Chapter 1020: Nauseous
A laryngeal mirror was a small mirror with a long handle, and it looked kind of like a longer and larger ear digger. The doctor would pull the patient’s tongue and shove the laryngeal mirror into the patient’s throat, and they were able to get plenty of information by doing so.
Laryngeal mirrors also ca in various shapes and sizes, and so of them were thicker than the others. It was not a very comfortable examination thod, but it did not take long.
Ren Qi took a laryngeal mirror pack from the nurse. He did not open it imdiately. Instead, he rested his hand on the packaging and tried very hard to recall everything he had learned about laryngeal mirrors.
He did not use to work in the Ergency Departnt, which was why he was not familiar with ergency surgeries. As an experienced attending physician in the General Surgery Departnt, he spent most of his ti digging people’s sh*t and rarely had the chance to shove laryngeal mirrors down patient’s throats.
Everything Ren Qi knew about laryngeal mirrors was what he had learned back when he was a houseman and dical intern.
He was probably more skilled at it back when he was a houseman.
Aside from this, back when he was a dical intern, he had learned how to use the laryngeal mirror in the Otolaryngology Departnt. This was because when he was doing his internship in the Ergency Departnt, the doctors there always transferred patients who needed laryngoscopy to other departnts.
Ren Qi was torn. He looked at Doctor Zhou and asked, “Why don’t we send the patient to the Otolaryngology Departnt?”
Doctor Zhou said languidly, “I’m telling you to do it, so just do it.”
As Huo Congjun wanted their Ergency Departnt to be involved in many fields of dicine, they had invaded the territories of departnts like the General Surgery Departnt and the Orthopedics Departnt. Would it not be a joke for them to send a patient with a bone stuck in his throat to the Otolaryngology Departnt?
“Alright.” Ren Qi was a little annoyed, but he had no say in this matter.
To be fair, he was also an experienced attending physician. Back when he was working in a county hospital, he always ordered housen and dical interns around too. Hence, he could even kind of tell what was on Doctor Zhou’s mind.
But what could he do about it? As a doctor who was doing his in-service training in Yun Hua Hospital illegally, he had no choice but to be obedient.
“Please co over and sit in front of .” Ren Qi sighed and asked the patient to lean forward. He pointed the spotlight at the patient’s oral cavity and hesitantly grabbed the laryngeal mirror.
“Open your mouth and stick out your tongue.” Ren Qi grabbed a sterile gauze. He then held the patient’s tongue and gently pulled it out.
The patient groaned a few tis, but he showed no objection. Ren Qi breathed a sigh of relief.
When it ca to his skills… Honestly, he basically was not skilled at laryngoscopy at all. The fact that the patient was cooperative made him feel a lot more at ease.
Doctor Zhou crossed his arms and urged Ren Qi. “It’s ti to insert the laryngeal mirror.”
“Alright!” Ren Qi tried his best to recall all the steps. He took a size 16 laryngeal mirror and hesitantly inserted it into the patient’s oral cavity.
“Which corner of the mouth should you insert it from?” It only took one look for Doctor Zhou to know that Ren Qi had forgotten everything about laryngoscopy. Hence, he gave Ren Qi a reminder.
After Ren Qi heard this, he imdiately rembered what he should be doing. He turned the mirror and inserted it into the patient’s throat from the left corner of the mouth.
“Answer my question.” Doctor Zhou never bothered to be polite with his subordinates.
“From the left corner,” Ren Qi quickly answered.
Doctor Zhou humd in acknowledgent.
The patient’s family mber who had been standing beside them was now certain that Doctor Zhou was the boss. He went forward again and said to his son who was receiving laryngoscopy, “See, unlike doctors in the United States, doctors in China always solve our problems quickly and efficiently. Rember the ti we were in the United States? We encountered this Arican Chinese doctor who made you do an X-ray and a CT scan even though you rely had a fish bone stuck in your throat. We spent a lot of money, and in the end, the problem wasn’t solved at all!”
Even though the patient’s family mber looked like he was speaking to his son, he actually wanted the doctors to hear it.
He was doing so with hidden intentions, but this did make the doctors rather happy.
Ren Qi felt a little pressured for so reason. This was a ti when he should make his country proud.
He beca even more focused, and he carefully examined the patient’s root of tongue, epiglottis and epiglottic vallecula of the patient using the laryngeal mirror.
The patient’s father took a look at Ren Qi’s earnest deanour, and he beca even more happy. He continued praising the doctors, “In my opinion, the healthcare system in the United States is f*cked. You know, doctors in Arica make it a point to avert responsibility every ti they do sothing. They don’t care about whether they are able to nurse you back to health at all. They’re afraid of responsibility and are always worried about getting sued. Of course, they are always thinking about making money too. Hence, they make you go through multiple examinations that are trendously expensive. There was this one ti when my lumbar spine hurt, and they made do a… What was that again? Ah, MRI scan. It was 10,000 USD! Fortunately, I had insurance!”
“You don’t have to worry about things since you’re insured, do you? It’s still better than how things are here.” Another patient who was standing near the patient’s family mber ca over to join the conversation when he heard that the other party was talking about healthcare systems of different countries.
The patient’s father chuckled. “Insurance isn’t free, you know? The health insurance for my whole family costs more than 10,000 USD annually. There are also procedures that are not covered. Most importantly, they don’t even handle your problems the right way. You know, when you’ve a fish bone or shrimp thorn stuck in your throat, they will send you to the operating theater right away.”
“What the heck is a shrimp thorn?”
“That thorny thing on shrimps’ heads,” the patient’s father explained earnestly.
The other patient was shocked. “Does that thing even get stuck in people’s throats?”
“Why not? If you don’t consu fish carefully, a fish bone might be stuck in your throat. So, if you don’t consu shrimp carefully, a shrimp thorn might be stuck in your throat.”
“No, the question is, who the heck eats the heads of shrimps? It’s not even delicious, and it contains a lot of heavy tal. Only idiots would eat that thing.”
The patient’s father turned abruptly to look at Doctor Zhou. He asked, “Doctor, you guys probably encounter quite a lot of patients with fish bones or shrimp thorns stuck in their throats, right?”
“Yeah, patients with fish bones stuck in their throats are quite common.” Doctor Zhou smiled.
“How about shrimp thorns?”
Doctor Zhou schooled his expression. He thought about it for a long ti and said, “Sotis, there are patients with chicken bones stuck in their throats.”
The people around them laughed softly.
Not every patient in the Ergency Departnt was in critical condition. This was especially true in the treatnt room. So of the patients there were rely hit with a rock by their friends, had scratches on their body because their friends pushed them onto the floor, and drank too much alcohol because their friends or family forced them to. All of them were capable of laughing.
However, Ren Qi was not in the mood to laugh.
He examined the patient’s soft palate, tonsils, root of tongue and epiglottis… But he was unable to find the legendary shrimp thorn.
“Could it be that it has been flushed away by saliva?” Ren Qi reckoned.
However, the fact that he could not find the foreign object did not an that the foreign object did not exist.
Ren Qi turned and looked helplessly at Doctor Zhou, but the latter rely gave Ren Qi a cold expression.
“Doctor Zhou?” Ren Qi had no choice but to call out for help.
“If you can’t find it, just send him for an X-ray scan so that the position of the foreign object can be determined.” Doctor Zhou paused for a mont and continued, “Go ahead and contact the dical Imaging Departnt. Get the patient and his family mber to sign the inford consent form too.”
“Alright.” Ren Qi rose in resignation and put down the laryngeal mirror. He then said to the patient, “I’m sorry. If you still feel like the foreign object is in the throat, do go for an X-ray scan.”
“Sure, let’s go.” The patient looked at his father. He seed pleased with himself, and his expression was animated.
The patient’s father was reluctant. “About this… Doctor, I didn’t know that doctors in China send patients for X-ray scans too!”
“Why not? If the foreign object cannot be found, there’s no choice but to get an X-ray scan.”
“Sigh, you guys… you guys…” The patient’s father had a grim expression on his face, and he looked angry.
Ren Qi breathed a sigh of relief and politely checked on the patient, who was feeling nauseous. “How do you feel? It’s very normal to experience throat discomfort after laryngoscopy. Don’t worry…”
“I’m okay. I’m very used to this. Just need to vomit a few tis.” The patient nodded in understanding and retched several tis.
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