"What’s bothering you?"
Du Heng quickly changed his clothes and imdiately focused. The man in front of him had a very unpleasant expression, his face almost twisted in pain.
"Doctor Du, my back was injured before, and I’ve had lumbar disc herniation surgery. After it healed, it remained a bit sore and tired, but it didn’t affect my normal work. But in the past two weeks, it suddenly started hurting terribly. It feels like my back is going to break. By the way, I also brought the X-rays from when I injured my back. Please take a look."
Du Heng took them but didn’t look at them imdiately. Instead, he continued to ask, "Didn’t you go to the hospital for a checkup?"
"I’m quite busy at work, so it’s not easy for to take ti off. I went to our local Community Hospital for a check-up after work. The doctor there said it might be a problem with my lumbar vertebra again and that there was a chance of paralysis, so they told to go to a proper hospital for a more thorough examination."
"I didn’t have enough ti, so I didn’t go. Luckily, there’s a well-known clinic near my workplace, so I went there for another opinion. That doctor said it was lumbar muscle strain and suggested I undergo electromagnetic needle therapy."
Du Heng was speechless. This man had ti to visit a clinic and this remote Health Clinic, yet he didn’t dare go to a major hospital for an examination. It’s absurd.
"Why didn’t you receive the treatnt?"
"It’s too expensive. It costs more than 400 yuan per session, and they said one course of treatnt is seven sessions, one every other day. I’d need three consecutive courses. I’m the sole breadwinner in my family, and I have two children in university. I can’t afford to spend that kind of money. Then, last Saturday, I saw a newspaper article saying you can treat paralysis, so I ca to give it a try."
Du Heng glanced at the man. He says he’s here because I treat paralysis, so why co for a sore back? However, he could tell from the man’s words that it was still a money problem. He probably ca here thinking a Health Clinic would be cheaper.
No more idle talk; it was ti to examine the patient.
"Where does it hurt? Show ."
"Right here, in the lower back."
Du Heng stood up and walked behind the patient. He pressed the area the patient indicated a few tis, and the man cried out in pain.
"Does it hurt a lot?"
"Very much."
Du Heng paused for a mont. Although this area is close to the lumbar vertebra, it shouldn’t be this painful. And if the lumbar vertebra were causing pain this severe, he wouldn’t have been able to walk in; he would have been brought in a wheelchair.
"What does the pain feel like?"
"It’s a swollen, suffocating pain."
Du Heng asked the patient to stand. He placed one hand flat over the indicated painful area. With his other hand balled into a fist, he tapped firmly on the back of his flat hand.
With each tap, the patient cried out.
He shifted position and tapped again, with the sa result.
Du Heng sighed, both amused and exasperated. Is that it? Forget a major hospital; even the District Hospital would have diagnosed this easily. There’s no need for him to be so worked up.
But Du Heng’s sigh startled the patient, who quickly asked, "Doctor Du, am I really going to be paralyzed?"
Du Heng patted the patient’s back and walked back to his desk. "This isn’t a problem with your lumbar vertebra, nor is it lumbar muscle strain, and you’re certainly not going to be paralyzed. You have kidney stones, and stones have lodged in your ureter."
The patient didn’t quite believe it. "Really?"
"Why not? Have you been urinating very little recently? And has your urine been very yellow with a strong odor?"
"That’s true, but why didn’t the two doctors I saw before find it?"
Du Heng glanced at the X-rays on the table. "When you went for those examinations, did you hand the doctors your X-rays as soon as you walked in, just like you did today?"
"Yes." The man looked at Du Heng with an innocent expression.
"Yes," he says. Yes, my foot! Given his history of lumbar disc herniation surgery, the doctor at the Community Hospital would naturally consider the lumbar vertebra first. As for the doctor who suggested electromagnetic needle therapy, he was either incompetent or unethical, most likely the latter. One session at more than 400 yuan, seven sessions per course, for three courses... and he’d surely prescribe so dicine on top of that. All told, it would easily cost ten thousand yuan, if not more.
"Alright, we don’t have lithotripsy machines here. And judging by the intensity and duration of your pain, your kidneys have probably swollen into a petal-like shape. Conservative treatnt isn’t an option now. Go to our District Hospital; they offer lithotripsy for a flat fee of 1200 yuan, guaranteed to cure. In other hospitals, it’s about 460 yuan per session, and given your condition, I estimate you’ll need five or six sessions."
"Of course, if you find it troubleso, you can also choose minimally invasive surgery, which is also a good treatnt thod. However, if you’re prone to developing kidney stones, I recomnd extracorporeal lithotripsy."
Wu Buwei, sitting nearby, quickly typed Du Heng’s diagnosis into the computer, while Du Heng wrote it down on a prescription pad and handed it to the man.
The man still wanted to ask sothing, but the woman who had been shouting earlier grew impatient. She pulled the man aside and pushed the wheelchair up to Du Heng’s desk.
Ignoring the man’s furious glare, she said to Du Heng, "Doctor Du, please take a look at my husband. He has been paralyzed for over a year."
Du Heng glanced at the na on Wu Buwei’s computer screen, confird the patient’s identity with the woman, and then asked, "What caused the paralysis?"
"Last year, we were celebrating his birthday. We were having dinner with the whole family when he suddenly had a seizure. When he woke up, he was like this."
As the woman spoke, she looked at Du Heng with hopeful eyes.
While examining the old man, Du Heng asked, "How old is Sir?"
"83."
"Does Sir have diabetes?"
"You’re spot on. He’s had it for nearly thirty years."
There was nothing particularly insightful about that guess. Sir was paralyzed, his breath had a faint rotten apple sll, and he had a strong body odor. It wasn’t hard to figure out.
After the examination, Du Heng hesitated.
Sir had no sensation in his lower limbs, his hands were curled inward, and his reflexes were sluggish.
More importantly, Sir’s instep yang, LV-03, and Tai Xi pulses were almost imperceptible, indicating severely depleted stomach qi.
This ant that the functions of his various organs had declined to their final stages.
Although Sir could still eat, drink, and respond when spoken to, he likely had three months at most.
The problem now was how to break the news. Judging by her earlier behavior, this woman isn’t one to be trifled with. And since Sir is 83, she’s likely not young either. If I tell her the truth directly, she might collapse right here.
"Who brought you here today?"
"Our eldest grandson and his wife."
"Please ask them to co in. I need to explain his condition to them."
The woman objected, "Just tell . I’ve been the one taking care of my husband all this ti. Why do you need to tell them?"
Du Heng forced a casual smile. "Ma’am, there are many things to discuss, and it’s quite complicated. Sir isn’t just paralyzed; he also has diabetes, which makes treatnt particularly tricky. It’s better if I explain it to your grandson. Young people have better mories. He can explain it all to you slowly when you get ho."
The woman seed to sense sothing wasn’t right. She frowned and asked, "Are you saying we should just go ho?"
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