Chapter 130: Chapter 123 Niu Niu
"Hmm, I understand!" Xiao Lin’s heart skipped a beat. He hadn’t expected things to be more serious than he imagined. At the scene earlier, seeing Niu Niu hadn’t lost consciousness, he thought it was just excessive blood loss. But now, it seems Niu Niu couldn’t let go of her mother, forcing herself to stay conscious with immense willpower. For an adult, this might not be much, but seeing this in a seven or eight-year-old girl, even though Xiao Lin had been through the baptism of bullets and had often witnessed life’s separations and death, he was still moved by Niu Niu’s tremendous willpower.
Xia Xue was momentarily taken aback. Xiao Lin maintained his usual expressionlessness, as if he had long known. She gave Xiao Lin a strange look. At this time, Xiao Lin was busy helping Niu Niu with the blood transfusion, having no time for this. Xia Xue thought for a moment and instructed Xiao Mei, "Hurry to notify the surgical and neurology departments at Yan University Affiliated Hospital. There’s a patient here who urgently needs surgery. Have them prepare!"
"No need, I’ll do it later!" Xiao Lin immediately stopped her when he heard Xia Xue’s words.
"You? Can you do it?" Xia Xue looked at Xiao Lin doubtfully. In Xia Xue’s impression, Xiao Lin was very strong in emergency rescue and also in acupuncture in traditional Chinese medicine, but Niu Niu’s head wound had already involved departments like neurology and surgery.
"I can!" Xiao Lin responded quickly and decisively. He had lost count of how many times he had removed shrapnel or even bullets from comrades’ heads. To him, Niu Niu’s injury was nothing. As long as there’s plasma provided, Niu Niu would be basically fine.
Xia Xue, Li Jingyi, Xiao Mei, and Xiao Li all hesitated, looking at Xiao Lin. They were aware of Xiao Lin’s emergency skills, but Niu Niu’s golden hour for emergency saving had passed. The current wound had damaged internal skull parts, estimated that even the top surgeons at Yan University Affiliated Hospital wouldn’t dare to operate solo. At least two chief surgeons were needed for coordination, otherwise, no one could predict what problems might arise during the operation.
Moreover, the school hospital’s equipment was extremely poor. Even in the operating room, the equipment hadn’t been updated for nearly eight years, being quite outdated. Could such aged equipment undertake such a difficult operation?
"Xiao Lin..." Xia Xue wanted to say something but was interrupted by Xiao Lin, who calmly said, "Trust me, I can do it, prepare the surgical knife, forceps, and suture. These pieces of equipment should at least be available, right?" Xiao Lin could see that the equipment was very old and outdated, but it was still better than the battlefield environment. So he wasn’t planning to give up. Besides, if they waited for Yan University Affiliated Hospital to prepare, it would take at least half an hour, which Niu Niu didn’t have. The remaining bone fragments inside, if not extracted quickly, would greatly affect Niu Niu’s brain development even if removed later. If mishandled, damaging the brain nerves, Niu Niu’s fate would be too tragic.
During the conversation, Xun Xiangxiang only felt the pressure in her head growing, as if all her blood was rushing to one point, unexplainably uncomfortable. However, thinking of Niu Niu’s well-behaved and cute face, her body covered in blood, Xun Xiangxiang held on, not voicing the agony; no matter how painful, she had to endure.
Xiao Lin noticed some color returning to Niu Niu’s face. Her once extremely pale face was gaining a flush, while Xun Xiangxiang’s face turned pale, with furrowed brows, seeming to endure considerable pain.
"Dr. Xiao, the blood transfusion has exceeded five hundred milliliters!" Xiao Mei reminded Xiao Lin from the side. This was a hundred milliliters more than the usual four hundred milliliters standard for blood donations. Signs of slight discomfort started appearing in Xun Xiangxiang’s body.
"Has the plasma from Yan University Affiliated Hospital not arrived yet?" Xiao Lin’s expression was quite serious; he realized Xun Xiangxiang was nearing her limit.
"I’m fine, continue!" Hearing Xiao Lin’s concern, Xun Xiangxiang quickly said, "I can donate another hundred milliliters!"
"It should arrive soon!" Li Jingyi checked the time and replied.
At this point, the operating room door opened, and another nurse from the ER, Xiao Ning, came in carrying two bags of plasma, hurriedly saying, "Dr. Xiao, the plasma has arrived!"
Only then did Xiao Lin release his hands, instructing Xiao Mei and Xiao Li, "Detach the blood connection devices, perform the brain operation in three minutes!" At this moment, Xiao Lin had to change into surgical attire and put on a mask.
Hearing Xiao Lin’s command, after giving the plasma to Xiao Mei, Xiao Ning quickly went to the tools box to prepare Xiao Lin’s surgical instruments. These surgical tools were already quite dated, with even the sharp surgical knife showing marks of time; how long had it been since these tools were last used?
The supplied plasma slowly entered Niu Niu’s body, her complexion gradually turned rosy. The results from the monitors near the operating table grew more and more heartening. It seemed that as long as the bone fragments in her brain were removed, Niu Niu’s life would be saved.
"No need for an anesthetist?" Xia Xue looked at Xiao Lin. For such a surgery, a slight mistake could touch the internal wound, causing intense pain, something even an adult couldn’t bear, let alone Niu Niu. However, such a surgery with brain anesthesia is very dangerous and is only used when absolutely necessary.
"No need. Niu Niu hasn’t complained about a headache, which means her brain nerve tissues are not damaged. The two bone fragments merely rest on the surface and haven’t harmed the brain nerve tissues," Xiao Lin said. After speaking, he looked at Li Jingyi and asked, "How’s the blood pressure, ECG, brain waves, and vital signs?" Xiao Lin was very confident. This wasn’t a removal surgery, just extracting bone fragments from the surface of the brain nerve tissues.
"Blood pressure is normal, ECG is normal, brain waves are below average, vital signs are low..." These ordinary data came up item by item. During surgery, Xiao Lin often didn’t have time to check these basic medical examinations and mostly relied on his True Qi and rich experience.
Xiao Lin nodded. Everything for the surgery was ready, just waiting for him to make the incision. However, there were no advanced precision instruments here, nor very bright lights. There was only an old operating table and a not-so-bright surgical lamp. It’s unknown how long it had been since this operating room last performed a regular surgery. If other surgeons saw the surgical conditions here, probably very few would dare to perform Niu Niu’s surgery.
Xia Xue and Li Jingyi, both also studying medicine, naturally knew about the poor conditions of this operating room. However, the campus hospital had always dealt with minor conditions like colds and coughs—prescribing medicine, giving drips—rarely using a scalpel. Li Jingyi couldn’t even remember the last time the operating room’s red light was on.
Seeing Xiao Lin’s determined attitude, confident expression, and composed demeanor, they didn’t have much to say and silently acted as Xiao Lin’s assistants.
But compared to the conditions on the battlefield, the medical conditions here were much better. Xiao Lin was very confident in himself. Standing on the operating table, he thought the surgical lighting was perfectly adequate. On the battlefield, a surgical table might only have a few incandescent lamps, so compared to that, this operating room’s light was enough.
"Scalpel number three!" Xiao Lin stretched out his right hand, and Xia Xue hurriedly handed the number three scalpel to him. Xiao Lin carefully examined Niu Niu’s head wound, which was now fully cleaned, leaving only a three-centimeter-wide opening. The nerve tissues were visible, and with the naked eye, two tiny fragments could be seen resting on the brain’s nerve tissues.
Xiao Lin knew the importance of this area naturally. It’s the brain within the brain. Even a small mistake could lead to Niu Niu waking up with mental disabilities or even becoming a vegetable, or worse, dying on the spot.
"Fine thread!" Xiao Lin said in a deep voice. A very fine surgical thread was placed into his hand.
As they watched Xiao Lin’s scalpel enter the wound, Xia Xue, Li Jingyi, Xiao Mei, Xiao Li, and Xiao Ning all held their breath, afraid of disturbing Xiao Lin in any way and risking the success of the surgery.
Xiao Lin’s actions were skillful, without any pause. The sharp scalpel gently landed next to a small fragment, slowly nudging it towards the thread.
This fragment lay in a groove between two brain nerves, and though that groove seemed insignificant to the naked eye, not moving it would mean that even with True Qi infused into the thread, the fragment couldn’t be removed.
With complete focus, Xiao Lin flicked the thread, and soon it wrapped around the tiny fragment, gently removing it. Only then did Xia Xue and the others breathe a sigh of relief. They didn’t expect Xiao Lin to truly remove it, and with just a scalpel and a thread. How strong an eyesight and steady hand would it take to extract the fragment without damaging the brain nerves?
Xiao Lin did not relax because the position of the other fragment was even more tricky, almost compressing the brain nerve tissues. It was unclear why Niu Niu remained so calm, neither crying nor shouting, showing only infinite strength.
"Forceps number four!" Xiao Lin calmly extended his right hand, and Xia Xue quickly placed the number four forceps in his right hand, watching Xiao Lin nervously.
Xiao Lin, unhurriedly holding the forceps, gently probed into the wound. The forceps were very fine, and using True Qi, he controlled the descent force, advancing millimeter by millimeter until touching that tiny fragment.
Xiao Lin dared not clamp the forceps too tightly, fearing that the force would vibrate the brain nerve tissues. Slowly urging the True Qi, the forceps’ tip gradually closed until it finally clamped onto the second small fragment. (To be continued. If you like this work, you’re welcome to go to Qidian () to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)