21st Century Necromancer

Chapter 338 - 335: The True Healing Plan (Seeking Monthly Tickets, Seeking Subscriptions)

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"I didn’t expect Director Liu to actually manage to call you, Professor!" Chen Yu couldn’t help feeling helpless as he realized that Director Liu, surprisingly well-connected, was able to draw on the mentor-student relationship between himself and Professor Zhang and had gone to the extent of calling in favors with Professor Zhang, prompting him to call Chen Yu before the New Year.

"I really didn’t want to make this call during the New Year either, but there’s no helping it, how could I refuse when I owe Old Liu a favor!" Professor Zhang’s tone over the phone also conveyed a sense of helplessness. While he was naturally overjoyed to see his student doing well, owing a favor that involved his student made Professor Zhang feel somewhat embarrassed.

However, Director Liu was, after all, his old classmate, with decades of friendship between them. When asked for such a favor, a phone call had to be made no matter what. Even if Chen Yu declined and things didn’t work out, at least he would have an explanation to offer.

So, after a sigh, Professor Zhang asked Chen Yu, "Chen Yu, about this surgery, do you think... why don’t you just agree to Old Liu’s request? I know asking you to perform surgery during the New Year is a bit inconsiderate, but we’re all doctors after all. Treat it as healing patients! Besides, Old Liu is already in his fifties, it’s not a good look for the director of the surgical department at the City People’s Hospital to be begging around so desperately for help!"

"Professor, this isn’t really about whether I agree to do it or not." Hearing the pleading tone in Professor Zhang’s voice over the phone, Chen Yu couldn’t help but smile bitterly, but he still explained, "The patient has cancer of the hepatic hilum. Not to mention across the country, even within the province there are several experts capable of performing this surgery, right? There’s no need to insist on me during the New Year. I’ve finally come back from Japan, can’t I have a peaceful holiday?"

Moreover, even if I were to agree to perform the surgery, and it indeed succeeded, what about the patient’s postoperative survival rate? And the conditions for survival after the surgery?

You’re a doctor as well, Professor. The patient just had a subtotal gastrectomy performed by me two days ago, and now I’m supposed to perform a hepatic duct surgery on him... While I am capable, the patient might not be able to handle it!

Also, the patient is suffering from advanced-stage ulcerative gastric cancer and cancer of the hepatic hilum at the same time. After the two surgeries, his postoperative survival rate and the quality of life afterwards... These issues can’t be replaced by the significance of a demonstrative surgery."

"I’m aware of everything you’ve said, Chen Yu, it’s just..." Chen Yu’s words put Professor Zhang in a difficult position, but he still tried to persuade Chen Yu, "We can’t just watch a patient die, right? There are indeed other specialists in the province who can do the surgery, but none of them has your level of expertise as an associate professor from The University of Tokyo!"

Moreover, even if the patient were to be transferred to internal medicine for palliative care, living one more year would be a stretch, right? I heard from Old Liu that the patient’s wife is your former classmate. Can’t you save them?"

"My expertise isn’t as good as the real experienced veterans, Professor, so please don’t flatter me." Chen Yu said with an embarrassed smile, feeling a bit awkward about his former teacher’s lavish praise. However, when Professor Zhang mentioned his classmate relationship with Zhu Yiting, Chen Yu’s expression grew complicated: "Classmate relationships can be good or bad! Besides, it’s precisely because I want to save lives that I’m not going to operate."

"Not operate in order to save lives? What do you mean by that?" Professor Zhang became intrigued upon hearing Chen Yu speak this way, asking with curiosity.

As a surgeon and Chen Yu’s former teacher, Professor Zhang’s knowledge was certainly not lacking, but in his view, there were only two options for this case: either transfer to internal medicine for palliative care to live a little longer, or have Chen Yu perform the surgery and bet on the postoperative survival rate.

However, from what Chen Yu said, he seemed to hear a different option.

"Professor, if you’ve kept up with the medical news from Japan, you should be aware of a paper published this year titled ’Research and Practical Application of Pufferfish Toxin in Broad-Spectrum Cancer Treatment’," Chen Yu mentioned the paper he had written, which was also the only viable treatment plan he had considered in the last few days.

Though he didn’t want to operate on Wang Jiancheng, as a doctor encountering a rare case of multiple primary cancers, including ulcerative gastric cancer and hepatic hilar cholangiocarcinoma, he couldn’t help thinking about treatment options instinctively.

As he had explained to Professor Zhang, even for a healthy person, undergoing just one of the two surgeries would cause significant harm to the body, and postoperative survival was worrying. Even with good luck, there was no guarantee of living more than ten years.

And to perform both surgeries at once, frankly speaking, Chen Yu felt that without some trickery on his part, it wouldn’t be surprising at all if Wang Jiancheng died immediately after the surgery due to complications, considering that two-thirds of the stomach and liver would be removed.

But that didn’t mean there were no other treatment options.

"Of course, I’m aware of such epoch-making medical research findings, although I’ve only heard about it in passing. But is it true? Has Japan really developed this kind of universal cure?" Professor Zhang was naturally aware of the news about the broad-spectrum anti-cancer drug, but he remained skeptical about such claims, as a drug effective against all cancers seemed too impossible.

"I wrote that paper, and the drug is currently in clinical trials," Chen Yu informed Professor Zhang that he was the author of the paper and continued, "The drug’s effects are very promising. A classmate of mine with stage four esophageal cancer survived for three years thanks to the drug and eventually had the tumor successfully removed.

Additionally, there are other patients at Tokyo University Medical School Hospital currently using this drug, and I’ve entrusted a few pharmaceutical companies to conduct clinical trials for me, so you can rest assured of the drug’s efficacy, Professor. However, this new drug isn’t a complete cure for cancer; instead, it suppresses cancer cell activity, thereby improving the patient’s survival time and quality of life.

So, my treatment plan is to transfer this patient to our school’s affiliated hospital. Using the collaboration agreement previously established between our school and Tokyo University Medical School Hospital, we could provide him with the new drug I developed, suppress the cancer cells in his body, and wait until his body recovers enough to undergo liver surgery. Or we might not perform the surgery at all, as the patient’s quality of life and survival time would be much more reliable than gambling on an operation."

On the other end of the phone, upon hearing Chen Yu’s explained treatment plan, Professor Zhang was left in awe.