Chapter 497: May I Examine Inside the Child? (1/2)
Chapter 497: May I Examine Inside the Child?
"Consultation? This late?"
Archmage Novak was not pleased as he stood up. For spellcasters, the night is meant for sleeping and restoring spells. Although one can rely on magical potions, nobody really wants to get up in the middle of the night...
He grumbled as he gathered his potions and magical gear, preparing to head out with his students. While packing, he rambled to Garrett:
"There’s nothing worth calling about... The child was born without an anus, and healing spells won’t create one... Even if you poke a hole to make it through, the person will still die eventually..."
Pfft...
Poking through...
Garrett nearly couldn’t hold back. This treatment approach, well, wasn’t entirely unreasonable. The child ended up dying...
Was it an infection, or anal stenosis, or bowel obstruction? Or besides the anal atresia, were there other complications?
He hummed in agreement a couple of times, quickly immersing his mind in books from his past life:
"Pediatrics..." Diseases of the digestive system... Physiological anatomy of the digestive system in children... Intussusception, congenital megacolon... Oh no, nothing!
It’s not that he was cramming at the last minute; he just hadn’t treated this condition in his previous life.
Being born without an anus is medically called congenital anal atresia. Normally, the child is taken from the maternity ward, immediately examined, and found to have the condition, then swiftly sent to the neonatology department to call for a pediatric surgeon to perform surgery.
Turning up in the emergency department? That doesn’t happen. Such cases wouldn’t land in their hands, and even if one occasionally did, it wasn’t his responsibility.
Pediatric treatment differs significantly from adult treatment in terms of anatomical structure, equipment size, precision of operation, anesthesia, and medication. Even the licenses aren’t the same, and he definitely wouldn’t dare to operate.
"No pediatrics," he hurriedly flipped through "Surgery." Hmm, diseases of the rectum and anal canal... Congenital diseases of the rectum and anal canal... Congenital anomalies of the rectum and anal canal... There!
Thank heavens, at least surgery mentioned it!
Garrett focused his mind, rapidly scanning through the pages. [Classification]... [Associated malformations]... [Clinical manifestations]... [Diagnosis]... [Treatment]...
Then, a passage caught his eye:
"Depending on the type of rectal and anal malformation, the treatment varies, but all require surgery. Anal atresia should be operated on immediately after birth."
Immediate surgery!
Immediate surgery!
There’s no need to consider the physiological, pathological, biochemical stuff anymore. Once there’s a conclusion in the medical books, just follow it and act. Garrett immediately stood up, and as Archmage Novak turned to leave, he paused:
"You go rest, I’ll just check and come back."
"Your Excellency, let me accompany you," Garrett cautiously said, not daring to claim "perhaps I can help"—the books mentioned that anal atresia often comes with other malformations, occurring in 28% to 72% of cases, fearing he couldn’t handle it—just very cautiously suggesting:
"I haven’t seen this disease before, can you show me?"
Archmage Novak smiled. Magicians always have a curiosity; transmutation mages seeing unique animals and plants, abjuration mages discovering unheard-of forms of attack, divination mages observing new stars, they would gladly bring their provisions and follow without rest.
And healers seeing unique diseases also bear the ire of the patient’s family, poking their heads in to learn something new.
He didn’t object, taking Garrett on a flying carpet, flying down the mountain. It was almost night, and the entire City of Nevis was shrouded in darkness, only the Theater Avenue brightly lit up, connected to the speckled garden district.
Within the bounds of Igor’s Lock, flying is prohibited for mid-tier mages, but less so for high-tier mages. Archmage Novak had no pressure starting to fly, bearing the cool night breeze, he explained to Garrett:
"Viscount Calrend’s family, they were nobles rooted in Nevis before the city was founded, and their ancestors’ names are also listed at the beginning of the mountain path."
"Their direct lineage is also unfortunate, previously two sons, one was raised until three years old, drowned in a pond; another, shortly after birth, was scratched by a cat, at the time cured using healing minor wounds, but days later, suddenly convulsed to death; now this is the third one..."
Uh, the first drowned, the second had rabies, the third born... that thing. According to the old Chinese saying, your ancestors didn’t accumulate virtue, or the parents didn’t accumulate virtue, right?
Garrett silently criticized, beginning to doubt the necessity of his trip.
Archmage Novak also seemed reluctant to go, sighing:
"They have a fifteenth-level great mage. So, no help for it, one must consider professional courtesy..."
The flying carpet rode the wind down, soon stopping in front of a spacious mansion. It was already night, yet the entire mansion was brightly lit, with seven or eight luxurious carriages parked at the door, each bearing a crest.
Garrett lay on the flying carpet, casually glancing, and saw the crests of the Temple of the War God and the Temple of the Spring Goddess. As for the Church of the God of Nature, apparently, everyone was carriageless—
Of course, Elder Wood wasn’t in town, and this late-night emergency probably only managed to randomly grab someone at the port clinic, whoever was available.
The flying carpet directly descended into the courtyard. Garrett followed Archmage Novak briskly inside, soon entering a grand, warm room on the second floor of the mansion.
Inside, shadows moved about, a faint smell of blood lingered, with a young female priest quickly walking in and out. Clearly, this was the room of the parturient, moans and sobbing sounds continuously emanating.