Chinese Medicine: Starting with Daily Intelligence-Chapter 87: Give It a Try?
As Hu Qiming was talking, the food was served.
Hu Qiming put down his phone.
The three of them ate and chatted.
"How’s that situation at your hospital going?"
Li Xu asked.
Hu Qiming instinctively lowered his voice. "I thought it was just a simple affair, but it turns out there’s a lot more to it. That resident doctor has powerful connections, so it’s being suppressed internally. No one dares to talk about it now, so you should probably stop asking."
"Alright."
Li Xu had expected as much.
When Xue Shuheng had come to him, he had vaguely mentioned a few things.
"But Xiao Fei is done for."
Hu Qiming shook his head. "Our hospital terminated his employment contract. The head nurse from before was also disciplined. On top of that, it involved some other matters, and several nurses were fired. Now our hospital is short-staffed on nurses."
"Oh?"
Li Xu’s mind stirred. Song Sisi had finished her thesis defense and was about to graduate.
Her original plan was to go to the City First Hospital, but the competition was fierce.
’Maybe she could try her luck at the City Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine.’
"Let me know when you post the hiring announcement,"
Li Xu said.
"Is this for Song Sisi?"
Hu Qiming nodded. "No problem. But I don’t have much influence, so I’m afraid I won’t be of much help when the time comes."
"I’m not asking for your help. It will all depend on her own abilities,"
Li Xu said.
Ding Aiguo, who was listening, chimed in, "Do you want me to put in a good word?"
He was a major entrepreneur in the city.
His network was extensive.
It would be a simple matter for him to make a call and get the City Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine to hire a nurse.
"No need."
Li Xu refused.
He and Song Sisi were just a former boss and employee. Their relationship hadn’t reached the point where he would owe someone a favor for her sake. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶
"President Ding, how is your wife’s health now?" Li Xu asked.
Ding Aiguo said happily, "She’s basically made a full recovery. She sleeps soundly every night, and her appetite has improved. We weighed her yesterday, and she’s gained ten pounds since last month! HAHA! Doctor Li, I really have you to thank."
"You’re too kind. It’s a doctor’s duty to treat patients and save lives."
...
「Guanghe District Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine.」
There weren’t many patients in the internal medicine department.
Miaoli and Guo Yu were both idle.
Miaoli was scrolling through her phone.
When she saw the golden toad skin in the group chat, her jaw dropped in surprise. After chatting a few more lines in the group,
she saved the picture
and forwarded it to Guo Yu, who was sitting across from her.
"Director Guo, take a look. My classmate, Li Xu, found a treasure at the medicinal herb market."
"Oh? What kind of treasure?"
Guo Yu asked as he opened the picture. "Huh, toad skin... Could it be wild?"
"That’s right, but it’s no ordinary wild toad skin."
"What’s so special about it?"
"Director Guo, look closer. Do you see the golden threads on the toad skin?"
"...Hm? You’re right... Could it be... the legendary golden toad skin?!"
Guo Yu was stunned.
Miaoli nodded. "It is golden toad skin. The books say that golden toad skin is very effective for cirrhosis with ascites. That patient who’s been causing trouble at our hospital for the past two days... if we use this on him, do you think it might work?"
"Well..."
Guo Yu’s mind raced.
Recently, a patient with cirrhosis had been coming to the hospital to cause trouble.
The reason was that six months ago,
the patient had come to the Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine for treatment.
The Western medical diagnosis was cirrhosis following hepatitis B.
His own diagnosis had been liver qi stagnation, spleen deficiency, and internal blood stasis.
He had prescribed a formula to soothe the liver, strengthen the spleen, invigorate blood, and remove stasis.
But after the patient went home, he only took a few doses before listening to someone else and seeking out a local "famous doctor," who prescribed him some folk remedies.
As a result, his condition didn’t improve.
In fact, it worsened rapidly, progressing from cirrhosis to cirrhosis with ascites.
Cirrhosis with ascites is a late-stage complication of cirrhosis.
It was already very serious.
Prolonged ascites could increase the risk of developing liver cancer due to the continued deterioration of liver function.
The patient panicked.
So he came back to their Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine and demanded they take responsibility.
To be honest,
the Guanghe District Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine didn’t have the capability to treat late-stage cirrhosis symptoms.
So they advised the patient to transfer to a top-tier hospital for more comprehensive treatment.
The patient refused, insisting that their hospital had delayed his treatment.
Either their hospital had to cure his cirrhosis with ascites,
or they had to pay compensation.
Guo Yu had been wrangling with them for two days.
He simply couldn’t get through to them.
He had already changed his approach. Since he couldn’t persuade the patient, his only option was to get the hospital director to agree to pay them off—to spend money to resolve the disaster.
However, their Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine didn’t usually have many patients and had limited financial resources.
The director was reluctant to part with the money.
Another reason was that they couldn’t set this kind of precedent.
Otherwise, if patients whose conditions didn’t improve at their hospital could just turn around and demand money, how could they stay in business?
"The books do record that golden toad skin is highly effective for cirrhosis with ascites, but... would the golden toad skin alone be enough?"
Guo Yu’s brow furrowed deeply.
Besides, wild toad skin was already very expensive.
Let alone golden toad skin.
He estimated that it would cost at least tens of thousands of yuan to acquire it.
It wasn’t that he was afraid of spending tens of thousands.
The patient’s family was demanding 500,000 yuan from the hospital.
If they could resolve this matter for just tens of thousands, the director would be overjoyed.
He was just afraid they would spend the money and still fail to cure the illness...
Miaoli reminded him in a low voice, "It’s worth a try. What if it works?"
Guo Yu gritted his teeth. "Okay."
He thought about how,
when faced with a patient, Li Xu had dared to prescribe medicine boldly.
But he, himself, was always so hesitant.
Sometimes, too much hesitation was a detriment to treating patients and saving lives.
"Help me get in touch with Li Xu. Ask him if he’s free tonight. I want to treat him to dinner, and you should come along too."
"Okay."
Miaoli made the call.
"He said he’s free tonight."
"Great. There’s a Songjiang Noodle House near his clinic. Let’s meet there at 6 p.m.,"
Guo Yu said, "It’ll also be a good opportunity to thank him for his advice last time."
...
「Songjiang Noodle House, a private room on the second floor.」
After some pleasantries, Guo Yu exclaimed in admiration, "Doctor Li, that patient with the chronic cough we discussed a few days ago—I followed your advice and prescribed a large dose. After two consultations, the patient’s coughing and wheezing have completely disappeared. Even his long-standing aversion to cold is gone!"
Li Xu smiled and poured a glass of water. "You’re too kind, Director Guo. It was merely a matter of an accurate diagnosis."
"No, it was more than just the diagnosis." Guo Yu had even brought the patient’s medical records. He opened them and pointed to the follow-up notes. "Not only has the patient’s cough been cured, but his appetite, sleep, and spirits have all improved significantly. This means..."
"His Yang Qi has been restored," Li Xu interjected. "When the root is firm, the branches and leaves flourish on their own."
Guo Yu sighed with emotion. "I was only focused on the symptom of coughing and ignored the overall pathogenesis. If you hadn’t enlightened me, I’d probably still be stuck in the dead end of clearing heat and resolving phlegm."
"You exaggerate, Director Guo." Li Xu poured him a cup of tea. "Western medicine talks about ’treating the disease by finding the cause,’ while we in Chinese medicine talk about ’examining the symptoms to find the cause.’ The principle is the same."
Guo Yu took the teacup and suddenly remembered something. "Right, during the second consultation, the patient mentioned an interesting phenomenon—after taking the medicine, he coughed up a large amount of cold-feeling phlegm, and the tightness in his chest was immediately relieved. Is this..."
"A sign of cold-fluid being expelled!" Li Xu blurted out. "It’s a sign that the medicine’s potency has penetrated, like ice and snow melting away. It’s just as Zhang Zhongjing wrote: ’For patients with phlegm-fluid disorders, one must use warm medicinals to harmonize them.’"
The two of them found more and more common ground as they talked, their discussion expanding from case studies to the application of classic formulas and the authentication of medicinal herbs... Miaoli, sitting to the side, couldn’t even get a word in.
When the food arrived,
Guo Yu suddenly turned serious. "Doctor Li, our hospital has run into a difficult situation, and I’d like to ask for your guidance again."
