On December 19, 2009, Director Xu Kecheng of the Fuda Cancer Hospital affiliated to Jinan University in China met a 28-year-old young woman who was suffering from a "strange disease" and despaired of life.
It was Saturday afternoon. In the outpatient square of the Central People's Hospital of Zhanjiang, China, a free clinic for digestive diseases and tumors organized by the Gastroenterology Professional Committee of the Guangdong Society of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine is being held lively.
The weather is approaching the winter solstice, and the weather is tender and cold.
At about 3 o'clock, a thin young woman with a pale face came in front of her. She was half-sitting on a chair, her distended abdomen covered by her untimely dress, her lower limbs were swollen, purple in color, and shaped like elephant legs. When she opened the dress, Xu Kecheng was shocked: it turned out that she was not wearing pants! Skin edema of the lower abdomen extends to the perineum and lower extremities. The skin of the abdomen is tight and shiny, the subcutaneous blood vessels are clearly visible, and the abdomen is tense and lacks elasticity when pressed with hands.
The woman's name is Peng Ximei, 28 years old. He lives in Fu Lianpo, Guanqiao Town, Huazhou City, Maoming City. During the conversation, Dean Xu Kecheng realized that this was a poor man who had been cornered by a strange disease. The patient did not have any examination information. Xu Kecheng took out the only 200 yuan he had and asked head nurse Chen Juan to help her do an ultrasound examination first. Ultrasound showed a huge cystic lesion in the patient's abdomen, which was filled with fluid and had internal septations. No abnormalities were found in the kidneys, liver and spleen. Xu Kecheng estimated that his younger sister was suffering from ovarian tumors. He invited the experts who came with him for consultation. These veteran experts with at least 40 years of medical experience all agreed that it was a tumor, but no one had ever seen such a large abdominal tumor, and they were not sure it could be cured.
Just based on intuition, Xu Kecheng believed that if he could be treated immediately, there might be good results. He said calmly to Xi Mei: "I am a doctor in Guangzhou, specializing in treating tumors. Can I take you to our hospital?"
Before dawn on the morning of December 22, Fuda’s ambulance set off for Zhanjiang. Dean Xu Kecheng specially asked his own driver to drive, and also sent his secretary and nurse. At 7:30 pm, the ambulance traveled nearly a thousand kilometers back and forth, and finally arrived in Guangzhou with Peng Ximei. Peng Ximei was half sitting on the front seat of the carriage, already out of breath after a long drive. She was accompanied by her brother.
Dean of Fuda Niu Lizhi, Vice Dean Mu Feng and others followed Xu Kecheng to the door of the car. They carefully supported Peng Ximei and tried to move her little by little to the door of the car. However, the girl's breath became even worse, and she kept shouting "I need to pee". As she spoke, the urine flowed down her legs. Her skirt was soaked all of a sudden, and a puddle of urine immediately accumulated on the floor of the car.
The tall Vice President Mu stepped forward, hugged Peng Ximei, and moved her to a wheelchair. However, the patient's abdomen was too big and she could not sit in the wheelchair. Fortunately, the hospital prepared a flat trolley, so everyone carried Ximei onto the trolley, and the nurse standing by immediately inserted an oxygen tube for Ximei.
The doctors and nurses guarded the cart together and took Xiimei directly to the ward on the 8th floor. When she was admitted, she weighed herself, 220 pounds, and measured her abdominal circumference from her navel, which was 157 centimeters. Head nurse Wei and several nurses finally helped Xi Mei to the bathroom, gave her a full body bath, and put her into clean new hospital clothes.
At 8:20 in the morning on the 23rd, Dean Xu Kecheng came to Peng Ximei’s ward. Nurse Wei is giving her a haircut. My sister's breathing was much smoother than last night. The younger sister said that she hadn’t washed her hair for a month, and now she felt so comfortable after washing it.
An ultrasound examination was performed in the morning and it was found that there was a large amount of fluid in the abdominal cavity and the intestines were squeezed into the upper abdomen. Can't see clearly whether there is any lump. An electrocardiogram showed a heartbeat of 120 beats per minute. I planned to do a CT examination, but my sister’s abdomen was too big to enter the CT examination hole and could not be scanned.
That night, the patient suddenly became short of breath, his heartbeat reached 140 beats per minute, and he suffered from respiratory failure. He was urgently transferred to the ICU.
Dean Xu and several doctors such as Niu Lizhi, Mu Feng, and Li Haibo came to the hospital after hearing the news and conducted an emergency consultation. They found that she had respiratory acidosis combined with metabolic acidosis. They analyzed the condition and believed that the patient's difficulty in breathing was caused by the high intra-abdominal pressure, lifting of the diaphragm, and squeezing of the lungs and heart. The only way is to drain the ascites urgently to reduce abdominal pressure and increase lung capacity.
The younger sister is mentally exhausted, but her mind is still clear. When she knew the result of the consultation, she took Dean Xu Kecheng's hand and said, "Dean, I know I'm not going to die, please treat me. If I survive, I will be a volunteer here for the rest of my life and repay the society; if I can I died and my body was given to the hospital for research..."
Treatment begins. The puncture tube was inserted into the abdominal cavity from Ximei's right lower abdomen, and the light yellow abdominal fluid flowed out quickly, reaching 500 ml within 5 minutes... The total volume of ascites released by the first puncture was 2000 ml. At the same time, a large amount of human albumin is injected into the baby's body through the veins.
While performing puncture treatment, doctors check the patient's blood gas indicators and other data at any time through the monitor. That night, 300 ml of ascites was drained every hour.
On December 25, the patient's blood gas indicators further improved, and a total of 5,000 ml of ascites was released on this day. On the morning of the third day on the 26th, the hospital conducted a CT examination for the patient - the result showed that it was a pelvic tumor.
From this day on, 5000-7000 ml of ascites was drained every day.
Time has entered the New Year 2010. On New Year's Day, Peng Ximei's abdominal circumference had shrunk from 157 centimeters when she first entered the hospital to 110 centimeters. She could finally taste the cakes and fruits sent by doctors and nurses in her hospital bed.
By the time of the treatment on January 5, Ximei's weight had dropped to 60 kilograms. In other words, at least more than 50 kilograms of ascites had been released from the patient's abdominal cavity, equivalent to 100 large bottles of beer, and almost half of her weight!
The doctor asked Ximei to practice abdominal breathing and blow up balloons every day. This method can not only cure the disease, but also find some joy in the ward for Ms. Peng who has been suffering from long-term illness.
At the same time, the hospital invited nutrition experts for consultation and asked the patient to take a large bottle of protein powder every day to ensure body nutrition and improve body quality.
At 8 a.m. on January 12, 2010, Ximei was sent to the operating room on time. Guangzhou Fuda Cancer Hospital and experts from gynecology, general surgery, urology, interventional medicine, anesthesiology, cardiovascular medicine and respiratory medicine invited from other hospitals are waiting. Everyone understands that this is not a simple operation and requires Working together, there can be no surprises.
At 8:20, endotracheal intubation and anesthesia were carried out; at 8:40, the abdominal wall was incised and the intestines were separated; 15 minutes later, the "disease" was revealed: a watermelon-sized tumor with an uneven surface, and a large number of cauliflower-like tumors growing on the surface. Oozing fluid. The tumor was rooted in the left ovary, involved the small intestine and uterus, and wrapped the left ureter. A small tumor also began to grow on the right ovary.
Gynecologists remove the ovaries first; urologists anastomose the ureters; general surgeons remove the affected intestines...
Finally, cryo experts freeze the remaining tumors to death one by one.
The surgically removed tumors were sent to two Guangzhou pathology centers for examination. The result was determined to be: ovarian adenocarcinoma.
My sister recovered quickly. Ten days later, she attended the hospital's New Year's Eve party. That night, she wore a red cardigan and jeans given by doctors and nurses, with a rosy face and big eyes shining. She walked onto the stage like the wind, with tears in her eyes, and bowed deeply to the doctors and nurses in the audience who were congratulating her. .....
This humble life, this insignificant life... was like a magnificent symphony in the roaring applause, which shook the sky.
On the eve of the Spring Festival, Ximei got on the bus bound for Huazhou and returned to her parents who had been separated for two years and missed her day and night.
Today, Ximei has fulfilled her promise and works as a volunteer at Fuda. She spends her days in the ward talking to patients and encouraging them to overcome the disease. In October 2013, my younger sister got married...
