The Surgeon’s Studio

Chapter 82: My Scrub Nurse

“It’s alright, I know what I’m doing,” replied Zheng Ren.

Chief Surgeon Sun nearly cursed out loud. ‘Such reckless moves and you said you know what you’re doing? Are you sure you really know what you’re capable of?’

However, there was nothing he could do about it. Giving instructions after requesting Zheng Ren’s help? There was no way he would do such a shameless act.

Left with no choice, he pulled the retractor as hard as he could so that Zheng Ren could have a larger operative field. At the same time, he thought, ‘Please be alright, please be alright…’

That was the most he could do as a second assistant.

Using the blunt end of the scissors, Zheng Ren poked a hole in the severely adhered greater omentum and widened it. It was done so professionally that even Chief Surgeon Sun failed to understand how.

This process was repeated multiple times before he inserted his finger and bluntly tore the adhesive tissue along the plane.

‘Is he not afraid of tearing random arterioles and causing blood loss?’ Chief Surgeon Sun was just as confused as he was earlier.

Even though such arteriole ruptures and hemorrhaging was not life-threatening, the whole operative field would still be covered in blood… Nothing would be visible if that happened.

The blunt scissors was placed on the surgical drape beside the patient’s thigh, which interrupted his train of thoughts.

Zheng Ren extended his hand again, but the familiar sensation of instrument tapping on his palm did not arrive despite waiting for a few moments.

Zheng Ren, who had become regal the moment he took over the surgery, looked askew at the scrub nurse and silently complained about her complete lack of understanding of his next surgical step.

In terms of surgical coordination alone, this nurse and Xie Yiren were worlds apart.

More importantly, the scrub nurse finally realized that he was requesting an instrument and began searching for something in panic.

‘What the hell was she doing just now?’ Then, Zheng Ren understood something and shifted his gaze to Su Yun.

‘Well, his beauty really could bring calamity to the country and its people.’ He somewhat believed Su Yun’s words now.

In order to speed up the surgery, he decided to let Xie Yiren replace this scrub nurse.

“Thank you for your hard work. My scrub nurse will take over from here,” Zheng Ren said flatly. “Yiren, change your clothes.”

Xie Yiren, who was acting as a circulating nurse in the operating theater, responded briskly and went to perform a surgical scrub.

The scrub nurse on duty was startled. Did the surgeon just ask for her to be replaced?

Everyone working in the operating theater, especially during a tricky case with with no end in sight, preferred to leave this hell as soon as they could. They had to stand almost stationary for at least four hours, after all. It was exhausting.

However, it seemed like only senior professors in Imperial Capital or Sorcery Capital, who had their own scrub nurses, would make such a demand.

This young surgeon was becoming arrogant after getting promoted to a chief resident in the emergency department. Was he getting full of himself already?

The scrub nurse threw the retractor she just picked up onto the instrument table with a clang.

After venting her anger, she left the table silently, removed her sterile surgical gown and stood in a corner of the operating theater with a cold expression. Despite her rage and strong urge to leave this place… Observing the surgeon at work could still be beneficial in the long run.

Su Yun was slightly puzzled as well. Zheng Ren was a good-natured man, but why did his temperament change the moment he was performing a surgery?

Even though Zheng Ren did not act like certain professors who threw tantrums during surgeries, the way he demanded for scrub nurse substitution was completely intolerable…

Was he experiencing a mid-surgery equivalent of road rage?

After swiftly washing her hands via the standard technique, disinfecting and donning a surgical gown, Xie Yiren approached the instrument table.

A pair of hemostatic forceps was then gently placed in Zheng Ren’s palm. After that, she picked up the blunt scissors Zheng Ren put on the surgical drape just now, wiped the blood and fluid that had accumulated on it from adhesiolysis, and situated it on the most easy-to-reach location on the instrument table.

Su Yun was idling at a strategic location to observe the surgery.

Xie Yiren’s proficiency answered his initial doubts about Zheng Ren’s insistence in substituting the scrub nurse.

Every instrument Zheng Ren wanted—hemostatic forceps and suture size #1 for ligation, scissors for dissection—was promptly given to him in a small hand, sterile surgical glove unable to contain its beauty.

It significantly sped up the surgery, as well.

The efficiency surprised Su Yun. A scrub nurse who could perfectly coordinate with the surgeon was as scarce as hen’s teeth, which explained Zheng Ren’s initial demand.

In Xinglin Garden, the live broadcast room seemed deserted with only a few comments flying past the screen.

However, the viewer count on the upper right corner of the room had reached 8721.

This room was the only one of its ilk that could achieve such a high viewer count.

[Is the host surgeon really that confident in bluntly dissecting the adhesive tissue? There isn’t the slightest sign of hesitation at all!]

[I’m guessing the adhesions around the intestines are the real trouble. This cholecystectomy is already tricky due to the transverse colon alone.]

[I’ve the exact same feeling, too. The host surgeon’s understanding of normal and abnormal anatomical structures is far superior to mine. My patellas have shattered to pieces.]

Around five minutes after Xie Yiren substituted the scrub nurse, most of the sticky mess around the transverse colon on the liver edge had been separated.

The experts in Xinglin Garden admired the host surgeon for his profound anatomical knowledge and bold manipulation. At the same time, they were amazed at how he could cauterize or ligate the arterioles in advance during the procedure.

[What can I say after witnessing such a magnificent operation?]

[Just keep quiet, young man. You can go home and revise these few minutes of blunt dissection twenty times.]

[Twenty times? You must be joking. You won’t be able to understand it without watching the replay fifty times and going through ten complicated cases of intestinal adhesions.]

Following the adhesiolysis around the transverse colon, the doctors watching the livestream were greatly dissatisfied.

They were extremely annoyed at the host surgeon’s assistants: the first assistant merely looked at the surgery leisurely without any intention to help or even hold the retractor, while the second assistant tried to help twice by offering instruments, but the host surgeon rejected the offers with a tap of their forceps.

The doctors, especially the juniors, were extremely familiar with this scene.

They had wanted to help but failed to understand their surgeon’s motives and offered inappropriate instruments. If their surgeon was good-tempered, he would just tap it with the instrument in their hand to indicate that it was wrong.

If the surgeon was irritable, a tongue-lashing would be sure to follow.

The junior doctors lacked the courage to speak up as they empathized with the second assistant in the livestream.

[Poor second assistant, I think they are a young, inexperienced doctor. That’s precisely why complicated surgical cases will do more harm than good for young people.]

[True. How can they help the surgeon when they can’t even understand what’s going on?]

[Let me calculate the psychological damage this second assistant has received thus far.]

Chief Surgeon Sun had no clue that, according to Xinglin Garden, he was an inexperienced surgeon who had just started work in the department.

Even if he did, he had no time to worry about it.

The fact that he had tried to lend a hand but repeatedly picked up the wrong instruments greatly embarrassed him. He was inferior to Xie Yiren in terms of skillful surgical coordination.

After the transverse colon and the greater omentum overlying the gallbladder were freed from adhesions, the anatomical structures instantly became recognizable. The dark, swollen gallbladder, inflated like a balloon, was clearly visible.