The difficulty of tendon suturing is very high, and the surgery time is not short at all.
After a full hour and a half, Lu Cheng felt that the suturing was nearing the end. He then turned and looked at the circulating nurse playing with her phone: "Sister Xiao Min, please take my phone and call Professor Chen, ask him to come to Operating Room 3 to help evaluate and review the surgery quality."
The circulating nurse was named Wang Limin, twenty-six years old, four years younger than Lu Cheng.
Wang Limin had a standard oval face, a long neck, a plump figure, and a voice that smiled: "Dr. Lu, aren't you afraid I'll see messages from your girlfriend if you tell me your phone password?"
"Sister Xiao Min, where do you get the girlfriends you're talking about? Does the country still give those out these days?" Lu Cheng replied casually while performing passive tendon gliding for the patient.
It was visible that the gap at the sutured tendon ends was tight, the sutures were parallel and symmetrical, perfectly restoring the original anatomical structure without creating too many step-like twists.
"Professor Chen, who is Professor Chen?" The patient was only under nerve block anesthesia, conscious, and sharply asked.
"Professor Chen Song from Xiangya Second Hospital, a professor here to aid our hospital. Very skilled," Zhang Tiesheng explained with a smile.
"No... There's a Professor Chen... Why didn't Professor Chen do the surgery for me?"
"Aren't you two playing a bit big?" The young man immediately chuckled angrily.
Lu Cheng lightly chuckled and explained: "Brother, Professor Chen is a professor from Xiangya Second Hospital, he's here for rural support, not to work for our hospital."
"If we asked him to do surgery for you, would he just do it? Why not ask an academic from the hand surgery department to do the tendon suturing for you?"
"This kind of minor surgery, Professor Chen wouldn't be interested or bothered to do."
"Currently, he mainly handles life-threatening major surgeries."
Lu Cheng's words were easy to understand and made perfect sense.
After listening, the young man muttered, "Going rural but not working, then what the hell is the point of going rural."
Lu Cheng took a deep breath and patiently explained: "Professor Chen is in the department ready for fatal emergencies at any time, like a liver rupture we had this morning, or the aortic dissection and heart rupture we encountered the day before yesterday!"
"If he were to handle every minor emergency, how could he conserve his energy to perform other surgeries well? If it delayed him from attending to more urgent patients, leading to death, what then?"
"Professor Chen is the anchor... not a small doctor like us."
"Our time and energy are comparatively less valuable."
The young man thought seriously for a moment, then sighed lightly and quipped, "Our County Hospital's technology is still too poor."
Zhang Tiesheng rolled his eyes and retorted unceremoniously, "Brother, this is a County Hospital, what more do you want?"
"If you had the chance to earn a million a month in Sha City, would you still stay in Long County to earn five thousand a month?"
The patient fell completely silent...
Five minutes after Wang Limin finished the phone call, Chen Song entered the operating room.
He stood with his hands behind his back on the elevated step stool, his voice steady: "The modified Kessler suturing technique is grasped quite skillfully, perfect for dealing with this IV zone tendon injury."
"Better than the Tang method and Tsuge Suturing Technique."
"The tendon passive gliding is smooth, the suturing is tight, with temporary plaster fixation today, the plaster can be removed tomorrow for functional rehabilitation."
"Finish suturing and leave a few pieces of gloves as drainage sheets..." Chen Song pointed out specific details for subsequent steps.
The young man smiled immediately upon hearing Chen Song's voice: "Professor Chen, your skills are so excellent, they didn't even think to notify you."
"If you did my surgery, it would definitely be better."
Chen Song got off the step stool, his tone calm and steady, shaking his head: "I wouldn't do this surgery."
"I haven't done any like this at Affiliated Hospital No. 2 for four or five years. They're occasionally done by the junior staff or the resident supervisor."
"Wouldn't your surgery quality be better?" the young man asked again.
"Hey..."
"Then how about in the future, I do the tendon suturing? Will you take my place and do other surgeries?" Chen Song chuckled with a hint of amusement and then turned and left the operating room without staying a second longer.
There was a minute of silence in the operating room before the patient said, "Is Professor Chen's attitude really that high? I was just offering a suggestion."
Lu Cheng explained softly, "That's not a suggestion; you're telling Professor Chen what to do."
"There are hierarchies in hospitals, in conditions and referrals too. Hierarchical medical treatment is intended for a better allocation of medical resources, yet you insist that Professor Chen would do a better tendon suturing."
"Professor Chen could manage with his physique even if he were to carry bricks."
"Professor Chen should take on the appropriate role, perform certain surgeries, and be in a certain position, nobody dares to point fingers at that."
"That's why he's upset."
"An analogy would be if someone insisted you had to sweep the streets; you'd be upset too."
The young man continued, "Dr. Lu, then will my tendon be alright in the future?"
Lu Cheng replied, "Currently, the surgery process has been very smooth. If you follow the doctor's advice post-operatively, rehabilitate actively but not excessively, the post-surgery outcome is promising."
"Didn't Professor Chen mention just now that the suturing was decent?" Lu Cheng didn't boast like the proverbial boasting woman but neither did he underplay himself either.
Director Peng from Orthopedics has a slightly better technique than himself, but he got tired of the pitfalls of tendon suturing, so he completely avoids this skill, leaving others even more hesitant.
Now that he's entered this field and validated by Professor Chen Song that he can operate, Lu Cheng won't choose not to practice his skills until they are the best in the world.
Zhang Tiesheng took a deep breath in timely support: "Brother, let me put it this way, currently, in our hospital, the only one who can, and is willing, to do tendon suturing is Dr. Lu."
"If you want surgery, you can only have him do it; if not, you'll have to be referred elsewhere."
"Couldn't you do it?" asked the young man to Zhang Tiesheng, who seemed quite chatty, even a bit of a gossip.
"If I could do it, I wouldn't have said Dr. Lu is the only one who could. To tell you the truth, suturing a torn tendon to standard quality requires quite high skills itself."
"That's why they say Dr. Lu is a top student, quick learning, with excellent skills."
"Don't overthink it; once you've made the choice, don't regret it. Just positively engage in rehabilitation post-surgery for a good functional outcome!" Zhang Tiesheng also advised.
After all, Lu Cheng was a part of their hospital.
He wasn't envious of Lu Cheng performing tendon suturing; the only thing he felt 'envious' of was that Lu Cheng managed to 'please' Chen Song more.
As for the patient's current chattering, everything was clearly explained to you before surgery, you yourself chose to sign, the surgery is done, so what more do you want?
If there really were problems with the surgery, it would be understandable; now everything is proceeding smoothly, and you're making demands as if the hospital is your backyard, are you the son of the secretary or something?
Twenty minutes later, the chatty patient was wheeled out of the operating room.
After removing his sterile surgical gown and gloves, Zhang Tiesheng looked Lu Cheng up and down, his tone slightly astonished: "Xiao Lu, you really are hiding your talents."
"Professor Chen said it would take you about two months to master tendon suturing, yet you've reduced that time to one week."
The two-month timeframe was never communicated to Lu Cheng by Chen Song.
But Lu Cheng could generally estimate that mastering tendon suturing, modified Kessler suturing from beginner to skilled required 20 skill points, and advancing from skilled to specialized in suturing basics would need a bit more than 20 skill points.
40-plus skill points, comparable to a professional doctorate from Xiangya Second Hospital, requiring over four hundred hours of dedicated practice and study.
With only 720 hours in a month, after factoring in shifts, even if Lu Cheng was diligent enough, it would still roughly require two months.
Professor Chen Song's estimation was well-founded, but Lu Cheng had never been confined, so he couldn't be judged by such general standards.
"At this rate, in a few months, I might have to call you Brother," joked Zhang Tiesheng, with eyes subtly hiding a sense of urgency.
The hospital is a unique 'unit,' and interpersonal relationships will only give you more opportunities, like employment or more surgical chances, but not let you leap over others' technical skills.
Patients don't talk about courtesy, nor does technology.
Besides Zeng Huanqi, there was now another strong competitor, and Lu Cheng could even overtake others, posing a greater threat!!
Lu Cheng walked out with a light chuckle: "Brother Zhang, you're being a bit rogue by flattering like this. What do my skills count for?"
"Brother Zhang will always be Brother Zhang."
Lu Cheng was neither arrogant nor complacent but simply took a very calm step forward beyond this turning point.
He finally conquered his 'exclusive' surgery.
[Individually completed a professional tendon suturing, alleviated the patient's pain, enabling better functional recovery for the patient, gained 1.5 skill points...]