Surgery Godfather
Chapter 716 - 637: Face is not given by others

Chapter 716: Chapter 637: Face is not given by others

With the backing of the Comprehensive Surgery Department, Director Liu and Director Li were quite bold, scheduling the surgery for the very next day.

It wasn’t just the staff of the Medical Affairs Department who were speculative, now even Director Liu and Director Li hypothesized that Professor Yang, often performing surgeries abroad, must have completed many liver and kidney transplants. Otherwise, why would he agree to assist and provide them cover?

Moreover, word from the Medical Affairs Department was that the surgeries Professor Yang performed in Saudi Arabia were cardiac surgeries, including tumor removal, abnormality correction, and autologous heart transplant. These three major surgeries earned him a special surgical license from the Saudi Ministry of Health and saw him assisted by world-class cardiac surgery experts.

The astute Director Liu and Director Li fully trusted Professor Yang, believing in his strength and capabilities.

Having been promoted so young to the position of associate chief physician and associate professor, he surely wouldn’t risk his future recklessly.

If he were not fully confident, how could Professor Yang possibly step up, casually agree to assist, when the operation had nothing to do with him?

For Qin Xiaowei and Li Jun, the sooner the surgery, the better, to shift their conditions from a vicious cycle to a virtuous cycle. Once embarked on a vicious cycle too far, even the best medical skills sometimes cannot bring them back.

Director Liu and Director Li were very decisive, preferring to act swiftly or not at all. Any hesitation could lead to a mishap.

Li Jun and Qin Xiaowei each lay in adjacent operating rooms. The basic procedure was as follows: remove a kidney from Qin Xiaowei and transplant it to Li Jun; take a portion of Li Jun’s liver and transplant it to Qin Xiaowei.

The human body typically has two kidneys, but only one healthy kidney is needed to function. Therefore, losing a kidney does not cause considerable harm to the human body.

The only risk is for the person with a single kidney. If it should fail, there is no backup, whereas a person with two kidneys has the other as a backup if one fails.

Although the human body has only one liver, the liver has a potent regenerative ability. For instance, if half of Li Jun’s liver is removed for Qin Xiaowei, the remaining half in Li Jun can regenerate, slowly growing back to its original size.

Similarly, the half of the liver transplanted to Qin Xiaowei could also gradually grow to the size of a normal liver.

This is why it’s possible to transplant part of a liver.

The two external multi-organ repair machines arranged by Professor Yao from Nandu Affiliated Hospital One were delivered a day early, and he himself arrived at Sanbo Hospital early in the day.

However, Professor Yao was puzzled; from the previous day to now, no one from Sanbo Hospital had asked him to perform a surgery.

The consultation invitation from the Medical Affairs Department was for an assistant role during the surgery. Neither Director Liu nor Director Li specified his exact role.

Professor Yao pioneered the ischemia-free transplant technique. He has completed over seventy-four liver transplants, five kidney transplants, and one heart transplant. These cases were all from Nandu Affiliated Hospital One, and no other hospital has a case so far.

Under normal circumstances, wouldn’t they ask him to lead the surgery?

Why is there no movement?

This is unusual!

"Professor Yao, hello, thank you for your hard work today!" Professor Yang, Director Liu, Director Li, and Director Zhao of the Medical Affairs Department took turns shaking hands with Professor Yao, being extremely courteous.

However, no one has mentioned why they have invited him and his machines today.

If others don’t explicitly say it, asking too much would be inappropriate. It’s not like he could innocently scrub in and assume the position of the chief surgeon.

"How is the surgery arranged today? Is it one team or two teams?" Professor Yao asked indirectly.

Actually, for this kind of surgery, there certainly are two teams, precisely speaking, four teams, two for liver and kidney extraction, and two for recipient region preparation.

"Professor Yang, how is it arranged?" Director Liu asked Yang Ping.

In fact, last night, after the meeting ended, Directors Liu and Li, together with Yang Ping, had held a discussion for several hours.

Yang Ping nodded, "With so many people watching, we should finish the battle within two hours. I suppose I’ll be the chief surgeon!"

Professor Yao nearly choked, could it be that Professor Yang really knows how to perform this surgery? Not just theoretically proficient?

He thought Yang Ping was just visiting the operating room today, at most participating theoretically, with the actual operation carried out by him leading Directors Liu and Li.

Now Yang Ping is taking action?

It appears Sanbo Hospital already has arrangements: Directors Liu and Li will assist on the stage, nominally as chief surgeons but practically as first assistants, helping Yang Ping by providing the required credentials; while Yang Ping is the nominal first assistant, he is the actual chief surgeon.

Professor Yao felt slightly presumptuous. No wonder from the previous day to now, everyone had been exceptionally polite, yet no one mentioned the surgery arrangement.

It had been rumoured that the Comprehensive Surgery Department of Sanbo Hospital dared to undertake all kinds of surgeries. It seems the rumor was true.

"Professor Yao, bloodless transplantation is your unique skill, I’m not very familiar with it, so you’ll have to offer your guidance later." Yang Ping said to Professor Yao.

This clearly tells him: I’m the chief surgeon today!

Professor Yao didn’t know how to feel about this - his curiosity now probably exceeded that of Professor Wang and Professor Pei. The bloodless transplant technique that he had pioneered was still in its infancy, and only a few cases had been accumulated so far. It hadn’t been widely promoted yet, and Yang Ping hadn’t studied with him. Could he really perform it?

Where did he learn it from? Could it be from just his papers and the patent information concerning the machine?

Ah!

Professor Yao sighed in his heart. It turned out that they invited him here to help operate the machine and maintain the bloodless state of the organ extraction.

---

Professor Wang and Professor Li had a good rest the night before and were pleased with the accommodation and meals arranged by Sanbo Hospital.

Director Li and Director Liu started working early in the morning. Director Liu went to the operating room while Director Li went to Tri-Bo Hotel to pick up the professors.

There were eight professors left following the two big shots. The others either had no interest in watching or really had other commitments and had left Sanbo.

As leading figures in liver and kidney transplantation, Sanbo Hospital held the two in high regard and did not slight them in the slightest. However, Sanbo Hospital refused to yield the initiative in surgical planning, no matter what. Any expert opinion was merely used for reference.

The eight professors were escorted by Director Liu to the teaching room of the operating room. A few flexible doctorates and masters were arranged to accompany the guests, showing the experts great respect.

In the teaching room, tea, coffee, snacks, sunflower seeds, peanuts, every refreshment was available. Waitstaff were specially arranged to take of these experts. After Director Zhao finished his work, he personally accompanied the experts to observe. Deans Xia and Sun also made a special appearance in the operating room on behalf of the hospital leadership to shake hands with the big shots.

Professor Wang and Professor Pei sat together, sharing a rare moment of harmony.

The two professors were about the same age, in their early fifties and in the golden age of their academic achievements.

Sanbo Hospital was quite bold, getting straight to the point.

"This young man’s papers are all about orthopedics, yet they’re all published in top-tier journals. The spinal external fixation frame is indeed undergoing phase three clinical trials in the United States." Professor Pei had briefly looked up this information last night. He could check things like the status of phase three clinical trials on the US FDA’s website, as this information was publicly available.

Professor Wang had also looked this up, and nodded slightly. This person must be capable, or else they would not have created a comprehensive surgery department just for him.

However, no matter how brilliant, it was impossible to perform well in an unfamiliar field, let alone dominate all fields of surgery.

Throughout the history of surgery, such characters were few.

If you are the number one in the world for heart bypass surgery, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you can perform hemorrhoidectomy successfully.

There are profound differences between professions, especially in clinical medicine.

"It should be Professor Yao Qingxiang who will be performing the surgery, right? Didn’t we conclude yesterday that we will be using the bloodless transplant technique? Apart from Professor Yao Qingxiang from Nandu Affiliated Hospital One, who else has experience in bloodless transplantation?" Professor Wang guessed.

After listening, Professor Pei realized that this indeed made sense: "So it’s been Professor Yao Qingxiang’s scheme all along? Invite us to watch his performance? He’s been in the spotlight these past few years."

"But is it necessary? Even if he invites us to observe his new technique, we would still give face." Professor Pei again felt that something was off.

Professor Wang scoffed, "Who knows what’s going on with this act."

"So, Professor Yang is not going on stage?" Professor Pei was still holding out some hope.

Professor Wang shook his head, "Do you think surgery is child’s play? Some things should just be taken as a joke. Yang Ping was bragging yesterday in front of a dozen national experts. The director of their medical department had to back him up, otherwise what can they do? Didn’t you see our facial expressions when we didn’t give them an out and decided to stay to watch? Director Zhao was dodging left and right, his face was as red as a pig’s liver."

"Haha---Did we go too far in embarrassing them?" Professor Pei suddenly realized, recalling the events of yesterday, Director Zhao indeed seemed to have been dodging left and right, his face also looked terrible.

"Respect is earned, not given, can we bluff about such matters? Sanbo Hospital should take this as a lesson." Professor Wang said sternly.

Professor Pei agreed: "Well said, respect is not given by others."

As the two men chatted, they surprisingly found that they could get along so well. They couldn’t believe it themselves. They had been talking for so long and neither of them had banged the table or used foul language.

Professor Wang and Professor Pei exchanged smiles, finding the situation awkward.

At the same time, they were thinking: Why am I even talking to him!?