To Yan Feifan's surprise, it was as if Yu Suye were Doraemon. From every pocket and her shoulder bag, she could magically pull out one or two delicious snacks, a seemingly endless supply…
The two returned to the trauma surgery departnt and found that Dr. Chen Yu hadn't been kidding. It really was a major surgery.
It was a relatively rare type of procedure.
A total hand bone replacent surgery.
The patient was a thirty-one-year-old man.
He had been riding his electric scooter to a friend's party at night when he accidentally fell on the road.
A cent mixer truck, unable to swerve in ti, had run over his left hand.
A CT scan revealed that all the bones in his left hand had suffered comminuted fractures, with no possibility of healing.
Dr. Chen Yu decided to perform a total hand bone replacent on him.
A total hand bone replacent involves using a 3D printer to create a set of artificial hand bones from biomaterials, which would then replace the patient's shattered ones…
Dr. Chen Yu explained that she had already mobilized the entire hospital.
All seven of the hospital's specialized dical 3D printers were running at full capacity, urgently printing the patient's hand bones.
In an estimated four to five hours, the surgical team would have a complete set of left hand bones.
Because of Yan Feifan's exceptionally fine dissection technique, Dr. Chen Yu assigned him the task of debrident and bone removal before the replacent surgery.
After scrubbing in and putting on their surgical gowns again, Yan Feifan and Yu Suye entered the operating room and saw the patient's left hand.
Not only was it a bloody ss, but it was also flat and limp like noodles, with no rigidity whatsoever.
Yan Feifan followed the muscle grain, using his scalpel to incise the skin and muscle on the back of the patient's left thumb, all the way down to the phalanx.
He discovered that the bone was completely shattered; the largest fragnts were only the size of a bean.
Yan Feifan had to clean out these bone fragnts one by one.
Leaving behind even a pinprick-sized fragnt could cause the patient continuous, unbearable pain in the future.
This was a task that required both patience and ticulous care.
Having been lost in the world of consciousness for an unknowable number of years, Yan Feifan had patience in spades.
Under the view of the surgical microscope, with Yu Suye's assistance, he simultaneously cleared away the bone fragnts while also repairing and suturing damaged blood vessels, nerves, tendons, skin, and muscles.
The work was tedious and monotonous, but Yan Feifan reveled in it.
For him, as long as he was standing at an operating table with a scalpel in hand, no matter the task, it was a form of enjoynt…
Nearly three hours later, Chen Yu, having finished her surgical preparations, arrived in the operating room with several assistants and students.
Chen Yu walked to the operating table, but her gaze was involuntarily drawn to a stainless steel tray beside Yan Feifan.
On the tray, tiny bone fragnts had been assembled into a clearly recognizable skeletal hand.
Currently, only the phalanges of the little finger were missing.
Chen Yu noticed that Yan Feifan seed to be casually placing the fragnts he removed with his forceps onto the tray, without wasting a single second.
But with each casual placent, the small bone fragnt landed in its exact, correct position.
'Orderly, precise, perfect. It seems to have beco a pursuit ingrained in his very marrow, his standard for doing things.'
Chen Yu took two steps back and beckoned. The few assistants and students in the observation area moved closer to her.
She pointed to the tray of shattered hand bones and said softly, "I know you've all been grumbling about favoring Yan Feifan recently."
"Look at that hand skeleton on the tray. Ask yourselves, could you do that so effortlessly?"
"The details reveal the bigger picture. Yan Feifan's high standards for himself have perated every aspect of his work, to the point where it's beco second nature."
Chen Yu raised her voice, speaking with a tone of frustration at their complacency, "Don't be jealous of others' achievents and the preferential treatnt they receive. Look at the gap between you, and reflect on your own shortcomings."
"I can give you opportunities, too."
"The question is, are you confident you can handle them?"
The assistants and students were silent, not daring to speak, but one or two of them had looks of defiance and resentnt on their faces…
Chen Yu waited another ten-plus minutes before Yan Feifan finally completed all the debrident and bone removal work.
Yan Feifan gave the lead surgeon's position to Chen Yu.
His next task was to further polish the eleven phalanges that had already been printed.
Although the precision of modern machines is very high, errors in asurent, modeling, and other data ant the printed phalanges still required final polishing and adjustnt.
With his microscopic understanding of human anatomy, Yan Feifan was undoubtedly the best person for this job.
Chen Yu's job, with Yu Suye's help, was to implant the phalanges polished by Yan Feifan into their corresponding positions in the patient's left hand.
There were two particularly difficult parts to this task.
First was fixing the flexor and extensor tendons to the artificial phalanges.
Second was suturing the connective tissue of the phalangeal joints.
At 2:30 a.m., the last printed phalanx was delivered to the operating room.
At 4:40 a.m., after a short break, Yan Feifan took over for Yu Suye as Dr. Chen Yu's assistant.
At 7:10 a.m., the total hand bone replacent surgery was successfully completed…
After washing up, Yan Feifan and Yu Suye dragged their exhausted bodies to the employee cafeteria and each ordered a hearty breakfast.
Although his stomach was growling with hunger, Yan Feifan had little appetite. He knew it was because he was ntally and physically drained.
Yan Feifan could only force himself to eat the al, which was usually very tempting but now tasted like wax.
Halfway through the al, he received a call from Mr. Lo.
"Director Chen just called and said you were busy all night in surgery with her."
"Xiaoyan, don't worry about coming in today. Go ho and get a good rest."
Yan Feifan felt a wave of relief. He replied, happy and at ease, "Thank you for your understanding, sir."
To be honest, he felt like his body really couldn't take any more and had been planning to ask Mr. Lo for the day off.
Having Director Chen ask on his behalf naturally made it easier to get approval and understanding than if he had asked himself.
"Xiaoyan, I have so more good news for you."
Over the phone, Lo Jun's voice beca lively.
"I've received official confirmation. Our research proposal on in-vivo nerve cultivation has received special support from the National Health Commission."
"The first phase of approved research funding is eight million."
"Once the official approval cos through, we can start recruiting volunteers for clinical surgical trials."
"This Thursday, a few of us will sit down and discuss it properly…"
After ending the call with Mr. Lo, Yan Feifan's mood lifted, and he felt his appetite improve significantly…
After breakfast, Yan Feifan and Yu Suye looked at each other and realized they were both so sleepy they could barely keep their eyes open.
They abandoned the idea of returning to the Zuimo Court District. Riding their bikes in this state, they might have an accident on the way.
The two went to Qin Ying's dical research office on the second floor of the ergency departnt.
Today was Tuesday, Dr. Qin Ying's clinic day.
The research office was empty.
There was a sofa for resting, as well as blankets, pillows, and other things Yan Feifan and Yu Suye had previously stashed there.
They had prepared them for situations exactly like this.
Yan Feifan and Yu Suye tidied up the sofa a bit, and without any thought for the difference between n and won, they lay down on it and fell asleep together…
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