Life is Like a Journey – Chapter 102

Volume 3: Transition

Growth

He, like your Teacher Lu, is a genuine doctor

“Make way! Make way!” The green channel opened wide, several ambulances rushed in. Doctors wearing white coats rushed forward, along the pristine white corridor they transported the patient to the operating room. The ambulances, with sirens straining their throats and lights flashing, turned back.

            

Click — the shadowless lamp was turned on.

Lu Qingshi clasped both hands together as she entered the operating room. The doctor beside her held a lab report, anxiously talking non-stop.

“Director Lu, this is too risky. This patient just tested HIV positive. This surgery should be transferred to the infectious disease hospital!”

            

Lu Qingshi ignored him: “Protective goggles”

The instrument nurse helped her put on the goggles. Lu Qingshi added another layer of gloves herself, grabbed the scalpel from the tray and made an incision.

“The nearest infectious disease hospital is ten kilometers from Renji. The patient would die before getting there. If you’re afraid, you can step down”

            

“Monopolar electrocautery” Before the words were finished, she had already cut through the female patient’s adipose layer, blood gushed out soaking the snow-white gloves.

Lu Qingshi’s expression remained unchanged, her eyes focused and serious.

The speaking doctor moved his lips, didn’t say anything more, and also put on gloves.

            

“I’ll help”

“Doctor, doctor, there are injured people here!”

“Here too! Doctor, come quickly! She’s not going to make it!”

            

“Daifu [traditional term for doctor], daifu, please save my husband… save… save him… I beg you…”

A woman with a blood-covered face grabbed her legs. Around her were chaotic and urgent calls for help. Rescue workers shuttled back and forth carrying stretchers. The doctors were exhausted from running. Without Lu Qingshi at the emergency scene, Yu Gui clearly felt somewhat overwhelmed [literally: strength not following heart].

After another five minutes of cardiopulmonary resuscitation, the man still hadn’t regained spontaneous heartbeat. His carotid pulse disappeared, and his pupils began to dilate.

            

Yu Gui bit her lip and lowered her hands, took out a black tag and hung it: “I’m sorry…”

The woman rushed over, crying and hitting her: “Save him! Please save him! Why did you stop! We’ve been married less than a month…”

Yu Gui turned her face away, her eyes slightly reddened, letting herself be pushed without fighting back: “I tried my best… really tried my best…”

            

The woman clutched her clothes, wailing. Yu Gui slowly pried her hands away: “I’m sorry… I’m sorry… but… I have more people to save…”

“Doctor, over here, there are survivors here!” Yu Gui wiped away her tears, picked up the emergency kit, and ran out of the tent.

“Coming!”

            

“After the major railway accident on the Jin-Hang line on December 15, a total of 25 fire brigades from across Jinzhou city and over 500 firefighting officers and soldiers have rushed to the scene. Meanwhile, more than thirty ambulances from Jinzhou City’s 120 Emergency Center have all been dispatched. The medical rescue team sent by Renji Medical University’s First Affiliated Hospital has arrived at the scene. The first batch of injured has been sent back to the hospital. Jinzhou City Television brings you this live report.”

This was destined to be a sleepless night. The entire city lit up, with long lines forming at all blood donation stations.

Rescue workers rushed on the road to the scene, or on their way back transporting the injured to hospitals.

            

Medical staff worked through the night without rest. A nurse mother brought her child, who had no one to care for at home, to the duty room.

“Be good, just stay here. Mommy will be back soon.”

“How long is soon?”

            

The head nurse didn’t answer her question, just lovingly stroked her head, then turned and left.

This “soon” – no one knew how long it would be.

That night Lu Qingshi performed many surgeries. Injured patients kept coming in, and she performed one operation after another. The brief rest periods were the few minutes when anesthesiologists were intubating patients for general anesthesia.

            

She was like a never-stopping machine, leading her team, completing one impossible task after another.

Dean Meng pulled out his IV and got off the hospital bed. When nurses came to stop him, he rarely used his authority as director to override them.

“My doctors are all busy saving the injured and performing surgeries. What right do I have to lie here?!”

            

In the chaotic emergency room, there were cries of adults and children, alternating machine sounds, patients lying on beds groaning in pain, family members crying to heaven and earth.

“Doctor, doctor, he’s not going to make it!” Just as the words fell, the monitor began to shriek sharply. By the time the young doctor rushed over, it had become a straight line.

“Doctor, doctor, save her!”

            

“She’s not going to make it either!”

Attending to one thing and losing another, the young doctor held his head, leaned against the hospital bed, and began crying vulnerably.

A pair of hands supported him from behind – it was Dean Meng.

            

“Dean…”

Meng Jihua put on a white coat with a stethoscope around his neck: “Don’t panic! Treat patients according to their arrival tag order. After initial diagnosis, arrange for departments to come down and triage. Critical patients go directly to the operating room!”

“Now we can see that the aerial ladder has been set up, and firefighters are working intensely…” In the camera frame, the cloud-high aerial ladder reached the elevated bridge. Rescue workers would occasionally go up, and stretchers would be carried down.

            

The reporter also climbed the aerial ladder. The front half of the train car had fallen off the elevated bridge, while the back half was still stuck on the bridge. Such a tragic scene made even the reporter’s eyes redden slightly.

“Is today your first time working on the high-speed train?” The camera moved to a young woman’s face, very young and beautiful, wearing a train attendant’s cap. Her uniform was stained red with blood, trapped at the train car connection.

Several firefighters were working intensely around her.

            

The young woman’s lower body was trapped in the wheels. She smiled weakly but wasn’t shy facing the camera: “Yes…”

“Are you sad that your first time on the high-speed train met with such an incident?” The reporter held an umbrella for her with one hand and a microphone with the other, slightly choked up.

The girl shook her head, gesturing to the firefighters not to worry about her: “In the train… there are still surviving passengers… save them first…”

            

The reporter blocked the camera: “Sorry, let’s stop filming this part”

Yu Gui lay in the snow, setting up an intravenous line for her: “If we don’t get you out quickly, you’ll die”

“It’s okay, our job is… if the passengers haven’t all left… we… can’t leave first…” As she spoke, she breathed with difficulty, blood foam seeping from the corner of her lips.

            

“Don’t talk!” Yu Gui raised her voice, squeezed one hand into the narrow wheel space, felt something wet and hot – all blood. Below the waist was already a mangled mess of flesh.

The young person choked up slightly, withdrew her hand, and bit her lower lip hard: “How much longer until we can cut through?”

The firefighter working answered her: “About half an hour”

            

Let alone half an hour, she couldn’t last even ten minutes. Amputation in this position was simply impossible – even the electric saw couldn’t fit in.

The girl seemed to sense something: “It’s okay, doctor… go save others…”

Yu Gui clenched her fists. She had no right to grit her teeth and say “no” – in the face of natural and human disasters, she was nothing.

            

“I have one more thing I want to say to Mom and Dad…”

The reporter held the microphone to her face, turning slightly away: “Say it, your mom and dad will definitely see this”

The girl smiled gently, all color drained from her face, yet her smile was so warm.

            

“Mom and Dad, I love you”

The two elderly people watching by the television cried until they were covered in tears [literally: became tear people].

Yu Gui gradually lost count of how many black tags she had hung. More and more people were put into black body bags, carried to the side by rescue workers.

            

Snow continued to fall. Standing in this vast expanse of heaven and earth, she had a sense of not knowing where to go, until someone called out her name loudly: “Yu Gui!”

She turned to look back, her eyes suddenly brightening: “Director Xu?!”

“Come quickly, there’s an injured person here who needs emergency treatment!”

            

The middle-aged man stumbled out of the crushed, misshapen train car. Yu Gui quickly ran over carrying her emergency kit: “Why are you here?””

“Don’t ask! Flight was cancelled, had the worst luck of eight lifetimes [idiom: extremely bad luck] to take this train!”

As he spoke, he crawled in following the firefighter’s lead, with Yu Gui close behind.

            

“Were those triage assessments done by you?”

“Yes, there were several other doctors traveling on this train. I did the triage with them.”

A grateful smile spread across Yu Gui’s face: “That helped us tremendously”

            

The train car was dim. She noticed his crawling movement was somewhat slow.

“Are you alright?”

Xu Qiankun increased his speed: “I’m fine”

            

Sparks from the cutting saw scattered everywhere, painting her features with a golden-yellow glow. Yu Gui crouched down beside her: “How is it going?”

“Almost there, give me three minutes”

She lay down and looked – the little girl was trapped in the deepest part of the car by deformed seats, lying face down on the glass.

            

“Yu Gui, establish intravenous access first, add sodium bicarbonate, replenish electrolytes”

Just as Xu Qiankun finished speaking, Yu Gui had already inserted the needle. He paused slightly, imperceptibly letting out a sigh of relief.

“Good, step back.” Gu Yanzhi put down the cutting saw. Several people hunched over and stepped back. The broken seats were thrown out. Xu Qiankun quickly went over and gently lifted the little girl. Yu Gui immediately drew in a sharp breath.

            

A broken piece of car window glass had formed a sharp edge that deeply pierced the girl’s chest, directly opposite the heart. Yu Gui reached out to feel it; her gloves became wet with sticky blood.

She shook her head grimly. Xu Qiankun held the little girl in his arms, felt for her carotid pulse, and his face lit up: “No! There’s still a pulse”

“Impossible, at this position it must have pierced the heart”

            

Yu Gui, not willing to accept this, shined a penlight to check her pupils. They were only in a comatose state, not dilated. The young person was puzzled, but when she moved the stethoscope to the right side of the chest, suddenly understood.

“Dextrocardia?!” [medical condition where heart is on right side]

This was an extremely rare congenital heart malformation in medicine, and it was precisely because of this that it saved her life.

            

But such a large piece of glass piercing the chest would still be fatal if not removed. Dextrocardia usually comes with other pathological changes and vascular malformations. Without X-rays or chest films, no one would dare to rashly perform this procedure.

Struggle flickered in Xu Qiankun’s eyes. Yu Gui took out lidocaine from the emergency kit: “Let’s remove it. If we can find the bleeding point within three minutes, stop the blood flow, and suture quickly, there’s still hope”

Unexpectedly, Xu Qiankun nodded: “Pull it out. You hold her, I’ll do it”

            

“Okay.” The needle tip pierced into the skin. The little girl painfully furrowed her brows: “Daddy… Daddy…”

Yu Gui put down the needle: “What’s your name? Where’s your daddy?”

What would a five or six-year-old child understand? She just bit her lip and sobbed quietly. Xu Qiankun clasped her small hand in his: “Don’t cry, uncle is here. You take a nap first, and when you wake up, uncle will help you find daddy”

            

In that moment, she saw rare tenderness in him. Seeing her looking at him, Xu Qiankun smiled somewhat embarrassedly: “My daughter is about her age…”

Yu Gui nodded, increasing the anesthetic dose: “Director Xu, hold her still, don’t let her move”

Soon, due to the medication’s effect, the little girl became completely quiet, closing her eyes as if asleep. Yu Gui held the hemostatic forceps and swallowed nervously.

            

Xu Qiankun’s hand steadied on the glass shard. The two exchanged glances and nodded simultaneously.

He applied slight force and pulled it out faster than covering one’s ears after hearing thunder [idiom: lightning fast]. A jet of blood spurted out, and Yu Gui quickly pressed gauze over it.

“Drainage, drainage!”

            

“Damn! Can’t find where the blood vessels are at all?!”

“Too much blood! Light, give me the light! Can’t see anything!”

Xu Qiankun, truly an old hand on the river lakes [idiom: seasoned veteran], snatched the hemostatic forceps from her hand and inserted them: “Block the aorta first, then we’ll talk!”

            

Yu Gui froze for a moment. Hao Renjie handed her new instruments. The bleeding reduced significantly, and she successfully found and sutured the blood vessel.

Hao Renjie watched the stopwatch: “Hurry, Yu Gui, one minute left”

“I know” The young person bit her lower lip, large beads of sweat forming on her forehead.

            

Xu Qiankun, holding the little girl, was also anxious. His lower back started aching, but he couldn’t care about that now, ready to take over from Yu Gui for resuscitation at any moment.

There was a time when he looked down on this intern, thinking she was just a pretty vase, but he never thought there would be a day when even a vase would prove useful.

She completed the complex aortic repair in just two minutes and thirty seconds, better than his own record back then. Though still far from matching Lu Qingshi’s speed, she was more skilled than most doctors her age.

            

He couldn’t help but sigh inwardly: The younger generation is worthy of respect.

Yu Gui put down the needle holder and collapsed sitting on the ground, completely exhausted: “Done… it’s done… Captain Gu… please help take this child out”

Gu Yanzhi picked up the child, tied her to her chest with cloth, and in the overturned train car, they could only climb out through the skylight using the assembled ladder.

            

Several people filed out one after another. When it was Xu Qiankun’s turn, he didn’t climb out for a long time. Yu Gui looked down: “Director Xu?”

From the pitch-black train car came his heavy breathing: “It’s nothing… you go ahead first”

“What about you?”

            

Xu Qiankun took out his blood-stained phone to make one last call to his daughter.

“Mom… is Xiao Nuo asleep?” But it was his elderly mother who answered.

“She’s asleep. Weren’t you on a business trip? Why are you calling so late?” The silver-haired elderly woman lowered her voice.

            

“No… just suddenly wanted to hear Xiao Nuo’s voice.” Xu Qiankun smiled, feeling the mangled flesh at his lower back.

“Oh, you child…” The elderly woman complained softly: “Well then, wait, I’ll go wake her”

“No, no, forget it, Mom. Let her sleep, she has school tomorrow”

            

After saying this, he leaned back against the chair, breathing heavily, sweating all over, his vision becoming blurry.

The elderly woman on the other end sensed something was wrong: “What’s wrong? Son? Xiao Kun…!”

“It’s nothing… Mom…” Xu Qiankun struggled to sit up, using pain to stimulate his consciousness, maintaining his last bit of clarity.

            

“When you have time, take Xiao Nuo back home to visit her mother…”

“Okay, okay…” The elderly woman’s eyes inexplicably reddened.

“Tell Xiao Nuo, her father isn’t a coward, her father… is also a hero…”

            

“Oh, and Mom…” Xu Qiankun drew in what little oxygen remained in his chest cavity, his breathing as heavy as bellows.

“What?” The elderly woman covered her lips and began to cry.

“I love you”

            

“Director Xu?!” After a long silence, Yu Gui’s heart went cold. Without time to think, before Gu Yanzhi could grab her, she tumbled down the two-meter-high ladder.

Gu Yanzhi bit her lip, handed the child to others, and jumped down herself: “You’re really causing trouble, I’ll have Qingshi discipline you properly when we get back”

“Director Xu, Director Xu, what’s wrong?!” The flashlight beams scattered chaotically. Yu Gui, holding her head, got up from the ground and ran over, stepping through the scattered debris. She quickly helped him up. Xu Qiankun kept coughing up bloody foam. Only then did she notice his black wool coat was wet – not with water, but blood.

            

Yu Gui, with reddened eyes, turned him over. An irregular steel pipe as thick as a fist was deeply embedded in his body, with only a small tip showing outside. Yu Gui bit her hand to keep from crying out. She should have hated him, disliked him, yet seeing him like this, she couldn’t help but shed tears.

“I’ll save you… get you out of here… back to the hospital… back to the hospital… Teacher Lu will definitely have a way to save you… definitely have a way!”

Xu Qiankun knew his medical skills were mediocre, but his one good quality was self-awareness. Using his last bit of strength, he moved her hand away. Gu Yanzhi also rushed in with a flashlight.

            

“It’s useless… too much time has passed… go save others… Captain Gu…”

His gaze turned to Gu Yanzhi. After a long stare, in the darkness, Gu Yanzhi nodded and grabbed Yu Gui’s wrist, pulling her up.

“Come with me”

            

“No! I won’t go! Let me go… Captain Gu… Gu Yanzhi! Director Xu!”

She screamed hoarsely. Gu Yanzhi pushed her up onto the train roof, shaking off accumulated snow. In the dark train car, Xu Qiankun closed his eyes forever.

“Why?! Why wouldn’t you let me save him?! Why?!!!” Yu Gui grabbed her collar and roared. Gu Yanzhi just gently removed her hands.

            

“He was the first doctor on scene, very remarkable. He saved many people. You could say that without him, most of the people here wouldn’t have survived. Yu Gui, he, like your Teacher Lu, is a genuine doctor “

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