The next day, Yan Feifan arrived at the ergency departnt for work before 7:00 a.m., just as he always did.
However, sothing happened this morning that left Yan Feifan and the entire dical staff of the ergency departnt shaken.
At 7:24, an ambulance brought in an unidentified patient having what looked like an epileptic seizure.
The dical staff transferred the patient into the ergency hall. Just as they were preparing to examine and treat him, Dr. Zhu Haifeng, the attending physician in charge of the ER, noticed that sothing was wrong with the patient’s symptoms.
He imdiately warned everyone.
The patient might be having a rabies episode.
Rabies can be transmitted between humans, but only after the infected person begins to show clinical symptoms.
This is because of the pathogenesis of the rabies virus.
After infecting a person, the rabies virus first enters the peripheral nerve endings around the wound, then gradually travels through the peripheral nerves to the central nervous system.
During this stage, the person will not exhibit symptoms of rabies and is still in the incubation period.
At this point, the person’s saliva does not contain the rabies virus.
Therefore, even if the person bites soone or their saliva cos into contact with another person’s open wound, it will not lead to human-to-human transmission.
Only when the rabies virus travels through the peripheral nerves to the central nervous system and begins to replicate—that is, replicate in the brain—will the corresponding clinical symptoms appear.
At the sa ti, the virus will enter the salivary glands and be secreted into the saliva.
Thus, the patient only becos contagious when clinical symptoms manifest.
Over the past two or three decades, with improvents in dical and sanitary conditions and the popularization of the rabies vaccine, patients with active rabies have beco increasingly rare.
This had made the ambulance paradics and the ER dical staff a bit complacent.
Heeding Dr. Zhu’s warning, several staff mbers imdiately put on protective isolation gear, drew blood from the patient highly suspected of having rabies, and placed him under isolated observation.
After a clinical consultation between Dr. Zhu and several other experienced doctors, the diagnosis was unanimously confird.
The man was indeed suffering from rabies, and it was in the late stages.
The ambulance that had transported the patient was imdiately recalled for complete disinfection.
The ambulance crew, along with any ER dical staff who had co into contact with the patient, would be vaccinated against rabies.
At the sa ti, the ergency departnt notified the hospital’s infectious disease departnt.
A team from the infectious disease departnt, in cooperation with community police and other departnts, would conduct a detailed investigation into the patient’s identity, ho and work addresses, and the location where his symptoms began.
They would search for anyone the patient may have had close contact with to administer preventive treatnt.
This morning, Yan Feifan had been busy in his cubicle as usual and had no direct or indirect contact with the rabies patient.
But the incident served as a stark warning to him.
Doctors face many patients with unknown conditions every day.
Strictly adhering to all hospital protocols and always maintaining personal protection was the highest form of responsibility to both the patients and oneself.
At 10:10 a.m., Yan Feifan and Yu Suye were practicing capillary treatnt on a complex wound surface under the guidance of Mr. Qin when they suddenly heard a soft knock on the door.
Seeing both Yan Feifan and Yu Suye stop their work, Mr. Qin’s expression darkened. He said angrily, "So easily distracted?"
"Your level of focus is a great disappointnt to !"
He suddenly raised his voice. "What are you standing there gawking for?"
"Continue!"
Yan Feifan and Yu Suye quickly resud their work, but the knocking persisted.
Mr. Qin strode to the door and flung it open.
Three people stood at the door. The one in the front was an elegant and graceful woman in her thirties.
However, her eyes were a bit swollen, and there was dical tape on her upper eyelids.
To the woman’s left stood a slender young girl with dical tape on her left cheek and upper eyelid.
To her right was a dark-skinned man in his thirties or forties.
Mr. Qin didn’t recognize any of them and was about to lose his temper when he suddenly noticed that the man was missing his right thumb.
Furthermore, it had been missing for a long ti; the stump was worn and calloused.
Mr. Qin directly asked the man, "Your right thumb?"
"Mr. Qin, hello!"
The speaker was the woman in the middle of the group, Mrs. Xia.
She explained, "Mr. Yan perford scar revision surgery for and Liu Yan. We’re here for our scheduled follow-up today."
Mrs. Xia then pointed to the man beside her and continued, "This is my friend, Peng Jun."
"Mr. Yan once ntioned that for his condition, a toe could be transplanted to beco a thumb, or a completely new thumb could be reconstructed."
"I brought my friend here today, hoping to ask..."
Before Mrs. Xia could finish, Mr. Qin had already taken hold of Peng Jun’s right hand.
Mr. Qin examined the man’s missing thumb for a few monts, squeezed the stump firmly with his fingers, and nodded. "For his condition, both transplanting a toe or using a toe to reconstruct a more aesthetically pleasing thumb are viable options."
"How about this..."
Mr. Qin said straightforwardly, "If you can wait a year, Mr. Yan will perform this thumb surgery for you for free."
"If you can’t wait, then go to the trauma surgery departnt."
Before Mrs. Xia could respond, the man, Peng Jun, hurriedly said, "Okay, I’ll wait a year."
"I’ve gotten by for so many years already, I’m used to it. Waiting another year is no big deal, and I can save tens of thousands on the surgery fee."
Mrs. Xia wanted to say sothing more, but she saw that Mr. Qin had already turned and walked away.
Perhaps pleased at having secured a practice case, Mr. Qin was in a good mood and gave Yan Feifan five minutes.
In the hallway outside the research and teaching office, Yan Feifan checked the recovery of Liu Yan’s incision.
Seven days was enough ti for the skin wound to heal completely.
However, the dissolution of the absorbable subcutaneous sutures still needed so ti, and red marks were still visible along the suture line.
Yan Feifan also saw that the shape of Liu Yan’s left eye had not changed.
Yan Feifan was satisfied with her recovery.
He took a few photos of the incision’s recovery with his phone and then instructed, "You don’t need to apply dressings to the incision anymore. Stick to a light diet."
"You can go to the plastic surgery center to buy a tube of scar removal cream and apply it daily."
Next, Yan Feifan gave Mrs. Xia a simple check-up.
It had only been three or four days since her surgery. The incision was still a bit red and swollen, but there were no signs of inflammation.
Mrs. Xia hesitated for a mont before asking, "Mr. Yan, about that surgery in a year... you’ll be able to do it, right?"
Yan Feifan could see her concern.
After all, the difference between a scar revision surgery and a toe-to-thumb transplant was imnse.
He said confidently, "Yes, I can. Perhaps you won’t even have to wait a full year."
Yan Feifan then reassured them, "You can rest assured. Mr. Qin is famous for being strict."
"If I don’t get his approval, I won’t be allowed to be the lead surgeon for this operation..."
Less than twenty minutes after Mrs. Xia and her companions left, there was another knock on the door.
It was Mr. Qin who opened the door again.
This ti, a middle-aged couple in their forties or fifties stood outside. They were holding a silk banner, and several gifts were on the floor beside them.
"Excuse us, is Mr. Yan here?"
"We are Yao Yiyi’s parents."
"Yao Yiyi has had her brain tumor surgery, and it was a great success."
"We’ve co to thank him..."
Yan Feifan accepted the silk banner, which read "Exquisite dical Skill, a Modern-Day Hua Tuo," but politely declined the other gifts, citing hospital regulations...
At 11:20, when the door was knocked on for a third ti, Yan Feifan could feel Mr. Qin’s gaze, sharp as an arrow, fixed on him.
’It’s not my fault, is it?’
Mr. Qin still went to open the door.
The person knocking this ti was a strapping, masculine young man.
He was heard saying, "Hello, I’m looking for Yu Su—"
Before he could finish his sentence, the door was slamd shut with a BANG...
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