Chapter 68: Chapter 68: Seeing You Off

“Watch out!”

“Look out!”

Several people shouted warnings at almost the exact same time.

But it wasn’t enough to prevent the accident.

The waiter stumbled and bumped into a seated customer to his left.

The tray he was holding aloft, along with the clay pot on it, traced a short arc through the air before smashing onto the dining table.

A sudden CRACK and a CRASH echoed through the room.

This was immediately followed by several gasps and cries of “Aah!”

Yan Feifan, Zhao Dongsheng, and the others ran over to see all six people at the table jumping and yelling, frantically swatting at the hot soup and grease splattered on their faces and clothes.

The scene was utter chaos…

“Rinse it with water… lots of clean water…”

Zhao Dongsheng shouted a few times, then announced, “I’m a doctor from the Affiliated Hospital. I specialize in burns…”

“Hurry up and bring some clean water…”

Yan Feifan quickly scanned the scene.

He saw that most of them had splash burns. At worst, they would get a few large blisters on their faces, but nothing too serious.

Yan Feifan left Zhao Dongsheng to manage the situation and went over to the young waiter lying on the floor.

Yan Feifan knelt down. He saw the waiter’s eyes were squeezed shut, his face contorted in discomfort.

He leaned close to the man’s head but didn’t smell any alcohol. He reached out and felt for his carotid artery.

His pulse was a bit fast, over 120, but it was strong.

Yan Feifan lifted his eyelids and saw that his pupils weren’t dilated, but his gaze was unfocused.

He spoke, “I’m a doctor from the Affiliated Hospital. What’s going on with you?”

“I suddenly got dizzy…”

The waiter dry-heaved, then added, “I feel like the whole world is spinning. Everything is just turning and turning.”

“And I feel really nauseous!”

“Sudden dizziness? The world spinning?” Yan Feifan asked, confirming the symptoms.

“Yeah, it was really sudden. I feel like everything is spinning!”

Yan Feifan asked again, “Has this ever happened to you before?”

The waiter shook his head miserably.

Just then, Lin Qian knelt down on the waiter’s other side.

At the same time, Yan Feifan felt a weight on his left shoulder. It was Tian Yu, who had placed a hand there as she also knelt down.

“Mr. Yan, what’s wrong with him?”

“I suspect it’s otolithiasis.”

Yan Feifan said this to Lin Qian.

He then turned to Tian Yu, his expression stern, and chided her, “What are you doing crowding around?”

“Go back!”

Tian Yu’s lower lip jutted out in a pout. She gave him a pitiful look but obediently got up and ran back.

Yan Feifan and Lin Qian helped the waiter up and sat him down in a chair.

By then, Yan Feifan noticed that order had been restored to the scene.

He didn’t see the scalded customers, nor Zhao Dongsheng and Qiou Junfeng.

They must have gone to the back kitchen to clean and treat the burns.

Four other waiters were on the scene, starting to clean up the mess on the table.

A middle-aged man who looked like the owner walked over.

He asked Yan Feifan with a worried expression, “Doctor, I’m Zhang Kangjin, the owner of the Lotus Fragrance Restaurant. Is he going to be okay?”

“Should we take him to the hospital?”

Yan Feifan replied softly, “It’s most likely otolithiasis. It shouldn’t be anything serious. I’ll check on him again in a little while.”

“Otolithiasis?” The owner, Zhang Kangjin, was confused.

Yan Feifan gave a simple explanation, “Our ears aren’t just masters of hearing; they’re also masters of balance.”

“The key structures for this are the saccule and the utricle, which are located in the vestibule behind the eardrum.”

“On their maculae is a layer called the otolithic membrane.”

“Attached to it are calcium carbonate crystals that sense changes in gravity and velocity. They are shaped like tiny stones and are called otoliths, or ’ear stones.’”

“These otoliths affect our sense of balance and direction.”

“But sometimes, for various reasons, these otoliths can become dislodged and fall into the semicircular canals, where they roll around and cause symptoms like vertigo and nystagmus.”

“That’s otolithiasis!”

Zhang Kangjin asked, as if he only half-understood, “Is it easy to treat?”

“Very.”

After his simple reply, Yan Feifan noticed that the waiter sitting in the chair had regained clarity in his eyes, and the color had returned to his face.

“Is the vertigo gone?”

The waiter nodded. “I feel much better.”

Yan Feifan said in a serious tone, “Then it’s definitely otolithiasis. It has another name: benign paroxysmal positional vertigo.”

“’Benign’ means it’s not life-threatening.”

“’Paroxysmal’ means the vertigo isn’t continuous. Generally, each episode of dizziness won’t last more than 60 seconds.”

“’Positional’ refers to the fact that its onset depends on your position.”

“This is related to which specific semicircular canal the otolith has fallen into and its position within that canal.”

Yan Feifan placed both hands on the waiter’s head and said, “The treatment for otolithiasis is to use a manual maneuver to reposition the otoliths.”

He instructed the waiter, “Your head and body should follow the direction of my hands. Move with me…”

Lin Qian watched, surprised at how professionally Yan Feifan moved the waiter’s head back and forth.

’She knew very well that there were over a dozen different repositioning maneuvers, each for a different otolith displacement scenario.’

’Only a very experienced otologist could make an accurate judgment based on the patient’s symptoms and perform the correct maneuver.’

’Lin Qian guessed that Yan Feifan probably only knew a few of the maneuvers and was planning to try them one by one.’

As Yan Feifan performed the repositioning, Lin Qian couldn’t help but recall what she knew about otolithiasis.

The cause of otolithiasis is unknown in most cases.

However, patients with a history of other ear-related conditions like Meniere’s disease, vestibular neuritis, sudden deafness, or head trauma are more susceptible to developing secondary otolithiasis.

Furthermore, otolithiasis has an independent correlation with migraines, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and stroke.

This suggests that some cases of otolithiasis may have an underlying vascular mechanism.

The peak age of onset for otolithiasis is between 40 and 60 years old.

But in recent years, due to lifestyle changes—such as staying up late, spending long hours looking down at phones or working—the incidence of otolithiasis has been rising, with an annual rate as high as 10.7 to 600 per 100,000 people.

Notably, young people have also become one of the high-risk groups.

Today’s youth are often under long-term stress, suffer from poor sleep, and are overly fatigued. These unhealthy living conditions may cause vasospasms and ischemia in the small arteries of the inner ear, leading to the onset of otolithiasis.

Additionally, looking down at phones or computers for extended periods maintains poor head posture, which can exacerbate vasospasms and cellular ischemia in the inner ear, making it easier for otoliths to dislodge and cause the condition.

After an otolithiasis episode, besides seeking hospital treatment, patients can also attempt to self-reposition.

This requires them to keep walking around, ensuring they don’t fall, rather than lying down or sitting to rest.

Because the inner ear’s balance has been disrupted, only through continuous movement is it possible for the otoliths to return to their proper place.

At such times, the patient needs to overcome the fear and sense of weightlessness and keep exercising.

Of course, a bit of luck is also required…

Yan Feifan used his professional technique, guiding the waiter’s head back and forth and side to side for a minute or two, then had him get up and walk around.

The waiter cautiously stood up, took a few steps back and forth, and looked at Yan Feifan gratefully. “Doctor, I feel much better.”

“Doctor, am I all better now?”

Yan Feifan nodded. “You are, but the recurrence rate for otolithiasis is as high as twenty to thirty percent.”

“In the future, don’t stay up late, spend less time on your phone and computer, and be more careful…”

Because Yan Feifan, Zhao Dongsheng, and the others had stepped up, they were rewarded with a complimentary meal.

As for the scalded customers, thanks to the prompt rinsing with water, the small burn areas, and the application of a burn cream that the Lotus Fragrance Restaurant had on hand, they were fortunate enough not to develop any blisters.

Of course, some redness, swelling, and pain were unavoidable.

As for what kind of compensation they received from the restaurant, Yan Feifan and his friends never found out…

After the group dinner ended, Yan Feifan handed Tian Yu over to her older sister, who had come to pick her up, lest the little girl get lost again on her own.

He returned to the emergency department to continue his shift.

Around eleven o’clock that night, Yan Feifan got off work. As he walked out of the hospital’s south gate and was about to unlock a shared bike to ride home, a Mercedes business van slowly pulled over to the side of the road.

The van’s middle door slid open, and a fair-skinned young man with handsome features waved at Yan Feifan.

“Mr. Yan, get in. I’ll give you a ride…”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep