Chapter 18: Anesthesia for Free

In the treatment room, four or five people were sitting there, with Chen Cang and An Yanjun each taking action.

Chen Cang was treating a simple-looking young man in his twenties who couldn't help but ask, "What happened here, with so much glass?"

The young man sighed, "We work at a glass factory. A piece of glass shot out of a machine, hit the wall, and shattered, spraying onto us."

At this point, the young man smiled with relief, "Luckily I reacted quickly, or the glass would have hit my face, and my face would have definitely been ruined!"

Chen Cang felt a surge of fear!

Was this just a matter of ruining a face?

The human body has too many fragile parts, and one carelessness could cost a life...

Thinking of the young man's light-hearted tone, Chen Cang couldn't help but sigh a few times.

When Chen Cang was disinfecting the wound, the man didn't make a sound, even though it's very painful for iodine to get into cuts!

Chen Cang curiously asked, "Doesn't it hurt?"

The young man grinned sheepishly, "It's bearable. Last time I pulled out the glass myself, and that hurt way more! This time it looked too deep, so I didn't dare pull it out..."

Chen Cang was startled, and couldn't help but feel a deep respect for him, realizing that this wasn't the young man's first time.

"Hang in there!"

Chen Cang found some pliers, grasped the glass shard, parted the wound with his left hand, and yanked hard!

Immediately, a glass fragment about two centimeters long came out.

A cut about 4 centimeters long and 2 centimeters deep appeared!

Blood started to flow out slowly at that moment, and Chen Cang quickly began to clean the wound!

He needed to check if there were any small glass shards inside before he could stitch up the wound!

Seeing the man grinning, Chen Cang said, "I'm going to give you some local anesthetic to numb the area."

Upon hearing this, the young man didn't respond and even looked a bit anxious and hesitant. After a while, he asked with an embarrassed and somewhat apologetic look, "Is anesthesia expensive?"

Chen Cang shook his head, "It's a free service!"

The young man appeared relieved and laughed, "Give me more then; it's killing me!"

Chen Cang's nose tingled for no apparent reason.

People are different; everyone has their own situations in life.

Looking at this young man who was just under twenty, or barely over, yet his leg had dozens of scars.

The anesthesia worked quickly, and the bleeding wasn't very noticeable. After cleaning the wound, the young man smiled and said, "It really doesn't hurt now."

Chen Cang nodded, "I'm going to clean the wound for you, there are still some tiny fragments inside."

Chen Cang flushed the wound with saline using a 10ml syringe and used forceps to remove the debris.

Then, it was time for stitches!

Although the wound looked deep, it hadn't damaged the tendons or major blood vessels, and ordinary stitching would suffice.

There are many methods of stitching, not all of which are meant for skin.

For example, techniques like the interrupted vertical mattress inversion suture are actually for stitching the mucous membrane of the stomach and intestines, not for the skin. Others, like the continuous locking suture, are used for closing ends of the gastrointestinal tract, and in skin transplantation; the figure-eight suture, because of its particular strength, is used for suturing fascia.

So, depending on the area of stitching, the choice of suturing method naturally varies.

These so-called methods are like martial arts techniques; in actual stitching, the fancy stuff is not what matters.

Mainly, it depends on the patient's needs and the location of the stitches, like for this young man, what's needed is a good apposition and a quick healing.

Chen Cang's skin stitching skill was at an intermediate level, which was passable, and he generally didn't have too many problems with stitching, but it became even more effortless for him with the sharpness +1 skill.

Before long, Chen Cang finished stitching.

Chen Cang was preparing to use a foam dressing, but then An Yanjun suddenly suggested, "Use gauze, it heals faster."

Chen Cang was taken aback. Gauze heals faster?

But... after a slight hesitation, Chen Cang quickly understood what he meant.

Gauze is cheaper.

Using forceps, he added a few sterile gauze pads and taped them in place. Thinking of their work, Chen Cang wrapped the tape around the leg twice and said with a smile:

"That ought to hold it."

The next step was the other leg. This time, the two of them cooperated much more tacitly, and the process was a lot faster.

By this time, An Yanjun had already finished treating the middle-aged man, removing all four or five pieces of glass from his body and completing the suturing.

Chen Cang couldn't help but marvel at Director An's speed and ability.

Another boy, who appeared to be a year or two younger than the previous one, seemed to be aware that anesthesia didn't cost anything, so he moved forward and said in a low voice, "Doctor, give me more anesthetic, it's killing me."

The previous young man also joked, "Yeah, he's a wimp, afraid of pain!"

Chen Cang smiled, "Giving too much can cause problems; you can't just administer anesthesia recklessly."

After saying that, he began suturing.

With each suture, Chen Cang's understanding of skin suturing improved.

Skin suturing is a delicate matter.

It involves healing speed, inflammatory infection, and scar management.

All three are very important.

After the suturing was done, An Yanjun came over to check, nodded in satisfaction and said, "Not bad!"

These were all basic sutures, so they weren't particularly complex.

Before leaving, the man asked with a smile, "Doctor, how much does it cost?"

An Yanjun furrowed his brows, "How much for what?"

The man's eyes widened, "For the suturing?"

An Yanjun replied, "I'll write you a bill, you can go to the cashier to pay."

The man responded cheerfully, "Alright, alright!"

With his payment slip, he left; the emergency department's cashier was quite busy.

In line, the man felt uneasy; after all, the saying goes that entering a hospital strips you of a layer of skin. Considering the many stitches, anesthesia, disinfecting, and gauze, how much could it all add up to?

He probably worked for nothing this week!

Thinking of this made him anxious.

The several boys were all from his village; he had brought them out to work and couldn't let them pay.

With this in mind, he checked his Alipay balance.

There was a little over five hundred yuan...

Would that be enough?

He didn't use Huabei, feeling like it encouraged overspending, and he had no money to overspend!

It wasn't long before it was the man's turn. He handed over his payment slip.

The cashier nurse typed efficiently on the keyboard, and soon the amount was displayed.

The man was apprehensive, as if waiting for a sentence to be passed.

The cashier said, "Thirty."

The man was startled, "How much?"

The cashier repeated, "Thirty yuan! Cash or card?"

The man quickly handed over his phone, "Alipay."

The cashier scanned it, "Okay, that's done. Just give this payment receipt to the doctor and you're all set."

The man nodded and was about to leave when he suddenly remembered something and turned back to ask, "Excuse me, can you tell me how much it costs to register for an appointment with Director An?"

The cashier answered, "Director An's registration fee is 17.5 yuan. Including the emergency fee, that's 27.5 in total."

The man was taken aback!

He looked at the payment slip in his hand, which had no registration fee listed, just a charge for debridement, and it didn't even include the suturing costs. Moreover… they were not just one person!

No fee for registration, no fee for suturing…

Seeing the long queue behind him, the man quickly said to the cashier nurse, "Thank you, thank you! I appreciate your help."

After leaving the cashier, the man couldn't settle down for a long time.

In his mind was the stern-looking Director An who always said "No!"

The cool on the outside, warm hearted An Yanjun, harsh in words but soft in heart.

ps: Thank you everyone for your rewards and votes. Thank you~~~ Have some anesthesia, dine on an appendix~ It's on the house!!!