Chapter 670 Discovering the Problem
"Hey, let's get an echocardiogram for his heart," Abella suddenly piped up.
A few docs immediately looked ticked off.
"Miss, you bossing us around now? Last I checked, we're the ones treating the patient."
"Watch your tone; this is our turf."
"How long you been in this field anyway?"
"I'm not from around here, so can you just do the echocardiogram? What's the big deal?" Abella shot back, cool as a cucumber. "This is a clear heart issue. Haven't you done an echocardiogram before?"
"If an echocardiogram could show anything, we'd have found it already," one of the female docs, Lisa Sanchez, said, crossing her arms and giving Abella the stink eye. "You think you can tell us what to do?"
Abella didn't back down. "Dr. Sanchez, ever heard of pathological changes? Last month's echocardiogram might not look the same as this month's."
"You."
"Just cooperate, will ya?"
Lisa got all huffy. "I won't cooperate, so what?"
Right then, Caleb walked in. "Not cooperating with what?"
"Mr. Harris?" Lisa's attitude took a nosedive. "This girl wants to redo the echocardiogram. We've already done it, and it's just a waste of time."
"Do what she says, redo it," Caleb ordered.
The docs were baffled. Why should they listen to this young girl?
"Didn't you say time's ticking? Get moving!" Caleb barked, and two docs grudgingly wheeled the patient to the echocardiogram room.
The rest of the docs tagged along, curious to see if there'd be any difference this time.
"Abella, is there a problem?" Caleb asked quietly.
Abella replied, "I just feel there's something off with the heart. The last echocardiogram didn't show anything, so I want to check again."
"You're thorough." Caleb noticed the empty ward. "Let's go check it out too."
The echocardiogram results came back fast.
Adeline Sanders brought the old results and shoved them at Abella. "Look, doc. No difference between these two. You're just wasting the patient's time."
Caleb's stare from a distance made them shut up real quick.
Abella looked at the report in her hand. "Are you blind? The problem's right here, clear as day, and no one noticed?"
The docs were stunned and didn't buy it. They crowded around to see.
Abella pointed. "These black spots? Likely blood clots."
Everyone was even more skeptical.
"Blood clots here? No way."
"That's nuts."
Abella added, "You know where this is? Near the heart! If there were clots here, how's the patient still alive?"
"Prep for surgery, now." Abella looked at the group and saw one younger female doc who wasn't being a jerk. "You, come help me. The rest of you, stay put."
"What did you say?" The other docs immediately protested. "Why should we stay behind?"
Caleb's stare got even icier. "This is my niece, Abella."
Hearing that, their anger turned to shock and confusion. 'Wait, this young girl is Caleb's niece? So, we just messed with...'
"People call her Abbott." That name hit them like a ton of bricks. The Abbott, the Medical Authority, was actually Abella.
In this field, everyone knew Abbott, the Medical Authority.
"Of course, you can watch from the side and see how Abella handles the surgery," Caleb said.
Now, they felt lucky to watch Abbott, the Medical Authority, in action.
Soon, her grandpa was wheeled into the cardiac surgery room.
What was supposed to be a four-hour surgery, Abella knocked out in three. Through the glass, Caleb and the docs were blown away by her skills.
When she came out, Caleb asked, "You must be wiped out, doing such a long surgery right after getting off the plane."
Abella's eyes were calm. For her, that was a breeze.
"Your grandpa now..."
"He'll be fine. He'll wake up after a day or two of rest."
"What kind of surgery did you do on him?" Caleb only knew Abella's surgery was smooth, but he didn't know the details.
Abella replied, "Basically, it was a heart rupture repair. I took out about 500 grams of blood clots from his heart. Those clots actually saved his life."
Caleb was floored. "Where did those clots come from?"
Abella explained, "Grandpa's heart had a hole about 0.12 square inches. Blood leaked out, causing pericardial effusion, which almost crushed his heart."
Caleb felt the gravity of the situation. His dad was on the brink of death.
"Luckily, the hole didn't blow out all at once. It stretched slowly. The blood leaked out gradually, forming clots that blocked the hole. If it had burst completely, the heart would've been toast."
Thinking of the heart rupture, Abella's mind flashed back to that kind face.
"How could this happen?" Caleb had imagined a lot of scenarios, but not this.
Abella explained, "It's super rare. Medically, it's called cardiac diverticulum rupture. Basically, a thin bubble forms in the heart wall, and the blood inside bursts it, causing a ton of pericardial effusion that presses on the heart. In the past 200 years, fewer than 400 people have had this. Of those, 15 had ruptures, and only 3 kids survived. Grandpa's a miracle."
Caleb was both amazed and puzzled. "But he doesn't have heart disease. Why would he have this cardiac diverticulum rupture?"
"There are lots of possibilities, like sharp objects or bullets hitting the chest, or violent impacts. Anyway, he's past the critical period now."
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