63 - TAVR

The operation for Mr. Ping went without any complications.

Unlike Mr. Jiang, Governor Ping was very strict about recordings of his father's surgery being leaked outside of the hospital. Only the top few administrators were able to see the surgery, but even then, without any type of imaging, they were unable to understand what was going on.

If a doctor without any background knowledge of the procedure watched the video, they would never be able to guess what was going on.

The video showed Li Yun inserting the nine needles according to Doctor Yi Bao and Doctor Xu's recommendation. Doctor Xu made the suggestion of the points, but Li Yun adjusted the positioning of the needles to accurately reflect the location of the points within the body. The points changed slightly according to the person. Although it was very minor, it was enough to drastically reduce the level of pain received by the brain.

Was this something Li Yun could do on his own? Definitely not. Acupuncture involved more than just inserting the needle in the correct point. There were different methods of inserting the needle, like whether to keep the needle at the location, whether it was only to pierce it until the qi was released, and whether he should press on the point after inserting. There were also nine different types of needles. Only experienced acupuncturists would know the correct procedure.

Afterward, everyone waited for the acupuncture to take effect. There were cases of acupuncture assisted anesthesia, but using acupuncture to completely substitute anesthesia was unheard of. Although it took a bit longer, Li Yun didn't mind.

Li Yun checked the pulse again, making sure the blood was in a calm wiry state before starting the operation. Sterilizing and inserting the catheter was simple, but navigating through the artery was difficult. Li Yun did the craniotomy angioplasty first, which was the trickiest and longest route, from the femoral artery in the groin up to the brain. After an hour, Li Yun finally made it to the clot and inserted a stent. The valve in the heart only took half the time to adjust into place.

To Li Yun, it felt like he did a lot of work, but the video showed a doctor standing there doing nothing for two hours. Once in the while the nurse would hand him the catheters and gauge wires.

The only physical proof of the surgery was the CT scan showing the image of the brain and heart with the stent and valve in place.

Everyone thought they had seen everything, but it was the acupuncture that amazed everyone. No one had seen acupuncture reduce pain that was comparable to anesthesia before. There had been attempts, but they had always been assisted by local anesthesia.

"Doctor Yi, is this what they call a miracle doctor?" Doctor Xu wondered. It was the first time he was questioning whether he was practicing TCM correctly.

Lao Yi Bao was even more in a state of shock. Yi Ansha had to nudge her grandfather a bit.

"It's like he knows exactly where the points are located," Lao Yi Bao murmured.

There were basic maps of meridians, but the true exact locations were difficult to pinpoint. Only through experience would a doctor know where to insert. The closer the location, the better the result.

If the acupoints were located in the center of a bullseye, TCM doctors were basically throwing darts. However, Li Yun seemed like he was standing next to the bullseye and simply inserting the darts right in the middle.

Lao Yi Bao had heard stories of ancient doctors being capable of such a feat, but it was a long lost art.

After the surgery, Professor Shao Shan invited everyone to dinner and tried another attempt to recruit Li Yun.

"When I first saw you at the station, I knew you were skilled, but now I know that I have severely underestimated your ability," Professor Shao Shan toasted to Li Yun.

Performing interventional procedures without the use of a dying agent was impressive. However, the amount of people who would be affected were small. Not everyone had kidney problems or had severe reaction to iodine.

Using acupuncture as a replacement for anesthesia, however, was sensational news that would affect the entire medical community. The only reason why it hadn't exploded yet was because Governor Ping didn't want to release the video. Through words of mouth, more people would eventually know of Li Yun's ability.

Li Yun wasn't sure if acupuncture was a viable mean to replace anesthesia, but he was sure that with his influence, acupuncture assisted anesthesia would become more widespread.

"The TCM department would like to hire you as well, but I told them if we were able to pool in the salary, we might be able to convince you," Professor Shao Shan said as he finished his drink. "2 million yuan and 15 weeks vacation."

Li Yun was tempted. Not a lot of top surgeons had that type of salary. Not only the hospitals, but after Mr. Ping surgery, many companies had also increased their initial offer. The highest offer was 2.5 million yuan salary.

It was helpful that Chief Zhang was also at the table and made a 1.5 million yuan offer. Li Yun wasn't sure if Chief Zhang was authorized to make the offer while drunk, but if it was true, Li Yun would consider it. 1.5 million yuan in Qinbei was a lot considering the cost of living was much lower than Magic City.

However, even without the offer, Li Yun still preferred Qinbei. Although there was hospital politics, it was not as bad as the hospitals in large cities. Li Yun had seen the meetings and the way the hospital functioned and there were too many red tapes. Even with his ability, there were things he could do at Qinbei that he couldn't do in Magic City. Only after accumulating more accolades would he gain more privileges.

Upon returning from Magic City, Chief Zhang explained to Director Hong the situation. TAVR was not a well known procedure in China, but if they open up the ED to accept cases, they would be considered the fifth hospital in the country capable of performing TAVR independently.

In addition, they would be the only hospital in the country, and possibly the world that could perform surgery without the need for an angiogram.

It wasn't long before Li Yun accepted the offer at Qinbei Hospital as an attending in the Emergency Department. Since Chief Zhang was officially in charge of ED with ACS as a sub-unit, Chief Lim managed the ACS unit while Chief Gao managed the ED.

"I can not believe it only takes you seven months to become the boss," Lui Jing was honestly a bit jealous, but most of the residents already knew it wasn't a question of if, but when. They just didn't expect it to happen so soon.

He attended the first staff meeting where Director Hong made the official introduction. The old attendings who had conflicts with him were not happy. However, they didn't dare to criticize.