Surgery Godfather
Chapter 1183 - 928: To extend our view to the utmost, ascend one more story (Part 2)

Chapter 1183: Chapter 928: To extend our view to the utmost, ascend one more story (Part 2)

Especially when it comes to tumors in the head, the location is in the brainstem, and it’s right in the center of a nerve nucleus, exhibiting diffuse growth.

Thus, surgery is almost impossible; if we do operate, we must remove a portion of the normal brainstem tissue along with it. However, the nerve nucleus in the brainstem is critically important, being the central hub of life, and any damage to it would terminate life.

The site and manner of this tumor’s invasiveness render even the most skillful surgery powerless, as it has exceeded the scope of surgical intervention.

It’s like pouring a cup of water into soil; they have become one and the same. Trying to separate the water from the soil using manual methods for picking beans is simply not possible.

Yang Ping had pinned his hopes on K Therapy, but now the experiment is encountering difficulties. The K factor works very well in experimental settings, killing all tumor cells, but in the human body, its function is compromised by various factors. Yang Ping has already modified the K gene over four hundred times, and although he finally obtained a qualified K factor that can be safely introduced into the human body, various side effects have arisen during its functional operation, some even resulting in complete failure.

Other tumors might afford the luxury of waiting, but those in the cranial brainstem cannot wait at all, as continued spreading and proliferation could quickly lead to a life-threatening situation once a certain threshold is breached.

Sisi is currently in a very dangerous condition, her life at risk at any moment.

Yang Ping is exceedingly experienced with brainstem tumors, having dealt with the cases of Professor Feng, Ning Jue, and Fujiwara Tani in the past. Their tumors were not centered in a nerve nucleus with diffuse growth, so surgery was a feasible solution.

If we liken the brainstem tumors of Professor Feng, Ning Jue, and Fujiwara Tani to a mixture of fine sand and soil, they at least retained their own shapes, making it possible to distinguish between them using various technologies and to pick out the sand from the soil.

However, Sisi’s tumor is like a mix of water and soil, where picking the water out of the soil is not an option; other methods must be employed.

As for cell therapy, it is currently only effective for non-Hodgkin lymphoma and has poor or no effect on other types of tumors.

Other methods of tumor treatment, like chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and various particle knives, are virtually ineffective at this stage for Sisi’s condition, and their use might likely disrupt the delicate balance she is maintaining.

Even if Yang Ping could mobilize the world’s medical resources, it would be of no help now.

Sometimes, humanity seems pale and powerless in the face of disease.

The black-and-white image remained on the electronic screen as Yang Ping squinted at it, pondering what to do next. The little girl was in grave danger, and time was not on Yang Ping’s side.

"Professor!"

It was the voice of Song Zimo outside the door.

The office door was not locked, merely closed, and Yang Ping woke from his reflections, "Come in."

Song Zimo pushed the door open, and noting the image on the electronic screen on the desk, recognized it as Sisi’s, "You’re looking at it too, it has spread throughout the body, even within the cranial brainstem."

"Yes, I’m studying it."

Yang Ping nodded calmly. Sometimes that’s how medicine is; although we always emphasize the human touch, reality can be so cruel, demanding a cool head and rationality.

If the experiment can’t make progress, the reality will be very harsh—Sisi won’t escape her final destiny.

"Surgery is nearly impossible," said Song Zimo as he pulled up a chair to sit down next to Yang Ping and examine the PEC-CT images together.

"Not nearly impossible, but absolutely impossible," responded Yang Ping in a composed tone.

Then Xu Zhiliang, Zhang Lin, and Little Five also entered. They were all very familiar with Sisi’s condition. They gathered around the desk, staring at the images on the electronic screen in silence, waiting for the professor to have an idea.

"What shall we do? This part is the nerve nucleus, not the space between them. Her life is in danger at any moment. What do we do?"

Song Zimo’s question was everyone’s question.

Yang Ping’s cup of tea sat full on the desk, not a wisp of steam rising from it, for from the time it was brewed, he hadn’t taken a single sip.

"Is the Ion Knife an option? Griffin could provide help, we could reach out to Anderson’s machines."

Song Zimo knew that the Gamma Knife was no longer effective at this stage. Ultrasound couldn’t penetrate the sturdy skull, so he placed hope on other types of advanced ion knives.

Yang Ping shook his head.

"To lift a bone flap of the skull so that the ultrasound would have no cranial obstruction, only needing to pass through the dura and arachnoid mater to reach the brain tissue?"

Song Zimo envisioned a rather creative method; the Gamma Knife concentrates ultrasound waves and cannot be used intracranially due to the obstruction by the skull. If the skull could be opened like a lid to create a window, the ultrasound could enter through this window.

"Your idea is imaginative, but it’s unfeasible. The Gamma Knife also has its flaws; its energy focus isn’t very precise. Thermal damage could harm the surrounding normal brainstem cells. In the liver, such harm would be negligible, not worth considering, but in the brainstem, especially within a neural nexus, this kind of thermal damage could be fatal."

Yang Ping still shook his head, his eyes fixed on the imaging screen.

---

The Gemini Building is the iconic structure of Sanbo Hospital, its surgical and medical towers both topped with helicopter pads. The surgical building’s pad, where helicopters frequently took off and landed, was more often used than that of the medical building.

At the rooftop of the thirty-plus-story building, which also serves as an excellent vantage point for cityscape observation, doctors from Sanbo Hospital would sometimes climb up to enjoy the scenery, gaining a sense of exhilaration.

Doctors work under high pressure, especially the younger ones who have just started in the field, burdened with immense stress. It’s common for some to come up here for a breather, using the high vantage point to take in the urban landscape, which could make their worries evaporate.

However, once a patient from the oncology department sneaked up there and then jumped off. Since then, the rooftop has either been locked or constantly guarded by security, and ordinary people haven’t been allowed access.

Sisi nagged Yang Ping, insisting that he take her up to the rooftop to experience the feeling of surveying from a high vantage point. Left with no choice, Yang Ping finally managed to find time to take her up.

Yang Ping and Sisi stood at the rooftop, leaning against the railing, gazing at the cityscape.

The originally solid reinforced concrete parapet was 1.2 meters high. For safety, Sanbo Hospital later added a 30 cm railing. Therefore, Sisi, just over 1.5 meters tall, could only look out through the gaps in the railing, and Yang Ping was not worried about her jumping off.

Sisi was thrilled; she had never been to the top of a tall building before. She spread her arms wide, facing the wind, like a bird spreading its wings to fly.

"Be careful not to catch a cold. I shouldn’t have brought you here; the wind is a bit strong." Yang Ping knew this young girl was full of ideas, but he didn’t understand why she would choose such a place to play.

Sisi was not afraid of the wind at all: "This is called fresh air, not a strong wind. You never learned your literature properly. Don’t you want to take deep breaths of fresh air after staying in the ward all day?"

If she weren’t so clever, perhaps she would be happier. She’s just a fifth-grader; he didn’t know if she truly faced life and death with equanimity or if it was just a façade. Either way, it was not appropriate for her age; she was still in bud, too young to bear such weight of life.

"I heard a cleaner auntie say that a tumor patient jumped from here, is that true?"

Sisi leaned forward to look down, but the parapet and railing were too high for her to see over.

Yang Ping was startled and immediately grabbed her hand, pulling her back from the edge and ensuring a safe distance before answering her question:

"Yes, she couldn’t face her difficulties and had already reached a dead end in her mind."

Yang Ping feared that Sisi would end up the same, unable to escape the mental dead end.

The young girl’s face lit up with a sweet smile, the pure and innocent kind only children and adolescents possess: "If she had the courage to jump, why didn’t she have the courage to live on? I think when everyone is born, death is certain. It’s like a line segment with a starting and an ending point—it’s inevitable. What differs is just the length of the line."

Such thoughts were neither typical of a fifth grader nor topics that should occupy their minds.

"I just feel that there’s not enough time, and there are so many things I haven’t had the chance to do."

The smile slowly faded from Sisi’s face as she looked into the distance.

"You should believe in me; I will do my utmost. I’ve thought of a very good method; I’m just a little bit away from success. I told you, I’d accept you as a student one day. We made a pinky promise."

Yang Ping encouraged her.

"Don’t worry, I’m not that silly to jump down. I came here just to experience the feeling of ’ascending to a higher level after a long journey,’ as the ancient poem says. It’s true; I now feel like I can see farther."

Sisi stood in the wind, her hair billowing.