Chapter 311
What is the most dangerous moment in treating a through-and-through wound?
Garrett, in both his past and present lives, has simulated this countless times. The conclusion is: the moment the penetrating object is removed.
The human skin, muscles, and even internal organs are all under tension. When an object penetrates the body, it is firmly fixed in place by the tensed-up body, and the act of "pulling" it out itself also causes damage to the tissues along the way;
In unlucky situations, such as when the penetrating object is a wooden stick with nails - that nail might even cause additional damage, such as severing a major blood vessel.
Not to mention, when a stick, steel bar, or even a sharp knife is inserted into the body, it temporarily blocks the damaged blood vessels; once pulled out, blood surges instantly!
How to solve this?
Before pulling it out, first make an incision in the skin to locate the damaged blood vessel and clamp its front end. However, this cutting and searching itself is also a form of damage, adding more trauma to the patient. Garrett had seen surgical videos in his previous life where doctors attempted to use endoscopes to enter the wound, locate, and seal damaged blood vessels, but the diameter of the endoscope itself is also a problem...
Numerous doctors have racked their brains over this. Now, Garrett is fortunate to make another attempt, a completely different one.
He induced the growth of vines along the wound at the penetration site, squeezing into the skin’s crevices little by little. The diameter of the vines is barely thicker than a strand of hair, minimizing damage, while the flexibility of the plant’s growth allows it to grow along the penetrating object all the way to the other end’s exit.
Then—expand slightly outward, pushing open the surrounding human tissue!The expanding force replaces the penetrating object itself, sealing the wounds around blood vessels and organs. And once the penetrating object is no longer pressed down by the muscle, the friction is reduced, allowing for smoother removal!
"Reverend Matthew, pull!"
At Garrett’s command. Reverend Matthew took hold of the end of the iron rod, front and back, and pulled with all his might—the iron rod flung out a stream of blood, shining brightly under the illumination spell, almost hitting Garrett’s face; while Reverend Matthew stumbled, nearly falling!
"Why is it so easy to pull out?"
He muttered softly. And by his side, the young priests from the Springwater Temple, the two junior priests helping with the stretcher, and the two apprentices Garrett brought in, all cheered in unison:
"It’s out!"
"It’s out!"
With the iron rod pulled out and the patient not bleeding profusely, the treatment was halfway to victory! The subsequent treatment was no longer as perilous!
Cheers reached outside the operating room. Through the door, anxious family members and fellow sailors started whispering and asking each other:
"Is it out?"
"Really out?"
"Is our first mate still alive?"
"Let me see my son... let me in—"
The door to the operating room was rattling loudly. Garrett closed his eyes, sighed, turned around, and yelled:
"Everyone out! Don’t push the door! If one more person comes in, I’ll stop treating!!!"
Ah, not bringing Bernard along today was really a miscalculation... and this operating room is too shallow!
In his previous life, an entire floor was dedicated to surgery. Once inside, the long corridors, nurse stations, storerooms, pharmacies, rest areas, dressing rooms, from the first to the eleventh, twelfth operating room... Endless rooms like a maze, not to mention family members rushing in, even new doctors could get lost on their first visit!
In the future, definitely, must build a large surgical building! Hmm, when leveled up to level 13, with a mage’s mansion, then there will be a luxury hospital on hand...
Dreams are necessary, but so is living the real life. Garrett roared to quiet the crowd outside, turned his head, and looked at his two apprentices, issuing commands fluently:
"Lay the patient flat! Supine position!"
"Disinfect around the abdominal wound again!"
"Hang up the shadowless lamp!"
The two apprentices hustled about under his urging. And Garrett, holding a handful of vines, maintaining their growth, slightly closed his eyes, and took a long breath.
—Finally, the surgery entered a rhythm he was familiar with. The patient lying on his side was extremely uncomfortable for the surgeon, who had to squat and risk breaking the sterile field if his arm dropped slightly, not to mention the light being blocked. Although he had done such surgeries more than once, each time, the physical exertion was more than 1.5 times that of a normal position.
Now, with the patient in a supine position, a bright shadowless lamp hanging overhead
, and a circle of assistants standing around... everything was similar to his previous life’s operating rooms. The only difference was the vines he held in his hand.
"Reverend Matthew, can you take over these vines and keep them as they are?"
Garrett looked up to ask. Reverend Matthew quickly came over, tentatively touching the green vines in his hand, closed his eyes for a moment:
"I can."
Garrett sighed in relief. Their eyes met, and they silently counted one, two, three, nodding at the same time. Garrett let go, Reverend Matthew transferred power, and a faint green light flashed on the vines, staying motionless.
"Your name is Andrew?"
Garrett leaned down to ask. The patient nodded slightly, and Garrett slowed his voice as much as possible, gently saying:
"The iron rod inserted into your body has been pulled out, next, we’ll check for any internal damage and repair it. Don’t be nervous, I’ll try my best not to cause you pain, just rest for a while..."
Sleep spell, activate!
The patient’s eyelids slowly drooped. Garrett hastily took out sterilized drapes from his spatial bag, whooshing them around the patient, leaving only the abdomen exposed.
Ah, not having an anesthesiologist really is troublesome. If it were in his previous life, the patient would have been anesthetized long ago, with someone monitoring vital signs, sparing him the worry...
Garrett secretly sighed, but his hands did not slow down. He cut open the skin, separated the fascia, opened the abdominal cavity—seven or eight Mage Hands floated around, hooking what needed to be hooked, bluntly separating what needed to be separated, helping clamp blood vessels that needed clamping. Everything was orderly, without a hint of chaos.
Under the stark white shadowless lamp, the scene was half solemn, half magical. Reverend Matthew stood opposite Garrett, one hand holding the vines, the other raised in mid-air, ready to cast healing spells as per Garrett’s request. The young priest from the Springwater Temple was squeezed to the patient’s head, his face somewhat pale, one hand tightly covering his lips. It looked like he could vomit at any moment...
"There’s blood accumulation in the abdominal cavity. Can it be drawn out?"
Garrett suddenly looked up at him. The young priest followed his direction to look at the abdominal cavity, his cheeks paling further, his palm puffing up underneath. That pitiful look made Garrett really want to tell him: if you can’t, just leave, don’t vomit and contaminate the surgical area...
However, the young priest didn’t turn away. Instead, after struggling for a few moments, he firmly nodded at Garrett. His left hand still covering his mouth, daring not to let go, but his right hand raised into the air, changing through several hand gestures. Following the movements of his fingertips, a line of blood rose into the air, falling into a copper basin brought by an apprentice beside him.
This priest is quite good! Garrett smiled under his mask, giving him a thumbs up. He bent down to continue the surgery:
The colon had no issues, the iron rod hadn’t passed through;
The small intestine had minor abrasions, so first apply a treatment for minor injuries, and the cleaning of the abdominal cavity could be done slowly later;
The mesentery had two holes, not urgent;
Only two small blood vessels on the mesentery were torn, one cast of healing minor injuries was enough, truly lucky!
All of the intestines, those that needed to be lifted were lifted, those that needed to be pushed were pushed, exposing the posterior abdominal wall’s peritoneum! Mage Hand, up! Help me with the intestines!
"What are you doing! With all this cutting and pulling, the patient is going to wake up!" the priest whispered in shock. Garrett, without lifting his head:
"Shh! Don’t talk! If he wakes, help me cast another sleep spell!"
He silently calculated, then cast another Alleviate Pain. The priest peeked at the patient, seeing the man’s brows tightly furrowed, his eyeballs moving slightly, but he really didn’t wake up. He turned to Garrett, astonished, "How did you do that?"
"Alleviate Pain! Of course, he won’t wake up if he’s not in pain!"
The sleep spell has a limitation: once the subject experiences pain, they will immediately wake up. But paired with Alleviate Pain, it becomes a perfect combination for surgery...
Garrett replied to the priest, his expression immediately turning serious. Below the posterior abdominal wall peritoneum was a mess of blood and tissue, shattered and fragmented. Garrett barely scooped up a shattered kidney, showing it to the other healers:
"Reverend Matthew, his right kidney... it’s like this. Is there any hope?"
To Garrett, it seemed beyond hope. The right kidney had a large
hole pierced through it, blood gushing out. Not just that, the muscle tissue had discolored, clearly losing vitality. But kidneys are so vital to the human body, Garrett always hoped that the healing spells of this world could offer a different answer.
Reverend Matthew looked troubled. He barely released a healing spell, a dim green light falling on the kidney, to no effect. Then poured over a small bottle of precious healing potion, the pale golden potion flowing over the kidney’s surface without any sign of improvement. The young priest from the Springwater Temple also came to help, exerting himself to release a healing spell, still no improvement.
...Clearly, healing spells, especially those of low-ranking priests, do not have the powerful force to reverse life and death.
Garrett sighed in resignation.
"It can’t be saved. ...Cut it out."
Cut around the kidney fascia.
Mage Hand separated the kidney.
Separate, cut, divine healing of the ureter, renal vessels.
Removed the right kidney, divine healing of the surrounding fascia, back and lumbar fascia.
These tasks are all urological surgery, something Garrett did somewhat nervously, but always with divine magic as a safety net. A damaged kidney was lifted off the surgical table and placed on a tray, and he finally breathed a sigh of relief, feeling the sweat soaking his back.
"Reverend Matthew, it’s alright now, you can retract the vines... I’ll clean up the abdominal cavity, it’ll be quick..."
Saying "it’ll be quick," in reality, it also took about half an hour. By the time Garrett had sequentially repaired the latissimus dorsi, internal oblique muscle, subcutaneous tissue, and skin, as well as the posterior wall peritoneum, mesentery, and other tissues, and had washed the abdominal cavity with warm saline and holy water, preparing to close the abdomen, the operating room door banged open:
"How’s the patient? Still alive?"
Garrett silently stopped his work. He held his hands up in front of his chest, turned around, and looked at the war god bishop who had rushed in energetically. However, he hadn’t managed to see anything clearly before the other person turned into a blur, rushing to the head of the surgical table, reaching out to touch the patient’s breath:
"Good, still alive..."
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