Chapter 106 Parasitic Disease
Perry looked a little lost.
He already knew he was anemic–last time at the hospital, Myrtle had reminded him more
than once.
This time, she had even brought him a whole pound of peanuts, saying they were good for his blood.
He casually pointed at the peanuts wrapped in old newspaper on the table.
“She used her free time to shell peanuts just for you–you’d better not forget that,” Evelyn teased.
Myrtle’s face instantly turned red. “Dr. Schmidt, why would you say that?”
“To make sure he knows how sweet you are,” Evelyn replied.
It was obvious these two had feelings for each other–they just needed a little push.
Evelyn didn’t mind being that push.
Then she turned serious and looked at Perry again. “Your anemia’s worse than last time. Have you been taking your meds regularly?”
“Yes, but I don’t know if it’s the medicine’s fault. I haven’t had an appetite, and my stomach feels bloated all the time.”
“Unbutton your shirt. Let me check,” Evelyn said without hesitation.
She never cared about gender when treating patients. Work was work.
Evelyn carefully examined his stomach.
It was really swollen–like a beer belly on a middle–aged man, round and firm.
“Maybe he should use glycerin suppositories?” Myrtle asked nervously from the side.
Evelyn shook her head. “No. That’s not the problem. This isn’t indigestion.”
Not indigestion?
“You barely eat anyway, so how could it be indigestion? Look at this belly.”
She pressed hard on the top of his abdomen.
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When she lifted her hand, his stomach rippled like a water balloon, waves spreading across it.
Even Myrtle, with little medical knowledge, realized what this meant.
It was ascites, otherwise known as fluid collected in the belly.
Totally different from indigestion.
Indigestion is just food sitting in the stomach and intestines. If it stays too long, it hardens into constipation.
But ascites fills the whole abdominal cavity, wrapping around organs and floating in between them.
Like a giant water balloon inside the belly.
The fluid moves around, puts pressure on organs, and can even lead to organ failure, sometimes fatal.
From the look of it, Perry’s case was already serious.
Evelyn made a quick decision. “Go to the main gate and tell Dr. Cook we’ve got an urgent patient. Ask him to wait–we’ll need a separate vehicle.”
On the ride to the hospital, Perry should lie flat so his organs wouldn’t shift and make things
worse.
Seeing Evelyn’s tense expression, Myrtle realized this was bad. She didn’t waste a second and rushed out.
Evelyn went to find Philip.
She didn’t know who else to rely on.
Soon, Philip was helping escort Perry toward Brookhaven Hospital.
On the way, Evelyn asked about earlier checkups to find out why the base clinic hadn’t noticed.
“They checked, but thought it was just indigestion. Since I had no appetite, they gave me digestion pills and laxatives,” Perry said.
“That’s careless, handing out meds without a proper diagnosis,” Evelyn muttered angrily.
Philip, who was driving, spoke up. “Life here is tough. Most doctors are older and not up to date. And this is the first case like Perry’s. They didn’t think it could be something worse.”
That’s how it often goes–something that seems small turns into something huge.
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But Evelyn didn’t want to waste time blaming anyone now.
The most important thing was draining the fluid and finding out the cause.
Once they reached the hospital, Evelyn and Rowan went straight to the operating room.
Draining ascites was a moderately serious procedure.
They made a small cut in the abdomen to release the fluid and check the source of the problem.
The amount of fluid shocked everyone–it was far more than expected.
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Rowan also noticed something else: under anesthesia, Perry’s breathing was extremely heavy, like working a bellows.
“There’s something stuck in the trachea,” Rowan said.
But unlike the abdomen, you can’t just cut it open to check.
“We’ll wait until he wakes up, then run more tests. For now, everyone, head to the office for a case review,” Rowan instructed.
The group followed him out.
Evelyn stayed at the back, sneaking one more look at Perry.
She had wanted to check further earlier in the dorm, but Myrtle was there, and Perry had been embarrassed even during the stomach exam, so she held back.
Now, seeing him again, her gut feeling was right–the situation was worse than she thought.
When she reached the office, everyone was already waiting.
Rowan thought she was late and frowned.
Seems I should stop praising Evelyn–I called her my star apprentice in the morning, and now she’s late?
How embarrassing in front of the others,
Just as he was about to scold her, Evelyn squeezed through the group, leaned close, and whispered something in his car.
His mood instantly improved.
But since this was a formal case discussion, he couldn’t let himself smile like a fool. People would think he’d lost it.
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So he coughed to hide it and said firmly, “Alright, everyone’s here. Let’s start.”
The doctors began giving their opinions on Perry’s condition.
After draining the fluid, they found no wounds or damage in the abdominal cavity. Some thought it might be like edema.
Others guessed it was a fluid imbalance, with water leaking from cells and pooling in the abdomen.
Rowan waved off these theories.
“Many of you have years of experience. How could you miss something so important?”
“What detail?” the
group asked.
Rowan didn’t answer directly. He turned to Evelyn. “You tell them.”
“Do I really have to? Shouldn’t I stay humble?” Evelyn muttered, frustrated.
She had whispered to him earlier only to avoid talking about it publicly, and now he was dumping the responsibility on her in front of everyone.
“You found it, so you explain. I’m almost retired–I don’t need to steal credit.”
Rowan gave her a firm look. “Hurry up.”
“Fine.” Evelyn sighed and faced the group. “It’s caused by a parasite.”
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