Chapter 658: Chapter 593: Silhouette Chapter 658: Chapter 593: Silhouette Three days later, Yang Ping saw Qin Xiaowei again at the entrance of the ICU. His skin was noticeably darker, with signs of sun exposure, his bandages had been completely replaced, his hair cut even shorter, making him look more energetic. He was still wearing a fanny pack.

Li Jun was still unconscious, showing signs of agitation only when he was admitted to the ICU, indicating he might wake up. Since then, there was no movement. The daily cost of ECMO was over twenty thousand, the bedside blood filter machine cost seven to eight thousand a day, plus various expensive imported medicines, as well as various kinds of tests, etc. The daily cost to maintain Li Jun’s life was seventy or eighty thousand. If any of these life-saving treatments were stopped, Li Jun’s life would collapse.

His life was being stubbornly sustained by expensive drugs and machines.

Each time Yang Ping came to make rounds, the director of the ICU would accompany him, holding great respect for the young professor.

“Li Jun has severe anemia, which is renal anemia. We are keeping his hemoglobin concentration and red cell count stable with blood transfusions. However, this is not a long term solution. To increase hemoglobin and red cells, we have been administering Evrenzo (Roxadustat) through his gastric tube. We did an EEG yesterday, and the results show that his brain waves are indeed present and functioning well, all cranial nerve reflexes including his pupillary reflexes exist.”

In theory, he should be able to wake up.

“As long as the brain waves are normal and the cranial nerve reflexes exist, this means that there is no necrosis of the brain tissue, and anatomically, there is no evidence that he cannot wake up.”

Using the light from his flashlight, Yang Ping examined the pupils, which showed a sensitive pupillary reflex.

The nurse was turning Li Jun over, providing full-body skin care, checking the skin condition of bony prominences, and changing the protection pads at these bony sites to prevent the formation of bedsores.

Bedridden patients can easily develop bedsores if their care is not thorough.

The director of the ICU spoke with emotion, “There’s still hope, albeit small. Even if he wakes up, he still faces the issue of whether he can be taken off the ECMO machine. These two life and death decisions must be made. We have had cases here where patients have successfully come off the ECMO machine after over three months, but the cost is enormous. The out-of-pocket expense alone is over two million. Even if his family has the will, the money is an issue.”

As a doctor, the ICU director knows well how many people are defeated by money issues. It’s basically a gamble betting on a slim chance of survival, which costs a fortune.

Ordinary families will drain their resources, selling their homes, everything they have, only to end up losing both their money and the patient’s life, which is something no one can accept.

Many problems ultimately become financial issues.

“How is the patient next door doing? Are they still hanging in there?” Yang Ping asked.

The director of the ICU gave a wry smile, “How could they be? They were brain dead a few days ago. The patient had more hope than Li Jun, and was also sustained by ECMO. After more than twenty days, the family couldn’t afford it any longer, so the family members signed a waiver.”

Yang Ping remained silent.

After seeing Li Jun, Yang Ping left the ICU. Qin Xiaowei was talking to the attending doctor Dr. An. He was leaving for an extended period of time.

Qin Xiaowei instructed Dr. An to call him as soon as Li Jun woke up.

He also left an emergency backup phone number, which belonged to his friend Along.

Before the official climb, he had to complete dozens of rope climbs to choose the best route, study the difficult points in the route, and design strategies in advance.

He also had to undergo various professional trainings, including physical training and so on, just like the intensive training of athletes before a big competition. This kind of high-risk outdoor extreme sport is very professional. It’s not about rushing ahead with a hot head full of passion.

Every detail must be in place for a successful climb.

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August had mastered the principles of spinal scoliosis correction surgery and had a deep understanding of the techniques.

As a renowned figure in spinal surgery, his understanding of the spine was incomparable to that of a general doctor.

The technique that Yang Ping used was based on the Ilizarov principle to correct spinal scoliosis. The difficulty was to have a thorough understanding of spinal deformity and then to know where the tension osteogenesis would help correct the deformity.

August mastered these core principles bit by bit, asking Yang Ping whenever he had questions.

In order to have a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of the cases, he changed the dressings every day himself, and personally turned the knobs of the spinal fixators.

Now, the work that August was doing in Sanbo Hospital was all like a resident physician’s work, and he enjoyed it immensely.

“Where’s my pen again?”

In the doctor’s office, August, with his visiting physician’s badge hanging around his neck, sat down for a short rest. He took a pen from his chest pocket to record something, but found it missing.

Meanwhile, Robert was sitting by the office desk, triumphantly counting his pens. There were more than a dozen of them, blue and black pens, surgical marking pens, everything you could think of. The two pen cases were slowly filling up.

Robert had stuck a label with his name on each pen, this was his declaration of ownership.

August asked in frustration, “Robert, did you take my pen?”

Robert guarded his pens with both hands, “These were all picked up when I consulted with Teacher Zhang in other departments. Every pen has my name on it.”

For doctors, these pens were quite a valuable asset. How could they let others take them away?

No matter how many pens they had, doctors always seemed to lose them.

It wasn’t worth ruining the roommate relationship for a pen. Takahashi handed August a pen, “Use this one for now, I have more.”

August took the pen, his dislike for the Japanese man lessened a bit.

“Dr. Ao! The professor is looking for you, he asked you to go to his office.”

The young doctors all called them Dr. Ao, Dr. Luo, Dr. Gao.