Wu Buwei quickly left and returned, but his hands were empty when he ca back; he wasn’t carrying anything. When he re-entered the room, he looked at Du Heng with embarrassnt. "Senior Brother, how do you prepare the Antelope Musk Antispasmodic Powder? Doctor Shi said he doesn’t know either."
Du Heng helplessly slapped his forehead. "Antelope horn, musk, scorpion tail, and centipede, ground into a powder dicine. It has the effects of clearing heat, extinguishing wind, dispersing lung phlegm, and relieving convulsions. By the way, add an extra 0.3 grams of musk."
Du Heng recited the prescription, and Wu Buwei listened attentively. Still, he scratched his head and asked, "Let just ask, Senior Brother, there’s already musk in the prescription, why add more?"
"Musk not only stimulates the respiratory center but also dispels impurities and awakens the mind, relieving cerebral hypoxia," Du Heng explained. "The musk in the original prescription is to resolve the sequelae of acute shock. The additional 0.3 grams are because the child was at risk of suffocation just now."
After hearing Du Heng’s explanation, Wu Buwei nodded with an "Oh" and hurried out to prepare the Antelope Musk Antispasmodic Powder as instructed.
Once Wu Buwei left, Du Heng began to ponder what kind of decoction dicine to prepare for the child. The Antelope Musk Antispasmodic Powder is currently only for ergency use. It cannot completely resolve the baby’s issue of wind-heat violating the lung and the internal accumulation of phlegm-heat. A decoction dicine is still necessary. However, while the prescription for children’s dication can be similar to adults’, the dosage needs careful consideration. This is especially true for a baby of about twenty days; carelessness is not an option.
After a mont of thought, Du Heng typed "Mahuang, Apricot Seed, Gypsum, and Licorice Decoction" into the computer. This prescription uses licorice, ephedra, gypsum, and almond. It can treat lung heat with coughing and wheezing, even severe gasping, flaring nostrils, or pneumonia. It’s a very suitable prescription for this situation.
But after looking at it for a couple of monts, Du Heng felt it wasn’t enough. He then added rhinoceros horn, bamboo sugar, reed root, flea, bamboo dew, Tinglizi, and red dates. Staring at the revised prescription again, he deleted the rhinoceros horn a mont later. But after deleting it, Du Heng paused. Rhinoceros horn has the effects of clearing heat, cooling blood, calming fright, and detoxification; it would be exceptionally effective for reducing the child’s current fever. The problem is, ordinary pharmacies and drugstores might not even stock rhinoceros horn, and the Health Clinic’s Pharmacy is just such an ordinary one.
After thinking for a long ti, Du Heng finally made another change, replacing the deleted rhinoceros horn with moutan and puccoon. The reason for adding these two herbs is that, when combined with gypsum, they can achieve the sa effect as rhinoceros horn. This ti, Du Heng felt satisfied with the prescription he had formulated.
"You Fang, carry the child and follow . I’ll arrange a hospital room for you first," Du Heng said, leading the way out of the consultation room towards the second floor.
At the nurse station, Du Heng found Wang Lili and asked directly, "Are there any empty hospital rooms available now?"
Wang Lili glanced back at the small blackboard in the room, which listed all the available beds in the new building. "There are no empty private rooms, but there are two beds left on the third floor."
Yang Wei quickly said, "Dean Du, just arrange an available bed for us. A sick bed is fine."
Du Heng, however, shook his head. "The child is crying a lot right now. Being in the sa hospital room would disturb other patients. Also, your wife needs to breastfeed, and having other people in the room wouldn’t be convenient." After speaking, he said to Wang Lili, "Take them to the red brick building and arrange an empty hospital room for them, preferably one that’s more secluded."
Wang Lili nodded in agreent and then led You Fang and her husband towards the red brick building.
anwhile, Du Heng returned to the consultation room. Seeing Wu Buwei hadn’t returned yet, he went to the Pharmacy himself. I don’t want to entrust this to others; I intend to prepare the child’s dicine personally. To be honest, with adult dicine, a few minutes more or less in decoction ti, or a slightly higher or lower fla, doesn’t make a significant difference. However, this isn’t true for children’s dicine. Even a tiny amount of extra toxicity, which an adult might pass off with so stomach rumbling, could be fatal for an infant only about twenty days old.
On his way to the decoction room, Du Heng encountered Wu Buwei, who had just finished roasting the dicinal ingredients and was heading back to the Pharmacy.
Wu Buwei stopped. "Senior Brother, you go make the powder dicine, and I’ll decoct the herbs."
Du Heng declined Wu Buwei’s suggestion. "No, it’s alright, I’ll decoct it. By the way, when you feed the child the dicine, be careful. Only give one-third of this powder dicine. It’s better to give less than too much; do not exceed this amount."
"I’ve noted it down, Senior Brother."
The current decoction room had already undergone an upgrade. Its ventilation and air exchange systems had been modernized at Wang Lili’s strong insistence. Now, upon entering the decoction room, although the aroma of dicine was still strong, the eye-stinging, choking sensation of before was gone.
Du Heng greeted the young nurse inside who was busy decocting dicine. After politely declining her offer to help, he began to prepare the decoction dicine with great care. After about twenty minutes, having decocted approximately 100 milliliters, he took the dicine to the hospital room.
As soon as he reached the hospital room, Du Heng noticed You Fang’s posture while holding the child wasn’t quite right. Fortunately, You Fang had her back to the door at that mont, so Du Heng didn’t see anything and quickly retreated a couple of steps.
When he entered the hospital room again, You Fang had adjusted herself, but the child had started crying again.
"Did you just feed the baby?"
"Yes, the last ti I fed him was this morning when I saw you."
Du Heng nodded. "Did the child eat?"
You Fang, holding the crying child and continuously swaying her body, still looked worried as she said, "He ate a little, but only a few mouthfuls."
"That’s normal," Du Heng reassured her. "The child still has accumulated internal heat, so he’s naturally uncomfortable and eating less. However, the fact that he’s eating at all is a good sign." He gently took the baby from You Fang’s arms and settled him on his lap. "Has he taken the powder dicine?"
"Yes, Dr. Wu already fed him."
"Mm, that’s good. Give the small spoon you used for the dicine."
Taking the small spoon Yang Wei handed him, Du Heng carefully scooped a tiny amount from the decoction dicine he had brought and fed it to the child, bit by bit.
This action made You Fang’s heart ache terribly. It’s not as if I don’t love my own child!
Du Heng, however, paid no mind to her distress. Besides, babies aren’t as fragile as everyone imagines. His sole focus now was on feeding dicine to the crying child. After two or three spoonfuls, totaling about seven or eight milliliters, Du Heng stopped.
Handing the child back to You Fang, Du Heng instructed, "Never try to feed the child dicine on your own initiative. And don’t even think about mixing it into a baby bottle or anything similar. I will co and feed the child myself when it’s ti. Is that clear?"
The couple nodded together.
Du Heng looked at them again, his gaze lingering on You Fang. He was genuinely worried that You Fang, in her concern for the child, might mix the dicine with formula or breast milk. "You Fang," he reiterated, "you must rember what I just said. Do not take matters into your own hands."
You Fang looked at her child, her heart aching, but she nodded again in agreent with Du Heng.
Du Heng was true to his word. Initially, he would co to check the child’s condition every two hours and then administer a small dose of dicine. Each ti, it was just a tiny amount on the tip of the spoon.
By evening, the child’s body temperature had dropped. Likely exhausted from all the fussing, he would cry for a bit and then doze off.
"Things are better now," Du Heng said. "You can both get so sleep. Whenever the baby wakes up, co and find . I’ll be in the doctor’s rest room at the end of the corridor."
Even now, Du Heng still didn’t dare entrust the responsibility of feeding the dicine to Yang Wei and You Fang. This was an infant, less than a month old. My principle is small, frequent doses administered on a strict schedule to maintain the blood drug concentration. Mastering this balance is crucial. I’m genuinely afraid that others might misjudge the dosage—too little or too much would impede recovery and harm the child. This ’others’ includes not only Yang Wei and You Fang but also these new nurses at the nurse station. I can’t bring myself to trust any of them with this.
He ended up getting up three tis during the night. As dawn approached, the little one finally began to sleep soundly. By this point, all the baby’s feverish symptoms had vanished, and he seed just like any other healthy infant.
Du Heng glanced at the decoction dicine, barely diminished, picked it up, and tossed it directly into the trash can.
"Alright, there’s nothing more to worry about now. Once the paynt window opens, you can go and complete the discharge procedures. On your way back, make sure to wrap the child warmly so he doesn’t catch a cold."
Du Heng instructed them again, yawning. "When you’re being discharged, have Dr. Wu assist you with the paperwork. I’m going to get so sleep, so I won’t see you off."
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