On Thursday morning, the welfare home brought Wang Dongdong and another little girl—an amnesiac who had lost her nose and part of her upper lip—to the plastic surgery center for a detailed physical and pre-operative examination.

The amnesiac girl’s nose and upper lip reconstruction surgery was part of a charity project between the welfare home and the plastic surgery center.

Her surgical and subsequent recovery costs would be fully covered by the plastic surgery center.

As for Wang Dongdong’s plastic surgery costs, they would be paid from the one million yuan charitable donation from Yue Wangdao.

One million might seem like a lot, but none of the reconstructive surgeries for the welfare home children were simple, minor procedures.

Factoring in the subsequent rehabilitation and recovery care, Yan Feifan estimated that the one million yuan could only help about ten children.

Xiao Man, a reporter from Binhai Satellite TV, had been following the progress of this collaborative project.

After applying for and receiving permission from Binhai Satellite TV, the welfare home, and the plastic surgery center, Xiao Man decided to film a follow-up report on the reconstructive surgeries of Wang Dongdong and the amnesiac girl.

Therefore, a TV camera crew followed them throughout the day’s examination.

Wang Chuan, the director of plastic surgery, as well as nurses Meng Yao and Ye Lin, who were each assigned to one of the children, also became subjects for filming and interviews.

As for Yan Feifan, he was currently studying with his mentor, Lo Jun.

In Lo Jun’s director’s office, a dozen or so people were gathered, analyzing and discussing a complex surgical plan for a patient’s neurofibroma removal.

The neurofibroma was located in the patient’s thoracic root zone, a dense area of spinal nerves, arteries, and veins. The main point of discussion was how to create a wider, unobstructed surgical field.

During the discussion, a plan to use an expanding stent to hold back the heart and left lung, clearing a surgical corridor, gradually gained consensus.

This made Yan Feifan think of the bullet in Wang Zenglin. The liver obscuring that surgical view wouldn’t be so easy to hold back.

‘If it can’t be held back with a stent, what about temporarily removing it?’

When this thought suddenly occurred to him, he felt a jolt of inspiration.

He immediately began to analyze and simulate the feasibility of this plan in his mind…

“Xiaoyan, Xiaoyan…”

A few calls pulled Yan Feifan back from his reverie.

He found that everyone in the room, including Lo Jun, was staring at him.

“Xiaoyan, what were you thinking about? You were so lost in thought.”

Although the tone was still gentle, Yan Feifan noticed Lo Jun’s face had hardened.

He quickly replied, “Sir, I was suddenly reminded of a patient’s injury that has some similarities to this case.”

Lo Jun said “Oh?” and asked, “What injury? Tell us about it.”

Yan Feifan answered honestly, “A bullet passed through the abdomen and got lodged in the lumbar spine. It’s never been removed because the surgical field is obstructed.”

Lo Jun recalled the case and chuckled. “Xiaoyan, is the patient you’re talking about a police officer from the district public security bureau?”

Seeing Yan Feifan nod in confirmation, Lo Jun continued, “I was part of the consultation for that officer’s case back in the day.”

“You could say that officer had a close brush with death.”

He slowly explained, “Apparently, he instinctively twisted his body at the last second, causing the bullet that entered him to luckily curve in an arc, miss the liver, and lodge in his lumbar spine.”

“If that bullet had so much as grazed the liver, it would have caused massive hemorrhaging. The outcome would have been hard to predict.”

Lo Jun looked at Yan Feifan with great interest and chuckled. “Our consultation at the time concluded that the surgical risk was too great. It was better not to remove it.”

“Feifan, have you come up with a better surgical plan?”

Yan Feifan stood up, walked to the whiteboard nearby, and used a marker to quickly sketch a spine, marking the bullet’s position on the lumbar vertebrae.

Then, he drew lines to represent the liver, kidneys, and other abdominal organs.

“The surgical risk is high because the operative field is severely obstructed.”

“What if…”

Yan Feifan erased the lines for the liver. “We remove the liver first? Then our surgical field would be clear, wouldn’t it?”

“After we remove the bullet, we transplant the liver back in!”

Lo Jun said thoughtfully, “Xiaoyan, the plan you’re proposing is feasible, but a liver transplant isn’t as simple as just cutting it out and putting it back in.”

“That’s a major operation in itself.”

“Considering the various intraoperative and postoperative risks, as well as the patient’s physical condition, the risk of this plan is still quite high.”

Hearing this, Yan Feifan drew the liver back on the board.

However, he left out the medial segment of the left lobe of the liver.

“We all know the liver has a powerful capacity for regeneration and repair.”

“A healthy liver can regrow new tissue over about six months, even if half or even three-quarters of it is resected.”

Yan Feifan pointed to the empty space on the whiteboard where the medial segment of the left lobe should have been. “Resecting this part of the liver would also provide a surgical field.”

“Admittedly, the surgical field would be somewhat limited.”

“But according to my calculations, while it would slightly increase the surgical risk, it would be enough to complete the operation successfully.”

Before Lo Jun could speak, Yan Feifan erased the left kidney from the whiteboard and continued, “The third surgical plan: use a lateral position and remove the left kidney.”

He added, “This plan has very high demands on the surgeon’s skill. It can only be performed by a surgeon who is exceptionally skilled—both bold and meticulous.”

Lo Jun nodded, satisfied. “In such a short time, you’ve come up with three feasible plans.”

“Very impressive.”

He thought for a moment, then said, “Alright, I’ll schedule a consultation as soon as possible with Dr. Zhu, Mr. Zheng, and Dr. Wang and Mr. Hao from General Surgery.”

“We’ll discuss together which plan is the most feasible and practical…”

In the afternoon, Yan Feifan served as a surgical assistant, helping Lo Jun with a spinal venous malformation correction surgery.

At 6:10 PM, he had dinner with Xiao Man in Staff Cafeteria Number One.

As soon as she sat down with her food tray, Xiao Man sighed softly. “Feifan, the leaders at the civil affairs department weren’t actually very keen on us filming this charity project for promotional purposes.”

“Why?”

Yan Feifan asked, confused, “But with publicity, it’s possible to raise more funds and help more disabled children.”

Xiao Man gave a wry smile. “Feifan, do you think this feature might cause more disabled children to be abandoned?”

At this, Yan Feifan fell silent.

‘That possibility… it’s all too likely.’

“So how did you end up getting permission to film after all?”

Xiao Man smiled. “We changed the promotional angle. We’re heavily promoting your plastic surgery center, and the welfare home has become an invisible partner.”

“We’re making the audience focus on only two things: the poor, disabled children and the plastic surgery center’s charity project.”

Yan Feifan murmured an “oh” and asked worriedly, “But then, won’t a lot of disabled children be sent directly to the plastic surgery center?”

Xiao Man nodded. “That will definitely happen.”

“However, the plastic surgery center is a for-profit institution, after all, not a government charity. Abandoning a disabled child here would constitute the crime of abandonment.”

“That should reduce the number of child abandonment cases significantly.”

Yan Feifan felt a little uneasy and said, “Doing charity, doing good deeds, being a good person… it’s not an easy thing to do, is it?”

“Yeah, it’s not easy being a good person.”

Xiao Man agreed, adding, “There have been cases where someone donated a lot of money, and after it was reported, their neighbors, relatives, friends, and even a lot of strangers started showing up at their door to borrow money or ask for sponsorships.”

“It got so bad for the donor that they had no choice but to leave their hometown…”

Just then, Yan Feifan’s phone rang.

He took out his phone and saw it was a call from Dr. Tan Qiu of the Neurology Department.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep