Chapter 564: Chapter 563: Choice

The five-and-a-half-year-old nephew of Lu Yao’s girlfriend hadn’t been injured by a stud gun, as Lu Yao had claimed, but by a brad nailer.

A brad nail, approximately 2.5 centimeters long, had entered through the right corner of his right eye and penetrated deep into his brain.

To make matters worse, as the T-nail entered the brain, the interplay of resistance and kinetic energy caused it to deflect and turn sideways.

Not only did this cause more extensive brain damage, but it also made removing the brad nail through the original entry wound impossible.

At nearly 5:30 p.m., Yan Feifan, Zeng Ni, Duan Yu, Xu Yanhai, Sun Xuenong, and Shang Xiaorong all arrived together at the neurosurgery intensive care unit of Jingcheng Union Medical College Hospital.

As Yan Feifan stepped out of the elevator, he immediately spotted Lu Yao in the hallway, along with his girlfriend.

Lu Yao’s new girlfriend, whom he had only recently started dating, was named Mo Ruxuan.

According to Zeng Ni, Lu Yao had been introduced to her by a mutual acquaintance, and they had only recently become an official couple.

Yan Feifan couldn’t help but take a second look at this Miss Mo, who had a gentle, graceful air and a pretty face.

She was tall and elegant, only two or three centimeters shorter than Su Ye.

Yan Feifan wasn’t sure if it was his imagination, but he could see a faint resemblance to Su Ye in Miss Mo’s features.

"Mr. Yan, hello. We finally meet..."

A middle-aged doctor, about 1.7 meters tall, stepped forward to greet him and quickly introduced himself, "I’m Dr. Hou Hancheng. We collaborated during the remote surgery a while back."

Yan Feifan had a clear memory of this Dr. Hou, who had elegant, slanted eyes, long eyebrows, and a somewhat androgynous appearance.

That night had been his first time performing cranial surgery via remote operation. Although the final outcome had been fairly good, the experience itself had been rather unpleasant.

"Hello, Dr. Hou!"

Yan Feifan responded politely, then immediately asked, "What’s the child’s current condition?"

Hou Hancheng explained, "He’s in a deep coma. Fortunately, there’s no major intracranial bleeding, and his vital signs are relatively stable."

"Right now, our main focus is on preventing severe cerebral edema and infection."

As they were speaking, Lu Yao, his girlfriend, and a dozen or so other people—men and women, young and old—suddenly crowded around them.

A man who looked to be in his sixties spoke urgently, "Mr. Yan, is there anything you can do to save my grandson?"

He added, "Dr. Hou and two other doctors held an emergency consultation. They concluded that he shouldn’t have surgery and should receive conservative treatment, leaving the nail inside my grandson’s head."

Yan Feifan met the concerned gazes of the dozen or so people surrounding him and said slowly, "I’ve already reviewed the child’s cranial scans and other test results on my way here."

"Given the nature of the child’s injuries, both conservative treatment and surgery carry extreme risks."

"As for the specific course of treatment, I can only make a final decision after I’ve gathered more information about the injury and consulted with Dr. Hou."

After saying this, Yan Feifan followed Dr. Hou into a nearby doctor’s office.

Inside the office were two other middle-aged neurosurgeons, Dr. Ding Jiqing and Dr. Pan Jian.

After Dr. Hou made the introductions and Yan Feifan had briefly acquainted himself with them, Pan Jian spoke up.

"Mr. Yan, are you leaning toward surgery or conservative treatment?"

"Surgery," Yan Feifan answered, direct and to the point.

Pan Jian’s face took on an I-knew-it expression. He then asked, "Oh? And how would you perform this surgery?"

Yan Feifan walked over to the light box on the left wall and pointed to a cranial CT scan, which was illuminated with bright clarity.

Pointing to the scan, he explained, "I would perform two sequential punctures, one through the right ear and another through the top of the skull. I’d use a Puncture Needle to reorient the brad nail, then extract it roughly along its original entry track."

Pan Jian said thoughtfully, "Mr. Yan, even if the surgery goes smoothly, your method would cause additional trauma to the child’s brain."

"With that kind of maneuvering, the hearing in his right ear, the vision in his right eye, and some of his facial nerves would be severely damaged. There’s a chance he could lose them completely."

"There’s also the risk of other brain damage, like paralysis."

Yan Feifan stressed, "But it gives the child a chance to live. With an injury like this, saving his life is the number one priority."

Pan Jian shook his head and countered, "If saving his life is the priority, isn’t conservative treatment the better option?"

"After all, there are documented cases of patients surviving after being shot in the head with bullets, which are much larger than a brad nail."

"Mr. Yan, in my opinion, with a radical surgical plan like yours, the probability that the child won’t make it off the operating table is considerable."

Yan Feifan argued, "Instances of surviving a bullet to the brain do exist, but they are statistical outliers."

"At least ninety-nine percent of patients with similar injuries die."

Yan Feifan added, "And I’m sure you’re all aware that the risk of infection from a brad nail is far greater than from a bullet."

His words silenced the three neurosurgeons in the office.

Aside from the physical trauma caused by the nail, the greatest immediate risk was infection.

The friction a bullet experiences in the gun barrel and through the air generates extreme heat. In medicine, the resulting injury is known as a firearm wound.

This heat effectively sterilizes the bullet, killing most of the bacteria on its surface and significantly reducing the chance of infection.

A brad nail, however, undergoes no such high-temperature sterilization.

If an infection were to take hold and spread within the child’s brain, death would be virtually certain.

After a few minutes of silence, Pan Jian was the first to speak.

"Conservative or surgical, given the child’s current condition, both are a gamble on his luck. Personally, I still lean toward conservative treatment."

He looked at Hou Hancheng and asked, "Dr. Hou, you’re the attending physician. What are your thoughts?"

Hou Hancheng sighed softly. "I can’t decide either. Both options are a life-or-death gamble. We should let the family make the decision..."

Yan Feifan, Pan Jian, and the quiet Dr. Ding Jiqing all accompanied Dr. Hou out of the office.

As the attending physician, Dr. Hou explained Yan Feifan’s proposed surgical plan to the child’s parents and family.

Dr. Hou went on to explain the risks. "Mr. Yan’s surgical plan comes with a very high probability of blindness in the right eye, deafness in the right ear, and paralysis of some facial nerves."

"There’s also a chance of paralysis, falling into a vegetative state, brain death, or even dying during the operation."

Dr. Hou added, "With conservative treatment, we’re essentially gambling. The most likely outcome is that he ends up in a vegetative state or becomes brain-dead."

"Even if he’s lucky enough to wake up and pull through this, setting aside the long-term effects of the brain damage, he’ll never be able to fly on an airplane, go near strong magnetic fields, or engage in strenuous exercise. He’ll have to live his entire life with extreme caution."

After a pause, Dr. Hou gave his personal recommendation.

"I personally recommend the surgery."

The moment Dr. Hou finished speaking, the child’s young parents embraced each other and began to sob.

The child’s grandfather looked at Yan Feifan and asked, "Mr. Yan, what are the actual odds of the surgery succeeding?"

Yan Feifan considered this for a moment before answering, "Optimistically, a twenty to thirty percent chance."

The grandfather’s expression was conflicted for a moment, but then his gaze hardened with resolve. In a heavy voice, he said, "Surgery. I’ve made the decision. We’ll go with the surgery."

"If the boy’s luck is truly that bad, I’d rather he never wake up from the operating table than endure a long period of suffering that would torment us adults as well."

"Dad, I disagree!"

The child’s mother suddenly objected, "Since it’s all a gamble, a matter of life and death, I don’t want my child to have to suffer through another ordeal on the operating table..."

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