Practicing Medical Skills in a Small Clinic-Chapter 81: Unintended Success

"Alright, young lady, please have a seat!"

Li Jingsheng beckoned the little girl to sit down.

The girl wore glasses to prevent nearsightedness, her brow slightly furrowed, and she appeared to be about 145cm tall, neither particularly tall nor short.

"How old are you?"

"11 years old!"

She was somewhat shy, lowering her head when answering questions.

You could see that her teeth were being corrected, the braces still on.

This type of ceramic self-ligating bracket orthodontics is not cheap, costing at least ten thousand, typically requiring twenty to thirty thousand.

This shows that the girl’s parents are willing to spend money on their child.

"Which leg usually hurts?"

"Both legs hurt. The right one hurts a bit more."

"Normally, how long does the pain last before it stops? Like does it hurt all night, or for an hour or two, and then gradually eases?"

"Before, the pain didn’t last long, one or two days and it would be better. Now the pain lasts more than a week."

How unfortunate.

Such a young child, yet having to endure prolonged leg pain.

Li Jingsheng’s expression became much more serious upon hearing this.

This prolonged and intensified pain indicates the disease is progressing.

Pain is a self-protection mechanism of the body. When our body is injured, the site sends out pain signals to remind the body’s owner of the problem.

Such as the most common, a burn.

If your hand didn’t feel pain, you could stick it in boiling water and not notice until cooked.

"Does anything else hurt besides the legs?"

"Recently, this spot on my shoulder hurts a bit too; it’s not serious. Sometimes it hurts mildly for a while, but not for long, maybe just a few hours."

The girl, though shy and reserved, expressed herself clearly and organized her words well.

"Your daughter’s grades must be quite good, right?"

Li Jingsheng said to the mother standing nearby.

"This child doesn’t disappoint us; she’s always in the top two of her class." The mother spoke of her daughter’s performance with comfort and pride.

"You’re so excellent! Amazing!"

Li Jingsheng gave the little girl a thumbs up.

It was more of a way to get close, as they were about to do a physical examination next.

She blushed and smiled slightly when praised.

"Can you roll up your pants for me? I need to check your leg bones."

Li Jingsheng asked the girl.

The mother standing beside had already started helping her daughter roll up her pants.

You could see her legs were very thin.

Today’s children mostly consume snacks as staple food and lack exercise, making them generally weak.

This really isn’t a good sign.

"So skinny, you need to eat more rice!"

Li Jingsheng showed his concern.

"This child loves eating jelly, spicy snacks, QQ candies, but says she’s not hungry when it’s mealtime, which really worries me." The mother, after speaking, scolded her daughter. "Did you hear what the doctor said? You need to eat more and snack less."

The young girl merely nodded, likely not truly agreeing.

Li Jingsheng sighed inwardly, thinking that the child’s habits were indulged by the parents.

If parents don’t buy snacks and strictly control pocket money, the child wouldn’t be able to eat even if she wanted.

Li Jingsheng tried palpating the child’s legs.

He seemed to feel the child’s shin bone was distinctly thicker than that of ordinary children and felt uneven, as if different in size.

With a little pressure, the girl exclaimed in pain. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

He then tried touching the left leg, the shin bone also felt bumpy.

After carefully examining her legs again, he noted that her knees were thicker than those of her peers.

Was it because her legs were too thin that the knees appeared large?

Li Jingsheng was not particularly skilled in orthopedic diagnosis, nor pediatrics, only knowing a bit superficially. Actually, every clinical medical student has the potential to become a general practitioner.

However, due to time and energy limits, and differing interests, most choose a favored specific medical field.

Li Jingsheng had originally focused on Pulmonary Medicine.

He scrutinized the girl’s knees and leg bones, trying hard to think of diseases related to these symptoms.

In the end, he dejectedly found himself incompetent.

He couldn’t pinpoint any useful diagnostic direction.

This was due to low skill level, shallow knowledge, and inability to apply what he had learned.

Lack of diagnostic experience in this field was another reason.

"Looks like it’s time to temporarily lean on the Buddha’s feet!"

With no clue for a diagnosis, he could only find ways to enhance his medical proficiency and diagnostic abilities.

The attribute panel was his greatest Buddha.

The girl’s mother waited patiently on the side for Li Jingsheng’s diagnosis result, without urging.

The little girl occasionally showed expressions of pain.

The leg pain was tormenting her.

Li Jingsheng appeared deep in thought, but actually was quietly opening his attribute panel with his mind.

Level: Senior Resident Doctor 657.2/1000

Diagnosis: Pulmonary Medicine Expertise 118.9/500, Gastroenterology Proficiency 22.7/100, General Surgery Proficiency 24.1/100, Cardiovascular Medicine Expertise 110.1/500, Hepatobiliary Medicine Entry Level 0/10.

He was surprised to find his level experience points increased by 54.2.

Level experience is the hardest to increase, why did it go up so much at once?

When he noticed the addition of Hepatobiliary Medicine Diagnosis skills, he immediately understood why.

It must have been due to diagnosing the cause for that man in a black jacket just now, a major breakthrough, leading his Hepatobiliary Medicine Diagnosis to reach Entry Level.

For over nine months, he had been reading about digestive tract medicine the most.

Gastroenterology already had some foundation earlier, and opening the clinic where he often prescribed antidiarrheal, digestive, and gastritis medicines, helped it reach Entry Level.

Now, Hepatobiliary Medicine Diagnosis also reached Entry Level, which is a great boon, greatly enhancing his digestive medicine diagnosis.

These past months of diligent studying had yielded little progress in Hepatobiliary Medicine Diagnosis.

Unexpectedly, where intentions faltered, accidents fostered success.

This day’s diagnosis inadvertently boosted Hepatobiliary Medicine Diagnosis to Entry Level.

Sometimes things are miraculously strange like this.

No one knows how exciting tomorrow will be.

He joyously found not only a new diagnostic skill, but also a whole 10 points increase in Gastroenterology Diagnosis proficiency.

Normally, with so much increase in level experience, life points should also rise substantially.

Life Points: 328.

A whole increase of 101 life points.

Seems gaining life points isn’t that hard if you’ve found the right path!

Learning a new medical skill earns at least 10 life points.

This time, gaining 100 points surely has other reasons.

Like determining the patient’s cause of illness, equivalent to indirectly saving a life.

That man saw the doctor as if engaging in underground work, left without even mentioning the consultation fee. Not a single symbolic mention.

Some people are called miserly.

Despite decent economic conditions, remain very stingy.

As long as there’s no serious health issue, they won’t go to the hospital.

Why? Scared to spend money, of course.

It’s ancient to find people like this, who scrutinize for cheaper coffins even when dying.

The liver and kidney are very special organs; once they are diseased, they can’t reverse beyond a certain progress.

Such as the most common, hepatitis and nephritis.

Nephritis progressing late into uremia is widely known.

Aside from dialysis and kidney transplantation, there’s no other solution.

Hepatitis progressing to mid-late stages is similarly hard to reverse, liver function gradually failing, followed by the dreadful liver cancer.

Don’t think the liver can regrow halfway, so durable.

Actually, the liver is much more fragile than imagined, untreated fatty liver could bring irreparable consequences. Lifelong medication is a good outcome for liver cirrhosis patients.

Li Jingsheng diagnosing the man’s liver issue and urging him for timely treatment is equivalent to saving a life.

Seeing the life points at over 300, he felt he could splurge again.