The picture shows Zhu Xiang in the operating room. Short** screenshots.
Author: Guo Yujie.
*: Freezing Point Weekly.
No one could have imagined that January 10 would be the last day for anesthesiologist Zhu Xiang at the Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University.
At two or three o'clock in the afternoon of this day, Zhu Xiang was called by a colleague to solve a case of intraoperative refractory hypotension. The patient's surgery was not big, but the blood pressure continued to decrease after anesthesia, from 150mmHg to an astonishing 40mmHg, and no matter how much vasopressors were used, the two anesthesiologists in the operating room panicked. After Zhu Xiang came, the plan given was to first rehydrate, expand the capacity, and then change to a vasopressor. Slowly, the patient's blood pressure rose.
On January 11, Zhu Xiang asked for leave. He rarely asks for leave, even if he is infected with the flu and has a fever at the end of December 2023, he goes to hang up the water and does not ask for leave. More than a month ago, the 46-year-old anesthesiologist was promoted to deputy head of the department, no longer working night shifts, and did not need to stay in the operating room from morning to night during the day. However, every morning when the department arranges work, it will select a few units with difficult anesthesia and high risk, and ask him to "stand on the platform", which is difficult to operate, sometimes seven or eight units a day, sometimes one or two.
When colleagues saw Zhu Xiang again, he was pushed into the rescue room. On the evening of January 11, Zhu Xiang was found in cardiac arrest at home and sent to the Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University.
The rescue room is where Zhu Xiang often works. A colleague from another department has known him for more than 20 years, and when I first saw him, he always showed up in the operating room or emergency room to be intubated. Anesthesiologists are one of the few people in the hospital who are allowed to run, and in order to avoid causing panic, doctors try not to run, but anesthesiologists need to urgently intubate and give labor analgesia.
In the operating room, the anesthesiologist is the main force of resuscitation. During the procedure, the anesthesiologist monitors the patient's vital signs and stares at the numbers on the anesthesia monitor. In the event of an emergency, the anesthesiologist steps forward and the surgeon steps back, and in order to be quickly recognized in case of emergency, the anesthesiologist often wears a colored cotton surgical cap, which is distinguished from a blue sterile cap. When the anesthesiologist stands up in the operating room, the surgeon gets nervous: "What's wrong?" "Questions? ”
The flower hat belonging to Zhu Xiang is on a blue background and is printed with **villain. When he was nervous, Zhu Xiang would walk around the operating room with his arms on his chest. Rescue is physical work, four or five anesthesiologists participate in the rescue together, after the end are so tired that "people turn on their backs", in severe cases, do cardiac compressions, the family can not stop without giving up. Sometimes after the rescue, Zhu Xiang's hair was messy, and he was so tired that he sat on the floor of the operating room.
In April 2022, Zhu Xiang began to use the nickname "Anesthesiologist Zhu Xiang" on the Internet to do **popular science, "telling about the daily life in the operating room". He said that anesthesiologists are always in the operating room, and patients' families rarely have the opportunity to communicate with them. He was very enthusiastic, and he used to ask friends and students to help, but then he simply picked it up by himself. In less than two years, his followers rose to more than 100,000.
The anesthesiologist and the patient met for a short time, and during the short time they spent in the operating room, the anesthesiologist was wrapped in a mask, a hat, and a surgical gown. Most patients think that they are just technologists who give an injection and leave. The Department of Anesthesiology of the Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University has hardly received a pennant.
In fact, after the patient lost consciousness, the anesthesiologist did not leave, during the operation, they were the people who sat on the chair and paid attention to the anesthesia monitor, and after the operation, they waited for the patient to wake up. The number on the monitor makes people nervous, "The patient's blood pressure is 180, my blood pressure is also 180, the patient's blood pressure is 60, and my blood pressure is still 180", Zhu Xiang once said in **, "Such a profession of deep empathy is unique."
Zhu Xiang was next to the monitor. Short**screenshot He said in ** that the doctor can't touch the door with his hands after washing his hands, and the door of the operating room is inducted by his feet.
He used ** to let the patient see the process of anesthesia: how to intubate, how to play muscle relaxation, how to administer drugs, how to monitor the patient's blood pressure and heartbeat, how to extubate. No two leaves are the same in the world, and the anesthesia protocol is customized, and everyone is different. In the semi-anesthetic cesarean section, he moved a stool to sit next to the mother, Kan Dashan, alleviated the fear of the mother, and talked about artificial intelligence from the parents. In **, he explained various questions such as "does spinal anesthesia cause low back pain", "what kind of medicine does the anesthesiologist mean by 'milk'", and "does the amount of alcohol have anything to do with anesthesia".
In the operating room, Zhu Xiang was tightly wrapped in surgical gowns, masks, and hats, and it was impossible to wear any name brands. Before filming, Zhu Xiang wanted to ask for the patient's opinion, "I want to record it, do a popular science, and I won't shoot your face."
Most of the patients lying on the operating table agreed, and some even recognized him, "Are you anesthesiologist Zhu Xiang?" "Many people have brushed his **.
In the operating room, Zhu Xiang often said to Luo Ye, a graduate student he brought with him, "Are you tired today?" He also once said to Luo Ye that girls should not work so hard, don't come to a big hospital for work in the future, just go to a small hospital. The Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University is the largest hospital in the local area, with a large number of surgeries, and anesthesiologists work night shifts for about 10 days, from 5 p.m. to 8 a.m. the next morning, one after another. But Zhu Xiang rarely said that he was tired.
There are only minor surgeries, no minor anesthesia. Zhu Xiang once said in his **. Luo Ye and Zhu Xiang had gastrointestinal surgery, and a patient seemed to be normal, but Zhu Xiang said that something was wrong and asked Luo Ye to check an indicator. After examination, the patient was found to have electrolyte imbalances. Such patients sometimes have severe potassium deficiency and are at risk of cardiac arrest if they are not intervened in time.
When Luo Ye first came to the hospital, he encountered an operation on a patient with sleep apnea syndrome, and during the anesthesia induction process, the patient's airway could not be opened and the tube could not be intubated, which was very dangerous. After Zhu Xiang dealt with it, he succeeded, "I think he is going to be tired and paralyzed", Luo Ye said. Zhu Xiang walked out of the operating room to rest for a while, and when he came back, he said to her, "I bought you a McDonald's, you were frightened today." Luo Ye went to the office to eat McDonald's, and Zhu Xiang went back to continue the next operation anesthesia.
But my colleague remembered that Zhu Xiang, who was always energetic, caught a cold again a few days before January 11, kept saying that he had a headache, and frequently measured his blood pressure between work.
On the evening of January 11, in the process of rescuing Zhu Xiang, Zhu Xiang's old friend Hao Ming was smoking a cigarette at the door of the rescue room, and he didn't want to face it. He is a classmate of Zhu Xiang Medical College and a friend for more than 30 years. When he was in medical school, Zhu Xiang was excellent, but not the most talented, "but he was the most down-to-earth person I have ever met." "He's the epitome of a lot of ordinary doctors. Zhu Xiang was born in an ordinary family, his parents were workers, and he once said that he was a "small-town problem-solver".
At around 3 o'clock in the morning, Hao Ming returned home depressed and couldn't sleep at all. He kept thinking that not long ago, a colleague of his had a heart attack and came to the rescue, but Zhu Xiang had been with him, and the rescue was successful for a day and a night. Thinking of this, Hao Ming didn't feel good in his heart, "The doctor can save others, but in the end, he can't save himself."
At 4:51 a.m. on January 12, after being pushed with one adrenaline after another by his colleagues, Zhu Xiang's heart still did not beat again. Cardiac arrest is suspected to be caused by fulminant myocarditis or myocardial infarction, but no definitive diagnosis has been made due to prolonged cardiac arrest.
Usually, Zhu Xiang is a chronic child. To do anesthesia induction, he doesn't like to be urged, and when he is urged, he only smiles and ignores it. He often told his students that they should not be in a hurry to do anesthesia. In the operating room, a student who has graduated from Zhu Xiang was said to be too slow and "not suitable for anesthesia". Zhu Xiang said on the side, "It's good to be slow, slow work and careful work."
Hao Ming saw Zhu Xiang's eyes red several times, all for the fate of others, life and death, but he quickly covered up his tears. They often meet, and Zhu Xiang often brings new friends to meet him, from all walks of life, including fish sellers, vegetable sellers, cooks, and many of them were once Zhu Xiang's patients.
Next to the surgical recovery room of the Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University is Zhu Xiang's office of less than 10 square meters. Sometimes students sat on Zhu Xiang's chair and complained loudly to him about people and things in the hospital, and he stood aside and didn't get angry. Corey's colleague had a friction, and when he fell in front of him, he said, "I didn't hear anything, you don't want to be like this, how about we eat." On the weekly calendar on his desk, there are all kinds of to-do lists, important surgeries, meetings, and many people's birthdays. "He's not the kind of mentor you'd expect. Luo Ye said that Zhu Xiang often used the expression of a little rabbit scattering flowers when chatting with students, "also a teacher and a friend".
He has always been in good health and runs a lot. In the morning, he often walked to the hospital with a backpack, like a college student, and no one in the department called him "director", everyone called him "Brother Zhu".
Hao Ming said that Zhu Xiang has always been gentle and elegant, I haven't seen him quarrel with others, and when he encounters contradictions, he will be reasonable, and when he encounters people who are not very reasonable, he would rather suffer a loss himself than fight with others. He doesn't swear, "rational, intellectual". His mantra is "out of bounds," which means "it's okay."
Hao Ming doesn't want Zhu Xiang to become a "hero", he just wants him to live "ordinary".
Beginning on January 14, the funeral ceremony was held for three days, and every day the square outside the mourning hall was crowded with people, wreaths were densely lined up, and the open space was lined up, sent by hospitals from all over the country, and there were also individuals. Zhu Xiang's family said they didn't expect so many people to come.
At the request of the interviewee, Hao Ming and Luo Ye are pseudonyms in the article).