Chapter 26 The treatment cost wasn't that high.
Lin Xili went to the CT room and joined the line for a CT scan; the line moved slowly.
She took out the notice again and read it word by word to pass the time.
"Girl, are you also being treated for hyperthyroidism?"
The female patient in front of me turned around. She looked to be in her early thirties. Seeing the paper in her hand, she struck up a conversation with her.
Lin Xili looked up, met the other person's friendly face, and nodded slightly: "Mm."
How long have you had hyperthyroidism?
Before Lin Xi could even speak, the female patient started talking to herself.
“It’s been like this for five years now, on and off. It’s better when I’m taking the medication, but as soon as I reduce the dosage or get busy and forget to take it, the test results go up again.”
"This is torture!"
She sighed and continued, "Because of this illness, I've been rejected several times when I went on blind dates."
"When people hear that I have this disease, they worry that it will affect my ability to have children, so they either politely decline or there's no further contact..."
Lin Xili listened quietly, feeling a sense of shared misfortune with her.
Her medical report came out, and she was jilted and suspended from her job. This was precisely because of her hyperthyroidism, which didn't affect her life but did.
The female patient continued, "I came all the way from a neighboring city. My cousin from my family got well here and recommended me to come."
She said the total cost of the examination and drinking the iodine solution would not exceed three thousand yuan.
"I thought to myself, if it can really be cured in one go, wouldn't all the medicine I took, the suffering I endured, and the money I spent over the past five years be wasted? It would have been so much better if I had come here sooner!"
Less than three thousand yuan?
Lin Xili hadn't calculated it, but it was indeed quite cheap.
She had also heard Huo Nanchen mention to patients that the cost would be within three thousand, which was to reassure patients.
In this rural town with its low cost of living, this price is indeed very affordable.
For many patients who suffer from long-term medication and are not financially well-off, this is undoubtedly a huge attraction.
If I recover after drinking this, I'll be much luckier than this female patient.
"An illness that can be cured for two or three thousand yuan is really not a serious illness," Lin Xili rarely spoke up to agree.
"The fact that it affects pregnancy is something that people care about too much."
These words struck a chord with the female patient, who nodded repeatedly, "That's right, you've hit the nail on the head."
The female patient chatted with her intermittently, and the time seemed to pass less.
Lin Xili's turn for the CT scan came quickly. He lay down on the machine, the scan was performed, and it was over.
Lin Xili mostly listened, occasionally nodding or responding with an "um," but this feeling of being among similar people strangely dispelled some of the loneliness of being alone.
It turns out that so many people are walking on the same rugged road as her.
After waiting for fifteen minutes, she received the film and report results and returned to the second floor, joining the queue for Huo Nanchen's final review.
At the front of the line, it was a girl who looked very young.
Huo Nanchen looked at her CT scan, his brows furrowing slightly. He looked up and asked, "Do you usually not eat vegetables?"
It's not that I don't eat much, but rather that I'm certain I won't eat it.
The girl was taken aback, not expecting the doctor to ask this, and nodded somewhat shyly: "Um... I don't eat green vegetables."
As soon as the girl finished speaking, the other patients gasped in surprise, not expecting the doctor to be so accurate.
"You need to eat something," Huo Nanchen reminded him. "A balanced diet is very important for your body's recovery."
Without saying much nonsense, he wrote a bill for the appropriate dosage of iodine-131 solution based on her condition.
He handed the payment slip to the girl and instructed her, "Go pay the fee, then wait under the longan tree on the first floor. We'll arrange for everyone to drink the medicine later."
"Okay, thank you, Dr. Huo." The girl took the form and hurried away.
When it was a young man's turn to sit down in front of him, Huo Nanchen's brows furrowed deeper and deeper as he looked at the CT scan.
"Doctor, what's wrong with me?" the man asked.
Huo Nanchen pointed to a spot on the CT scan and showed it to him. "This is your lung. I suggest you go to the city to have your lungs checked first. There might be a problem with your lungs. I can't do the iodine-131 test, but I'll prescribe some medicine for you."
The man panicked. "Could I have lung cancer? No way! The equipment here is so old, it must be malfunctioning."
"Go to the city for a check-up first. The CT scan here shows abnormalities in your lungs. Early detection and treatment are important. Iodine-131 is not suitable for you right now. I'll prescribe some medicine for you first."
Huo Nanchen's reassurance quickly put the man at ease. He thanked him profusely and left the clinic with the payment slip.
Lin Xili, who was standing next to her, finally understood why a full-body CT scan was necessary. Fortunately, the previous examinations showed no problems in other areas.
Then it was the fellow patient girl who had been chatting with her.
Huo Nanchen glanced at her scans and said, "Drink less coffee, milk tea, and energy drinks, and drink more water, otherwise you'll develop kidney stones soon."
After a moment of surprise, the girl exclaimed, "Doctor, you're amazing! I do drink coffee and milk tea often, and I don't drink much water."
These scenes, witnessed by Lin Xili, gave her a deeper understanding of Huo Nanchen's meticulousness and professionalism.
She looked at Huo Nanchen, wondering if it was a waste of his talents to work in this remote township health center.
The girl took the payment slip, nodded to her, and left.
She sat down opposite Huo Nanchen and handed him the CT scan and report.
Huo Nanchen picked up the film and examined it carefully.
After a moment, he put down the film, looked at her and said, "It's fine. Apart from the thyroid, you are healthy in other aspects and there are no other abnormalities. You can use iodine-131."
When Lin Xili heard that he was in good health in other aspects, he finally felt relieved.
Huo Nanchen continued to give instructions to his patient in the same way: "You should try to keep a cheerful mood. Don't keep everything bottled up inside. If you have a tendency to be depressed, you need to pay attention. Many diseases are not limited to the thyroid; emotions are a very important part of the cause."
Depressive tendencies?
Lin Xili suddenly looked up and met his dark eyes, which seemed to be able to see through a person's body structure and heart.
Did he see something? Did he see the grievances she had been holding in?
She lowered her eyes, avoiding his gaze, and softly replied, "Okay, I understand."
Huo Nanchen didn't continue the topic. He picked up a pen, quickly calculated in the medical record, then wrote out a payment slip and pushed it in front of her.
"Here is your iodine-131 solution dosage and cost. Go pay the bill. After you pay, wait by the longan tree downstairs."
Lin Xili took the payment slip; the amount was:
Renminbi: Eight Hundred and Sixty-Nine Yuan.
869 yuan.
This number, including the previous examinations and the full-body CT scan, is indeed less than three thousand, just as Huo Nanchen and the female patient said.
All the previous hesitation and fear seemed somewhat ridiculous in the face of this real and tangible price for a cure.
The problem that has troubled so many people turns out that the cost of solving it is not as high as imagined.
"Thank you." She picked up the payment slip and stood up.
"Go."
Huo Nanchen's gaze had already shifted to the next patient waiting, his expression still professional and calm.
Lin Xili turned around, walked out of the clinic and downstairs.
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