Conference Room.
"Dr. Bailey will send you all Katie's dical records. Ti is running out, everyone."
Dr. Shepherd gestured for the assistant to place twenty copies of the dical records on the table for everyone to take. "If we want to save Katie's life, we need to act fast."
With that, he turned and left.
The interns imdiately rushed forward, each grabbing a copy of the dical records.
Adam was the fastest, securing his copy first and quickly flipping through it.
Just as Dr. Shepherd had said, if this surgery were to proceed, it would be an advanced procedure—far more complex than the coronary bypass surgery Leonard had been planning to have Adam assist with.
This was a once-in-a-lifeti opportunity, extrely rare.
"redith, let's work together."
Cristina, the most ambitious of the group, whispered to redith, "You're Katie's primary doctor. You've been taking care of her from the start, so you definitely know more details. If we work together to find the answer first, our chances of getting into the surgery will each be 50%…"
"I can work with you, but I don't want to do the surgery."
redith looked completely uninterested. "You go ahead."
"You're joking, right?"
Cristina was both shocked and excited, unable to believe what she was hearing.
For a surgery of this caliber, even resident doctors would be envious, let alone interns. That was why Dr. Shepherd used it as both a temptation and a motivator, pushing the exhausted interns to rack their brains for a solution.
Yet, here was redith, a surgical intern herself, willing to give up such a rare opportunity just like that?
"I don't want to operate with Dr. Shepherd."
redith said with obvious distaste.
"What's wrong with Shepherd?"
Cristina imdiately sensed sothing was off between them and shot redith a questioning look.
"If we find the answer, you do the surgery. Deal?"
redith asked impatiently.
"Deal."
Cristina was overjoyed. She grabbed redith's hand and pulled her toward the library. "Let's go right now."
With a case this complicated, there was no way to solve it without digging through books.
Adam closed the dical record and also walked out of the room.
Cristina glanced at Adam and, without hesitation, pulled redith into a run.
Among the twenty interns, she had always considered herself the best.
But when it ca to Adam, that confidence disappeared instantly.
Now, she had to catch up.
This rare, high-level surgery was a crucial turning point.
And she had the advantage—at least for now.
As they reached the hallway corner, Cristina suddenly stopped and turned around, only to see Adam standing before Dr. Shepherd, smiling confidently.
"Dr. Shepherd, I have an idea."
"Co on, you've got to be kidding ."
Cristina couldn't believe Adam had already figured sothing out. But an unsettling feeling crept over her, and she found herself frozen in place, anxiously watching their conversation unfold.
"Let's hear it."
Dr. Shepherd's expression was sowhat intrigued.
He hadn't expected soone to co to him with an answer so soon after he had just given them the task.
If it were really that easy, what did that say about him?
"Based on the patient's records, we can rule out hypoxia, kidney failure, and acidosis. The CT scan ca back normal, so we can largely rule out a tumor."
Adam spoke steadily. "Her white blood cell count is normal, there's no fever, and the spinal tap showed no abnormalities, so we can also rule out an infection."
"I know all that."
Dr. Shepherd interrupted. "Tell
your conclusion."
"I suspect an aneurysm."
Adam said.
"The CT scan showed no bleeding, the patient has no headaches, no neck pain, no history of toxin exposure, no pregnancy, and no recent trauma."
Dr. Shepherd shook his head. "dically, there's no evidence to suggest an aneurysm."
"But she enjoys gymnastics, and her records ntion a past fall and sprained ankle."
Adam explained. "A fall could potentially cause an aneurysm to rupture."
"Yes, but the chances of that happening are one in a million—and even then, it's only theoretical."
Dr. Shepherd countered.
"Is a one-in-a-million chance really that small?"
Adam smiled. "Isn't it still bigger than zero? Right now, we have no explanation for her condition. If every test has co up empty, then even the smallest possibility is worth considering. What harm is there in running another scan to confirm?"
Hospital diagnostic procedures require dical justification.
Tests can't be perford arbitrarily because every scan ends up on the patient's bill.
This system prevents hospitals from conducting unnecessary tests just to overcharge patients.
And when the cause of an illness remains unknown, even running a test may not help—minor abnormalities can be so subtle that they go unnoticed.
A small aneurysm rupture was exactly the kind of condition that could be easily overlooked.
Dr. Shepherd stared at Adam, montarily dazed.
For a brief mont, he saw the shadow of soone else in Adam.
MRI Room.
"Damn."
Dr. Shepherd had brought Adam to run a scan. When the image appeared on the screen, revealing a tiny fissure, he blurted out, "Subarachnoid hemorrhage. It's small, but it's there—she's bleeding inside her skull."
A smile spread across his face.
As a top-tier neurosurgeon, he wasn't afraid of intracranial bleeding—it was just another surgical challenge. The real problem was when they couldn't find the cause.
"Adam, how did you figure it out?"
Dr. Shepherd looked at Adam with a complex expression.
"I listed all possible causes and eliminated them one by one."
Adam smiled.
When he first opened the dical record, a 3D model of the human body had ford in his mind, allowing him to reference the vast dical knowledge he had absorbed from books. Through constant ntal simulation and elimination, he quickly arrived at the most probable conclusion.
"Well done."
Dr. Shepherd nodded.
As a top surgeon, he understood the level of talent and effort behind Adam's seemingly casual explanation.
"Thanks."
Adam reminded him, "So, about assisting in the surgery?"
"That's yours, of course."
Dr. Shepherd closed the file and grinned. "I'll go inform Katie's parents now. The surgery is scheduled for this afternoon. See you in the OR."
"See you in the OR."
Adam bead.
Dr. Shepherd took a few steps before turning back. "You remind
of soone."
"Who?"
Adam asked curiously.
Dr. Shepherd simply smiled and walked away without answering.
Earlier, when he had told Katie's parents that he was out of options, they had threatened to seek another doctor—soone who wasn't easy to get an appointnt with.
That doctor's reputation and status far surpassed his own, particularly in solving rare and difficult cases.
If the patient had transferred, he wouldn't have felt too embarrassed—it was understandable when dealing with a doctor of that caliber.
Now, however, Katie would likely stay under his care.
But the solution had co from an intern.
It left him with a complicated feeling.
He wasn't sure whether to be grateful for having such a talented intern or to wish Katie had indeed gone to that legendary doctor instead.
He had never seen an intern this skilled before.
Perhaps that great doctor had once been just as extraordinary in his youth.
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