This Doctor Is Too Wealthy

However, Du Heng’s words, when heard by others, sounded as if he wasn’t confident this time. This not only caused the others behind him to reveal strange expressions but also stunned Xu Pinglin, who was standing at the very front.

But Du Heng couldn’t concern himself with that. The fact was, although the cause was unknown, it didn’t affect his treatment. As long as he could suppress the vomiting and fever, the rest could be managed with medication.

At this moment, Gu Ping came in with the needle tool kit.

Du Heng took a deep breath, cleared his mind of distractions, and began to focus on treating the patient.

”Come, open your mouth... Yes, bear with it, hold on, it will be over soon.”

Du Heng asked the family members to hold the patient steady, then had the patient open her mouth. He bled the black blood from the EX-19 and Jade Humor acupoints under her tongue.

Afterward, 2 ml of black blood was extracted from LU-05 on both arms. Then, he needled the left ST-36, and the right Yang Mound Spring penetrating to Yinlingquan. He used the reduction method, lifting, thrusting, and twirling the needles. In the end, he even left the needles in.

As the retention time for the needles increased, the patient’s pain gradually weakened, but her sensation of nausea did not lessen at all.

Du Heng touched his chin while standing to the side, his brow deeply furrowed. Something is off, he thought. According to my expectations, when the patient’s pain decreases, the nausea should also lessen accordingly. What went wrong? Moreover, while the patient’s condition has obviously improved, there’s no effective data registered in my system. This is even more baffling. Forget it, never mind. Anyway, regardless of the cause, what’s needed now is to treat the patient by clearing heat and detoxification, clearing the fu-organs and purging heat, and sweeping away blood toxins. This approach is definitely correct.

With that in mind, Du Heng decided not to wait any longer and bent down to remove the retained needles from the patient.

When he reached out to take her pulse again, Du Heng once more saw the patient’s hands and the black grime under her fingernails.

Feeling a little uneasy, Du Heng asked, ”Has your mother experienced this before?”

The patient’s son looked worried. ”Several times, she’s complained of stomachaches. We wanted to take her to the hospital, but she always refused. She’d just go to a clinic herself to get some medicine for stomach pain, and those Anti-inflammatory and Choleretic Tablets.”

”Were those medications effective?”

”They used to help a little, but not recently. Taking a lot of them doesn’t do any good anymore.”

Du Heng released the patient’s wrist, preparing to go to his office to prescribe medication. Before leaving, he casually asked, ”Is your mother still working?”

”No, she retired long ago.”

Du Heng paused, then pointed to the patient’s fingernails. ”If she’s not working, then what’s this grime under her fingernails?”

The patient’s son followed Du Heng’s finger. A hint of embarrassment and resentment crossed his face. ”After my mother retired, I don’t know how, but she developed a habit of collecting trash. Plastic bottles, cardboard, foam boards—basically, anything that could be sold, she’d gather it up and bring it home, no matter where she found it.

My mother gets over three thousand yuan for her pension each month. Combined with my father’s, they don’t have to worry about food or expenses at all. I really don’t understand why she does it.

The house stinks because of it. My father can’t stand being there anymore, so he’s moved in with me and refuses to go back.

Doctor,” he continued, ”I wanted to ask, do you think my mother might have some kind of mental problem?”

Du Heng didn’t quite hear the patient’s son’s last words. Instead, when he heard that the patient collected trash, his mind suddenly started working furiously.

Suddenly, Du Heng slapped his thigh. ”I’ve got it!”

Xu Pinglin looked puzzled, ”What do you know?”

”I know what’s causing the patient’s vomiting and severe upper abdominal pain.”

”What is it?” Xu Pinglin asked, becoming excited.

If Du Heng really knows, and his judgment is correct, they could save themselves a lot of trouble, Xu Pinglin thought.

Du Heng stated with conviction, ”In Western medicine terms, it’s biliary ascariasis complicated by acute pancreatitis. This is caused by poor personal hygiene and dietary habits.”

Biliary ascariasis? Xu Pinglin mentally reviewed the imaging data.

Then, with a sigh of frustration, he exclaimed, ”Ah, of course!”

Ascariasis, biliary ascariasis... these aren’t rare or complex conditions. But their peak incidence was before the millennium, or rather, before the 1990s. By the new century, these diseases had gradually faded from most doctors’ awareness. In the past, due to poor personal hygiene and the common practice of drinking untreated water from rivers or wells, ascariasis was very common. Nowadays, sanitation has vastly improved in both rural and urban areas. People are also much more conscious of health and hygiene—washing hands before meals and after using the toilet, and drinking treated tap water. Cases of this disease are very rare now. In his entire career, Xu Pinglin had only encountered two cases of ascariasis, and both were over a decade ago when he had just started as a doctor. Besides, most patients with ascariasis went to the Proctology Department; very few came to Gastroenterology. This had allowed the condition to slip completely from their minds.

Just then, someone from behind them spoke up, ”Ascariasis? Impossible, right? How could anyone still get ascariasis in this day and age?”

Du Heng shook his head and stated firmly, ”No, it’s definitely possible. Take this patient, for instance. Look at her hands. Although they’ve been cleaned and her nails are trimmed, look at the black grime packed deep beneath her fingernails. That’s a perfect breeding ground for roundworms.”