Chapter 551: Going to the wrong place to get medicine, the newborn baby refuses to eat
"The root of the problem is not the heart, and a heart transplant probably won't do much. You'll be treated here for about a week, and if your condition continues to improve, you'll be discharged. You can go home and keep exercising, and use this electric massage tool to assist in treatment."
The patient's gastrocnemius muscles in his legs are severely atrophied, and it is unrealistic to expect them to return to normal through exercise in a short period of time.
Using electric tools or manual massage to assist blood circulation in the legs is an ideal way to get through this difficult period.
Seeing that the patient's condition had improved significantly and there was hope for recovery, Zhou Can was in a good mood.
Back in the emergency department, he quickly got into the intense surgical work.
He had just performed two operations when a nurse came running to him for help.
"Boss, the pediatric department just called and said that a three-day-old newborn baby has severe heart failure and is in critical condition. They would like to invite you to come over for a consultation."
Ma Xiaolan ran in to pass on the message.
"Okay, I'll be there right away."
Zhou Can has a close relationship with the pediatric department and is considered half a pediatrician. Now that a critically ill patient has appeared in the pediatric department, he has the obligation to go over and help.
If the problem is not serious, you won't ask him for help.
The strength of pediatrics is still quite strong.
Not only do we have a group of rehired pediatric experts, but we also have a large number of chief and deputy chief doctors between the ages of 40 and 60. Most of the newly recruited young doctors are postgraduates and masters, and the proportion of undergraduates is very low.
Only some particularly outstanding undergraduate medical students have the possibility of being admitted.
Compared with the situation when Zhou Can entered Tuya Hospital a few years ago, it is now at least several times more difficult for undergraduates to enter Tuya Hospital.
In the past, as long as you obtained Tuya's general practice training qualification and were under 35 years old , you could basically get the opportunity to stay in the hospital and work after completing the training. Now you are basically stuck at the postgraduate degree line.
If you have less than a postgraduate degree and do not have a letter of recommendation from a large hospital or a prestigious university, you will be directly screened out by the personnel department when applying for regular training qualifications.
After several years of hard work, Tuya's overall strength and ranking have indeed improved significantly compared with previous years.
In particular, outstanding young doctors like Zhou Can grew rapidly and gradually became the backbone of various departments of Tuya.
It further enhanced the comprehensive strength and ranking of the hospital.
In the past, Tuya’s biggest pain point was probably the small number of academic papers, and even fewer influential, high-quality papers. Another problem was the low educational level of doctors. Some older doctors even graduated from technical schools.
Medical technical schools were a unique product of that era.
In the past, a college degree was the highest level of education. Vocational high school graduates from medical technical schools were basically the mainstream education level among doctors. Later, it was gradually upgraded to junior college level, which was considered a high level of education.
Ten years ago, a bachelor's degree was in high demand.
Nowadays, a master's degree is not so popular. What you need is a doctoral degree or even a postdoctoral degree.
The times are progressing too fast.
Under the leadership of President Zhu, Tuya Hospital has carried out drastic reforms in many aspects, attached great importance to talents and scientific research, and has made great progress in recent years. As its comprehensive strength and ranking have improved, the business volume of each department has continued to soar.
This also gives it the capital to attract high-level talents.
Nowadays, even if the academic qualification is limited to postgraduate master's degree or above, there are still a lot of medical students trying their best to get in.
Zhou Can greeted Dr. Xu and quickly rushed to the pediatric department.
Saving lives is definitely more important.
Newborns with severe heart failure have a very high mortality rate, mostly due to congenital heart disease.
Neonatal heart failure, which leaves so many pediatric experts helpless, must be a very difficult disease.
Zhou Can subconsciously quickened his pace.
Tuya Hospital is very large. To get from the emergency department to the pediatric department, you need to pass through the internal medicine building and then bypass the surgical building No. 1. It takes at least seven or eight minutes to walk, and you have to walk fast.
Along the way, Zhou Can's feet really felt like they were carrying the wind.
When passing the corridor of the Internal Medicine Department, he met a man who looked quite familiar. Zhou Can looked up and couldn't help showing a playful expression. The middle-aged man holding a long bill was none other than Brother Wei.
At this moment, Brother Wei had obviously discovered Zhou Can.
He lowered his head awkwardly, trying to pretend that he didn't see Zhou Can.
The more he acted like this, the more Zhou Can wanted to tease him.
"Hey, aren't you Mr. Lan's bodyguard? Why are you here in the Internal Medicine Department?"
Zhou Can pretended to be ignorant and took the initiative to greet this person.
"Ahem... I came over to get some medicine for Young Master Lan." Brother Wei looked embarrassed.
He is very powerful, but unfortunately his IQ is very average.
"Mr. Lan is hospitalized in the cardiothoracic surgery department. If you want to get medicine, you should go to the pharmacy or the cardiothoracic surgery department. You look so confused, don't go to the wrong place. Otherwise, let me help you look at the list!"
Zhou Can said this and reached out to take the list in his hand.
“No, no!”
How could Brother Wei dare to let him see the payment receipt, so he quickly dodged.
He didn't even care when Zhou Can mocked him for being stupid.
"Really?"
Zhou Can looked amused.
"That's really not necessary! Go and get busy!"
While Brother Wei refused, he used a respectful title to address Zhou Can for the first time.
This psychological change is very interesting.
From the beginning, I looked down on Zhou Can and disliked him, but now I admire his medical skills from the bottom of my heart. For a doctor, if you want to win the respect of others, you must rely on your strength.
Everything else is false.
Only those that can cure the patient's illness are the most popular.
"Okay then, I'm leaving!"
In the end, Zhou Can did not expose the fact that Brother Wei came here to see a doctor for liver disease. He just teased him a few times and then laughed it off.
Adults should avoid exposing others' shortcomings and scandals in front of others. Losing face is an absolute taboo.
A few minutes later, he successfully arrived at the neonatal department of the pediatric department.
Director Tang Fei and Director Zhuang were already anxiously waiting for him, and Director Le from the cardiothoracic surgery department was also invited in. The many directors in the consultation room were helpless in the face of the newborn's condition.
After a brief greeting, Zhou Can got straight to the point.
"How is the patient?"
"The situation is very bad. The main symptom is that the baby refuses to eat milk or even drink water for three days. His breathing is rapid, his cry is as soft as a mosquito, and his face is gray. If we can't find a solution today, the baby will be in danger."
Director Tang Fei explained the situation with a hint of anxiety on her face.
For her, the death of a sick child does not involve much interest.
But she acted as anxious as the child's parents. This sense of responsibility as a doctor is very precious.
Judging from her description, the cause of the child's rapid death was not heart failure, but refusal to eat.
Zhou Can has been practicing pediatrics for more than two years and has accumulated rich clinical diagnosis and treatment experience.
There are many reasons why children refuse to eat, the most common of which is difficulty breathing.
After a baby is born, he or she will naturally suckle breast milk. This is a natural survival skill evolved by humans.
However, babies need to use a lot of force to suck breast milk, which will cause their breathing to become heavy. If they are directly breastfed, one side of the baby's nostril will be easily blocked by the mother's body when sucking.
At this point, they can only breathe through one nostril, which will become more difficult.
Out of self-protection instinct, babies will choose to keep themselves in a relatively relaxed breathing state as much as possible. At this time, they will resist breastfeeding.
In the obstetrics ward, it is common for some babies to resist breastfeeding after they are born.
They won't drink even if you feed them milk.
At this time, you must be particularly vigilant. Basically, if a baby does not eat for more than one day, nine out of ten are sick. Newborn mothers and their families must not be afraid of spending money and think that it is no big deal, so they hide it from doctors and nurses.
Because in the obstetrics department of major hospitals today, patients can basically be discharged within two days after giving birth.
Doctors and nurses are usually very busy and may not notice whether the baby is eating or not. Instead, they simply ask the family members and the mother herself to obtain relevant information. In this case, if the family members deliberately conceal the doctor, it is particularly easy to cause trouble.
Zhou Can had encountered such family members when he was working in the pediatric department.
When he saw a child who was just a few days old, he found that the child was in a very bad mental state, in a coma, and had dry lips. When he asked the family members about the child, they would mumble and be vague.
After examining the baby, it was found that he was in critical condition.
When encountering such a situation, I can only curse the family members in my heart for being so ignorant. A living little life may die just like this.
In the hospital, even if the baby refuses to eat, as long as the doctor and nurse are informed in time, there are ways to save the baby's life, such as directly delivering nutrient solution intravenously.
In the neonatal intensive care unit, some premature babies may weigh only a few hundred grams when they are born and are as small as a frog.
After careful care and nursing by medical staff, the baby can gain weight to three or four kilograms in about a month. At this time, it basically develops into a normal newborn.
"Director Tang, after discussing with other directors, what do you think is wrong with this child?"
While checking the patient's information, Zhou Can asked the experts about the results of their discussion.
Because he was not present when these experts had the previous discussion.
Diagnosing such difficult cases often requires collective efforts and the wisdom of everyone.
"The current diagnosis is generally in favor of heart failure, but there is no consensus on the specific cause of heart failure."
Diagnosing what the disease is based on the patient's symptoms, various test results, and treatment experience is not the most difficult part.
The real difficulty is to find the cause of the disease.
There are many causes of heart failure, such as cardiac hypertrophy, congenital heart disease, and even the difficult case that Zhou Can just solved not long ago, which was actually caused by atrophy and relaxation of the gastrocnemius muscles in both legs, leading to heart failure.
A newborn's body is much more fragile than an adult's.
Many tests can be used directly on adults, but cannot be used to test newborns.
Also, adults can accurately express where the pain is and what symptoms they have.
The baby couldn't tell the doctor anything, and it was good enough that he could cry a few times.
"Where is the patient now?"
"In ward 7, I'll take you there!"
Director Tang Fei, as the chief director of the Department of Pediatrics, is very busy and has a very honorable status.
She personally brought Zhou Can there, which was both a respect for Zhou Can and showed that she attached great importance to this sick child.
I followed Director Tang Fei to the neonatal ward.
On the third bed after entering the room, there lay a woman who had just given birth two days ago, with a confinement band tied around her forehead.
People in China attach great importance to confinement, believing that after giving birth, all the bones in the body become loose.
Using a strap to tie your head tightly will help with postpartum recovery.
If you don't tie it up, it will easily leave you with headaches.
Although this statement has no scientific basis, the rules passed down by the older generation have led most people to believe that it is better to believe it than not. They will choose to sit in confinement and take various kinds of care.
For example, you can’t go into cold water, take a shower, or wash your hair…
There are a lot of taboos.
The mother looked to be about 20 years old, very young. At this moment, she was holding the baby with a distressed look on her face, trying to feed the baby some water.
Unfortunately, the baby is very resistant. He either refuses to open his mouth or tries hard to push the pacifier out and spit it out.
Seeing a large number of doctors entering the ward, the mother and her family seemed a little restrained.
The family members even stood up and gave up the best seats.
"Baby still won't drink water?"
Director Tang Fei came forward and asked with concern.
"Yes! I don't know why he refuses to drink water. Every time he spits out the nipple of the bottle." The mother looked worried and anxious.
The joy of becoming a mother had not yet faded, but the baby's abnormality made her feel deeply distressed.
If it were an adult, he would have collapsed after not eating or drinking for three days.
What's more, it's a newborn baby.
"This is our famous pediatrician, Dr. Zhou Can. He is good at pediatrics and cardiothoracic surgery. We specially invited him to come for a consultation to find out the cause of the child's illness."
Director Tang Fei introduced Zhou Can to the family members.
Being good at multiple areas at the same time is indeed a great advantage.
For example, when it comes to diagnosing this newborn, other doctors are helpless, but the young Zhou Can brings hope to everyone.
"Thank you, thank you! Please take care of me, Dr. Zhou!"
The mother expressed her gratitude to the doctors again and again.
"Can I hold the baby?"
Zhou Can asked.
“Yes, yes!”
The mother handed the baby to Zhou Can.
The family members were watching from the side. They just thought that this doctor was very young. However, this young doctor must have real skills to be highlighted in front of so many older doctors.
“Oh…”
The baby was held by a stranger, with his eyes limp and then crying in fear.
But his crying was very quiet.
Like a little kitten meowing there.
Zhou Can was already observing the baby carefully, including his nose, mouth, complexion and so on.
"Has he not had milk or water for a long time?"
"He has refused to drink since he was born. His lips are dry and he can only drink a sip or two of water before spitting out the pacifier," said the mother with concern.
