Chapter 348: Chapter 348: The Root Lies in the Heart
Liu Zheng quickly approached, then lifted her shirt to gently tap her abdomen, detecting no signs of distention, and afterward he used a stethoscope to listen inside but didn’t hear any bowel sounds either.
It was indeed strange. If it really was just diarrhea, then these symptoms should be obvious. An ultrasound typically wouldn’t reveal anything, so a complete blood count should offer some diagnostic clues.
"Doctor, I think it’s just that my child caught a bad cold this time, which might be somewhat different from before, but I believe my child has just got a stomach flu at most, nothing serious. Before, at home, she could eat and drink without issue, it’s just that she has been going to the toilet a bit more frequently,"
the woman seemed not to acknowledge their current suspicion at all, believing that her child merely had a common cold and attributing the ineffectiveness of the medications to potentially incorrect prescriptions; thus, the medicine had no other effect on the child.
"Little one, little one, open your eyes and look at me."
As he spoke, he gently pushed her and found that there was a slight response from her body, her eyes slowly opening, then she lifted her head to look at Liu Zheng.
"Tell me, besides feeling a bit uncomfortable with the diarrhea, do you have any other symptoms?"
The girl didn’t speak, looked around, and then closed her eyes again.
"Does she usually not like to talk much?"
"Dr. Liu, don’t you understand? She’s been suffering from diarrhea for so many days now, and besides, what strength does she have? That’s why she hasn’t really spoken to me these past two days."
"Director Xiao, did you notice her breathing sounds like it’s somewhat rapid? It seems different from the breathing rate of a normal person."
"Oh, if you put it that way, it does seem true. I really didn’t pay attention to that this morning. Yes, indeed, the breathing is somewhat hurried. Hmm, Dr. Liu, what should we do now? What medications should we use? If it doesn’t work, why don’t you use some of your own formulations from your clinic? I believe they might be more effective."
"Cousin, are you joking with me? I brought my child to the hospital seeking better help, and now you want to send her to a village clinic? And those concoctions of yours, Cousin, are you confused?"
"Xiao Ling, what do you know? Dr. Liu is a Divine Doctor by nature, and all his medicines are personally compounded by him, which is completely different from the medications we have in the hospital. They work quickly and don’t have toxic side effects. Don’t talk nonsense here,"
Director Xiao turned around and scolded his cousin a few words. The cousin, being obedient, quickly shut her mouth, but from her expression at the moment, she seemed to still have doubts about Liu Zheng’s medical skills.
"Director Liu, I feel that her diarrhea this time might not be closely related to her gastrointestinal organs. Could you have checked her heart and examined a few key cardiac indicators, then checked for cardiac enzyme precipitation reactions?"
"What are you talking about? Checking the heart? How is this related to the heart? She’s been fine since childhood, and there have been no congenital diseases. If there were any congenital heart diseases, I surely would have detected them."
"Dr. Liu, if you invited me over, it’s to listen to my suggestions. Hence, it’s harmless to run a few extra tests, and we need to eliminate possibilities one by one—that’s the only way we can eventually determine what’s really going on, right?"
"Doctor, by doing all these tests, aren’t you just torturing the child? You’re just putting her through unnecessary stress. I think there’s no need for all this. Just switch to a couple of different antibiotics and try treating her again. I believe that should have some effect. Besides, the child doesn’t have a fever."
While speaking, the woman stepped forward to place her hand on the child’s forehead and felt that it was indeed cool, without any sign of fever.
"I understand, but if you were to call for emergency services, this would be my diagnostic recommendation. Of course, as family members of the patient, you have the right to refuse; I’m just putting forward my reasoned suggestion, which surely shouldn’t be an issue."
"Alright then, I’ll arrange for a nurse to come and collect samples right away, to get the tests done quickly."
"Also, Director Xiao, I’m not sure how long normal lab work takes, but you must use the emergency channel. I need to get the lab results as quickly as possible to see if my conclusion is correct."
"You mean, you’ve already thought of something—that is, you suspect there’s a problem with her heart? Which is why she’s showing these symptoms now?"
"Exactly, if it truly is a heart issue, then this is a very critical patient, and we can’t keep administering these IVs. In that case, I’ll disconnect the IV now. You expedite the testing because I need the results as soon as possible."
Director Xiao sensed that Liu Zheng was no longer joking with him and wasn’t engaging in alarmism, for he still had faith in Liu Zheng’s medical expertise, otherwise, he wouldn’t have gone out of his way to invite him instead of using the hospital’s own doctors.
After a while, her samples were taken away, and several people waited in the room. Being an insider, it wasn’t difficult for Director Xiao to secure a rushed sample. Roughly 15 minutes later, the results were delivered directly.
"Director Xiao, the pathology lab has issued a critical alert, indicating that one of the child’s indicators has soared to 129, about four times above the normal range."
"What did you say? It’s that high?"
With that, he abruptly walked over, grabbed the report in his hands, and his eyebrows tightly furrowed together; clearly, these indicators were far from normal. Then he laid the report in front of Liu Zheng.
"As I suspected, I was right. The child is suffering from fulminant viral myocarditis, which is a life-threatening illness. We need to move quickly to treat her symptomatically and transfer her to the intensive care unit. If treated in time, the child might still be saved."
