Chapter 206 - Unavoidable (1/2)

It would only be normal to want to get treated to avoid illness. Obviously, it would be wrong if you were feeling unwell but didn't get treated scientifically. The Kuake City city secretary was the type who didn't believe in normal hospital treatment. Instead, he would eat rehmannia root year-round. It was said that some doctor of traditional Chinese medicine had prescribed that to him.

The city secretary fell to the floor with a loud thud that everyone heard. The person sitting next to him believed that he had to have fallen asleep during the government meeting. This person awkwardly laughed, and said, ”Hurry and get up! Chasu City city secretary's expression is darkening!”

However, there was no reaction, so this person tried to pull up the Kuake City city secretary. He then noticed that the unconscious city secretary had his teeth tightly clenched and a pale expression. Others also noticed that something was wrong.

”Leader! He seems to have fainted!”

”Superintendent Ouyang, hurry and take a look.” The city leader of Chasu City called for Superintendent Ouyang by name. Although she was a hospital superintendent, her government ranking wasn't that high, so she could only sit in the far back for this meeting. Superintendent Ouyang swiftly walked to the front and saw Secretary Zhao of Kuake City unconscious on the ground.

She immediately felt that something must be wrong. When she touched him, she said, ”This is bad! It's probably a heart attack. There's no time. Immediately take him to the hospital.” Right after she said this, Superintendent Ouyang began to perform pulmonary resuscitation for Secretary Zhao.

The government leaders who were present for the government meeting were really scared by this sight. Most of them were men who were middle-aged or older. Many of these politicians would have similar health problems. Quite a few of them had scared expressions as they thought about their own condition. The Chasu City city leader's personal secretary immediately contacted Chasu City Hospital. There was also a personal doctor on duty here, who was immediately called over to assist Superintendent Ouyang.

Heart attacks were also known as myocardial infarctions. Basically, heart attacks would be caused by a blockage in one of the arteries that supplied blood to the heart, which would then lead to the death of a part of the heart muscle from lacking blood and oxygen. The warning signs for a heart attack would be pain behind the sternum or numb pain around your left arm and shoulder. You definitely would need to go to the hospital to check your own condition in such a scenario. Even if you ended up wasting your time and money for the checkup, it would still be critically important!

Heart attacks were incredibly dangerous. They were more common in Europe and America, which was why many hospitals there would give free training sessions on how to treat people who suddenly had heart attacks in public. This was because far too many people in Europe and America would die of heart attacks.

Back in the 1970s and 1980s, China didn't have very many people who suffered heart attacks. Those who did were usually people with high social status. Over the past decade or so, heart attacks had gradually increased in China.

Heart attacks would be far more common in people who didn't get very much physical exercise. The primary medical reason behind heart attacks would usually be coronary atherosclerosis, which was a buildup of plaque inside the artery walls. Most of the time, the atherosclerosis would be unstable, and eventually form a blockade. There would be many possible causes of this. The most common cause for ordinary people would be to eat too much, especially too many fatty foods, which would then increase the blood fat and blood viscosity, making it harder for blood to move through the arteries. Other reasons for atherosclerosis included obesity or being overly emotional.

The personal doctor took over the chest compressions for Superintendent Ouyang, who then used her stethoscope to listen to Secretary Zhao's chest. She heard only dry rales. She then furrowed her eyebrows and turned to Chasu City's city leader, who was also surnamed Zhao, saying, ”It's a sudden heart attack. A significant part of the heart has died.”

”Just try your best to save him! Little Wang, go notify Secretary Zhao's family.” City Leader Zhao could only say this. His subordinate had a medical incident during work time, which meant that he would need to take responsibility for his subordinate. He would need to have a reasonable explanation for his own higher-ups as well as Secretary Zhao's family.

Right after this, some security guards and younger government leaders carried a stretcher over. ”You must constantly continue with the chest compressions! The compressions must continue until we reach the hospital!” Superintendent Ouyang told the young men.

A government business van took Secretary Zhao and swiftly drove towards the hospital. The government meeting had to be canceled with such an incident. Chasu City Leader Zhao and Chasu City city secretary, the two highest-ranking leaders of the meeting, had a quick discussion with each other. The Chasu City city secretary then brought a large group of people over to Chasu City Hospital.

Superintendent Ouyang already notified the hospital while still on the way. She first notified the hospital administration department. She then specially called ICU department director Lin Long over. Superintendent Ouyang could tell with just one look that this Secretary Zhao's life was in grave danger today. That was why she immediately planned on sending Secretary Zhao to the ICU department's VIP patient room. Sending Secretary Zhao to the regular cardiology department would already be meaningless.

The government meeting was held at a location that was slightly more than 10 minutes away from Chasu City Hospital by car. For most illnesses, 10 minutes wouldn't be very long, but for a heart attack patient, 10 minutes would mean missing the golden timeframe for treating the patient. This was because reviving the heart after more than 10 minutes had passed would mean that it was no longer possible to perform interventional thrombolysis, which was a procedure using a catheter which could rapidly break up a blood clot and restore blood flow as well as preserve valve function.

Interventional thrombolysis was one of the best and most effective methods to treat heart attacks. However, Secretary Zhao just happened to be someone who hated hospitals and preferred traditional Chinese medicine. Unlike the other government leaders who would get annual checkups at the hospital, Secretary Zhao never went to the hospital, which meant that his medical data wasn't available. Another few highly precious minutes would have to be wasted as his medical data was determined. Although Secretary Zhao was a highly skilled and capable government leader, and was still fairly young, being in his early 40s, he would no longer have any further chance at promotion due to his own habit of hating regular hospitals, which was now costing him dearly.

Superintendent Ouyang was a cardiology expert. Her diagnosis of Secretary Zhao's condition was extremely accurate. Since it would take a bit more than 10 minutes to arrive at the hospital, plus nobody else other than her was able to give the patient effective chest compressions, Secretary Zhao would definitely miss the golden timeframe for treating a heart attack.

The government business van directly drove up to the ambulance station for the emergency treatment rooms. Various expert doctors were already waiting there. Superintendent Ouyang would count as being the first treatment doctor.

”Hurry, help and support me.” Superintendent Ouyang was in her early 50s, so her body wasn't as good as it used to be. Although there were younger men helping to give chest compressions to the patient along the way, Superintendent Ouyang couldn't help but keep taking over the chest compressions, because she saw that nobody else was capable of performing chest compressions accurately enough. Although it had only been slightly more than 10 minutes to arrive here, Superintendent Ouyang was already completely out of energy as giving chest compressions was heavy physical work that was a bit too much for someone of her age to bear.

She had adamantly persisted in giving as many chest compressions as she could not because the patient was a government leader, but rather because she was a doctor. Although she was the hospital superintendent, she was also a doctor first and foremost!

As the patient was lifted off the van on a stretcher, the emergency department head nurse supported Superintendent Ouyang off the van.

”It's a sudden heart attack. Deal with it immediately!” Although Superintendent Ouyang was completely out of energy, reaching the point where she could only stand with the head nurse's support, her first words were still about the patient's condition.

That was all she needed to say. Everyone else was quite experienced, and knew what they should do without needing to be told. The doctors began their tense yet orderly work on saving the patient.

However, too much time had passed before the patient had been able to arrive at the hospital. Additionally, those other than Superintendent Ouyang had been unable to give the patient effective and standardized chest compressions. Only Superintendent Ouyang's chest compressions had been effective. The others' chest compressions had been completely useless. This was bad news for the patient.

The patient was placed on a respirator as his vein channels were opened. His state of shock was improved, but he now suffered an even more severe injury. The heart attack had led to a lack of blood and oxygen in the brain, which had caused a cerebral infarction, which was death of tissue in the brain due to lack of oxygen.

The brain was an organ which was highly sensitive to lacking blood and oxygen. Just a few minutes of lacking blood and oxygen would cause permanent and irreversible damage.

Kuake City CPC's leader also arrived some time afterwards. ”What's Secretary Zhao Xiangdong's current condition?” he inquired.

”He suffered a heart attack, which then subsequently led to brain damage. He's in extremely bad condition. There's also a very poor chance of him recovering,” answered Superintendent Ouyang. She had recovered slightly by now, but was still rather weak.

”Do your very best to save him. Zhao Xiangdong must have been tired from too much work! We absolutely have to do everything we can to save such an excellent coworker of ours, no matter the price!” The Kuake City CPC leader was saying this because he had to express such an attitude.

Secretary Zhao's family also arrived. His family was rather ordinary, so it was quite amazing for them to have managed to produce a small city's government leader. It could be said that Zhao Xiangdong was the hope of his entire family. All sorts of his friends and relatives immediately heard the news of his heart attack and swarmed the hospital.

Zhao Xiangdong's wife was an employee of Kuake City's Bureau of Health. She was at work, but she immediately rushed over when she heard the news. She collapsed when she saw that her husband was hospitalized with many tubes stuck in him.

”Old Zhao! What happened to you!?” Tears poured out unstoppably from her eyes as she kneeled by Secretary Zhao's bedside. Nobody was able to stop her as she cried.

Zhao Xiangdong's parents also arrived. They both had white hair already. Their hands trembled as they touched their son's face, while tears dripped down from their eyes.

”Comrade Zhao Xiangdong is an excellent government employee. We will definitely do our very best to save him. Right now, we shouldn't get in the way of the doctors' work,” said the Chasu City city secretary.

”Secretary! You must help me! You must save Old Zhao!” Secretary Zhao's wife woke up slightly and turned to hug the other city secretary's leg.

”Rest assured, we'll definitely do our best to save him.” The city secretary couldn't really say anything else. The others around him hurriedly helped support Secretary Zhao's wife to stand up again.

”If Chasu City Hospital's medical level isn't high enough, then invite expert doctors. Invite the most famous expert doctors of all. Please notify me if there's any difficulties. I can invite them officially through the government. We must treat our government comrade well for everyone's sake!” the Chasu City city secretary said with strong emphasis to Superintendent Ouyang.