"My husband was working in the fields five days ago and caught a cold. He came back with a fever and cough. We got some cold medicine at the health center. He felt much better yesterday and went back to work. When he came back that evening, he had a fever again, a headache, body aches, and chest tightness. We gave him cold medicine again, but it didn't work. He feels even worse today!"
After listening to the woman's story, Li Zheng's heart tightened. He thought of a terrible complication after a cold.
Li Zheng quickly took out a stethoscope to listen to the heart sounds.
The heart sounds are dull and galloping!
"Ventricular tachycardia, severe arrhythmia!" Li Zheng said solemnly, "It's very likely fulminant myocarditis!"
"What, fulminant myocarditis?"
Chen Dayong and Zhang Lei were both shocked.
This disease is too dangerous. It can lead to severe heart failure, malignant arrhythmias, respiratory and circulatory failure, and sudden death within a few days or even hours!
Li Zheng nodded and said to the man's wife, "Your lover's illness is very serious. You must go to the hospital immediately!"
"Doctor, what's wrong with him? You must save him!" the old lady cried.
"The heart is infected by the virus, which is equivalent to cardiac poisoning. He must go to the hospital for detoxification immediately, otherwise his life will be in danger!" Li Zheng tried his best to explain in a language that she could understand.
"How could the heart be poisoned? Did you eat something wrong?" the old man asked anxiously.
"Now is not the time to explain. We must go to the hospital immediately, and go to the municipal hospital!" Li Zheng said, taking out the thermometer from the man's armpit.
"40.2 degrees, hurry up, no god can save him if you delay any longer!" Li Zheng handed the thermometer to Zhang Lei.
Chen Dayong brought the stretcher over.
"Ah, we still have to go to the municipal hospital. Can we go to our county hospital? Our family doesn't have that much money for medical treatment!" the old man asked loudly.
Li Zheng quickly advised, "We are doctors from the county hospital. We can't treat this disease in our county!"
Even in later generations, the mortality rate of fulminant myocarditis is very high. Some of the successfully treated cases used ECOM, which provides extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support therapy to allow the myocardium to completely rest and recover. However, even in later generations, there are not many hospitals with ECOM. Only those well-known domestic tertiary hospitals have them. Some provinces do not have any ECOMs. Moreover, the machine costs tens of thousands of yuan to start up, and the subsequent treatment costs are unaffordable for ordinary families.
At that time, ECOM had not yet been applied in China, and it was not until 1993 at the earliest.
This patient must be admitted to the ICU for supportive treatment. Active treatment as soon as possible is still a glimmer of hope. The treatment conditions in the county hospital are not suitable. Even if Li Zheng is one of the world's top doctors, he dare not risk the patient's life.
"Uncle, saving lives is the most important thing now. Your son is so young, we have to sell everything we have to treat him. You are lucky. Our ambulance just happened to come back from the city, and we can send your son there now!" Chen Dayong urged loudly.
"Dad, listen to the doctor. We will sell our land to save Ahua!" The woman cried and ran into the inner room to get money.
"Oh, what a sin I have committed that I have gotten this disease!" cried the old man.
Li Zheng and Chen Dayong quickly carried the patient to the ambulance and closed the back door. Li Zheng and Zhang Lei got in, and Zhang Lei was responsible for establishing intravenous access. The patient had a high fever and had lost a lot of water, so they first needed fluids, then controlled their temperature and maintained their blood pressure.
At this time, all the neighbors came over.
"What happened to Ah Hua?" asked an old lady.
"He had a fever a few days ago and was feeling better, but he had it again yesterday. Today he is so feverish that he is confused and talking nonsense!" said the old lady while wiping her tears.
The neighbor lady rolled her eyes and whispered, "What nonsense! Did he run into something unclean? Why don't we ask the aunt to perform a ritual for him to exorcise the evil spirit!"
When the old lady heard this, she was a little moved. She turned to look at the old man. The old man thought about it and also wanted to perform a ritual.
The young daughter-in-law took the money and ran out, but was stopped by the old lady.
"Mom, what's wrong?" asked the daughter-in-law.
The old lady shook her head and said, "Let's not go to the hospital. Ah Hua must have been possessed by an evil spirit. Let's ask our aunt to perform a ritual and he will be fine!"
"Yes, my grandson also had a fever a few days ago and was not feeling well. He got better after doing a ritual!" said the neighbor lady seriously.
"Mom, what are you thinking about? Ahua is almost dying!" The daughter-in-law broke free from the old lady's hand and was about to get in the car.
"Don't listen to the doctors. The hospital will give them money if they admit a patient!" said the neighbor lady seriously.
"Cui, why don't we just listen to your aunt and not go to the hospital!" the old man also advised.
"It's best not to go. I had a cough last month and the hospitalization cost me more than 500 yuan! It's simply a rip-off!" Another neighbor said, looking at the ambulance coldly.
The other neighbors tried to persuade her one after another, and the daughter-in-law became a little hesitant.
"Why aren't you in the car yet?" Chen Dayong shouted. The intravenous line had already been established.
The young daughter-in-law walked to the ambulance somewhat at a loss, and mustered up the courage to say, "We...we're not going to the hospital!"
"What?" Chen Dayong said angrily, "If you don't go to the hospital, are you going to let him die?"
When the neighbor heard this, she shouted, "Nonsense! He's just possessed by an evil spirit. We can just ask the aunt to exorcise the evil spirit ourselves. There's no need to go to the hospital!"
Hearing the noise outside, Li Zheng and Zhang Lei got out of the car.
Li Zheng looked at the old lady and said coldly, "You said he was possessed by evil spirits. If he died, would you be responsible?"
The old lady was stunned and stammered, "I...I won't be responsible. If he died, it must be because a fierce ghost wanted to take him away. It was his fate!"
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