Surgery Godfather

They came here because of the reputation, there's no question of disagreeing. These parents have felt guilty ever since they found their son. Had he not been lost, he probably wouldn't be in this situation.

So, as long as there is a glimmer of hope now, they are willing to pay any price.

In reality, they don't have more choices. Given the current objective conditions, the patient has to wait for a matching donor for a heart-lung transplant, and it's uncertain when that will be. If they opt for the heterotopic heart transplant, there is a suitable donor available now for surgery.

Considering the patient's current condition, with severe heart failure and pulmonary hypertension, they might die from cardiac arrest the next day. Solving the problem quickly is the only strategy.

"Do you have any questions or points of confusion?"

Yang Ping tried to ensure that the patient and their family fully understood, rather than being left bewildered.

The patient's father examined the heart model and asked, "Professor Yang, you said after the surgery, he would have two hearts in his body."

"That's correct. After the surgery, he will have two hearts—one his own current heart, and one new transplanted heart. It's tantamount to having two engines. Although his own engine doesn't work well anymore, it still has some power and can help take some workload off the new heart. This way, the transplanted heart won't endure too much pressure, which guarantees the highest success rate for the surgery and ensures the transplanted heart can work healthily for a long time, rather than failing due to high workload," Yang Ping repeated this, as the patient's family is unfamiliar with the medical field and needs some time to understand.

"As long as it saves his life, do it!" the patient's mother immediately stated from the side, fearing the doctors might change their minds and say the surgery can't be performed.

"So when will the surgery be?" the patient's father asked.

Yang Ping looked at Director Tian. When the surgery is scheduled relies critically on when there's a donor. As soon as there is a donor, the surgery can be done immediately.

Director Tian said: "Actually, the pre-surgery preparations are already complete. Some checks need to be redone, which we will supplement and then can arrange the surgery anytime. We will coordinate on the donor side."

The vast majority of organ transplant surgeries are emergency surgeries, many happen in the middle of the night due to uncertainty in donor timing. Such brain-dead patients offering donors are minority cases. Very brain-dead donors require immediate organ harvest upon death and immediate surgery, while brain-dead patients have machines temporarily maintaining life. Although brain tissue is dead, the body hasn't technically died in machine maintenance, which gives the possibility of elective organ harvesting.

"Professor Yang, please stay here for a while. I'll step out and be back in a few minutes."

Tian Yuan temporarily left. He went to call to coordinate the donor. The organ transplant recipient and donor are double-blinded—the recipient doesn't know who provided the donor, and the donor's family also doesn't know to whom the organ was provided. So Tian Yuan avoided the family in coordinating with Nandu Affiliated Hospital One about the organ provision.

Yang Ping understood his intention and nodded, waiting for Tian Yuan to confirm when the donor organ can be provided to decide the specific surgery time.

"Professor Yang, it's a great trouble. My child leads a bitter life, please help him," the patient's mother said with reddened eyes.

Yang Ping nodded slightly: "Rest assured, we will do our utmost."

"How long can the transplanted heart generally maintain?" the patient's father took this opportunity to ask questions again, having a lot on his mind earlier in urgency. Now, he thought of a few more questions.

Yang Ping answered: "It's hard to say; the post-surgery lifespan relates to many factors, not just the heart. Currently, the longest-living patient with a heart transplant worldwide lived for 40 years after transplant surgery. Relying on the transplanted new heart, he extended his lifespan by 40 years. Domestically, we have survival records of around 30 years post-surgery."

40 years! Although this is the longest world record, it gave the patient's parents great confidence. Such an extension means, over such a long time, with medical advancements, there might be better methods in the future.

"He also suffers from pulmonary hypertension. If it continues to develop, pulmonary transplantation can be performed at a suitable time, treating pulmonary hypertension, too." Yang Ping also informed them of possible future solutions.

Now, a combined heart-lung transplant is technically feasible, but there's no qualified heart-lung transplant donor. The surgery must be based on objective conditions.

About ten minutes passed without Director Tian returning. The patient's parents showed anxious expressions, watching the meeting room door occasionally. They were worried that something might have gone wrong with the donor organ.

After more than ten minutes, Tian Yuan returned, and the patients' parents' worries were justified as he brought bad news—the heart had already been allocated to someone else, and the surgery had just completed.

Upon hearing this news, the patient's parents suddenly froze, their faces turning pale.

They were joyfully hopeful just a moment ago, but now their mood dropped to rock bottom. Waiting for an organ transplant donor is the hardest part—sometimes waiting for long periods without a suitable donor.

"There's no choice but to continue waiting for a donor," Director Tian also had no recourse, having to respect the objective reality.