Chapter 165: Chapter 164: Extreme Pull
"Mom, Dad, Brother, Sister, how come you’re all here?"
In the hospital, Ronaldo was unaware of his condition.
It wasn’t until his family arrived that he realized the gravity of the situation.
He turned his head towards Deng Kai, "Kai, do I have... some kind of terminal illness?"
Upon these words, Ronaldo’s family immediately burst into tears, with his mother and sister crying even harder.
The atmosphere of sorrow escalated to its peak.
Deng Kai’s attempts to comfort them were to no avail.
Finally, the doctor appeared with Trigella.
At Deng Kai’s insistence, everyone discussed Ronaldo’s current condition in front of him.
The collision that led to the incident was purely accidental, causing Ronaldo’s heart to stop suddenly and fracturing his ribs.
Thanks to Deng Kai’s timely rescue, Ronaldo didn’t suffer any lasting damage.
Of course, the doctor had reason to suspect that the fracture in Ronaldo’s ribs wasn’t caused by the collision but rather from Deng Kai being overly forceful during the cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
It’s common for fractures to occur in hospitals during resuscitation, especially in elderly or very frail patients.
But a fracture is better than not breathing at all!
Furthermore, at Deng Kai’s request, the hospital conducted an in-depth examination.
It revealed that Ronaldo had a minor condition of "tachycardia," which was not detected in previous examinations.
It wasn’t serious, just a minor issue.
Most people receive a result of "sinus arrhythmia" during health check-ups, and the doctors always tell you that it’s essentially no problem at all.
Ronaldo’s tachycardia was similar; it wouldn’t affect his professional career.
Even suitable physical exercise was more beneficial for Ronaldo.
But... when doctors speak, they always mention the worst-case scenario.
Your eyes might hurt, and it could be nothing, but if you ask a doctor, they’ll tell you there’s "a risk of retinal detachment."
You might be short of breath, and it could resolve by the next day, but in the doctor’s office, anything from bronchitis to lung cancer is possible.
Can you say the doctor is irresponsible?
They simply don’t want to be held accountable, so they won’t casually make a judgment.
So the doctors might not have to take responsibility, but that pressure is transferred to the patient.
And this kind of pressure can lead to new health problems for the patient.
According to statistics, ninety-five percent of patients with anxiety disorders believe they are suffering from a serious or terminal illness.
Some of them developed anxiety disorder after feeling unwell and then visiting a doctor.
Anyone who has been ill knows that physical pain is one aspect, but sometimes the mental anguish is even more exhausting.
In comparison, traditional Chinese medicine was seemingly much better in this aspect.
Consolation and comfort for the mental state was also an essential part of Chinese medicine.
The reason for mentioning this is because, according to the doctor, tachycardia could cause Ronaldo’s situation today to recur under extreme circumstances.
No, it shouldn’t be called extreme.
For a normal person, it really is an extreme case and can almost be disregarded.
But Ronaldo is different.
He is destined to become a professional athlete in the future.
Football is a sport that nearly maximizes both aerobic and anaerobic activity.
There’s also a lot of collision, confrontation, and falling.
This greatly increased the likelihood of Cristiano Ronaldo experiencing dangerous conditions due to tachycardia.
Although it was still an extremely small probability, it went from a once-in-fifty-years event to a possibility every ten years.
That was dangerous enough.
The incident with Denmark’s midfielder Eriksen, who collapsed during a European Championship match for the same reason and was only saved after the team doctor’s vigorous efforts, had a huge impact on his career.
"So, now we need to decide one thing, and that is whether or not Cristiano Ronaldo should have the surgery to completely fix this condition," the doctor finished explaining.
"I won’t do it!" Ronaldo was the first to object, shaking his head frantically.
The fear of death always comes late.
After Ronaldo’s incident, he was more relaxed than anyone else at first.
But as he learned more about the situation and saw images of Deng Kai resuscitating him, not being able to remember that period made him panic, made him scared.
He dared not close his eyes, fearing that once closed, they would never open again.
And surgery required general anesthesia.
He also worried whether the anesthetist might administer too much anesthetic, causing him to never wake up.
All sorts of thoughts occupied Ronaldo’s mind.
Many of his speculations were things that wouldn’t happen. It wasn’t a matter of small probability; it was a layman’s misunderstanding of another’s profession.
But there was no helping it, you couldn’t expect someone who had just died once to calm down.
He just couldn’t do it!
"If I have the surgery, what will happen to the team? They’re sure to lose," Ronaldo found a reason for himself.
"The team can accept losing," Trigella stated, able to withstand all the pressure, as long as Ronaldo was healthy.
"It’s just a U17 match, I can lead everyone by myself," Deng Kai went even further, "You go ahead and have the surgery, and in a month or two when you come back, we’ll be jumping to U19."
"It doesn’t matter if we win or lose in the U17 matches."
"You don’t really think that winning the Portuguese U15 league championship really counts as a Championship Trophy, do you?"
"These won’t even be recorded in our future biographies."
"Including the Youth Champions League, even the European Youth Championship, none of that will be there."
"The professional arena is the starting point for a football player. You can make some preparations before the official start, but once it really begins, you won’t be given this kind of time anymore."
"You wouldn’t want to be having such a surgery suddenly when we’re about to win the Champions League, right?"
"If you don’t have it done now, you owe me a Championship Trophy, you know that?"
Ronaldo was then swept up by Deng Kai’s bandit logic, "Heh, so if I have the surgery now, can you compensate me with a Championship Trophy?"
Deng Kai held up three fingers, "No problem."
Ronaldo looked at Deng Kai’s fingers, "Isn’t ’no problem’ the thumbs up and forefinger touching, the OK gesture? What does your thumb touching your little finger mean? Are you messing with me?"
A smile crept onto Deng Kai’s lips, "This gesture means ’I swear’ where we come from, and it has more effect than an OK, you can ask if you don’t understand, but don’t pretend to understand if you don’t, okay?"
Ronaldo, impatient, replied, "Get lost! Focus on the league first, if you can’t even win there, I might have to wait for that Champions League until I’m old and dead!"
Ronaldo’s mother slapped him at that moment, "Don’t say such unlucky things!"
Ronaldo covered his face, both crying and laughing.
Deng Kai, Trigella, and others then left the hospital room, giving Ronaldo and his family some private time.
The doctor was also contacting specialists, expecting to perform the surgery within a week.
The heart was recovering quickly, expected to heal within two weeks after surgery.
But the rib fracture would take at least three months to heal.
So all things considered, it was best to rest as much as possible and think about the rest after half a year.
Trigella said that was no problem; he could even let Ronaldo rest for a year.
