83 Getting old (1/2)

Wang Dehua reluctantly agreed to allow Zhang Fan to perform the knee replacement surgery which he typically monopolized. Sometimes, always trying to compete with others would cause yourself to suffer.

Chen Qi hurriedly went to finalize all of the pre-surgery preparations and left immediately as he was afraid that Wang Dehua would change his mind.

In less than 10 minutes, Chen Qi spread the news through the entire orthopedic department #2 that Zhang Fan would be the primary surgeon the following day for a knee replacement surgery. Although everything in the department still seemed quiet, all the doctors—both high-ranking and low-ranking—were waiting to observe the situation.

Back in orthopedic department #1, Gao Shijun had just become the director recently, and he still had many conflicts with his main rival. That was why Zhang Fan's first surgery being a major hip replacement surgery hadn't caused much ruckus at the time. However, orthopedic department #2 was different as Wang Dehua had personally taught all the attending physicians here. Thus, orthopedic department #2 was able to maintain a balance where everybody obeyed orders and did what they were supposed to.

But today, things were different. A resident doctor from orthopedic department #1 was already about to begin a knee replacement surgery. Did that mean that orthopedic department #2 was too rigid and inflexible, or that the attending physicians in orthopedic department #2 were unskilled? Everyone would have a sense of danger, worrying about more skilled juniors taking their place. Such a thing would be quite commonplace at a hospital, where skills were the most important. It was also quite cruel. Sometimes, even an older veteran doctor would have to bow to and obey someone who was seven or eight years younger just because the latter was a department director.

Maybe some doctors didn't need to care too much about the superintendent. However, every doctor absolutely had to care about the department director. The director would be your direct boss, being completely in charge of how much money you could receive. Chasu City Hospital was a large hospital, so the department directors were almost all the oldest in their department. Very few doctors were older than their department directors. The ones who were older were typically the doctors who didn't have much sense of presence.

The cruelty of the competition for the position of director at a large Class A hospital couldn't be experienced until you were of a certain age. This was the pity of reaching middle age. If you didn't work your hardest, you might get pushed out and isolated, and even if you worked your hardest, you still might end up injured all over, silently leaving or hiding in a corner, never making another sound again as if you were nothing but a visitor, quietly observing the rise of a new generation.

On the next morning, orthopedic department #2's daily morning meeting had a severely depressed atmosphere. Discussions here were typically lively, but not today. Everyone discussed their surgery arrangements and plans as tersely as possible. They were all waiting for Zhang Fan's surgery to begin.

Meanwhile, Wang Dehua couldn't be bothered to care about this right now, as he was feeling mysteriously frustrated today. Every single doctor was present today for the meeting without a single absence. Wang Dehua felt frustrated by this for an unknown reason, extremely frustrated.

Zhang Fan began the knee replacement surgery. It would be impossible to stop an already arranged surgery in normal circumstances. Firstly, various hospital departments would have all prepared for the surgery already, and secondly, it would be impossible to explain it to the patient and family members. Thus, Wang Dehua washed his hands and then folded his arms without saying a word. He observed Zhang Fan being incredibly precise in his disinfecting despite his young age.

The more precise Zhang Fan's movements were, the more uneasy Wang Dehua became. 'Could it be that I'm jealous?' Wang Dehua then couldn't help but shake his head. 'No, I don't think I would be jealous of such a young brat. How old could he possibly even be? I must be getting tired. I've been director for three years now, but haven't taken even a single vacation day! It's about time that I took some time off!'

Zhang Fan had finished the preparations for surgery. However, Wang Dehua seemed to be in a daze as he sat on the anesthesiologist's chair, so Chen Qi called out, ”Director Wang, let's begin.”

”Oh, sure, let's begin.” Wang Dehua hurriedly went over to the primary surgical assistant's position, which he had taken for himself from Chen Qi. He was extremely unused to being the primary surgical assistant as he hadn't worked in this position for so many years already. He was far more used to being the primary surgeon.

The knee was one of the largest and most complex joints in the human body. There was a phrase that the legs would age faster than the person themselves. This phrase was actually referring to the knees.

Why was a knee replacement surgery so difficult? That was because the knee would need to withstand the body's weight. Many factors would have to be taken into consideration when reconstructing a knee joint.

First would be the amount of force used. If improper force was used on the knee during incision, the body would tilt, leading to spinal deformity appearing after a period of time in this improper posture. Second, the angle was also critically important. Both the external and internal rotation angles had to be considered. Even a millimeter's worth of miscalculation might cause serious injury to the patient.

Anyone who wasn't highly familiar with knee surgery wouldn't even be able to finish the simplest pre-surgery preparations. It would take several days for anyone to memorize all the necessary force requirements and angles. But as for familiarity, Zhang Fan was actually even more familiar with all knee surgery requirements when compared to Director Wang Dehua. This was because Zhang Fan could practice surgery in his System any time that he wanted. He had simulated knee surgeries so many times that he was more than skilled enough to handle a real knee surgery.