Li Zheng’s words surprised everyone.
The girl's mother was the first to react. She immediately stopped crying and said in surprise, "Doctor, is this true? Can you really treat Xiaoyun for free?"
"You wish!" Ding Bo shouted, "How can it be free? At most, we can give you a small fee reduction!"
Ding Bo couldn't bear to see this woman climbing up the pole, so he quickly poured a basin of cold water on her.
Although Chen Dayong had some doubts, he didn't ask too much. Brother Zheng must have his own ideas. He should already know what disease the little girl had.
"Haiping, first arrange for this little girl to be hospitalized, and then issue a checkup list, including full abdominal B-ultrasound, chest X-ray, full abdominal X-ray, and biochemical tests. All should be completed." Li Zheng said.
Seeing that Li Zheng didn't answer her directly, the child's mother glanced at Li Zheng's name tag and said hesitantly, "Doctor Li, how much can you reduce the fee? We really don't have the money to treat the disease!"
Li Zheng nodded and said, "Don't worry, it will definitely be within your family's affordability."
The child's mother nodded, but still looked a little dissatisfied.
"That's good. Thank you, Dr. Li."
After saying that, Chen Dayong took the mother and daughter to go through the formalities.
"Doctor Li, do you know what disease this girl has?" Ding Bo asked. Li Zheng said there was no need to worry about the cost. Either the disease was easy to treat and inexpensive, or it was very difficult to treat and very expensive.
Chen Dayong also looked at Li Zheng curiously. He couldn't think of any disease that could cause stones to form in both the stomach and intestines at the same time.
Li Zheng nodded and said, "It should be Rapunzel syndrome."
"What disease?" Ding Bo looked confused.
Chen Dayong also looked at Li Zheng curiously. How come he had never heard of this disease? But the name of the disease sounded pretty good.
How come Brother Zheng knows all about these weird diseases!
"Let's go to the office and talk." Li Zheng said.
Several people came to the office.
Li Zheng explained: "Rapunzel disease, also known as Rapunzel syndrome, is a rare gastrointestinal tricholithiasis, and patients often have pica!"
"Tricholithiasis? Pica?" Chen Dayong thought of the name of the disease and instantly understood. He exclaimed in surprise, "Brother Zheng, are you saying that the little girl was eating her own hair, and then the hair clumps together in the gastrointestinal tract, forming hair stones?"
Ding Bo understood what Chen Dayong said and said loudly, "No wonder! This little girl must have not only not received much love from her parents in recent years, but has also been frequently beaten and scolded. This has caused her to have psychological problems and develop this habit of pulling out her own hair and eating it!"
Li Zheng nodded and said, "Look at the little girl's hair later. It's very sparse and falling out unevenly. It must have been plucked out."
Ding Bo gave a thumbs up and said, "You are still observing carefully!"
Li Zheng continued, "This disease is most common in adolescent women. Symptoms are not obvious at first, but when larger hair clumps or even gastric tricholithiasis form in the stomach, symptoms begin to appear. These include dull pain, bloating, or a feeling of fullness in the upper abdomen, which worsens after eating. Because gastric emptying is blocked and tricholithiasis irritates the gastric mucosa, it's easy to feel nauseous and vomit, and even spit out hair."
Ding Bo and Chen Dayong kept nodding their heads, their strange knowledge increasing again.
Li Zheng continued, "Due to long-term impact on gastric function, patients eat less, have difficulty absorbing nutrients, and experience significant weight loss."
"Rubbing the gastric mucosa with rough stones can cause erosion and ulcers, and may also cause vomiting blood, black stools, and even lead to anemia!"
Ding Bo was a little excited when he heard this and said, "That's right, it's all right! This girl does have black stools."
Li Zheng nodded and continued, "Long-term chronic blood loss can lead to 'iron deficiency anemia,' which manifests as fatigue, pale complexion, palpitations, and a rapid heart rate. I don't know if you listened to the heartbeat, but it's at least 110 beats per minute."
"I hadn't noticed that," Ding Bo said a little embarrassedly. He had no idea what the problem was, so he naturally didn't know how to listen to heart sounds.
Chen Dayong also shook his head.
"I didn't hear the heart sounds, but I heard the gastric sounds," said Chen Dayong.
Li Zheng nodded and said, "This indicates that there is a large amount of fluid and gas retention in the stomach."
Ding Bo and Chen Dayong kept nodding.
The symptoms and signs are very consistent, so the diagnosis can be confirmed.
Li Zheng continued, "This little girl also has intestinal stones, so she has symptoms of intestinal obstruction. Her abdominal distension is very obvious, and she should have stopped passing gas for a few days."
Through Li Zheng's analysis and judgment, there is no doubt about the diagnosis.
Soon, Zhu Haiping took the little girl Sun Xiaoyun to complete the examination.
Inside the office.
Zhu Haiping looked at the ultrasound report and had many questions.
"In the stomach cavity, there are large, irregular, and clearly defined echogenic masses with acoustic shadows at the back. When the body position changes, the large, echogenic mass moves with gastric peristalsis, creating a 'false kidney sign.' Multiple small, large, and echogenic masses can be seen in the intestine, similar to those in the stomach..."
Zhu Haiping read the report on the B-ultrasound form with a confused look on his face.
"Brother Zheng, what's in your stomach?"
Chen Dayong took the B-ultrasound form and said in a deep voice, "Haiping, you're going to be eye-opening today. This is probably the first time you've seen this kind of disease in all your years of medical practice, and it may also be the last time."
Zhu Haiping was even more confused.
"Brother Yong, don't scare me. I want to be a doctor for many more years!" Zhu Haiping said nervously.
Chen Dayong glared at Zhu Haiping and said, "Look at your ability to understand. What I mean is that this disease is very rare. You may not encounter another one in your lifetime."
Zhu Haiping let out a long sigh and said, "That's good. Brother Yong, can you tell me what this disease is?"
Zeng Pengfei, the doctor on duty in the emergency department, also came over and stared at Chen Dayong curiously.
Chen Dayong cleared his throat and said seriously, "This disease is very special. It's caused by pica..."
Chen Dayong introduced the disease in detail.
Several young doctors were surprised to hear this.
Some people actually eat hair!
This is hard to understand.
Li Zheng smiled faintly and said, "It's not just hair. There are also people who eat soil, iron, stones, and even plastic. They're just very rare. These people usually have mental illnesses."
Everyone nodded repeatedly.
Since Brother Zheng came, various strange cases have increased.
Zhu Haiping knew that strange cases had always existed, but the county hospital’s diagnosis and treatment conditions were limited in the past, so patients who were uncertain were transferred to other hospitals.
It was only because Brother Zheng kept all these patients and was able to diagnose them that it appeared that there were more patients of this type than before.
"Haiping, go inform the patient's family that they are not allowed to eat or drink anything from now on. We will perform emergency surgery tonight." Li Zheng said.
"Ah? Is it so urgent?" Zhu Haiping asked.
Li Zheng nodded and said, "The child has gastrointestinal obstruction and needs surgery as soon as possible!"
"Okay!" Zhu Haiping stood up and prepared to leave.
"Wait a minute," Li Zheng shouted. "Tell the child's mother that I'll discuss the hospitalization and surgery fees with her later. Tell her not to worry and just prepare for the surgery."
Zhu Haiping nodded and left the office.
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