Before Gu Jun rushed to the sickroom, he put on the protective suit again. The infectivity of Xie Yiman's disease was once again uncertain.
After all, this was not a normal skin disease, it was probably the prodromal stage of some kind of disease.
When he reached the sickbed, Xie Yiman's consciousness had returned. She seemed to be able to recognize people. When she saw Gu Jun, she screamed, "Captain Gu, Captain Gu!"
Gu Jun saw the new symptom that Uncle Dan had described to him earlier. The lesions on the patient's face had expanded. The irregular red skin that only appeared on the patient's cheeks and nose was spreading outwards. It covered the nose, chin and forehead. Based on this speed, it would cover the whole face by tomorrow.
Furthermore, there were scaly flakes on the red skin. The parts that were not decayed were cut into small red scales by the white flakes.
For now, it was just a scale-like dandruff, but Gu Jun could foresee the disease spreading to the patient's entire body. The edema that was still mild at the moment would worsen, and eventually, the skin would fall off completely, like exfoliative dermatitis, just like the host girl in the illusion.
But when the old skin was removed, a new skin would grow, it would be a scale-like keratinized skin with other pigments.
"It's so itchy, there are so many bugs …" Xie Yiman's frantic words indicated that her mental world was changing, "They've crawled to other places, ah, save me …"
Gu Jun gave her some tests and for now, he could only turn away with a frown.
"The patient should have entered the second stage." He communicated with the command central, "It was indeed prodromal earlier, the possibility of this being Mutated Scale Disease has increased."
So far, only Xie Yiman had shown new symptoms but that was more than enough to explain the situation. This was not just a mental disorder but also a nervous system abnormality. Therefore, they had to deal with the nervous system that human medicine did not have much understanding of and the cranial nervous system.
Mutated Scale Disease, if this really developed into Mutated Scale Disease …
That was definitely not good news.
Gu Jun reminded the command central and immediately sent Xie Yiman's scaly flakes to the Deep One and the scale he brought back from Dreamlands for a DNA test to see if there were any similarities.
He had a feeling the Deep Ones would be a breakthrough but the system's abyssal mission still did not spawn the dissection of the Deep Ones.
Ever since Xie Yiman's new symptoms appeared, the experts in the command center and the people's hospital in Beihe City had been discussing new treatment plans.
"Ah Jun, we must consider surgery," Zhang Haidong said to Gu Jun. "The patient's condition is developing very quickly. We cannot delay it."
There were two main possibilities.
One was to sever the mental connection between the patient and the source of the illness, and the patient could still improve and recover.
The other was that the diseased skin could no longer be saved. They had to remove all the diseased skin and transplant new skin.
To find the right treatment path for new diseases, all kinds of clinical trials are needed.
"Let's do a radiofrequency damage to her trigeminal nerve and facial nerve first and see how it works," Zhang Haidong said.
When they treated Nightmare Illness, they performed lobotomies on the patients to destroy their central nervous system. This destroyed the mental connection between the patients and the Nightmare House and greatly slowed down the progression of the patients' illness. Now that he had damaged the nerves of the patients suspected of Mutated Scale Disease, it might be effective.
The second method, surgical removal of the diseased area, might be effective as well.
Malformed Banyan Disease and other diseases had successful experience in this area. Once the diseased area was removed, the disease would be cured. But there were also failures. If it was indeed a problem with the nervous system, even if they removed the old skin and replaced it with new skin, the disease would continue to be affected.
Therefore, with the uncertain future of both methods, the medical team decided to try the first method first.
The main reason was that radiofrequency damage was fast, less risky, and easier to recover from after surgery, so it was more suitable for the first attempt.
"Hmm …" But Gu Jun's heart sank when he heard that. Even for a normal person, the consequences of radiofrequency damage would be unbearable.
Take the trigeminal nerve for example, it was a hybrid nerve. It had three types of nerve fiber functions: pain, touch, and movement.
Radiofrequency damage could control which part of the nerve was damaged. For example, radiofrequency damage of the meniscus of the trigeminal nerve was mainly used to treat patients with trigeminal neuralgia. The treatment principle was simple. The nerve was causing pain, and the pain was unbearable. Then, the pain would be blocked, and only part of the touch and movement functions would be preserved. The brain would not be able to receive the pain information from the nerve, so it would not feel the pain anymore.
But the effect of the surgery was not always so ideal. Some patients suffered from post-surgery sequelae. The pain was gone, and so were all other senses. From then on, the face would be severely numb. It would also affect the tongue, eyes, nose, and other motor functions. Talking, swallowing, and even breathing would become difficult.
Currently, the medical team said that only the movement functions would be preserved, and the rest would be destroyed.
But if the facial nerve was destroyed as well — this was a hybrid nerve with mainly motor nerves. When the facial muscles that it controlled lost their function, the patient would suffer from facial paralysis. The mouth and eyes would become crooked, and they would not even be able to frown, puff, or pout.
Xie Yiman, on the other hand, was an actress. She was young, successful, and had a bright future ahead of her. It was said that she was ambitious.
Destroying these two pairs of nerves was equivalent to ending her acting career prematurely. With her current mental state … would she be able to accept it?
"Ah Jun, do you think we should explain it to the patient?" Tong Ye asked from the command center.
Gu Jun was silent. This was a difficult problem. If he told Xie Yiman, it would be very difficult for her to accept it. She might even have a mental breakdown.
If he did not tell Xie Yiman, it might give the dark forces a chance. When she found out that she had been lied to, the consequences might be even worse …
"Let me think …" Gu Jun could not make a decision immediately. "I feel that this kind of decision should be made by the patient herself …"
"Then you should help the patient and let her make the decision." Zhang Haidong expressed his understanding and encouragement. "We doctors have this kind of job."
How to deal with the patient's psychology, explain to the patient the necessity of the surgery, and ease the patient's anxiety before the surgery was one of the doctors' responsibilities.
This matter was handed over to Gu Jun because Xie Yiman was his patient.
As for the other 155 patients in the country, although most of them were celebrities, the country would not accommodate them. The command center had already selected 45 of them and divided them into groups, preparing to undergo the destructive surgery. The 45 people were evenly distributed in terms of status, gender, and severity of illness to have a more comprehensive sample.
There were three groups of 15 people each. One group only had the trigeminal nerve removed, one only had the facial nerve removed, and the last group had both pairs of nerves removed.
There was also a blank control group that did nothing. There were also 15 people.
At the same time, there were more experimental groups in preparation. One group of 15 people was prepared to do the trigeminal nerve sensory rhizotomy. This was a craniotomy. If the radiofrequency destructive surgery did not work, they would upgrade it and cut it off themselves. However, it was also more risky and had more sequelae.
The other group of 15 people was prepared to do the dermatectomy. If the destructive surgery did not work, they would immediately start the skin cutting and skin grafting.
However, Xie Yiman's treatment was decided by Gu Jun. Moreover, as the only patient with the second stage of symptoms, her situation was special.
Perhaps during the prodromal stage, the dermatectomy or nerve-destruction surgery might work but it might not work on her now.
Not all patients had the right to choose whether to accept the surgery, but Gu Jun wanted to give Xie Yiman that right.
However, he also understood that this strange illness was not just Xie Yiman's personal problem, it affected the welfare of many people in the world.
Before returning to the quarantine room, Gu Jun sought out Wu Shiyu for a chat. He did not hide his confusion from her.
"Anything is possible, no one can predict the consequences." Wu Shiyu thought about it. "I finally understand why I didn't study medicine in the first place."
She patted him on his shoulder. "Dirty-minded Jun, if it was me, I would give her some hope. I will show her the picture of you when you were the nightmare man and tell her about the Dreamlands and the golden aloe. If there is a suitable physical channel, I will bring her there to cure her face. Also, there is the Great Atal, he has many ways to cure her. "
"That will indeed make the patient feel better …" Gu Jun said, "There is hope, there is hope and I am not lying to her."
"Hmm." Wu Shiyu nodded as he was reminded of something. "She can live without her face but she can't live without her heart."
"Okay, let's do that." Gu Jun decided. "We will do as the Goddess of Hope says."
When the two walked into the quarantine room, Xie Yiman could already move on her own and her mind was more or less awake.
However, accompanying this clarity was an even more intense itching and pain, as well as great panic in his heart. Xie Yiman was so agitated that she asked for a mirror. It was as if she had sensed something. The nurse got permission from Gu Jun to show her in the mirror and she froze in place.
"When I was unconscious, I saw a shadow …" She mumbled, "The skin on my face was peeling off, will that happen to me?"
Gu Jun comforted her gently and then asked her some questions.
Xie Yiman did not know any host girl and she did not communicate with her when she was unconscious. She only saw the girl looking at her from afar but she was unable to move.
The girl ran away after a while. Just as she felt like she was about to explode from the itching pain, someone pulled her back and she felt much better after that. When Gu Jun asked if there was a taste to describe the power that helped her, she said it was faint and sweet, it was indeed Deng Ximei who saved her.
"Yiman, take a look at these pictures." Gu Jun passed Wu Shiyu's phone to her and showed her the pictures of him when he was the nightmare man.
"This is?" Xie Yiman was confused, the picture looked even more serious than she did, it was a different kind of serious.
"This is me." Gu Jun said.
He had reported this to his superiors and they approved but the golden aloe had to be kept a secret or else they were afraid the Zoogs would be in trouble.
He agreed with this so he only told Xie Yiman about the Dreamlands, the miraculous medicine and the Great Atal — the cultists could try to wreak havoc at Ulthar. He believed Ulthar was not as simple as it looked since it had survived for so long. Those cats, who knew what they were.
"If my face can be cured, so can yours."
Gu Jun gave Xie Yiman hope and then told her about the surgery plan. Xie Yiman's tears flowed like a fountain and she almost broke down.
"Listen to me!" He said quickly, "Atal knows everything and there are many ways to cure it. The most important thing now is to save your life! It will not cause your self-consciousness to dissipate and it will not turn you into another abnormal creature. As long as you can be saved, there will be other chances to cure your face. "
Wu Siyu, who was at the side, nodded her head repeatedly, "Although I have never seen Great Elder Atal, I heard that guy has lived to three hundred years old, but he still looks like he was a hundred years old. It can be seen that Great Elder Atal is very good at skin care.
'Is there a difference in skin care between 100 and 300 years old? ' Gu Jun really did not know the answer to this question.
He gave a long sigh and nodded in agreement. "Atal still looks very young."
"But …" Xie Yiman was still agitated and confused. That little ray of hope was about to be snuffed out by a huge wave of despair.
Two days ago, she was filming a teen comedy movie with the main female lead. She had too many jobs and her popularity on the internet and in real life helped her secure her spot as an A-list star. She had to compete for a role in Phecda's movie …
She had to win an award, become the box office champion, become the best actress and go down in history …
In less than two days, she might become a person with facial paralysis. It would be difficult for her to move her eyes and move her mouth …
"I don't want that, I don't want that …" Her tears could not stop falling. "What did I do wrong!"
"You didn't do anything wrong. You're just unlucky." Gu Jun said seriously. Most of the time, the arrival of diseases did not have cause and effect. It was the finality of death …
He shook his head and focused. "Yiman, you're very unlucky. But this time, you're not the only one who's unlucky. Many people in the performing arts industry are preparing to undergo this surgery." He read out some of the names on the patient list. They were all famous people. "Yiman, this is a war. We have to win it together."
Although Xie Yiman was still crying, she was not so agitated. Instead, she was more at a loss.
There was also a kind of consolation that she was not the only one who was unlucky … If she was the only one who was unlucky, it would be too hard to bear.
Gu Jun knew a little about this. It was not that he longed for the misfortune of others, but he hoped that there would be others who could truly understand his pain.
If no one could understand the pain and suffering, and all he got was silence and loneliness, it was too difficult to achieve …
He did not expect Xie Yiman to do it, nor did he expect the girl in the illusion to do it …
What was the girl looking for? Was it the pain that happened to her but no one cared about it? Seeing others like this, did she feel … her own existence? His current self? His past self?
At this moment, Gu Jun felt a lot better. He had more feelings for "Liaki". He did not know if it was right or wrong.
But no matter what, he would try his best to save this Xie Yiman.
"Yiman, I heard that our Phecda, and the future GOA, are preparing to set up a new department to be responsible for presenting our image to the public."
Gu Jun was not lying. It was true. The new department was similar to an art troupe. "The Phecda movie will be shot by this department. They will recruit various talents such as directors and actors. Yiman, as long as you survive, you will be able to join this department. Even if you have facial paralysis, you have a way of acting. You know Takeshi Kitano, right? You will be able to act like you have facial paralysis. Survival is the most important thing. As long as you survive, there is a possibility. "
"Mm." Wu Shiyu nodded. "You are right."
"Doctor Gu …" Xie Yiman choked on her tears. How could she not feel their passion and concern?
She knew that they really wanted to save her. After hearing their words, her imagination of the future was not completely dark.
But she really could not make this kind of decision on her own …
"I don't know medicine, and I don't know anything about supernatural powers …" Xie Yiman scratched her face and cried. "I trust you. You can help me decide. You know better."
"Okay." Gu Jun took a deep breath. In the current situation, there was no chance without surgery. He planned to operate on her trigeminal nerve first. If that did not work, then he would move on to the facial nerve. "Prepare yourself. The first stage of the operation will begin in two hours. We must eliminate the itch on your face."
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
