godfather of surgery

Chapter 1171 The Emperor's Life

“Mr. Morris, I would like to hear your opinion. If there are no other issues, we will schedule their surgery.” Johannesson visited his “fellow countryman” in the ward, using a very Chinese approach: he bought a fruit basket filled with fruits that Americans like to eat—cherries, strawberries, and so on.

These fruits taste better than American fruits.

John Nathan believes that this Chinese-style way of visiting patients is much more practical than the American-style way of sending flowers. Flowers are useless and end up being disposed of as trash by cleaners. Sometimes, the fragrance of flowers can pollute the air and cause allergies for some patients.

Fruits do not carry these risks, making this a truly healthy way to visit patients, and he hopes it can be promoted in the United States in the future.

"That's wonderful, Uncle Johannesson, can we proceed with the surgery now?"

"Is this true? Dad, you're amazing! You've agreed to the surgery?"

The conjoined twins clapped their little hands happily. Because their heads, necks, chests, and abdomens were chained together, their spines were severely deformed, making it difficult for them to move around. Even if they were born accustomed to this lifestyle, they would still be in pain.

Maurice forced a smile at his daughter, then gave his wife a look, signaling her to distract the daughters.

"I happen to have some questions about the surgery that I'd like to ask you."

Morris pulled Johannesson out of the ward and into the corridor.

“Let’s talk alone; those two kids are really making a fuss right now.”

"Then let's go to the meeting room."

Johannesson led him to the consultation room, which was specifically used for doctors and patients to talk.

The two sat down and closed the door.

“I…I’m sorry, Dr. Johannesson, I need to think about it some more. Perhaps we should postpone the surgery? I just can’t shake this feeling of unease. I don’t know why, but I always feel that the medical team here is too relaxed in their approach to surgery. This relaxed attitude makes me uneasy, as if the risks of the surgery haven’t been fully assessed, which is dangerous. You’re a doctor, you understand what I’m saying. I hope you can understand me; I’m like a father to them.” Morris looked very guilty. Coming to China was strongly recommended by Johannesson, and Morris had been very happy to come without hesitation at the time, but now he was hesitant.

Johannesson could understand Morris's thinking. The more of a neurosurgeon one is, the more one would think this is too exaggerated, because his knowledge determines or limits his thinking. His experience tells him that there is no precedent for this, and it cannot be done.

So sometimes knowledge can help you, and sometimes it can bind you.

In the past, Johannesson would have thought the same way as Morris. But things are different now. Johannesson has been repeatedly taught a lesson by the case of Yang Ping, which he has witnessed firsthand. Education makes people progress and broadens their horizons.

"I completely understand your thoughts. Before I met Professor Yang, I would have thought the same way. But since I witnessed Professor Yang performing surgery, I never think that way again. You and I are just ordinary people. Don't overestimate us. We've become experts in the eyes of others because of our long-term dedication to this profession, education, platform, and long-term focus. Remember, this is actually the result of education, not our talent. Professor Yang is different. He is the only doctor I've ever seen who can be called a genius. So don't use our thinking to measure geniuses. A mathematical problem that an ordinary person can't solve in a lifetime, a mathematical problem that mathematicians haven't been able to solve for thousands of years, Gauss solved in just one night. That's genius. We are ordinary people, Professor Yang is a genius. You must acknowledge this to look at this matter objectively. Do you understand what I mean?"

"You need to understand, he is my teacher. Who is the kind of person who can be my teacher? What kind of person in this world can be my teacher?"

Johannesson patiently guided him, knowing where Morris's doubts lay. He had been through the same thing, but changing someone's prejudices was harder than anything else.

"But I always felt there was too much exaggeration involved. Professor Yang's surgical plan was too perfect, almost unreal. For example, using the time it takes for a local anesthesia to separate the head and neck—good heavens, that's insane! He also told me he would correct their severely deformed spines, allowing them to live completely like normal people. And… my upbringing taught me to use common sense to judge things; anything that goes against common sense is false. Please forgive my bluntness." Morris had his own judgment.

Johannesson smiled. "I appreciate your frankness, but please forgive my bluntness. For ordinary people, using common sense as the basis for judgment is not wrong. It can greatly reduce the error rate and the cost of making judgments. It's a relatively reliable way to be lazy. But we are different. We are people who drive medical progress. If we always use so-called common sense to judge, then we can only follow the rules and stagnate. If Newton had used common sense like ordinary people, he would not have achieved such great success in physics. Mr. Morris, as a colleague, I have to tell you frankly that this way of thinking also determines that your professional level will be far behind mine, and that's the fact."

“Mr. Johannesson!” Morris tried to be polite.

After being questioned about his professional abilities by his two daughters, Johannesson now mocks him, further damaging his self-esteem.

“You can speak frankly, why can’t I speak frankly? Am I wrong? You can’t let them lose such a precious opportunity because of your pathetic pride. I can tell you with certainty that Professor Yang is the only doctor in the world who can perform the surgery on them.” Johannesson was not in a hurry at all, nor was he afraid of making him angry.

The stronger a person's self-esteem, the more you need to puncture it. Otherwise, self-esteem will be like a fog that blinds them, making them controlled by their self-esteem instead of following objective facts.

"In the field of neurosurgery, in what way can you surpass me? Brainstem tumors? In the areas you think you're good at, whether it's the number of surgeries or the success rate, you're far behind me. Don't you find it ridiculous that a neurosurgeon of such low skill level can be a judge for excellent neurosurgeons? Do you think all the scores he gives and all the judgments he makes will be correct?" Johannesson continued.

“Mr. Johannesson! Don’t insult me. I admit I’m not as good as you, but that’s not a reason to insult me.”

“This is not an insult, but a statement of objective facts. It’s just that you feel insulted. This is your business, not mine. I can’t control it, and I won’t control it. I’m just giving you some advice from a medical perspective. Of course, the final decision is yours.”

"Yes, you're right, so get out now. This is my private matter, and I don't want to discuss it with you."

"I'm sorry, I'm not here to discuss personal matters with you as a friend. If that were the case, I wouldn't care about your personal affairs. I'm a member of the medical team now, and I'm here as a doctor to have an in-depth, face-to-face conversation with you, the patient's family member. Did you think I came all the way to China just because of a failed surgery? I'm here to learn from this case. I haven't seen a single failed case with Professor Yang. He can handle surgeries that are much more difficult than this. Morris, in the field of neurosurgery, you and your colleagues are like a primary school student compared to him in terms of knowledge."

“I don’t want to hear it now. You’re making me very unhappy.” Morris was already angry.

“Because I punctured your pathetic self-esteem. You always thought you were so great, but now you suddenly realize you're nothing. Think about it carefully. Goodbye.” Johannesson was about to open the door to leave the meeting room when he remembered a Chinese story.

“Maurice, let me say a few more words and tell you a story. The beggar had never seen an emperor, so he didn’t know what the emperor’s life was like. So he tried his best to imagine that the emperor’s life must be amazing. He must be able to eat a dozen hot loaves of bread every day.”

After saying that, Johannesson opened the door and left, leaving Morris alone to think.
-
In the doctor's office, Yang Ping stared blankly at the electronic screen for viewing medical images, while several students sat beside him.

Although Yang Ping was already very familiar with the surgery performed on the conjoined twins, he was still willing to spend a little more time studying it.

For example, separating the chest and abdomen, correcting the spine, and reconstructing the vascular system are all difficult tasks that simple conjoined twins do not have. There are very few conjoined twins in the world, and not many people can perform the surgery. Surgery as complex as this is extremely rare, so there is no set procedure to follow.

However, any surgery is an application of basic surgical principles, and it will ultimately not deviate from the three basic levels of resection, repair, and reconstruction.

Therefore, Yang Ping is never at a loss when it comes to any surgery without precedent, because he has reached a higher level and can understand and plan surgery from the first principles and the most basic medical and surgical principles, rather than being at the level of an ordinary surgeon.

This shows that the understanding of mathematics by mathematical masters is not at the same level as the understanding of mathematics by ordinary people.

He not only had to separate the two sisters, but also correct their deformed spines. The head, neck, chest, and abdomen are connected from top to bottom, causing spinal deformities. Spinal correction requires extremely high skills. Although Song Ziming was able to perform the spinal correction surgery, he would also provide him with some guidance.

As for the skin and some muscle defects caused by the separation, this is not a problem at Sanbo Hospital, because this is precisely the strength of the stem cell laboratory. They can obtain a large number of complete pieces of skin through skin expansion technology. Muscle defects are also not a problem. The stem cell laboratory has superb muscle culture technology. The first three-dimensional spatial guidance gene they have is the muscle guidance gene. This is the technology that won Yang Ping the Nobel Prize. Using this muscle, the laboratory can cultivate muscles from various parts of the human body.

After these two issues are resolved, Yang Ping will no longer be afraid of the large area of ​​skin and muscle defects caused by the separation of conjoined twins. No matter how much defect there is, it can be resolved through skin and muscle transplantation. This autologous transplantation will not cause any rejection reaction.

Don't worry about defects. Many problems can be solved in a bold and decisive way. If the family agrees to the surgery, Yang Ping is prepared to give a classic lesson to surgeons all over the world on how to deal with a complex surgery without precedent.

"professor!"

Johannesson tiptoed to Yang Ping's side.

“If their parents agree to the surgery, I will not only separate them, but also complete their spinal correction and cover all the skin and muscle defects in one surgery, so that they can live like normal people.”

Yang Ping finished rehearsing his plans in his mind and spoke to Johannesson.

"Does the spine also need orthopedics? Can skin and muscle defects be repaired through transplants?"

Johannesson thought it was just separation, because separation was already a devilish challenge. Back in the United States, he and other doctors never thought about performing spinal correction. For the missing skin and muscle, they only considered covering the wound with skin grafts, never thinking about muscle transplantation, because where would they get so much muscle? It was impossible.

John Nathan can understand the need for spinal correction, given that the professor's expertise is in orthopedics and he has made a name for himself in the medical field with his expertise in spinal correction.

But how do you fill muscle defects? Where do you find so much muscle? Even cutting out all the muscles in your body that can be used as transplant donors wouldn't be enough.

"Professor! Where do you get the muscle?" Johannesson asked.

Yang Ping glanced at him: "We're already culturing it from the stem cell lab, and we estimate that we've already obtained a certain volume of muscle."

"Can it be cultured in a laboratory?"

"Of course, the practical application of the space-guided gene theory is currently in muscle cloning."

Johannesson suddenly remembered that the professor won the Nobel Prize not for surgical skills, but for basic medical science, using his discovery of spatially guided gene theory to clone muscle in a laboratory environment. He had completely forgotten that the professor was an all-rounder who had always focused on surgery and had forgotten that his real focus was now on scientific research.

"I understand. I almost forgot. Sanbo Hospital has a stem cell laboratory that can cultivate large amounts of muscle."

Johannesson had a sudden inspiration: he should take that stubborn guy Morris to the lab and let him see the power of Chinese scientific research.

“Professor, may I take Morris up to the lab upstairs? I just want him to see our research capabilities and broaden that country bumpkin’s horizons,” Johannesson requested.

Yang Ping had probably already guessed that he would have some difficulty communicating with Morris. In fact, this was to be expected. Americans have always been arrogant, and arrogance easily leads to prejudice. Arrogance plus prejudice is the biggest obstacle to communication.

Whether Morris agreed to the surgery or not was of little concern to Yang Ping. If he agreed, Yang Ping would do his utmost to ensure a successful operation. If he disagreed, it was no big deal; he would simply find someone else and arrange for his discharge so he could return to the United States. The matter was simple, not that complicated.

“No problem, you can take him to see him.” Yang Ping agreed.

Johannesson is a restricted research area, off-limits to unauthorized personnel, so I wanted to ask Professor Yang for permission, but I didn't expect Professor Yang to be so open-minded.