Practicing Medical Skills in a Small Clinic-Chapter 119 - 106: This Is Status—A Worthy Scavenger Elder (Part 3)

Chapter 119: Chapter 106: This Is Status—A Worthy Scavenger Elder (Part 3)

"I used to live with my wife. She passed away two years ago, and now I live alone. There’s nothing much to do usually, so I thought of going out to collect some scrap to sell."

Li Jingsheng nodded and praised, "Earning money through labor, that’s great. It can also lighten the children’s burden!"

The old man heard this but only moved his lips without saying anything.

"Sir, let me first take your temperature, blood pressure, and heart rate!"

This is the standard procedure for receiving patients at a regular hospital.

Due to the large volume of emergency and outpatient cases, doctors may not check every patient, but when it comes to elderly patients, no doctor would dare to be careless.

Temperature is normal, 36.4 degrees.

Blood pressure is significantly higher than normal, with systolic pressure reaching 157, which is nearing stage two hypertension.

Then, measuring the heart rate, 112 beats per minute. A bit fast.

Li Jingsheng wrote down the measurements. It’s his habit to record them for follow-up diagnosis and self-checking.

"Where do you feel unwell?"

"I just feel it’s a bit difficult to eat, and speaking takes effort. Also, breathing is somewhat difficult. Overall, I feel uneasy all over. Previously, my hands didn’t shake, but they’ve been shaking badly these past two days."

The old man’s words made Li Jingsheng’s heart tremble with fear.

A small clinic can handle ordinary patients, but elderly patients whose bodies suddenly start to tremble often indicate very bad signs.

Previously, in large hospitals, encountering such patients, all ten out of ten had major health problems.

There was even an eighty-seven-year-old lady whose hands started trembling while brushing her teeth in the morning, the same while eating, and her family took her to the First Hospital for treatment.

No obvious problems were found after the examination.

The family insisted on hospitalization.

Because the old lady reacted with some breathing difficulty, she was admitted to the inpatient ward of the respiratory department.

As a result, that night, around twelve o’clock, Li Jingsheng was on rounds and found the old lady with her eyes closed, as if sleeping, but her face looked somewhat off. Her daughter was sleeping on the side of the bed, leaning on the bed rail.

Out of caution, Li Jingsheng went up to check the old lady.

He found that the old lady was no longer breathing.

He quickly woke up the family and reported to the senior doctor to organize resuscitation.

It was essentially the symbolic gesture of CPR.

After half an hour, death was directly pronounced.

The old lady passed away peacefully. Had Li Jingsheng not discovered in time, by the next morning, she would surely have become cold and stiff.

If such an incident really happened, he would definitely be criticized, or even sued by the family.

Because of that unforgettable experience, he has been extra careful when dealing with elderly patients since then.

The most feared are cases of elderly patients with sudden trembling of hands and feet or body.

For some elderly people, trembling hands and feet are normal after a certain age.

The most feared is when everything seems fine, and suddenly the phenomenon of trembling hands, feet, and body appears.

Such prognosis is often not very good.

Right now, this old man suddenly experiences trembling of body and hands, along with overall discomfort. It sounds like a sign of impending doom.

"Are your eating difficulties related to swallowing issues?"

He cautiously started the diagnosis with utmost vigilance.

"Yes, swallowing is a bit difficult. Opening my mouth is also challenging, and when biting, I always feel I can’t muster strength. I used to have good health and could recover quickly from occasional colds. This time, it seems to be getting worse."

The old man struggled to describe the symptoms that appeared.

His hand was placed on the examination table, still shaking uncontrollably.

Like a Parkinson’s patient.

Li Jingsheng was trying hard to synthesize this information for diagnosis.

Difficulty in opening mouth, swallowing difficulties, breathing issues, body suddenly shaking, elevated blood pressure, accelerated heart rate... what kind of illness could this be?

Due to limited diagnostic capability, the symptoms seemed somewhat like a neurological disease.

He had to continue to gather more valuable diagnostic information from the old man.

"How long have you been experiencing these symptoms?"

"Maybe three to five days. It wasn’t too severe initially, but it seemed to have worsened in the past two days. I’ve dropped two bowls when picking them up, something that never happened before."

The old man seemed quite pained to mention dropping two bowls.

"Were your body and hands free from trembling before?"

"Yes, they never trembled. Even though I’m in my eighties, my hands have never trembled. I usually have the habit of reading books and writing calligraphy, but in the past few days, I haven’t been able to write."

"Before these symptoms appeared, did you have a fall or eat any special foods?"

Food poisoning.

A fall causing brain damage could also lead to these series of symptoms in the elderly.

"I didn’t fall, nor did I eat anything special. Every morning, it’s steamed buns with porridge, rice for lunch, one meat, and one vegetable; dinner is quite little."

The old man’s life was very simple.

Li Jingsheng guessed that the old man might be in poor economic conditions and didn’t want to ask his children for help, thus going out to collect scrap and sell it.

No falls or food poisoning, then what kind of illness is this?

Li Jingsheng exhausted his mind for a comprehensive diagnosis of the elderly. Actually, he wanted to advise the old man to go to a large hospital for a check-up.

But thinking that the old man struggles for livelihood, relying on collecting scrap to sell at such an age, it was difficult for him to say it.

"Sir, let me examine your hands and neck to check the muscle condition!"

"Alright!"

The old man nodded in agreement.

His nod seemed extremely laborious.

This detail was noticed by Li Jingsheng when the old man entered the room.

He first felt the old man’s arm, not very thin, with some muscle; however, the old man’s muscles were tightly strained.

He felt the old man’s neck, noticing a certain cervical stiffness.

He also felt the chewing muscles, which were unusual.

However, he did not feel obvious lymph node enlargement in the neck.

"What illness would cause tight muscles in both the neck and hands?"

Li Jingsheng fell into deep contemplation once again.

The diagnosis must be rigorous, trying to base it on solid evidence, rather than letting his speculation guide diagnostic thinking.

The old man was putting his cell phone into his trouser pocket with much effort.

When his hand was pulled out, a stack of money accidentally fell out.

Li Jingsheng immediately got up to help the old man pick it up.

"Please stay seated, I’ll help you pick it up, be careful not to fall."

Mostly one, five, ten yuan notes, and also some fifty-cents. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

Li Jingsheng helped the old man pick them up one by one and stacked them neatly.

He noticed along with the fallen money was a remittance slip. The date was quite recent, just today, and the remittance amount was exactly 10,000 yuan.

The recipient’s account was actually some mountain area hope primary school.

The remitter’s signature column was crookedly displaying the old man’s name.

Li Jingsheng suddenly felt his nose prick, his heart surging with emotion, the image of this old man became towering in his mind.