I Can Talk to the Internal Organs-Chapter 127 - 103: Can We Not Talk About Death?

At five in the morning, Bai Xiuhong was pushing a wheelchair, with her father sitting in it.

After soaking [his feet] twice in sugar water yesterday, Bai Chuan’s foot wasn’t discharging pus as much. Of course, it still hurt, but at least not as much as before when the pain kept him up at night.

Since his foot began to sting, crack, and was then diagnosed as diabetic foot, Bai Chuan hadn’t had a single good night’s sleep.

Initially, the foot pain was bearable, but once he was admitted to the hospital, he felt uncomfortable in his heart, nothing felt as comfortable as being at home.

As the pain in the sole intensified, Bai Chuan became more anxious, especially after several debridement surgeries still couldn’t heal the wound, he constantly worried whether his foot could be saved.

Having been a normal person all his life, facing amputation in old age, Bai Chuan couldn’t accept it.

But with each surgery, he was nearly plunged into despair, feeling that each day dragged on like a year.

"Dad, are you cold?" Bai Xiuhong covered Bai Chuan with a thick blanket, wrapping his entire lower body. However, because his foot couldn’t wear a shoe, the sole was still exposed.

"Not too bad." Bai Chuan glanced around and, seeing no one else, couldn’t help but ask, "Did we come too early?"

Bai Xiuhong replied, "We must come early; this doctor sees endless patients every day. If we don’t come early, we can’t even get a number. I saw online that some people queued for a week without getting an appointment."

Bai Chuan was a bit surprised, "How come I’ve never heard about this before?"

Bai Xiuhong said, "Even if you had heard, would you have come?"

Bai Chuan thought about it and agreed.

If he hadn’t experienced it himself, even if many people told him there was an excellent Chinese medicine doctor on Garden Street, he might not have come specifically to see.

After all, compared to small clinics, big hospitals seemed more trustworthy.

But after so long in the big hospital, Bai Chuan understood one thing—some diseases can’t be cured anywhere.

Since that’s the case, might as well try them all; maybe he’d meet one who could treat it?

"Oh, you’re early. Here to see Dr. Lu too?"

Just as the two of them were standing for about half an hour, an elderly man cheerfully approached and greeted Bai Xiuhong and Bai Chuan warmly.

"Yes, sir." Bai Xiuhong responded with a smile.

"What’s the ailment?" the elderly man asked.

"Diabetic foot," Bai Xiuhong said.

"Tsk, that’s a tough one. I have a friend with diabetic foot, had two toes amputated five years ago, then it got worse, amputated the foot, and earlier this year couldn’t withstand a virus and passed away," the elderly man said.

Bai Chuan’s face turned quite grim upon hearing this.

Bai Xiuhong said, "But there are cases that are controlled well and don’t need amputation, right?"

The elderly man said, "Of course, amputation is the worst outcome. But once you amputate, you’re likely to do it again. So, if you can be treated conservatively, you should. You’ve come to the right place with Dr. Lu, he might have a solution. You see my varicose veins on this leg, over twenty years, the veins were like worms, my grandson was afraid of them. Dr. Lu gave me one dose of medicine, and the varicose veins were eighty to ninety percent better the next day."

The elderly man, as he spoke, even rolled up his trouser leg to show Bai Xiuhong and Bai Chuan.

Bai Xiuhong knew what varicose veins were; the bulging veins in the leg looked like lumps, big and small, quite frightening.

But when the elderly man rolled up his trouser leg, Bai Xiuhong didn’t see many varicose veins, just two or three lumpy spots.

"Was it all over your leg before?" Bai Xiuhong asked.

"Of course, this is only the third day. Dr. Lu said after a few more days, the varicose veins would be completely healed," the elderly man was quite happy.

"Then why are you here today..." Bai Xiuhong asked.

"Oh, registering for my son. They had a hard time conceiving their first child, thought I’d let Dr. Lu help them out a bit," the elderly man said.

"Oh, Uncle Wu, you’re here so early?"

As the two chatted, someone else arrived at the entrance of Lu’s Clinic.

"Xiao Chen, haha, it’s not like there’s anything else to do at home, might as well come early to get a number," Wu Xuewu laughed.

Chen Min smiled, "Uncle Wu, soon you won’t be able to rush for numbers like this anymore. Dr. Lu mentioned there’s going to be facial recognition, the person registering must be present."

"But... my son, they’re all at work during the day. How can they have time to register?" Wu Xuewu said.

"On weekends, anyway, in case of an emergency, Dr. Lu said you can be seen without registering first," Chen Min said.

"It used to be fine, why make it so complicated now," Wu Xuewu was a bit unhappy.

"Oh, blame the scalpers," Chen Min said.

Gradually, as it reached past six and day fully broke, more people gathered in front of Lu’s Clinic.

Most who came had some health issues; as everyone chatted, they shared their conditions and lengthy experiences with healthcare.

It wasn’t until after seven that Lu Jiu arrived at the clinic, and these voices gradually quieted down.

"Dr. Lu, I followed your advice and used sugar to soak feet. My dad’s pus and blood really got drawn out!"

As soon as she saw Lu Jiu, Bai Xiuhong immediately approached him.

Lu Jiu smiled upon hearing this and said, "Hmm, you came quite early. Register first, and I’ll take a look."

Whether sugar can draw out pus and blood depends on the severity of diabetic foot. If there is gangrene, where the body tissue has died and there’s an infection of putrefactive bacteria affected by other factors, causing the skin to appear black or dark green, it indicates that the diabetic foot is quite severe.

At this stage, the ability of sugar to draw out pus and close the wound is greatly reduced, even ineffective.

Bai Xiuhong’s father’s condition clearly hasn’t reached the worst stage yet.

This indicates there’s still a possibility of treatment with traditional Chinese medicine.

Bai Xiuhong was the first to arrive, with her number at the forefront. While Lu Jiu was issuing numbers, Lu Mountain was tidying up the clinic so that Lu Jiu could start the consultation at any time.

Over time, Lu Mountain had become particularly confident in Lu Jiu.

He even felt that Lu Jiu’s displayed skills were not at all inferior to his own, except perhaps lacking in experience, but this gap would naturally close in a few years.

This gave Lu Mountain great comfort, making him work very diligently.

"Alright, come over," Lu Jiu said.

Hearing Lu Jiu calling, Bai Xiuhong immediately pushed Bai Chuan to Lu Jiu’s desk.

Looking at Bai Chuan’s somewhat pale face, Lu Jiu asked, "How has the foot pain been these past few days?"

Bai Chuan replied, "It constantly hurts. Sometimes I just want to cut it off, though yesterday was a bit better. At least I could sleep without medicine, but only for a few hours."

Lu Jiu nodded, "How about urination? Is it frequent?"

Bai Chuan said, "Frequent, I go more than ten times a day, sometimes needing to use the toilet right after drinking water."

Lu Jiu asked, "Do your waist and knees feel weak and sore?"

Bai Chuan nodded, "Always like that."

Lu Jiu asked, "Do you usually fear heat or cold?"

Bai Chuan said, "Fear cold."

Lu Jiu carefully observed Bai Chuan’s complexion, noting the haggard appearance, dry ear lobes, and lackluster dry skin. From the consultation information and the existing diabetes diagnosis, he could determine Bai Chuan’s condition as what traditional Chinese medicine calls xiao ke syndrome, specifically the most severe form of lower wasting.

Diagnosing whether it’s kidney Yin deficiency or Yin-Yang deficiency requires a pulse diagnosis.

"Give me your hand," Lu Jiu said.

Though Bai Chuan’s ailment is troublesome to treat, giving up without diagnosis isn’t in Lu Jiu’s nature.

"Oh, oh." Bai Chuan reached out, and due to the inconvenience of the wheelchair, Bai Xiuhong turned the wheelchair to the side.

Lu Jiu gently grasped Bai Chuan’s wrist, his fingertip softly pressing on it...

"It’s over, it’s over, why bother saving anything, stop struggling already. I told you to control your brother, its fire was too fierce, hurting you was one thing, but it even dragged Fei Jin down. Look, now both Hydronephrosis and I are having issues, no way to help even if we wanted to. Why waste any effort?" Liver Wood grumbled.

"Is that my fault? Clearly it’s because he ate recklessly. I already made him have diarrhea several times, reminded him repeatedly, but he just wouldn’t listen. What can I do? The stomach also feels miserable, fine, food comes and it can only accept passively without any choice, and you point fingers at us?" Spleen Earth, usually the honest one, couldn’t hold back.

"The problem started with you guys anyway. If not for you, he wouldn’t have taken so much medicine, blocking my flow of energy, and seriously damaging Hydronephrosis. Now the Heart Fire is failing too, can’t even send blood down to his feet. Once he can’t move, with insufficient Yang Qi, we’ll be gradually eroded by Yin energy, totally finished." Liver Wood said.

"Can’t you say a little less?" Fei Jin said.

"Did I say anything wrong?" Liver Wood retorted.

"What’s the point if you’re right?" Fei Jin replied.

"Point? True, there’s indeed no point. Anyway, now there are medicines helping us work, so we just lie down. What difference does it make after lying for decades anyway..."

Before Liver Wood finished speaking, Heart Fire jumped in, "Argue, argue, and none of us will be able to live!! Mouths can’t stop though no work gets done, so leisurely, eh?"

With Heart Fire speaking, the rest of the Five Viscera went silent.

"If there’s a problem, solve it. If you can’t, then just do what needs to be done. Anyway, we’re all in the same boat, if one perishes the others won’t make it alone. What’s the use of all this bickering? Can you make him listen to you? I can’t even do that!"

"This body is ours, and it’s his. Ultimately, it’s still his. Any issue shouldn’t be blamed on ourselves. If you need to curse, curse him. It’s his emotions, diet, and chaotic lifestyle that made the body this way, not us."

"If I hear you all arguing again, I’ll just give up. Aren’t you all wanting to die? I’m the fastest at that!"

After Heart Fire’s harsh scolding, the voice gradually calmed down. At this moment, a weak voice took over the pause.

"Can we not talk about death? Can we talk about something alive?"