Surgery Godfather
Chapter 1037 - 855 Competing to Pay the Bill

Chapter 1037: Chapter 855 Competing to Pay the Bill

Just now, when focusing on Yang Ping’s handling of the blood vessels, constantly isolating and ligating them, combined with the fact that Yang Ping’s surgery was really too fast, Director Long was not very comfortable, his attention was highly concentrated on ligating the blood vessels, and he did not pay attention to the overall direction of the surgery at all. With more than twenty years of surgical experience, he simply did not see clearly how the tumor was "incidentally" removed.

The graduate students and visiting physicians who were gathered around the operating table still hadn’t dispersed, everyone had expected the surgery to take a long time, and the sudden end left everyone momentarily unable to react.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this, Director Long had it all planned out very clearly in his mind. He intended to ask Yang Ping to handle these dangerous blood vessels properly, and then Director Long would perform the ex-vivo resection himself. After the tumor was completely removed ex-vivo, he would proceed with autotransplantation. Director Long had been prepared to spend over a dozen hours to complete the surgery; while the surgery would be happening on one side, on the other side he would be waiting for the Blood Transfusion Department to manage some blood.

Now Yang Ping had just sloppily lifted a string of tumors out and tossed them into a sterile basin, and the tumor had been completely removed, indicating the surgery was already done. There was no need for ex-vivo resection, no need for autotransplantation, the several-hour-long surgery was compressed to just a few hours and completed.

To do such a big surgery incidentally, the way it was said was quite hurtful.

Doctor Liao also couldn’t understand for a moment. He reached into the abdominal cavity to check the condition of the organs and the tumor. What needed to be removed was removed, and what needed to remain was still there. It seemed as if nothing had happened. The thing that he himself had not managed to do, Professor Yang had done so simply and straightforwardly.

The crowd gathered around was suddenly a bit perplexed. The tumor, along with the part of the organs that needed to be removed, was cleanly cut out and now lay on the sterile table. There was no need for ex-vivo resection, nor for autotransplantation; the surgery had just ended like that.

This casual help, originally just to deal with a few dangerous blood vessels, accidentally ended up cutting out the tumor, Yang Ping also felt a bit embarrassed.

He had originally intended only to handle the blood vessels, but as he was doing so, he became a bit too engrossed, following his own thought process completely and using a bit too much force, inadvertently finishing the surgery for the others.

"Irrigate? Close the abdomen?" Yang Ping sought Director Long’s opinion.

Since the surgery was already done, there was nothing else to do but proceed.

Seeing this, Doctor Lv also had a clue in his mind and began to ponder about ordering food for Director Long. If it had been before, it wouldn’t be so easy to order as the surgery was expected to last over a dozen hours, maybe even until midnight, and then he would also be asked to order dinner, with obviously mismatched timing. Now that the surgery was completed, without the time conflict, things were much easier to manage.

After some disorganization of thoughts, Director Long finally faced the reality; yes, the surgery was done.

The surgery was completed in such a short time without blood, and looking at the clock, it had only taken a bit over 4 hours total.

The telephone in the operating room rang, and the patrolling nurse answered. It was a call from the Blood Transfusion Department, which, after strenuous efforts, had obtained 6 more units of packed red blood cells and two thousand milliliters of plasma. The plasma was almost enough, but according to the original plan, the packed red blood cells were still insufficient. The Blood Transfusion Department said they would keep trying.

"Director Long, the Blood Transfusion Department obtained another 6 units," the patrolling nurse reported the latest developments.

"Got it, transfuse 4 units for now, and tell the Blood Transfusion Department there’s no need to scrounge for more. Tell them the surgery is finished," Director Long responded.

At this time, a visiting physician who was hanging around the operating room came in and saw the atmosphere of relief here: "What happened? Which step has the surgery reached?"

"Professor Yang already finished the surgery; we’re just waiting to close the abdomen," someone replied.

The visiting physician was astonished: "The Professor Yang from Orthopedics?"

This visiting physician was a slippery old hand, often roaming through various operating rooms and had been scolded by the Head Nurse several times.

Again Professor Yang?

Just yesterday in Cardiac Surgery, he left Director Wen and another external expert to close the abdomen; today was Director Long not going to be left to close the abdomen as well? This was simply like a slaughterer in the operating room.

"Okay—Xiao Liao—let’s irrigate and close the abdomen," Director Long finally started with the next step.

Doctor Liao said, "Director, take a rest. I can manage with them to close the abdomen. No special instructions, right?"

Director Long thought for a moment: "Professor Yang, any special instructions?"

"Place the drains as usual, no special instructions," Yang Ping instructed.

"Director Long, any specific instructions about where to order dinner tonight?" Doctor Lv took the opportunity to ask, in case it was too late to make a booking and difficult to secure a private room.

Director Long was stunned for a moment: "Dinner? Who’s hosting? You’re hosting? What’s the occasion?"

Oh my, Doctor Lv was left starry-eyed by Director Long’s response; he, himself offered to host dinner tonight, yet couldn’t remember the matter.

"I have something tonight and can’t make it, you guys do as you please," Director Long prepared to remove his surgical gown.

Doctor Lv was quick to follow, helping him out of the gown while saying, "Director, didn’t you say you were hosting dinner tonight? You wanted to invite Professor Yang and the brothers from Orthopedics, let me tally the number of people and contact the place."

As he was reminded, Director Long immediately recalled, patting his forehead lightly with the hand he had just removed his gloves from: "Look at this mess, I almost forgot, alright, alright, who says I’m not free tonight. I’m the host tonight. You go book a place quickly, find somewhere nice nearby, everyone who’s free should come, you’ve worked hard."

"Just yesterday I heard Professor Yang completed coronary bypass in a couple of minutes in Cardiac Surgery."

"It was also coronary bypass for an infant, the youngest patient to undergo coronary bypass in the nation."

"He seems to be able to perform any surgery."

"What was the deal with your surgery today?"

"It was supposed to be difficult without blood and estimated to take sixteen or seventeen hours, but Professor Yang stepped in to help, and now, in four hours, the surgery is done, and we’re closing the abdomen."

"That’s incredible."

"I hear that at Sanbo Hospital he’s the director of the Surgical Research Institute; he performs all kinds of surgeries, and they’re all highly difficult ones."

"Director Long is hosting dinner tonight, are you going?"

"Wasn’t it Director Wen hosting tonight?"

"Strange indeed."

The graduate students and visiting physicians gathered together and whispered among themselves.

---

The orthopedics side’s surgeries had been going smoothly all along, and the young doctors’ skills had truly made leaps and bounds. This was thanks to Yang Ping’s teaching, not only had Song Yun and Kong Weiquan and a few other key members improved quickly, all the doctors were making rapid progress.

Professor Liang in the orthopedic operating room didn’t have much to do either since the young doctors were doing just fine, and he didn’t need to give direct guidance.

So he returned to the pancreatic surgery operating room, which seemed just about to wrap up. The tumor that had been excised was already in a metal basin, and the patrolling nurse was in contact with the pathology department to arrange for its delivery, while the instrumental nurse was handing over saline solution to wash the surgical area.

Director Long had already taken off his surgical gown, and Doctor Liao, accompanied by junior doctors, was in the process of closing the abdomen.

Professor Liang did a quick check of the time, something felt off. Wasn’t this surgery supposed to last until the dead of night? He wondered if Director Long’s offer to treat them to a meal was actually serious, and yet the surgery had ended now.

What? Did the patient not make it after all?

Professor Liang pondered subconsciously. Yang Ping at Peking Union Medical College Hospital only had authority for orthopedic surgeries, but when it came to doctors’ practice rights, the practice scope for surgeons was general surgery, which was quite broad. Strictly speaking, there was no legal issue, and whether there was a qualification issue depended on whether Peking Union Medical College Hospital would recognize it, which was also not an issue.

As thoughts flashed through his head at lightning speed, Professor Liang looked at the expressions on the faces of the doctors in the operating room. They were neither grim nor somber but rather chatty and smiling. He then turned to check on the anesthesia monitoring at the patient’s head side, and everything was calm and stable.

Had the surgery finished?

Couldn’t be that exaggerated, could it? This is pancreatic surgery we’re talking about, and it’s a super large and difficult one at that. It’s not orthopedic surgery that would be finished so quickly.

Or was the surgery given up midway?

"Director Long, what’s happening here, are you getting ready to finish up?" Professor Liang asked.

Director Long said with a smile, "Professor Yang has already completed the surgery, and we’re wrapping up now. We will dine together this evening, and I insist you must be there."

Professor Liang was an academician, and while Peking Union Medical College had more than twenty academicians, Peking Union Medical College Hospital only had two. This made Professor Liang a highly esteemed figure at Peking Union Medical College Hospital.

Since it was Yang Ping who was being invited, Professor Liang had every reason to go, not only to attend but also to have a good talk.

This surgery had been full of twists and turns, and now that it was suddenly over, everyone was still a bit unaccustomed to it. Previously, Yang Ping had always conducted surgeries in orthopedics, and other departments only knew of his name; they weren’t very familiar with him personally. Now, all the doctors in pancreatic surgery knew about Yang Ping.

However, this familiarity was limited to the operating room. It would probably still be a case of unfamiliarity outside of it.

This wasn’t surprising. Many doctors who had worked together for years were very familiar with operating room nurses but might not recognize each other outside of the operating room, because typically interactions were with faces masked and capped, revealing only a pair of eyes, and their in-mind image of each other was that work-mode appearance.

---

Director Wen of cardiac surgery took advantage of the noon break to stop by orthopedic surgery to see people. After searching for a while, he couldn’t find Yang Ping, so he asked Song Yun, "Xiao Song, where is Professor Yang? I’m hosting dinner tonight, and you’re all available, right?"

"We’re available!"

Song Yun estimated the timing of the surgery, which today wouldn’t drag on too late.

"Good, I’ll be the host tonight. Everyone in your department who’s available should come. I’ll arrange for someone to send you the details later. As for Professor Yang, I’ll go speak with him."

Director Wen had yet to see Yang Ping, and his purpose in hosting was to express gratitude for Yang Ping’s assistance the previous day.

"Song Yun!"

At that moment, Dr. Lv from pancreatic surgery dashed in.

"We have a dinner hosted by Director Long tonight. How many from your department are joining? Give me a headcount." Dr. Lv was well acquainted with Song Yun, so he spoke quite casually.

Song Yun looked up at Director Wen, then at Dr. Lv, "Why are you both hosting dinners tonight? Are they together?"

Director Wen was confused by Dr. Lv’s mention, catching Dr. Lv to ask, "What’s going on here? Tonight, we’re treating Professor Yang and the brothers to dinner. What are you mixing in for?"

Dr. Lv was also puzzled; why were there two separate invitations? Director Long hadn’t mentioned hosting a dinner before.

"Our Director Long said he’s hosting tonight, calling it a fellowship event between the independent orthopedic ward and pancreatic surgery. What about you?" Dr. Lv spoke to Director Wen with due respect.

"This old Long, what’s he up to? I’m going to find him," said Director Wen, striding off toward the pancreatic surgery operating room.

"Old Long!"

A voice called out; it was Director Wen from cardiac surgery.

"I heard you’re hosting tonight. Well, I’m also hosting tonight. Why are you suddenly usurping my plans?"

Director Wen and Director Long had a solid relationship. In fact, most surgeons are known for being forthright, so the relationship between heads of surgery is generally very good, almost like that of brothers.

"What do you mean usurping your plans? I had made arrangements long ago," Director Long retorted.

"I’ve already reserved a private room."

"I’ve done the same."

"Where did you book? Why not cancel, and we’ll host together? Split the bill fifty-fifty?"

"Join you in hosting? No way, that won’t work."

"Then what do we do? Can I do it today and you tomorrow?"

"What about I do it today and you tomorrow, how about that?"

After a long debate between Director Long and Director Wen, it took Professor Liang’s coordination to finally decide. Director Wen would host tonight since he had already secured the private room first, and Director Long would host the following evening, as he had just started making arrangements.