Helplessness

Chapter 63 Helplessness

"The damage isn't serious," the circulating nurse reassured Ji Xiang. "Don't worry, it won't have any real impact. We'll break the stone and remove it; you won't feel any pain then."

"To be honest, laser treatment does cause a tiny bit of damage, but a little is fine," the assistant said casually. "A man's kidney injury is like a squeezed bottle; no matter how carefully you try, you can't mold it back to its original shape."

"..." Ji Xiang was speechless.

"But all you have to do is blow on it."

"!!!"

"!!!"

"Focus on the surgery, don't talk nonsense," the circulating nurse scolded.

"That makes sense," the sorcerer added with a chuckle. "Little Feng was just joking. Look at your face, it's as dark as if you've been playing a NetEase game."

"You guys have really gone too far with your nonsense."

"The surgery's done, let's celebrate!"

"At the frequency of your celebrations, your kidneys will probably be cut off sooner or later."

As Ji Xiang lay on the operating table, listening to the surgeon and the circulating doctor chat, he felt that the light from the operating room lamps wasn't so glaring after all.

They talked about blowing on stones and the songs they sang as children, with the sorcerer occasionally showing the stones he had taken out to Ji Xiang.

A large kidney stone was broken up by laser and removed in four large pieces. The smaller ones could not be removed and had to be left inside.

Soon, the surgery was over, and Ji Xiang was wheeled back to his ward.

Ji Xiang was being cared for by a caregiver hired by the hospital for 300 yuan a day.

He was about forty years old and ignored Ji Xiang.

He would do whatever Ji Xiang asked, but he would keep nagging and muttering complaints, grumbling about Ji Xiang's demands.

Ji Xiang found it funny that he and his girlfriend had broken up.

The reason he broke up with his girlfriend, whom he had never even met, because of kidney stones was utterly absurd.

Even his closest family members couldn't understand his pain. Ji Xiang lay silently in bed, feeling that the caregiver thought he was being noisy.

Ji Xiang felt a bloated sensation coming from the right kidney area where the surgery was performed.

The feeling wasn't very strong; it wasn't exactly painful, just uncomfortable.

You can eat on the first day after surgery, and the doctor recommends drinking as much porridge as possible.

Six or seven hours later, Ji Xiang urinated for the first time, and the urine was bright red and bloody.

In his last experience with urinary tract stones, Ji Xiang had seen bloody fluid, but it was never as thick as this time.

This isn't just bloody fluid; it's practically blood in urine.

Remembering the jokes and banter he shared with his classmates during his internship, Ji Xiang fell silent.

The urine was bright red and seemed to smell of blood; it looked truly frightening.

Ji Xiang even doubted that he was really broken.

But the thought of it breaking down brought back the words his assistant had said during the surgery—"Just blow on it and it'll be fine."

Emmm, hahaha, Ji Xiang couldn't help but laugh to himself.

With his tension eased a little, Ji Xiang drifted off to sleep.

When Ji Xiang woke up, he felt a more pronounced throbbing pain in his right lower back, and it hurt even when he turned over.

"Brother, please call the doctor for me," Ji Xiang said to the nurse.

"Why are you so delicate, like a girl?"

The caregiver was fast asleep, and it took Ji Xiang several calls to wake him up. The caregiver said unhappily.

Ji Xiang sighed; it was really difficult without family members by his side.

Although some family members are unreliable, it's still better than the current situation.

Ji Xiang didn't know how to describe this kind of person who takes money but doesn't do anything.

"Brother, my back hurts..." Ji Xiang explained in a low voice.

The nurse, muttering filthy language, sleepy-eyed and looking unhappy, went to find the doctor.

Twenty minutes later, the doctor, looking sleepy, came in wearing a white coat. Ji Xiang could even see the sleep in the corner of his eyes.

"What's wrong?" The doctor spoke relatively normally, trying to hide his agitation.

Patients who have undergone lithotripsy are really fussy. They disturb my sleep in the middle of the night for no reason. Ji Xiang can even read the doctor's unspoken thoughts from his expression.

"Doctor, my back hurts," Ji Xiang said.

"Let me see." The doctor walked to Ji Xiang's side, had him turn to the side, and performed a simple physical examination.

"It's nothing, it's a normal post-operative reaction." The doctor's statement was the same as that of Director Liu.

After he finished speaking, he turned and left, letting out a big yawn as he went out the door.

Ji Xiang frowned.

During the physical examination, I experienced significant tenderness in the right flank and kidney area. Is this normal?

Previously, when he watched Director Liu examine patients, Ji Xiang didn't realize this point, but now he clearly understands how patients feel.

Perhaps. When a ureteroscope is inserted, there will definitely be some friction and damage along the way.

It's normal to feel uncomfortable.

But Ji Xiang was worried that this feeling of empathy might be related to a ruptured kidney, so he didn't dare to sleep.

Even with a system experience that resonates deeply, Ji Xiang didn't want to die from hemorrhagic shock for no reason.

The pain in his lower back was getting worse and worse. After more than an hour, Ji Xiang felt he had to call the doctor again.

Despite using all her strength, even waking up the patient in the next bed, the caregiver continued snoring loudly.

A sense of loneliness enveloped my whole body. Some things you don't appreciate when you have them, but you feel them immediately when you lose them.

At this time, Ji Xiang began to miss his father and mother and felt homesick.

This feeling was unfamiliar to Ji Xiang; he had never experienced anything like it in his life.

My nose tingled, and tears welled up in my eyes.

Ji Xiang tried very hard, as if suppressing pain, to suppress this feeling of desolation and being abandoned by the whole world.

The caregiver in the next bed muttered a curse under his breath. In order to get a good night's sleep, he got up and woke up Ji Xiang's caregiver.

"Can you just shut up for a second?" the nurse said, clearly annoyed. "I've seen plenty of patients undergoing lithotripsy, and you're the most dramatic one yet! Who do you think you are! Is it so hard to just get a good night's sleep?!"

"..." Ji Xiang lay on the bed, not knowing what to say.

"Damn it," the nurse cursed, making no attempt to hide it in front of Ji Xiang, before turning to find the doctor.

The doctor looked even more tired than the last time he came.

"What is it now?" The doctor frowned, making no attempt to hide his displeasure.

"Doctor, my lower back pain is getting worse and worse." Ji Xiang tried his best to describe his symptoms in the simplest terms.

"It's just a broken stone, don't be nervous." The doctor frowned and tried to reassure Ji Xiang with a few curt words.

This time, he didn't even have a physical examination. He had a dark face, like someone who had spent money in a game, done countless ten-pulls but got nothing, looking like an unlucky person.

Ji Xiang was also helpless.

I was all alone, and my lower back was in terrible pain after the surgery. The doctor said it was nothing serious, so I figured it was fine.

Even if you know the doctor is wrong, what can you do about it?

"Damn probability problems," Ji Xiang thought to himself.

During his internship, he encountered many similar situations. In the middle of the night, braving the wind and snow, Ji Xiang would push a stretcher to take patients for examinations, only to find that nothing was wrong.

Later, the patient's family members made sarcastic remarks, saying that the patient was making trouble out of nothing, and that they didn't know how to diagnose a patient and only knew how to perform tests.

Ji Xiang felt conflicted as he stared at the ceiling.

Loneliness surged up like a tide, until it completely overwhelmed Ji Xiang.

Ji Xiang thought to himself that he might be too nervous.

As night deepened, for some unknown reason, Ji Xiang's lower back pain suddenly subsided, and he felt much more relaxed.

The sudden relaxation allowed Ji Xiang's tense body to unwind. Exhausted and with his spirit completely depleted, Ji Xiang fell into a deep sleep.

In his sleep, Ji Xiang dreamed of her, dreamed of a joke, dreamed of all the good things and his home.

Startled awake by a feeling of thirst, Ji Xiang struggled to open his eyes.

But all the strength in my body seemed to have been drained away, and I couldn't even do a "simple" action like opening my eyes.

Ji Xiang could feel that his whole body was covered in cold sweat.

He suddenly realized, this was no dream!

Half asleep and half awake, Ji Xiang realized that this must be due to hemorrhagic shock, causing his whole body to be cold and wet!

Unlike the cold and clammy sensation caused by pain from urinary tract stones, which is cold sweat, the latter is a natural bodily reaction caused by hemorrhagic shock.

"doctor!"

"doctor!!"

"doctor!!!"

Ji Xiang shouted as loudly as he could, like a drowning person desperately grasping at the last straw.

But his voice was so soft that it was drowned out by the nurse's snoring.

In the stillness of the night, with only snoring, Ji Xiang's cries for help were so faint that they could be ignored.

Ji Xiang tried to swallow hard, gathering his strength to call for help.

It tasted dry and bland, completely different from the damp and cold feeling on my body.

His lips were like a dried-up riverbed, because the dry, peeling skin was like a knife, cutting Ji Xiang painfully.

With great effort, Ji Xiang could still see countless golden stars dancing in the darkness of the night.

With his last ounce of strength, Ji Xiang raised his hand and knocked over the cup on the bedside table.

The water inside spilled out, waking the caregiver from her dream.

After doing all this, Ji Xiang felt completely exhausted and his consciousness gradually faded.

Perhaps a second has passed, perhaps a year has passed.

Ji Xiang felt his consciousness return, though he felt a little light, and slowly floated into the sky.

He could see the doctor walk in, looking exhausted, but he remained indifferent. However, the moment he touched his hand, the doctor was startled, instantly waking up and beginning resuscitation efforts.

"It's too late," Ji Xiang thought.

Is this a ruptured kidney?

Although the pain and other symptoms are not as obvious as those of urinary tract stones, and are even less severe than the procedure of circumcision and the subsequent injection in the head, they are still many times more dangerous.

Ugh.

Ji Xiang sighed.

The next second, light and shadow flickered before his eyes, and he returned to the system space.

The system NPC stood in front of Ji Xiang, looking at him with deep eyes.

"Teacher." Ji Xiang subconsciously licked his lips.

My lips were no longer dry, my body was no longer cold and damp, the strength that had been drained from me returned, and everything was back to normal.

But the thought of the hemorrhagic shock that would gradually appear in the dead of night sent chills down Ji Xiang's spine.

What a feeling of helplessness that was.

"Spontaneous renal parenchymal or renal pelvis rupture is usually associated with kidneys with underlying disease, but there are also reports of cases of spontaneous renal rupture without underlying kidney disease," the system NPC said.

(End of this chapter)