After two o'clock in the afternoon, the aphasic girl finally arrived at Zhizhen Building accompanied by her family.
This is a fifteen-year-old girl with a long ponytail, an oval face and a lovely appearance.
She also brought a letter from Lei Jiahua, a young boy whom Yu Zhiming met at a military sanatorium resort.
The two pages of letter paper were crammed with words.
Lei Jiahua spent a lot of space introducing the aphasic girl, saying that she was smart and studious, quiet and sensible, and was very good to him, often sharing snacks with him.
When Yu Zhiming saw this, he couldn't help but wonder, could this thirteen-year-old boy have some vague feelings for this classmate's sister?
Isn't this a bit too precocious?
Yu Zhiming raised his eyes and glanced at the girl in front of him, then continued to read Lei Jiahua's letter.
The boy wrote later that he started studying seriously after returning home, very seriously.
Because he had made an agreement with his parents that as long as he ranked in the top ten in the class in the final exam results of this semester, he could come to Binhai to play during the summer vacation.
The agreed goal is only to be in the top ten in the class. It seems that this kid’s academic performance in the class is not very good.
Yu Zhiming read the letter quickly, then put it away and looked at the girl and her parents in front of him.
Yu Zhiming noticed that the girl's eyes were clear, and she avoided his gaze timidly.
"He's conscious and can make sounds, but he can't speak normally?"
The girl's father replied, "Yes, yes, she is still the same as before. She can study, write, and do housework, but she can no longer speak. She can only make meaningless sounds."
"We couldn't understand her. It was like she suddenly became mute and just kept making noises."
After a brief pause, the girl's father continued, "I went to several hospitals, but no brain damage or brain tumors were found. Spinal cord and laryngeal nerve examinations also didn't reveal any problems."
"My vocal cords are fine too."
Yu Zhiming uttered a soft "oh" and placed his medical-gloved hand on the girl's neck. He then asked, "Can you recite Li Bai's 'Quiet Night Thoughts'?"
The girl met Yu Zhiming's gaze and nodded.
"Recite it once."
The girl pursed her lips tightly, looked at the nurse, Sun Lin and others in the soundproof examination room, mustered up some courage, and opened her mouth.
"Oh……&…"
What Yu Zhiming heard was a foreign language that sounded like some minor language. Although it had intonations, rhythms and falling tones, he just couldn't understand a single syllable.
Moreover, the sound was not only a bit harsh, but also fluctuated. It was obvious that the girl could not even control the volume.
At the same time, he could feel the air rushing out of the girl's lungs, through her throat, and out of her vocal cords...
The girl finished reciting "Quiet Night Thoughts" in a voice that no one else could understand, and Yu Zhiming withdrew his probing hand.
"There's no lesion in the vocal cords, nor any abnormality in their physiological structure, but there's clearly something wrong with their tension."
Yu Zhiming further analyzed, "Not only that, the airflow rushing out of the lungs has also become disordered in terms of spacing and strength."
"I suspect there's something wrong with the center of your brain that controls your pronunciation or the information transmission center."
The girl's father couldn't help but remind her, "Doctor Yu, we've had tests at several major hospitals, and there's nothing wrong with the brain or spinal cord."
Yu Zhiming explained: "Perhaps the problem was minor and went undetected."
He then instructed the girl, "Lie down on the examination bed. I need to perform a detailed examination of your brain and cervical spine."
After the girl lay down on the examination bed, Yu Zhiming first conducted a comprehensive examination of the girl's head. After finding no suspicious problems, he began to focus on examining the posterior part of her inferior frontal gyrus.
This area primarily controls the muscles that produce speech and is responsible for speech production. Damage to this area of the brain can cause a person to lose their ability to speak, but they can still understand what others say. This is clinically known as motor aphasia.
Judging from the girl’s symptoms, the possibility of problems in this area is quite high.
However, to Yu Zhiming's disappointment, he checked repeatedly and found no abnormalities in this area.
Of course, this does not rule out the possibility that the lesion in this part of the brain is too mild or too deep, and Yu Zhiming's ability to detect it is not enough.
Next, Yu Zhiming focused on examining the girl's cerebellum, which connects the lower and upper parts of the body, and the spinal cord protected by the cervical vertebrae.
After checking three times, Yu Zhiming still found nothing.
This made Yu Zhiming a little confused.
Was his analysis wrong?
Or is it that the lesion is too mild or hidden too deeply for his detection ability to detect?
In order to avoid any omissions, Yu Zhiming also examined the girl's throat nerves that control pronunciation.
The focus is on the recurrent laryngeal nerve, which is the nerve that controls the opening and closing of the vocal cords.
When the girl was reciting "Quiet Night Thoughts", Yu Zhiming was able to confirm that there was indeed a problem with the tightness of her vocal cords.
If there is no problem with the brain's pronunciation control center and information transmission center, it is possible that there is an abnormality in the nerves responsible for specific control.
This step of inspection is not easy either.
There are too many distractions that need to be eliminated.
Yu Zhiming needs to use sound wave positioning to accurately find the recurrent laryngeal nerve among the numerous blood vessels, lymphatic vessels, nerves, muscles and other tissues in the throat.
He took some effort to mark the recurrent laryngeal nerve from beginning to end, and then began to meticulously explore it section by section...
However, after Yu Zhiming exhausted his energy again, he still did not find the abnormal discovery he wanted.
This gave him a headache.
The patient had obvious symptoms, and Yu Zhiming also had a relatively clear analysis and judgment, but a detailed examination showed no physical abnormalities, which was rare for Yu Zhiming.
Or, it can be described as rare...
Suddenly, Yu Zhiming realized that not discovering the problem was also a kind of discovery.
Especially for him who is famous for seeing the big picture from the details.
He reviewed his examination and said thoughtfully to the girl and her parents, "I didn't find any pathology that could cause aphasia. There are two possibilities for this situation."
After a pause, Yu Zhiming slowly said, "First, the lesion is too mild, beyond my ability to detect."
"I will arrange for you to go to Ning'an Hospital for an enhanced MRI scan. Ning'an Hospital has the highest resolution MRI machine in the country."
"but……"
Yu Zhiming added, "Before going to Ning'an Hospital again, you need to arrange a psychological examination and consultation."
He then said, "This brings us to the second possibility, which I cannot identify. It's aphasia caused by psychological problems, which is another word we often hear: hysteria."
The girl's father immediately questioned, "Doctor Yu, my daughter has always been well-behaved and normal. She doesn't have any hysterical problems."
"Does she look like she has mental problems?"
Seeing that the other party was a little agitated, Yu Zhiming quickly explained, "Hysteria is very different from mental illness. It can manifest as specific physical symptoms."
"A typical case is when someone has a hysterical attack and their eyes are fine, there's nothing wrong with them, but they just can't see."
The girl's father asked, "Is there really such a patient? There is nothing wrong with their eyes, but they can't see because of hysteria?"
Yu Zhiming nodded and said, "How could I possibly deceive you? You can search online."
After a pause, Yu Zhiming continued, "Your daughter must be under considerable psychological pressure due to this aphasia attack. A psychological examination and counseling can help relieve her stress."
"I will contact the best psychiatrist for you."
Speaking of this, Yu Zhiming thought of Geng Ruoqing... (End of this chapter)
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