I Can Talk to the Internal Organs-Chapter 61 - 54: Growth Hormone

Jiang Yun fell silent.

Recently, several young internet writers have passed away in succession, making Jiang Yun increasingly aware of the importance of health.

In the past, he thought that when you’re young, all you need to do is desperately earn money, and you can worry about health when you’re old. But if you work yourself to the bone, you might not even live to see old age, and the money you have in hand might not be kept.

Then what is the point of exchanging life for money?

Jiang Yun questioned this for the first time.

Perhaps there are many people in this world who have to sacrifice their health for money because they carry the heavy burden of family.

But he doesn’t have that burden, so what’s he doing it for?

He needs to change!

"I’ve taken note, boss," Jiang Yun said.

Lu Jiu was very pleased with Jiang Yun’s attitude. Although he couldn’t necessarily see through the screen whether Jiang Yun could truly align his actions with his words, at least he could make the promise aloud.

If, later on, he wants to do those things again, he’ll naturally remember what Lu Jiu told him today, and that would count as making a difference.

"Remember to take the medicine. If it’s not right, ask me again. Don’t tell me it’s effective just to save my face. Lying to me is the true disrespect, understand?" Lu Jiu said.

"Got it." Jiang Yun felt warmth in his heart.

After chatting with Jiang Yun, Lu Jiu looked at the Chinese Medicine Home forum again.

In that short time, several posts about him appeared on the forum.

Fortunately, the moderators were quite active. Apart from leaving a few educational posts about sudden cardiac death, all the other posts attacking Lu Jiu personally were locked, and many people were banned.

But this result also led to Lu Jiu becoming a somewhat notable figure on the forum.

Seeing this trend, Lu Jiu couldn’t continue searching for medical help posts, so he simply shut off the computer and waited for patients to come in.

Beep beep beep beep～

On the street, an ambulance drove away, and Lu Jiu raised his eyes slightly, only catching a glimpse of the vehicle’s rear disappearing from view.

This was the third ambulance in over a week, yet news reports didn’t mention any major accidents requiring emergency rescue.

While pondering this, a mother and son arrived at the clinic entrance.

"Doctor, can you make children grow taller here?"

Uh?

The young mom just popped such a question at Lu Jiu, leaving him a bit bewildered.

But when he looked at the child beside the mom, he couldn’t help but ask, "How old is this child?"

Chen Wei said worriedly, "Five years old."

Uh...

The previous child of a little over two years old was already more than a meter tall, yet this one was almost five but seemed under eighty centimeters.

According to current medical standards, a five-year-old child’s average height should be around one meter; anything less than one meter is considered quite short.

However, based on boys’ normal growth timeline, many experience rapid height increase between middle school and high school, as it’s the stage when boy’s kidney energy gradually peaks. So being short at five is not a significant issue, but if they haven’t grown by the time they reach high school, then it needs attention.

Yet nowadays, everything focuses on not losing out at the starting line, so it’s normal for parents to have such anxiety.

Though being short is usually more acceptable for girls, boys who are short face discrimination in various places, even being bullied as weak by some unruly kids in schools. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

"How tall is the child’s father?" Lu Jiu asked.

"Around 175 centimeters; I’m not short either, so logically, the child’s height shouldn’t be like this." Chen Wei said.

Logically, that’s indeed the case, but talking about having kids is complex with many contributing factors.

Whether parents were healthy during conception, the mom’s diet and routines during pregnancy, when and where the child was born, postnatal care quality, etc., all affect the child’s health metrics.

Height is one of them, and it’s not solely determined by genes.

"Does he usually eat well?" Lu Jiu asked.

Chen Wei shook her head, "He doesn’t like eating; he only eats a little each day, no matter how hard I try to persuade him. Sometimes, even when he’s left hungry for a while, he still eats just a bit."

Not fond of eating?

Lu Jiu keenly observed faint blue veins at the root of the child’s nose, indeed resembling symptoms of anorexia.

"Besides not eating, are there other symptoms, like stomach pain?" Lu Jiu asked.

At this, Chen Wei’s eyes showed a touch of concern, "Yes, initially when he drank milk, he complained of stomach discomfort a few times. Later, after hospital checks, they diagnosed lactose intolerance, so we stopped giving him milk."

"But just half a month ago, he had random bouts of stomach pain for several days; after tests, they said it was enteritis, and he got better after taking antibiotics for a few days."

Lu Jiu nodded and thoroughly observed the child’s behavior.

Since entering the clinic, Lu Jiu had been chatting with the mom; if it were other children, by now they’d at least be restless, looking around here, fiddling there, anyway impossible to sit idly.

However, this child was astonishingly quiet, obediently standing by his mom’s side, eyes fixed on Xiao Tu. Not moving forward, nor reaching out, simply observing curiously.

From this, it’s apparent that the child likes peace, not movement, and isn’t good at expressing emotions.

"Alright, let me feel his pulse and check what’s the cause." Lu Jiu smiled.

Chen Wei nodded, then held the little boy to sit in front of Lu Jiu and guided him to place his hand in front of Lu Jiu.

Actually, before coming here, Chen Wei had visited Jianghan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine seeking several doctors already, even leveraging connections to find those capable of pulse diagnosing.

Throughout Jianghan City, there’s only one People’s Hospital at the top tier level; other Western Hospitals don’t compare in scale.

The Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital is merely so-called, but in reality, it’s more like a Western hospital with relatively inferior medical equipment compared to People’s Hospital.

The only slightly traditional Chinese medical feature is the acupuncture and massage department there, which is mainly focused on neck treatment; there are only a few doctors capable of prescribing Chinese herbal remedies.

But with the prescribed medicines from the few doctors Chen Wei connected with, there wasn’t much effect; as for Western medicine, besides advising her to administer growth hormones to the child, they suggested calcium supplements and sunlight exposure.

The calcium supplement, she didn’t oppose, but she was somewhat resistant to the idea of growth hormone injections.

It’s not just about the injection cost of several ten thousand altogether being high; she’s already spent over ten thousand merely seeing Chinese medicine doctors. Money isn’t the issue; it’s mainly about the uncontrollability after administering this substance. She researched online, finding that although some children grow taller with growth hormone, some grow excessively, and others don’t grow taller but gain weight uncontrollably.

Especially one case where a child became diabetic following growth hormone injections. Seeing this example, Chen Wei immediately dismissed the idea.

Some say that instead of a lifetime of shortness, it might be worth the risk, and even if a disease follows, it can be manageable.

But Chen Wei dares not gamble; what if after the injections, the child neither grows tall nor avoids lifelong untreatable illness?

Chen Wei doesn’t dare think, nor does she dare decide this for her child. It’s not her life, it shouldn’t be her decision, even if she is his mother.