Chapter 230 - Miraculous Recovery

“Long-term bed rest, loss of appetite causing malnutrition; long-term bed rest causing lung infection, eventually leading to pneumonia from a cold?; high blood pressure causing dizziness, vertigo, and listlessness.” Shi Niaoren looked at the case and said casually, “He must have constipation, right?”

“That’s right,” Liu San nodded. “Do you think we should organize a hospital consultation? We can’t take X-rays or do blood tests at his home. It’s just that his family is unwilling to hospitalize him…”

“There’s no need for a hospital consultation. Liu Dalin’s condition is complex, but not difficult to treat,” Dr. Shi said. “It’s not beyond our capabilities. Your treatment plan is correct.”

“I think we also need to pay attention to the nutrition issue. This Jinshi Liu looks very old, and malnutrition is not good for his condition,” Lan Yangyang from the gastroenterology department said. “His family is not poor, by rights.”

“Landlords eat very poorly too, just a little more fine grain,” Liu San said. He had seen the lives of so-called landlords when he went on his rounds to the various “clinics” jointly run by the Ministry of Health and the Runshitang. They ate no better than the farmers, just that they ate their fill, the proportion of rice was slightly higher, and they had some fish and meat consumption—for ordinary farmers, eating some fish sauce or shrimp paste was considered having meat. Their protein intake was severely insufficient.

Everyone studied Liu Dalin’s medical records for a while. The cause of Jinshi Liu’s illness was obvious. The treatment was not complicated either. The treatment plan they discussed was: first, inject antibiotics to treat the lung infection. At the same time, inject Danshen injection to lower his blood pressure. Then, strengthen his nutrition and use an enema to relieve his constipation. A nurse would guide the Liu family’s servants on how to bathe the master, turn him over, clean his mouth, and teach them knowledge on preventing bedsores. With the improvement of the level of daily care, Master Liu’s mental state would improve a lot. Then, arrange for some rehabilitation activities. Combined with traditional Chinese medicine conditioning and acupuncture, his overall health would be greatly improved.

Regarding antibiotics, everyone believed that the locally produced oxytetracycline and kasugamycin in Lin’gao were not suitable for treating the bacterial infection of pneumonia, and direct intravenous infusion would probably have too many side effects. It was more appropriate to use the stock of penicillin injections.

“Don’t forget to have Zhang Ziyi do a skin test!” Shi Niaoren specifically reminded Liu San.

“That’s standard procedure, no need to say it again.”

“Our work is much rougher now. Many steps that should be taken are now omitted,” Shi Niaoren said.

Liu San took the prescription from Shi Niaoren and collected several controlled drugs. Then he put them in a special medicine box and took them with him.

While Liu San was out, Zhang Ziyi had already taken the intern nurses to help Liu Dalin wash his body and clean his mouth with dental floss. Her estimation was correct. Due to his long-term immobility, Jinshi Liu already showed signs of bedsores. She cleaned, disinfected, and applied medicine to all of them. Throughout the process, she not only did the work herself but also constantly guided the intern nurses. The entire full-body nursing process was both skillful and gentle, which amazed the intern nurses and the maids waiting in the room. This female Chief’s skill in caring for patients was truly top-notch!

The news of Zhang Ziyi’s nursing and Master Liu’s slight recovery was soon reported to the mistress and the Liu family’s close relatives. Everyone was discussing it. Although there were different opinions on whether the Australians were barbarians, the fact that a female Elder had, without hesitation, washed the body of a stranger and applied medicine to him, was enough to say that they had the “heart of a parent as a doctor.”

When Liu San returned to the Liu residence, Zhang Ziyi had already finished everything and had even opened the windows. The maids and servants who had been running around in the room, not knowing what they were busy with, had been sent out by her to wait outside.

The originally dark, stuffy, and hot room was now filled with sunlight and fresh air after this tidying up. And Zhang Ziyi’s nursing had also restored a little bit of spirit to the previously listless Jinshi Liu, who had seemed to be on the verge of death.

Liu San told her the treatment plan. Zhang Ziyi asked, “Is the penicillin to be given by intravenous drip or intramuscular injection?”

Liu San said, “The patient has a history of high blood pressure. It’s better to use intramuscular injection.”

“This bottle of medicine is 400,000 units. Given the situation in this time and place, I think 40,000 units at a time is enough. Intramuscular injection with distilled water,” Liu San quickly gave the medical advice. “80,000 units per day. Use it for three days first.”

“I have to do a skin test first,” Zhang Ziyi said. “I’m just afraid he’ll have an allergic reaction.”

“If there’s an allergic reaction, give him oral erythromycin.”

When Zhang Ziyi took out the syringe and needle from the sterilization box, there was a commotion among the maids and servants peeking through the window. The treatment method of injection had long been spread as an Australian medical technique. At first, everyone thought it was another form of acupuncture, but later they realized that it was actually injecting medicine directly into the human body. This discovery made the natives feel very mysterious—especially the thin needle, which was actually hollow. This was an incredible thing.

While doing the skin test, Zhang Ziyi did not forget to explain the main points to the intern nurses she had brought with her. In the end, the skin test result was normal, with no allergic reaction, which reassured Liu San. He then gave the first injection of penicillin.

Everything went smoothly, except for the Danshen injection, which made Liu San very nervous. Although he had made it according to the method in the book, using a traditional Chinese medicine extract as an injection was inherently dangerous. Modern medicine’s research on the pharmacology and toxicology of traditional Chinese medicine was not yet comprehensive, and there were cases of unexplained deaths caused by traditional Chinese medicine injections in the old world. And those were products from regular, modern pharmaceutical factories! His was a standard home-brewed product. Moreover, because the number of cases he could encounter was extremely small, he had so far only barely completed the first phase of clinical trials.

It seemed that he had to quickly develop oral Danshen dripping pills and Ginkgo biloba preparations. He secretly confirmed his next drug development plan.

“Now we just have to wait for the medicine to take effect,” Liu San said, looking at Master Liu who was still in a deep sleep. “You and the little nurses can go back first. I’ll stay here and watch, in case anything happens, I can deal with it right away.”

“Hehe, what can you deal with? It’s better for me to stay,” Zhang Ziyi said. “Do you know how to give an injection? Do you know how to use a suction device? You see, you don’t know any of these. If there’s an emergency, it’ll be too late to write a prescription and get the medicine.”

Liu San was a little embarrassed. “If you stay here, what about Lao Yang?”

“It’s fine. I have night shifts every week. Does he come to accompany me on my night shifts every day?” Zhang Ziyi said cheerfully.

Steward Zhao saw that they had stopped and guessed that the treatment was over for now. He hurried over to ask if he needed to get a prescription and if there were any other medical advice.

Liu San thought that if he didn’t write a prescription and have them get the medicine, the Liu family would probably not be at ease. Fortunately, he remembered many modern Chinese medicine prescriptions for promoting blood circulation, removing blood stasis, and calming the mind. He immediately chose one and wrote it down, asking Steward Zhao to send someone to get the medicine.

“Yes, I’ll send someone to get the medicine right away!” With that, he took the prescription and went out. But he didn’t go to get the medicine. Instead, he went to the main house and presented the prescription to the mistress and a few close relatives for them to see, and also reported the treatment process in detail. The mistress was a woman and did not know medicine, so she couldn’t say anything. The other close relatives, although they found the Australian’s medical skills a bit scary, could not find anything wrong with them.

“Can this medicine be taken?” the mistress asked, looking at her close relatives.

Because of his son and grandson’s relationship with the Australians, Steward Zhao had a deeper understanding of them than the average native. He knew that the Australian medicine that had just been injected into the master’s body was the key to treating the illness, and whether they took this prescription or not didn’t really matter. But he couldn’t say this directly due to his status.

The one who was looking at the prescription was the mistress’s maternal cousin, also a scholar who knew a little about medicine. From the properties and pharmacology of the herbs used in this prescription, it was nothing more than “promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis.” He couldn’t see anything special. But it was very different from the “warm and pungent to open the orifices” approach of the doctors they had consulted before.

“This is a different approach from the previous doctors,” he said thoughtfully. “But since we have asked him to treat, we should follow his method.”

So they sent someone to the Runshitang to get the medicine. The mistress instructed Steward Zhao to take ten taels of silver to Liu San as a consultation fee. Hearing that Liu San and the female Elder who had come with him were going to stay in the study’s courtyard and watch over the patient all night, everyone was greatly moved. They ordered people to tidy up two more side rooms in the courtyard for them to sleep in and also assigned servants to wait on them.

Penicillin was very powerful in this world. After the first day’s injection, Liu Dalin’s temperature began to drop that night, and his blood pressure also returned to normal. This greatly encouraged Liu San. The next morning, the Liu family’s servants reported the good news to the mistress and others: the master’s fever had subsided, and he was fully conscious. It seemed that he was already cured. The Liu family was immediately filled with joy, and the mistress personally came to thank them. Everyone who had been skeptical about Australian medicine was now convinced—they had never seen such an immediate effect. Liu San and Zhang Ziyi listened to a cartload of compliments and finally managed to explain that Master Liu was not yet fully recovered and needed a long-term treatment process.

After three consecutive days of antibiotic injections, Liu Dalin’s lung infection had basically healed. To ensure the effect, they continued with two more days of consolidation injection treatment.

The life-threatening condition had been treated. The next step was to conduct rehabilitation therapy for Liu Dalin. Liu San wrote a few more Chinese medicine prescriptions for Liu Dalin to take long-term. Although the effect was not as ideal as specialized cardiovascular drugs, it could still play a role in controlling the condition.

Then, Zhang Ziyi was responsible for training several of the Liu family’s servants in nursing care, including knowledge on preventing bedsores. At the same time, Liu San had Fu Wuben go to the Liu residence every day to perform acupuncture treatment using the “brain-awakening and orifice-opening acupuncture method” he had taught him, combined with certain rehabilitation training—to help Jinshi Liu recover his physical functions as much as possible. Shi Niaoren was still hoping that Master Liu could become a living example of the effectiveness of Australian medicine.