Sports Medicine Master System-Chapter 106 - 82: Surgery Maniac (Part 2)

Although it was uncomfortable and awkward, Kobe could accept it if this was all the treatment required.

But then Chen Yu kept going, not stopping until he had practically turned Kobe into a human pincushion. That’s when Kobe started to panic.

Kobe didn’t dare move. There was only one thought in his mind: ’Hardaway, you tricked me.’

Pelinka silently took out his phone to snap a commemorative photo.

After a moment, Chen Yu removed the needles.

"Chen, is this just a one-time thing?" Kobe asked, his voice still shaky.

Chen Yu pulled on a pair of Gloves and prepared for the massage. "Mm, just this once for today. After that, it’ll be once a day until you’re discharged from the hospital."

Kobe froze on the spot.

Hardaway, who was standing nearby, couldn’t hold back his laughter.

Kobe wore an expression of utter despair, but the moment Chen Yu’s hands began the massage, he instantly felt a change.

A tingling numbness spread through him. It was a comfort he had never felt before.

He couldn’t resist propping himself up to watch how Chen Yu was performing the massage.

"Chen, how are you doing this? I get massages from the team staff, but they’re nothing like this." His left foot, in particular, felt wonderfully warm and comfortable. He wondered if he was just imagining it.

Kobe had been playing through the injury for days. Before every game, his ankle was wrapped so tightly with bandages it was practically numb. The constant, throbbing ache after two and a half hours on the court felt like a form of torture.

This was the first time in days his ankle had actually felt comfortable.

"It’s all in the technique."

Chen Yu didn’t elaborate.

Twenty minutes later, Chen Yu stopped. Beads of sweat had formed on his forehead.

Whether it was massage or chipping away at bone in surgery, it was all physically demanding work.

"Time for your medicine." Chen Yu went to get the pills and handed them to Kobe.

Kobe felt so relaxed he could have fallen asleep right then and there. He finally understood why Hardaway and Hill had both chosen Chen Yu.

That massage alone was proof enough of Chen Yu’s incredible medical expertise.

"Chen, thank you," Kobe said after swallowing the pills.

Chen Yu waved it off, then pulled a CD from his bag. He handed it to Pelinka, telling him to play it for Kobe in a bit.

"It’s a set of movements, similar to yoga. In your condition, you can’t just lie in bed resting. You need to be active. In half an hour, I want you to start learning by following the demonstration on the disc."

The disc contained a full demonstration of the Five Animals Qigong, which Chen Yu had recorded himself when he had a spare moment.

He had originally prepared it for the team.

Chen Yu was also getting ready to implement his plan to redesign the team’s training regimen.

The Five Animals Qigong improves flexibility and boosts the immune system, making it an ideal warm-up routine.

Kobe grunted in acknowledgment and immediately promised he would study it diligently.

After leaving the hospital room, Chen Yu found Joseph, who had just started his shift, and made a request.

"You want to practice... in the ER?" Joseph asked, giving Chen Yu a strange look.

Chen Yu explained he wanted to get some practice in before his upcoming surgeries.

The strange part was his choice of practice: suturing wounds in the emergency room.

’Can’t he just practice on an orange?’

’Or maybe the feel of human tissue is just better.’

"It’s not a problem, but you have four surgeries scheduled for today. Won’t you be exhausted?" Joseph often got called to the ER for consults, so he knew them well. Besides, the ER was always short-staffed; they’d be thrilled to have Chen Yu’s help.

The main issue was that Chen Yu already had four surgeries on his schedule. He might be young, but he couldn’t just burn himself out like that.

Especially since his first case of the day was a major operation.

"It’s fine. I need to get in the zone," Chen Yu said with a smile.

’It was mainly about the experience. His Sports Medicine skill was almost maxed out. He needed to grind it to at least 96, then use today’s four surgeries to push his treatment efficacy higher.’

"Alright then," Joseph said, deciding not to press the issue.

The first surgery of the day was for a comminuted pelvic fracture.

The patient was a warehouse worker who’d been crushed by falling cargo.

In orthopedics, pelvic surgery is one of the most difficult operations. The surgical field is large and packed with nerves and blood vessels. The slightest mistake can lead to massive, uncontrollable hemorrhaging.

It was understandable that a surgeon would want to warm up his hands before such a major operation.

Joseph knew that many surgeons had their own particular pre-op rituals.

He led Chen Yu to the emergency room.

The ER was generally busier than the outpatient clinics, especially since Saint Luke Hospital served as the designated trauma center for Phoenix.

’Chen Yu focused on suturing wounds. It was quick, counted toward his Sports Medicine experience, and even let him grind some general medicine experience on the side.’

’After a little over an hour, he had ground his experience up to 93.’

’It wasn’t enough, but he could always come back later to max it out.’

Chen Yu scrubbed in and entered the operating room. The patient was already under general anesthesia, completely unconscious.

In the observation gallery above, Joseph watched alongside several young orthopedic surgeons.

The patient’s left hip bone was shattered into four pieces and required internal fixation. This was no minor procedure.

"Pay attention to how he drills the bone tunnels. In traumatic cases like this, the pelvic cavity is filled with hematomas, obscuring the vasculature. You also have numerous ligaments and muscle tissues with a rich blood supply and dense nerve clusters. You have to be extremely careful during dissection."

"You all need to watch him closely. See how Chen operates, how he applies the fixation. This is the kind of valuable experience you can only get from a top orthopedic specialist," Joseph instructed his residents.

Everyone nodded in agreement. Who but a specialist would dare to take on a comminuted pelvic fracture like this?

Down in the operating room, Chen Yu had already made his first incision with practiced ease.

Following the inguinal crease, he made a series of precise cuts to expose the pelvis.