My Medical Skills Give Me Experience Points Chapter 1591 647: The Living Dead, Consultation_2

Zhou Can walked into the room. Both healthcare workers were not young, the man was around forty-seven or eight. The woman was obviously a nurse, appearing to be at least in her early forties.

This field heavily relies on experience, especially with severely paralyzed patients, who are harder to care for.

The two merely glanced indifferently at Zhou Can and continued with their tasks, appearing very dedicated.

The man monitored the ventilator, while the woman watched the IV bottle, occasionally checking the patient's condition.

Possibly due to the patient's special condition, the IV was not administered through the common approach of arm or hand veins but through a deep vein catheterization in the neck.

The risks can be imagined.

Medications used for some critical patients can be irritating and require long-term infusion, which could cause phlebitis when administered through peripheral small veins.

If the drug accidentally leaks out of the vein, it could even result in serious consequences like local tissue necrosis.

However, there's no need to panic as deep vein catheterization is performed by experienced nurses; trainee nurses wouldn't dare attempt it. Any abnormalities, nurses will promptly attend to the ward for handling.

Consider it a more advanced infusion method.

Zhou Can looked at the patient lying on the bed, equipped with a ventilator. Fortunately, it was a non-invasive ventilation.

Based on Zhou Can's clinical intensive care experience, invasive ventilation not only requires a strictly sterile environment but also, over time, leads to various complications.

The most common one is pneumonia.

This is almost inevitable.

Moreover, the longer the invasive ventilator is used, the more likely various complications occur. Inflammation is the most common.

No matter how advanced the hormones or antibiotics used, it's impossible to completely prevent it.

The patient on the bed was a haggard-looking man, his true age indiscernible.

He was estimated to be around sixty.

Despite being bedridden for a long time, he still looked quite gentle.

Not the kind of face that's fierce and threatening.

Such severely paralyzed patients are most prone to develop bedsores, muscle atrophy, and in the long term, some organ failure may accompany them. However, this male patient's condition seemed to be quite good.

It's probably been ten years since Dr. Xu's accident.

When Zhou Can first came to Tuya Hospital for his residency, Dr. Xu had already had the accident a few years ago.

Now Zhou Can has risen to attending physician and become a new acclaimed doctor at Tuya Hospital.

So, calculating it, the patient has been bedridden for at least ten years.

Being paralyzed in bed for so long and still maintaining muscle without atrophy, and skin looking fuller, is quite commendable.

Daily body massage and limb stretching exercises are essential. Typically performed every two to three hours.

This all requires manual labor from a professional healthcare aid.

For ten years, day in and day out, persistence like this is not something one caregiver can maintain. The workload itself is too large for one caregiver to complete.

Even ensuring timely daily massages for the patient is not enough.

Nutrition must also keep up.

The patient now even needs a ventilator to breathe, making self-feeding impossible.

Leaving aside the cost of nutritional liquids, just the composition of the nutritional liquid alone tests the doctor and nurse's skill.

At least it requires someone at the level of deputy chief nurse who has studied nutrition to barely qualify.

With muscle massages and stretching exercises for blood vessels, ligaments, muscles, and skin, and solving nutrition—all these bases covered. Maintaining stable vital signs for the patient is still an exceedingly difficult task.

Over ten years, the manpower, materials, and financial resources expended to keep this patient alive are unquantifiable.

Zhou Can originally considered it rather excessive that Dr. Xu left only a small part of his salary every month, donating the rest to the affected family each year, and the family always accepted without a word of gratitude.

This is quite excessive.

Only now understanding that the amount Dr. Xu donated was merely a drop in the bucket.

It might just be enough to pay for the caregivers for the affected family.

Conservatively, at least four caregivers are needed, taking turns every twenty-four hours to massage and stretch the patient's limbs.

One caregiver earns six thousand yuan a month, four would cost twenty-four thousand.

Professional caregivers' wages would be higher, and adding in expenses for social security, food, and accommodation, the costs could double.

To be a bit crueler.

The patient is already in this condition, is there truly a need to expend such immense financial, material, and human resources to maintain the patient's breath?

Even if the victim's family can afford it, for the patient, living is a suffering, an ordeal.

And it's every minute and every second, a suffering ordeal as the days drag by.

"Mr. Song, my name is Zhou Can. I'm a doctor from Tuya Hospital, here to see you today."

Zhou Can spoke to the patient in a gentle voice.

"Mmm..."

The patient made a muffled sound.

This somewhat surprised Zhou Can.

Being able to make a sound indicated the neurological damage was much better than expected.

Before coming, he thought the patient might be in a vegetative state.

Being able to understand Zhou Can's words and make indistinct sounds to express thoughts showed the patient's mind is clear. There are no issues with hearing and language.

The patient's voice was unclear, partly because of the ventilator and partly due to long-term lack of speech, leading to language skills degradation.

If you left a person on a desert island for ten years, even if they survived, they would lose their verbal abilities.

Only able to make some vague simple syllables.

"After the accident back then, many of our hospital's medical staff have been concerned about you and have been striving to find a solution. Ten years have passed, and there have been significant advancements in medical technology and treatment experiences in neurology. May I examine your body?"

Zhou Can asked the patient.

"Mmm..."

The patient tried hard to nod in agreement but couldn't.

Could only express through blinking.

"Uncle Bian, I'll check Mr. Song, then."

Zhou Can sought Housekeeper Bian's opinion.

"You may, but you must ensure Mr. Song's safety." Housekeeper Bian agreed.

"Please be careful during the examination, ensuring not to disrupt Mr. Song's stable condition."

The male doctor said indifferently.

Zhou Can, having received permission, began checking the patient. The patient wore only underpants, likely to protect his privacy and dignity.

Attempting to lift the patient's left hand.

In weight, skin elasticity, body temperature, muscle and fat thickness, and pulse, Zhou Can quietly examined it all.

"Mr. Song, if you can feel when I touch your fingertip, please blink."

Zhou Can said to him.

The patient blinked, signifying understanding.

Zhou Can attempted to touch the tip of the patient's index finger, with little response. He slightly increased the pressure, and the patient responded this time, blinking at him.

It seems the sensory nerve function in the hand still exists.

He tested both arms respectively, then proceeded to test other parts of the body.

From where the neck meets the back of the head, the patient's nerve functions gradually weakened. By the time it reached the lower body, the sensory function was almost non-existent.

Because of the patient's highly esteemed status, Zhou Can didn't dare request a needle test.

Zhou Can had treated many cases with this diminishing nerve function from top to bottom.

There were various reasons.

Before coming, Zhou Can had specifically looked up the records and thoroughly understood this patient's surgical history from that year.

It was caused by the removal of a brain tumor.

According to Dr. Xu's account, back then, the hands acted faster than the brain, and an unintentional incision injured the brain nerves.

The patient's eyes could move, could see objects, and had hearing. Although both hands couldn't move, the sensory nerves should be intact...

According to neurosurgery anatomy, the brain nerve is a central hub, transmitting nerve signals from top to bottom, head to toe, throughout the body.

The core center of brain nerves is the brainstem, traveling through the brainstem, medulla, cervical enlargement, and onward.

Spinal nerves can be viewed as the main transmission highway.

The brachial plexus determines hand sensation.

The patient's hand sensation suggests the brainstem to brachial plexus region is at least functional.

Then the patient's thoracic nerve testing also seemed fine.

Only when reaching the lumbar plexus, cauda equina, and sacral plexus areas did it become problematic.

Zhou Can began to contemplate.

According to clinical experience, blood vessels contract and narrow after hemorrhage. It is often difficult to find a vein when rescuing massive hemorrhage patients due to this reason.

Nerves can similarly atrophy.

Moreover, their atrophy is more complex, influenced by factors like nutrition, exercise, nerve electrical signals, and other aspects.