Chapter 385: Cerebrospinal Fluid Leak (Seeking Monthly Tickets, Seeking Subscriptions)
The girl who communicated with Hiromi Jounouchi was perhaps too worried about her mother, or it could be that her mother also felt some discomfort and thought it necessary to go to the hospital for a check-up. Two days later, the girl called Hiromi Jounouchi's cellphone.
"Doctor sister, I'm the girl who consulted you the other day, do you remember me?" The girl's voice over the phone carried a sense of urgency, allowing Hiromi Jounouchi to hear her worry and fear.
Feeling the girl's concern, Hiromi Jounouchi didn't bother with formalities and directly asked, "I remember you, how is your mother doing? Is she feeling any better now?"
"No! Doctor sister, my mother's condition is worse than before! She says she often gets headaches now, and it seems like she has a cold and is running a fever, and the medicine doesn't seem to work, plus she's always sniffling!" The girl quickly explained to Hiromi Jounouchi when asked about her mother's condition, however, she didn't think a cold was that serious, despite her worry.
But when Hiromi Jounouchi heard the symptoms described by the girl, she became even more alert and concerned. Had the girl not mentioned her mother's accident, Hiromi Jounouchi might have thought it was just a common cold.
However, knowing that her mother had been in a traffic accident, Hiromi Jounouchi would not simply treat these symptoms as a cold and fever, because such signs could also indicate another kind of illness that is very dangerous and often difficult for many people to detect and recognize!
"Your mother's condition may be quite serious, can you bring her to the hospital for an examination tomorrow? Her condition should not be delayed; if it's just a cold, that's fine, but if it's due to other reasons, then you absolutely cannot wait any longer!" Hiromi Jounouchi reminded the girl over the phone, and if it wasn't so late already, she even would have wanted her to come to the hospital for a check-up right now.
The girl on the other end of the phone was clearly frightened by what Hiromi Jounouchi said and hastily agreed, "Okay! I will definitely take my mother to the hospital tomorrow! We'll go first thing in the morning!"
"When you get to the hospital tomorrow, call me or have a nurse take you to me, my name is Hiromi Jounouchi, you can just ask for the surgeon Doctor Jounouchi." Hiromi Jounouchi gave further instructions, not feeling at ease until the girl confirmed she had noted down her name, only then did she hang up the phone somewhat relieved.
"Hiromi, what's the matter, you seem so tense? Is there a patient looking for you?" Chen Yu, noting Hiromi Jounouchi's still pale face after hanging up the phone, sat beside her and asked with concern, while offering her the treats he had prepared.
Taking the treats from Chen Yu, Hiromi Jounouchi explained, "It's a girl I met while doing physical examinations at a girls' school. She said her mother fell off an electric scooter and has since been dizzy, prone to falling asleep, and forgetting what she was doing, so I suggested her mother go to the hospital for a check-up.
She just called to say her mother's condition has worsened, now with symptoms of headaches, fever, and runny nose. I'm a bit worried, so I've asked her to bring her mother to the hospital tomorrow to have a look."
"That symptom... Hiromi, are you concerned it's cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea?" Chen Yu, upon hearing Hiromi Jounouchi's recount of the situation, immediately thought of an illness that matched the described symptoms—a condition often caused by car accidents or falls and easily overlooked as just a cold symptom.
Jounouchi Hiromi nodded affirmatively to Chen Yu's words, "Traumatic cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea caused by an injury is quite common after a car accident, but many people tend to overlook and underestimate it. That's why I insisted that the girl bring her mother to the hospital for an examination tomorrow."
"Hiromi, you handled it properly; such a condition should definitely be examined. Even if it's not cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea, given that her mother has been feeling drowsy and unable to remember things she was supposed to do, it might also be a consciousness disorder that might have caused a concussion," Chen Yu validated Jounouchi Hiromi's judgment while also contributing his own.
However, even though Chen Yu and Jounouchi Hiromi had a general impression of what could be wrong with the girl's mother, neither believed they had fully grasped the woman's symptoms or condition. A true diagnosis could only be made after seeing the patient in person followed by a thorough and objective examination, not merely by listening to a description or an account of the symptoms.
Just as a fever and fluid leaking from the nose might suggest a common viral or cold infection, it might also be a sign of a basal skull injury leading to a leak of cerebrospinal fluid, which could in turn lead to intracranial hypotension and potentially to meningitis and encephalitis. Your next chapter is on My Virtual Library Empire
Furthermore, even if two people exhibit identical symptoms, after examination by a doctor, completely different treatments might be adopted because the underlying causes might differ.
Although the symptoms are similar, the different underlying causes mean the methods of treatment will differ accordingly.
Thus, it is both presumptuous and foolish for some today to think that by searching the internet for medical cases with symptoms that seem like theirs, they know how to treat their condition, or to believe that if a doctor's treatment differs from what they found online, the doctor must be misleading them or acting wrongly.
After all, even the same doctor, faced with the same disease, might adopt different therapeutic approaches depending on the severity of a patient's condition. One can only use someone else's medical records as a reference to understand what one might be suffering from, rather than assuming that if a certain treatment worked for one person, it must be used for oneself, and if not, the doctor must be deceiving them.
Such behavior is incredibly foolish, as it not only interferes with the doctor's treatment but also delays the invaluable healing time for the patient. Indeed, many have missed their treatment window due to such foolish actions, resulting in larger medical expenses and detriment to their health, turning a small, manageable ailment into a severe one, or even costing them their lives.
Therefore, any responsible doctor would never diagnose solely based on someone else's description, as that would be irresponsible towards life.
"By the way, Mr. Chen Yu, this little girl's father became a vegetative state after a car accident; do you think there's a way to treat him?" Jounouchi Hiromi suddenly recalled the girl mentioning that her father had been in a coma in the hospital since an accident a year ago and inquired to Chen Yu if there was a way to treat someone in a vegetative state.
"I'm not sure about this; I would need to see the patient to know whether the issue is with the soul or the body," Chen Yu thought for a moment but couldn't make a definitive judgment.