Whether you're trapped or not, life goes on.
What was troubling him was something Shulan couldn't understand; she was busy with her own things every day, feeling very fulfilled.
"Junior Uncle."
When Mu Dong saw Shu Lan enter the clinic, his eyes lit up, and he greeted her warmly.
"Hey." Shulan guessed that he had encountered some difficult problem and couldn't be sure, so he came to her for help. She walked over and asked, "What's wrong?"
Mu Dong said somewhat embarrassedly, "Junior Uncle, this old man said he has abdominal bloating and discomfort. He feels even worse after eating, and he feels like vomiting from time to time. His throat is also uncomfortable."
Shulan sat there and began to take the old man's pulse.
The old man was probably in his sixties, hunched over, and looked much older than his actual age.
While taking the old man's pulse, I asked him, "Sir, when you woke up this morning, did your mouth taste bitter?"
The old man thought for a moment and nodded: "It's both sour and bitter."
Shulan then asked, "When you were young, you loved to drink, and you used to experience bloating and discomfort from time to time, right?"
Before the old man could speak, a younger man, presumably his son, said, "Yes, my father loves to drink."
The old man nodded: "Yes, there are always a few periods throughout the year when I feel unwell."
Shulan nodded and said, "The old man's condition is due to his love of drinking. He probably ate irregularly when he was young, which led to a weak spleen and stomach, disharmony between the liver and stomach, liver qi invading the stomach, and spleen and kidney yang deficiency. In addition, he has been eating too much oily food recently, which has caused indigestion and chest pain."
In modern medicine, chest pain is bile reflux esophagitis.
Huang Qi and the others were also curious. Since they weren't busy at the moment, they quickly grabbed their homemade notebooks that they had left on the table, as well as the charcoal pencils that their junior uncle had given them, and came over to learn.
Shulan began her lecture: "Chest pain refers to the reflux of bile from the duodenum through the pylorus into the stomach and even the esophagus. Common symptoms include abdominal distension, heartburn, bitter taste in the mouth, and vomiting."
She spoke slowly, and everyone quickly took notes.
The elderly man also stated that these were his symptoms.
After everyone had finished taking notes, Shulan looked at the old man and his anxious family members beside him: "Don't worry, it's not a big problem. He just needs to take medicine and take care of himself."
The elderly man and his family were finally relieved.
Shulan began writing the prescription, and as she wrote, she said to her apprentices behind her, "If these symptoms are confirmed as angina pectoris, then we need to use anti-reflux and gastric mucosa-protecting drugs for treatment."
After writing the prescription and instructing them to pick up the medicine, she told the patients: "During this period, do not eat too much, try to eat small meals frequently, and eat less greasy and hard-to-digest food. You must abstain from alcohol."
When the elderly man learned that he had to quit drinking, he looked hesitant and asked, "Doctor, do I really have to quit?"
Clearly, his love for wine runs too deep, and he can't bear to part with it.
Shulan nodded: "Yes, you have to quit."
The old man could only sigh, but said nothing more.
After the medicine was prepared, the old man's son paid the money, took the medicine, and left with profuse thanks.
When no one was around, Shulan explained to her junior apprentices some precautions for bile reflux esophagitis and other related complications.
Huang Qi and the others listened very attentively, their charcoal pencils scratching softly in their notebooks.
Shulan liked their earnest and hardworking attitude. After she finished speaking, she said, "You've worked hard, but you also need to take care of yourselves and make time for rest. Take a break and give yourselves a vacation."
She said this more than once, wanting them to rest.
The junior disciples usually listened to their junior uncle, but on this matter, they were outwardly compliant but inwardly defiant, saying, "Okay, junior uncle, we will rest."
In reality, everyone was working up a high, and no one wanted to rest.
Sure enough, when she said that, everyone just nodded perfunctorily, clearly not intending to follow her junior uncle's advice.
Shulan was at a loss and was just about to test her apprentices' studies when she heard an anxious voice outside: "Doctor!"
Shulan and everyone immediately straightened up and looked outside.
A middle-aged man of medium build was seen carrying an elderly man on his back, with two young men beside him, and they all came in looking anxious.
He said there, "Doctor."
Shulan quickly stepped forward and said, "Put him on that couch."
The middle-aged man carried the old man on his back and quickly placed him on the couch.
Huang Qi saw the old man and said, "Junior Uncle, this is the old man I told you about ten days ago who seemed a bit ethereal."
At that time, Huang Qi could not determine the cause of his illness, explained the reason, and told him to come to the clinic in a couple of days or when he felt unwell.
He had assumed the old man was alright since they hadn't come over for so long.
After the old man was placed on the couch, he kept his brows furrowed and his eyes tightly closed, clearly in some discomfort.
Shulan asked, "Uncle, can you still speak?"
The old man slowly said, "Yes, but I feel very dizzy, and my hands won't obey my commands."
The old man spoke softly, but his thoughts were clear.
Shulan continued, "Uncle, please raise your hand."
The old man closed his eyes and raised his hand.
"Shake hands."
The old man clenched his fist, then released it, then clenched it again, repeating this three times. Although it was slow, he did not encounter any obstacles.
"That's fine, sir." Preliminary findings have ruled out damage to cerebral arteries, cerebellar arteries, and nerve damage to the brainstem.
Shulan reached out and pressed on his neck. The old man said it was swollen and painful, and he couldn't move his neck.
She said, "It's not a big problem. The old man has been suffering from neck strain for many years, and recently he caught a cold, which has caused poor blood circulation."
In modern times, this is a typical case of cervical spondylotic myelopathy, mainly caused by straightening of the physiological curvature of the cervical spine or cervical disc herniation, leading to cervical hyperplasia accompanied by spinal canal stenosis, which compresses the spinal cord.
This type of disease is mainly related to patients working with their heads down and back bent for long periods of time, long-term fatigue and poor posture. The elderly man was a carpenter, which indeed made him very susceptible to cervical spondylosis.
Jianqiu asked, "Junior Uncle, is it neck pain?"
Shulan nodded: "Yes, the old man's condition is caused by cervical spondylosis, which reduces the flexibility of his upper limbs, and in severe cases, causes numbness and weakness in his upper limbs."
The old man's son and grandson were also there explaining that some time ago the old man said he felt like he was walking on cotton and was a little unsteady.
When the old man arrived, Huang Qi was unsure of the cause of his illness, but he advised him to stop doing heavy work and move his neck more often.
After returning home, the old man felt much better and also listened to Huang Qi's advice to move his neck more.
His sons and grandsons inherited his skills and told him to rest more, so he stopped doing carpentry work. And sure enough, he felt much better and wasn't as dizzy as before, so he stopped coming to the clinic.
Just the day before yesterday, he had to do a carpentry job himself. It was so hot that he couldn't stand it. So, while doing the carpentry, he habitually put a wet towel around his neck to make himself more comfortable.
I just didn't expect that my symptoms, which were getting better, would worsen yesterday.
The old man was feeling unwell, but seeing that the customer was in a hurry, he thought he should finish quickly before seeing the doctor. Little did he know that this morning, he felt dizzy and fell to the ground...
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