CHAPTER 460: 460 CHILDREN SWALLOWED FOREIGN BODIES, CANNOT BE NEGLECTED

It was already past nine in the evening by the time Liu Banxia finished all his surgeries. One gallbladder operation had severe adhesions, and separating them wasted some time.

"You guys seem to be enjoying the fried chicken. Didn’t you save any for me?" Liu Banxia asked upon returning to the emergency center.

"Teacher Liu, your wife saved a whole box for you in the ward," Xu Yino said with a chuckle.

Now that teaching time was over, she no longer had to act like an obedient student. After a stressful day, she also wanted a small chance to get back at him.

However, Liu Banxia didn’t care about this. He took a quick look around downstairs before heading straight to the VIP ward.

"What took you so long to finish? Hurry and check on Feifei. She said her MRI is normal too," Qiaoqiao said anxiously when she saw him enter.

"Are you two best friends already? Give me a moment to breathe, will you?" Liu Banxia said.

"Oh, come on! Seeing patients is your way of resting, isn’t it? We can’t let Feifei keep wetting the bed. How will she manage in the future?" Qiaoqiao said.

Tang Feifei was touched but also didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. She really liked Qiaoqiao’s straightforward personality after getting to know her, but Qiaoqiao was perhaps too direct, mentioning the bedwetting so openly.

"Could you heat up the fried chicken for me? I’m actually a bit hungry," Liu Banxia said.

Qiaoqiao nodded happily and went to heat up the fried chicken for Liu Banxia.

Liu Banxia sat by the hospital bed and rubbed his neck. "A normal MRI scan is good news, at least. It proves your brain is normal and there are no organic lesions."

"But your symptoms are definitely real, so we need to consider other possibilities. I’ll ask an internal medicine physician to come for a joint consultation later. Is that alright?"

Tang Feifei nodded. "You mean Doctor Wang, right? Yes, as long as my illness can be cured."

Liu Banxia took out his phone and sent a message to Wang Huan.

For any other patient, Liu Banxia would have gone to discuss the case directly with Wang Huan. But Tang Feifei was in a VIP ward, so she naturally deserved some VIP service as well.

By the time Wang Huan arrived, Qiaoqiao had finished heating the fried chicken. It wasn’t as good as fresh from the fryer, but for Liu Banxia, who had just come out of surgery, it was an exquisite delicacy.

"Brother Wang, no outsiders here. Let’s eat and talk. What do you think is going on?" Liu Banxia said, handing him a fried chicken leg.

Wang Huan didn’t stand on ceremony. He took the chicken leg and started eating. "It’s indeed quite complex," he said. "Based on the description, diabetes insipidus has been ruled out. The recent MRI also showed her brain is normal, which eliminates abnormal hormone secretion caused by a brain tumor."

"Moreover, she’s perfectly fine during the day and only shows symptoms at night when she’s asleep. I believe we can rule out urinary incontinence. What do you think?"

Liu Banxia frowned and nodded.

While urinary incontinence also involves a lack of control, it typically doesn’t distinguish between day and night. Tang Feifei’s case is peculiar: she’s perfectly normal during the day and only wets the bed after falling asleep. And the tests done this afternoon ruled out infection, so urinary incontinence can be excluded.

"So, does that point to a neurological disorder?" Liu Banxia asked.

"It’s hard to say. If it were a neurological disorder, it usually wouldn’t present like this, would it? It couldn’t be a teratoma causing paraneoplastic syndrome, could it?" Wang Huan conjectured.

"A teratoma? Do I have a tumor?" Tang Feifei suddenly grew anxious.

"Don’t worry, it’s unlikely. Our blood test results were normal. If there were a tumor, there would definitely be specific indicators," Wang Huan quickly reassured her.

Tang Feifei’s anxiety subsided a bit.

She felt a momentary sense of relief, but Liu Banxia and Wang Huan were still without any leads.

Liu Banxia finished the entire box of fried chicken, but he and Wang Huan still hadn’t figured out a course of action.

"Alright, let’s observe her for a day," Liu Banxia suggested.

"Your condition is indeed complex, and we don’t have many leads right now. We’ll observe you to see if any other symptoms appear. If we don’t find anything new, I’ll arrange a full departmental consultation."

"So many doctors?" Tang Feifei asked, worried.

"That’s a last resort, and hopefully not necessary yet. We can think about it more first. In the meantime, try to recall carefully if there are any other symptoms you might have overlooked," Liu Banxia said.

Tang Feifei nodded. For now, it seemed like the only option.

The main goal is to get her illness cured. If it becomes public knowledge later, so be it. That’s more bearable than her current situation. It’s better than wearing diapers to bed every night. Otherwise, she could forget about acting in TV dramas in the future.

"Feifei, don’t worry too much. He’s very skilled. He’ll definitely find a way to stop the bedwetting," Qiaoqiao encouraged earnestly.

"Thank you, Qiaoqiao. You’re so kind," Tang Feifei said.

"Don’t mention it. I’m heading home now. I’ll visit again tomorrow," Qiaoqiao said, waving.

"Why go to all that trouble? Just stay at a nearby hotel for the night," Liu Banxia suggested.

"Haha, I left in such a rush, I forgot to get more dog food for Tang Dou! I’ll go now and come back tomorrow morning," Qiaoqiao replied.

"Drive carefully. Keep your temper in check. If someone wants to overtake, just let them," Liu Banxia advised.

"Ugh, you’re so naggy! It’s annoying. I’m leaving!" Qiaoqiao retorted and then left promptly.

He was helpless against this side of Qiaoqiao. That was just her temperament; there was nothing he could do.

"So, we’re just observing for now?" Wang Huan asked.

"We’re out of options. We’ve done all the necessary tests. We can only wait and see if other symptoms develop. If not, we’ll do more blood and urine tests tomorrow. Without any indicators, we can only guess," Liu Banxia said with a wry smile.

He felt a sense of helplessness saying this, but what else could be done? That was the reality of the situation.

"Teacher Liu, I was just looking for you! We just admitted a young patient who swallowed a foreign object. Here’s the X-ray we just took."

Just as Liu Banxia and Wang Huan stepped out of the elevator, Xu Yino rushed over.

"It doesn’t look too big, does it? What is it? A small metal piece? Are the edges sharp?" Liu Banxia asked after a glance.

Xu Yino shook her head. "It’s five small magnetic buttons."

Hearing this, Liu Banxia frowned. "This is trouble. Inform the endoscopy department; they need to be removed. Also, notify the operating room to prepare. Is Dr. Shi free? Have him get ready too."

"Ah... Teacher Liu, can’t we wait for the child to pass them naturally?" Xu Yino asked, surprised.

It’s common for children to swallow foreign objects. If you’re not careful, they might put anything they’re curious about into their mouths for a taste. This particular patient was too curious about some colorful small magnets and swallowed them. Usually, in such cases, the approach is to wait for the patient to pass the foreign object naturally. Only if that proves difficult are other methods considered.

"You," Liu Banxia said, "it seems like doing too many surgeries today has made you a bit slow. Tell me, what did the child swallow?"

"Small magnetic buttons. They’re not very large, about the size of a fingernail," Xu Yino replied.

"And what’s the key property of magnets?" Liu Banxia pressed.

Xu Yino froze for a moment, then quickly hurried back.

She understood. The child hadn’t just swallowed ordinary objects; they were magnets! The key property of magnets is that like poles repel and opposite poles attract. If these magnets clumped together in the stomach, it might at worst cause some difficulty with bowel movements, but nothing too serious. But what if they entered the intestines in separate groups? Then, due to their mutual attraction, they could cause sections of the intestinal wall to pinch together and necrotize. That was a terrifying possibility, and a very real one. Even retrieving them with an endoscope could lead to complications, which was why the operating room and Shi Lei had to be prepared. She hadn’t thought of that, but Teacher Liu had, instantly.

"It’s really not easy raising children these days. A moment of carelessness can lead to an accident," Wang Huan remarked.

"Everyone’s so busy with work, unless the grandparents can help out," Liu Banxia said.

"Now I’m a bit worried. If Qiaoqiao and I have a child, I don’t know if she’ll take care of the child or just play with the child. I suspect the latter is more likely."

Wang Huan laughed. Considering Qiaoqiao’s personality, that was definitely a possibility. They were an interesting couple; both seemed to have playful personalities, and yet they got along very harmoniously.

"What’s the situation?" Shi Lei asked as he walked over, having been notified.

"A child swallowed several small magnets. We’ll try to retrieve them via endoscopy first. I’ve done too many surgeries today, so if anything happens, you’ll take over," Liu Banxia explained.

"Alright. Xu Yino was in too much of a hurry and didn’t explain clearly. I thought I had to go into surgery right away," Shi Lei nodded.

"You, too, try not to put too much pressure on them. They’ve all been incredibly tense since this afternoon. What if you scare them all off?"

"It’s fine. Their ability to handle pressure is very strong," Liu Banxia said with a smile.

"Besides, after today’s ’experiment,’ I think they still have a lot of room to improve. When you take them into surgery next, you can try it too."

"After all, in less than half a year, they’ll be official doctors. It doesn’t really matter if they start sooner or later. As the first batch of interns in our emergency center, they need to set a good example for those who come after them."

Shi Lei gave a rare eye-roll. "I don’t want to be on pins and needles watching from the sidelines. If you want to torture yourself, go ahead. I can just pick up the pieces later. Besides, you enjoy tinkering with things anyway."

Wang Huan laughed. He had noticed the interns seemed particularly stressed since he started his shift. Now he knew who the culprit was: Liu Banxia.

Still, it had to be said that the interns Liu Banxia trained were truly different. Surgeons couldn’t afford to take shortcuts. Only solid fundamental skills and long-term training could prepare them to handle unexpected situations. Just like with this recent case, if Xu Yino encountered a similar situation in the future, she wouldn’t waste a single second.