Chapter 255: Chapter 170: Progress

"Suction, keep up."

Jiang He repeated.

Tang Pei immediately tightened his grip on the suction tube and guided it deep into the abdominal cavity.

"Keep the tip against the edge of the retractor. Evacuate the pooled blood."

Jiang He’s voice was calm, but his hands didn’t pause for a second.

"Meng Shiyu, get two dry gauze pads, folded."

Meng Shiyu immediately used a pair of ring forceps to clamp the folded gauze and handed them over.

Jiang He took the forceps, packed the gauze into the gap between the posterior wall of the cecum and the lateral peritoneum, and applied firm pressure.

The gush of blood was stemmed.

On the monitor, the heart rate alarm gradually subsided, and the blood pressure numbers stopped falling.

"Dr. Zhou, speed up the fluids and push a dose of etamsylate," Jiang He ordered without looking up.

Sitting behind the anesthesia machine, Zhou Li wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and immediately pushed the drug. "It’s in."

The atmosphere at the operating table remained tense.

Xu Chen held his position, pressing down on the retractors with both hands, and felt the muscles in his arms begin to twitch.

"Bro, what now?"

Xu Chen knew this kind of rupture in an inflamed vascular network was the trickiest. The tissue was as friable as tofu dregs; clamping it blindly would only make it tear more, expanding the bleeding surface.

Standing behind Jiang He, Zhao Yumin also frowned.

He took a half step forward, about to tell Jiang He to switch places so he could take over.

Just then, Jiang He released his hand.

"The compression time was sufficient. The bleeding has slowed. It’s just minor vascular oozing, so there’s no need for ligation. We’ll control it with a suture ligature."

Jiang He held out his hand.

"4-0 Mersilk, round needle, needle holder."

Xu Chen deftly slapped them into his palm.

Zhao Yumin froze and pulled back the half step he had taken.

’A suture ligature? In a blind spot this narrow, with such edematous tissue?’

’It was certainly the fastest solution, but... it’s quite difficult.’

With his left hand, Jiang He picked up a pair of smooth forceps and lifted the edge of the ruptured, inflamed tissue.

He rotated the needle holder in his right hand, and the needle, at a wickedly precise angle, passed through the swollen tissue, skirting the pulsating edge of the external iliac artery.

Entry, exit, wrap, knot.

A figure-eight stitch.

"Cut the suture."

Meng Shiyu quickly leaned in and snipped the end of the thread.

Jiang He removed the packed gauze.

The blind spot, which had been continuously oozing, was now perfectly clean. Not another drop of blood emerged.

The crisis was averted.

The entire process took less than two minutes.

Zhao Yumin stood in the back, watching the scene unfold in silence.

’That needle angle and the control of force just now... the slightest mistake would have punctured the artery underneath...’

’But Jiang He’s technique was incredibly masterful, as if he’d sutured this exact area hundreds, even thousands of times before.’

’He didn’t just resolve the crisis; he did it with minimal damage, preserving the fragile surrounding tissue.’

’Damn, how many times did this kid practice suturing in school?’

"Teacher Zhao?"

Jiang He finally noticed Teacher Zhao’s presence.

Zhao Yumin had his hands stuffed in the pockets of his scrubs. He cleared his throat. "Nicely handled. Carry on, I’ll just watch."

He had no intention of stepping in to take over.

’Mainly because... what was the point of taking over?’

’Even if I were to handle it myself, I might not have been as fast as Jiang He!’

An image inexplicably popped into Zhao Yumin’s mind:

After taking over, he makes a small mistake. Jiang He notices, frowns, but doesn’t say anything to save Zhao Yumin’s face.

’Holy shit, if something like that actually happened, I don’t know if the patient would die on the table, but I’d definitely die of embarrassment!!’

Zhou Li peeked out from behind the anesthesia machine, glancing from Zhao Yumin to Jiang He, secretly clicking his tongue in amazement.

’Old Zhao was famous for his explosive temper in the OR and had an extremely low tolerance for error.’

’And today he just casually let a newly hired undergrad continue as the chief surgeon?’

’Impressive.’

Jiang He said no more, turning his attention back to the appendix.

"Re-expose the mesoappendix."

Xu Chen immediately adjusted the angle of the retractors.

After what had just happened, his movements were even more careful and cautious than before.

Jiang He switched to a curved hemostat, passed a silk thread through the avascular area of the mesoappendix at the base of the appendix, tied it off, and transected the mesoappendix.

"Ligate the base and resect."

With a swift cut,

the suppurative appendix was completely removed.

Jiang He placed it in the specimen tray.

"Purse-string suture to invert the stump."

Jiang He asked for more suture.

He placed a purse-string suture on the cecal wall around the base of the appendix, inverted the stump into the cecum, and tightened the thread.

"Warm saline, irrigate the abdominal cavity."

Tang Pei coordinated the irrigation and suction, clearing out the residual pus and bloody fluid from the abdominal cavity until it was spotless.

"Count the instruments and gauze."

Jiang He took a half step back.

Han Yuan quickly finished the count. "Instrument and gauze count is correct."

"Close the abdomen."

Jiang He glanced at Xu Chen.

"You close the peritoneum and muscle layer."

Xu Chen froze for a moment, looking up at Jiang He.

"Take it." Jiang He handed over the needle holder. "The angle you held the retractors at was very comfortable. That’s a testament to your fundamentals. Now, apply that to the closure."

Xu Chen’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he took the needle holder. "Okay."

The closure proceeded in silence.

Jiang He stood to the side, occasionally speaking up to correct the spacing of Xu Chen’s stitches.

Meng Shiyu and Tang Pei watched quietly from the side.

The final skin suture was completed.

The thread was cut, and a dressing was applied.

"Surgery’s over. Bring in the gurney."

Jiang He pulled off his bloody sterile gloves and tossed them into the medical waste bin.

Only then did Zhao Yumin step forward.

He asked in a casual tone, "Where did you learn to do a suture ligature like that?"

"I practiced a lot in the anatomy lab back in the day. In a situation like that, the tissue planes become clearer after compression, so a suture ligature is the safest option," Jiang He answered flawlessly.

Zhao Yumin nodded. "Right. There’s still some room for improvement. Keep practicing when you have time."

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