Chapter 12: Chapter 0011: Turning things around

After all the hustling from last night, they didn’t get many hours of sleep, but work must go on.

“Doctor Yang! Let’s go to the operating room together later!”

Zhang Lin scratched his head, stopping Yang Ping who was about to go change the medication.

“There are several changes of medication left, and a heap of medical records to supplement, you go on your own,” said Yang Ping.

Director Han has been away for a meeting these few days, and just returned not long ago, so today the group doesn’t have a single surgery scheduled. Going to the operation theatre now would just be to observe surgery from another group. Yang Ping didn’t really want to go, he wanted to take the opportunity to complete the medical records.

Zhang Lin was a tad embarrassed: “It’s okay, changing medication, writing medical records, we’ll do it together later.”

Over the past few days, he had been bossing Yang Ping around like a serf, sometimes deliberately making things difficult. But Yang Ping never objected, nor talked back, he always completed tasks on time without complaints.

Zhang Lin found himself a bit ridiculous. The man was so proficient in reattaching severed fingers, yet remained so modest. Thinking about himself, he was looking down on him for not having graduated from a prestigious university.

Superficial! Truly superficial!

While thinking about it, Zhang Lin almost slapped himself.

“Alright, just let me know if you need anything,” Yang Ping pushed the medication cart back into the treatment room.

Today there was no need to hustle around changing medication and writing medical records like a driven donkey, it was like turning the tables for the serf.

When they went to the operating room and were waiting for the elevator, Zhang Lin said: “Doctor Yang, are you free tonight? Let’s have dinner together. I’ll treat you, we can go somewhere near the hospital.”

“Sure, but I should be the one treating you. I’ve been following you these past few days, I’m unfamiliar with many things. You’ve been teaching me, I should thank you for that, let me treat you; it’s settled then,” said Yang Ping, wholeheartedly.

“Okay!” Zhang Lin agreed readily.

No matter who treats who, in the end, it’s just having a meal together, trying to build rapport, and clear misunderstandings.

Having arranged dinner with Yang Ping, Zhang Lin felt much more relaxed, thinking, this person is definitely worth befriending, showing no malice and demonstrating broad-mindedness.

Upon arriving at the operating room, most of the surgeries had already started. The operating room was bustling, everyone chatted while working.

The two looked through the small glass window on the operating room door, one by one, until they saw Tian Yuan and Song Zimo, only then did they open the door to enter.

Fang Yan was wearing sterile gloves, holding up a leg. The ankle had already been disinfected, and Song Zimo was disinfecting from the ankle up to the top of the thigh. Tian Yuan was standing in front of the light panel looking at the X-rays, with his arms crossed over his chest. Director Han was sitting on a stool in the corner. The surgical nurse had already put on her surgical gown and was fiddling with the equipment on the tray next to her. The circulating nurse was walking around, checking to see if anything needed to be replenished. The equipment vendor’s technician, who had a keen sense of what was going on, walked over to Fang Yan: “Mr. Fang, do you want me to hold it?”

“Not necessary, he’s capable, you go count the equipment,” said Song Zimo.

Only after hearing this did the technician dare to leave.

Seeing Zhang Lin enter, Song Zimo happily said: “Come over here! Hold up the leg! Dilly-dallying, so late only then you came up. Where are all the interns today?”

“They’re at the medical education department for a meeting, they all went after the shift,” said Zhang Lin.

“No wonder, help Fang Yan hold up the leg so he can go rinse his hands and put on his gown,” said Song Zimo.

Zhang Lin quickly disinfected his hands, put on sterile gloves, helped Fang Yan lift the leg so that Fang Yan could free his hands to wash them.

Later, they need to wrap up from the ankle and above, so Zhang Lin doesn’t need to wash his hands, he just needs to use a disinfectant gel to wipe his hands, put on sterile gloves, and then use small sterile wraps to lift the leg.

“Learning orthopedics starts by lifting legs and arms. Did you know, in our mentor’s generation, during the planned economy era, when there was still a rationing system, an orthopedic doctor received a daily food ration three ‘liang’ (around 100g) more than other doctors,” spoke Director Han from the corner.

“Why is that?” Tian Yuan responded from the other end.

“Because orthopedic doctors have to lift legs, it’s physical work, naturally they eat more than others.” As soon as he finished speaking, it set off a round of laughter.

In actual fact, in the operating room, doctors and nurses often joke around, make a few dirty jokes, liven up the atmosphere, and relieve tension.

There was one time, a patient complained about the main surgeon: that they were actually chatting during the operation.

This was due to a lack of understanding of operating room culture, if everyone was very serious, straight-faced, and didn’t chat, it probably would be under two conditions; either the main surgeon is a newcomer, being nervous; or the patient’s condition is very serious, in a critical condition.

“No wonder, my teacher said, when they were recruiting orthopedic doctors in the past, during the interview, they would prepare a pair of iron balls, try lifting them a few times to test, if not able, they would immediately be eliminated, not even getting into the next round,” Tian Yuan said.

“Iron balls, wasn’t it a bottle of Erguotou (strong spirit)? First test their alcohol tolerance. Those who don’t pass are directly eliminated, those who pass are eligible for the next round of the interview,” Song Zimo said.

“Tian Yuan, let me tell you, you’re born in a good time, with the level of alcohol tolerance you had when you first arrived, if you were born ten years earlier, you wouldn’t be admitted into orthopedics,” said Director Han.

Everyone was chatting along to the topic, one after another, but their hands never stopped. Soon, disinfection and bedding was done, the suction device, electric knife were all connected, and Tian Yuan also went to wash his hands and put on his outfit.

Today Director Han didn’t schedule any surgeries, so he was just looking around in the operating room, occasionally giving some guidance. The surgeries he performed were usually complicated operations.

Yang Ping went to the other operating rooms for a tour, Director Bai was performing a rough interbone fracture; Director Ouyang was performing a pelvic fracture.

In the spine disease area, they were performing a cervical spine operation. In the joint disease area, a knee joint replacement surgery was in progress.

For the past week, they’ve hardly been to the operating room, that jerk Zhang Lin, who was supposed to share the workload among a few people, pushed everything to Yang Ping alone, ordering medication, changing medication, writing medical records etc., A whole morning was wasted. Where was their time to get to the operating room?

After doing one round, at the least, I had some impression of the several teams in the department. The trauma orthopedics ward had five teams in total:

Director Han, Director Tian, Director Ouyang, Director Bai, and Director Ding.

The trauma orthopedics ward had 80 assigned beds. Each team had 15 beds, and there were five public beds for the critically ill patients.

There were 45 beds in both the spinal and joint wards, and the sports medicine ward had only 20 beds.

All wards usually had extra beds.

After wandering around for half a day, I had a surgical meal in the operating room for lunch, and then I laid on the long chairs in the resting room for a while. The operating room resting room had many long chairs, wide and long. You can either sit or lie on them.

Little Five called me: “Boss, I have passed the interview. I’m now an emergency worker in the emergency department. Our brothers have another comrade in the hospital. I also just rented a house. It is right under your apartment on the 16th floor. Are you available tonight? Shall we have dinner together? Xiao Qing is also here. She will work in the emergency department.”

“Tonight… I have dinner plans with colleagues from the department.” Yang Ping remembered she had dinner plans with Zhang Lin.

“Well, never mind then. Talk to you later!”

Who was this Xiao Qing? It was Little Five’s girlfriend, a nurse from the People’s Hospital. This boy had some tricks up his sleeve. Right after his graduation, he tricked her into being his girlfriend. This time when Little Five left People’s Hospital and came to Sanbo Hospital, this girl insisted on following him. Even when her family disagreed, she threatened to slit her wrists.

While I was lying there, Director Han came in and said to Yang Ping: “Xiao Yang, how are you getting used to things here? Participate in more surgeries, especially emergencies. Young people should do more.”

Yang Ping quickly sat up: “Okay! I have already told Dr. Song that if there’s any emergency surgery, call me at any time. I also greeted Director Tian. If they need help with surgeries, I’m always available.”

“Very good!”

Director Han came in to drink a cup of water and then left.

Spent the whole afternoon in the operating room. At around 7 pm, after finishing a surgery, Yang Ping and Zhang Lin went to have dinner near the hospital together.

This neighborhood was quite lively, mainly due to the large number of people in the hospital itself, coupled with the slow development of factories and office buildings nearby, the corresponding services naturally developed as well.

They found a Sichuan restaurant and ordered several dishes: grilled fish, iron plate beef, Sichuan sausage, plus a vegetable dish and a vegetable soup.

The two of them had a nice chat and drank some beer. Zhang Lin apologized for his behavior during the previous days. Yang Ping dismissed it lightly, saying he didn’t mind.

With that, Zhang Lin felt relieved and the knot in his heart was untied. After a drink, they became brothers.

Zhang Lin was from the Northeast. After finishing his Master’s degree, his father exhausted his connections and spent his entire efforts to get him into Sanbo Hospital through a Southern comrade. His girlfriend was a pediatrician in the same hospital. They had saved some money and planned to borrow from their parents to buy a house and get married.

“Did you know Tang Fei before?” Zhang Lin suddenly asked.

“No!” Yang Ping said.

“The other day, I saw you laughing and chatting with her.” What Zhang Lin was talking about was probably when Yang Ping and Tang Fei were discussing the fracture film reading of a femoral neck fracture.

“Oh! She was asking me how I diagnosed a latent femoral neck fracture that day?” Yang Ping didn’t like chatting about such stuff.

Zhang Lin seemed very interested: “Oh, I thought you were familiar with her… Let me tell you, Tang Fei is one of the most attractive women in our hospital, and Song Zimo likes her.”

Why do I care! Yang Ping thought to himself. Why is he telling me all this?

But Zhang Lin was a master gossip. He was well-known for gossiping in the department. He was the first to receive any gossip in the hospital, who was dating who, who broke up with who, all sorts of things.

“Let me tell you, Song Zimo and Tang Fei are both from Fudan University. Song Zimo is two years older than her. I heard that…” Zhang Lin looked around the restaurant. There seemed to be no familiar faces.

He continued: “Song Zimo has been chasing after Tang Fei for many years and hasn’t succeeded yet.”

Although Yang Ping didn’t enjoy gossip, he was not annoyed by Zhang Lin’s words and simply listened. Zhang Lin thought he was interested and became more excited.

And he continued: “How come Song Zimo can’t win over Tang Fei? Look at Song Zimo. He’s the number one dreamboat of our hospital. He’s handsome, tall, a Ph.D. from a prestigious university, who is both excellent and hard-working, and most importantly, he is rich! You know what car he drives to work?”

Yang Ping gave him a glance.

“A BMW 7 series!”

“But Tang Fei’s family seems to be pretty rich too. They say she has a Maserati sports car… sigh… They’re all golden spoon babies. As ordinary people like us, we can only rely on electric donkeys for transportation and spend our youth worrying about food and clothing.”

Still claiming to be in his youth, he’s already in his twenties, still speaking of youth.

“Don’t be so sentimental. People, everyone has their own lives. Living your own life well is the greatest happiness. In this world, most people are ordinary. Ordinary people have their own happiness.” Yang Ping comforted.

Zhang Lin raised his glass: “Well said! Did you see the house beyond the overpass? I’ve gone to see it several times. I’m planning to get a small place as a nest.”

“You’re doing great! Just a few years after graduation, and you’re already planning to buy a house?” Yang Ping complimented him.

Zhang Lin squinted his eyes: “Don’t even mention it. It’s a sad story.”

“How do you still have so much alcohol?”

“Didn’t you say that once you finish your drink, I can do whatever I want?”

“Did I say that? OK OK OK, we Northeasterners, regardless of other things, can’t be afraid of drinking!”