This Doctor Is Too Wealthy

Xue Yiwen, bathed in sunlight, spoke again, his tone increasingly calm and steady.

"My lover is only 25 years old this year. If I were to drag out my illness for five or six years, or even seven or eight years, that would simply be holding her back. Moreover, after I'm gone, she'll still need to take care of our child. When she's in her thirties, how can she find a good family? Don't you agree?"

Xue Yiwen turned to look at the doctors in front of him. This was the first time he had looked at them so seriously since they entered the room.

This time, his gaze was without evasion or hesitation, just determination and sincerity.

"Knowing that I can't be cured, I don't want to spend money in vain, burden my lover and child, or even go into debt for something that's meaningless. It's not right, and it's not what a husband and father should do. Besides, if I leave some money behind and don't incur any debts, she and our child can live well. And if she remarries later, she can find someone better without being looked down upon."

Saying this, Xue Yiwen suddenly let out a sigh and smiled faintly. "Of course, I have some selfish reasons too. My parents have already passed away, and my child has my lover to rely on, so leaving now, I don't have any regrets.

"Moreover, I looked up materials and read about people who had surgery. It's too painful. The surgery hurts, recovery hurts, preventing relapses hurts, and the pain is even worse after relapses."

Xue Yiwen shook his head. "I'm afraid of becoming like that. I want to maintain some quality and dignity in the last phase of my life.

"Looking at the cold machines and tubes in the photos, and those who are neither alive nor dead, just waiting for death in endless fear, I'm scared. Since I know there is no possibility, I don't want to suffer so much."

Length of life or quality of life?

Doctor Hou interjected once more, "You only see the relapses, the pain, but there are also those who are completely cured, with a quite good quality of life..."

Xue Yiwen shook his head again. "How many people are like that? And how many of those are in the middle-late stage? One in ten thousand? I don't want to gamble with that nearly nonexistent chance. It's meaningless. Even if I could prolong my life, what could I do? I'm only 30 years old, and I don't have the ability to make money without working. Should I make my lover carry the burden for the rest of her life? Put all the weight on her shoulders?"

Doctor Hou fell silent.

He couldn't argue with the patient's desire for final dignity, and Xue Yiwen was right: the chance of curing late-stage gastric cancer while ensuring quality of life and work capacity was too small to consider.

Xu Pinglin's unhappiness dissipated in the face of Xue Yiwen's words, and by the end, he even began to agree with his point of view.

He understood the powerlessness at the end of life better than anyone else in the room.

Exhaling a deep breath, he glanced at Du Heng and asked in a low voice, "Doctor Du, this man is called Xue Yiwen. Three weeks ago, his parents were involved in a car accident that drained all his savings. Unfortunately, both of his parents passed away due to severe injuries. It was at that time, when he fainted in the hospital, that he was diagnosed with gastric lesser curvature cancer in its mid-stage, but it had not yet spread."

"All his savings gone? What about the driver at fault?"

"The driver insisted on going through insurance first, wanting the insurance company to pay. He adamantly claimed to have no money himself, refusing to pay a single cent."

Du Heng had not seen many cancer patients, but the few he had encountered were all filled with despair and depression, as if their entire beings were shrouded in a fog.

However, Xue Yiwen was slightly different. Although he was also in a low mood, there was a sense of resignation.

"Let me take a look," Du Heng said.

"Alright," Xu Pinglin agreed softly, then turned to Xue Yiwen. "This is your choice, and we respect it. Since you refuse surgery and insist on going home, we will use conservative treatment to at least alleviate your pain somewhat. What do you think?"

Xue Yiwen did not object to the proposal and readily agreed with a nod.

Xu Pinglin made way for Du Heng and introduced him to Xue Yiwen. "This is Doctor Du Heng, a highly skilled practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine. You must have heard about the incident in our Department a few days ago. Doctor Du was the attending doctor who treated the patient with gastric atrophy. Let him prescribe you some Chinese herbal medicine."

Xue Yiwen looked at Du Heng and smiled faintly, saying, "Thank you, Doctor Du."

"Go lie down on the bed, and I'll have a look at you."

Although the cause of the illness had been diagnosed as gastric lesser curvature cancer, the outcome of the traditional Chinese medicine diagnosis would definitely be different.

Yang Yuansheng was the best example. The test sheet showed liver cirrhosis, but in Du Heng's diagnosis, it was an accumulation caused by excessive cold dampness.

However, if another person with liver cirrhosis came, Du Heng's diagnosis might be a heat carbuncle resulting from liver deficiency and exuberant fire.

Now, Xue Yiwen's situation was similar. He was thin, and his energy levels were not good. The root of illness had been found, but Du Heng could not seek the solution by following this path.

After the pulse diagnosis, there was some good news: Xue Yiwen's vital qi was not yet depleted.

Simply put, his stomach function had not been completely lost, and his body's various systems could still work in coordination.

Since his body could withstand it, a serious illness required drastic medicine. Employing a method of direct assault, the patient could fully endure it, and there was a possibility of recovery.

But this all needed confirmation.

"How is your eating now? Can you eat normally?"

"I can't. When I eat something, I vomit."

"Do you vomit as much as you eat?"

"Not entirely. A small amount is manageable, but I feel nauseous and will vomit, though not a lot. If I eat slightly more, I'll vomit everything."

That's fine. It's not too far from my guess that the stomach hasn't completely lost its function.

"When you speak, I hear a phlegmy sound in your throat. How long has this been the case, and is there a lot of phlegm?"

Xue Yiwen didn't blurt out the answer but blinked and thought for a moment. "It's been a long time. I never really paid attention. I guess I've had it since I was a teenager."

Since his teens?

Du Heng looked at Xue Yiwen with some surprise. "Do you like to eat meat?"

"Yes, I do."

"Do you drink alcohol?"

"Yes. Before I got married, I'd be drunk seven days a week."

"Are you addicted to alcohol?"

"I don't think so. I just enjoy drinking. After I got married, my Wife kept a tight leash on me, so I don't drink and don't miss it."

"What about your bowel movements?"

"My stools are very dry, and probably because I eat so little, I only have a bowel movement every three to five days."

Du Heng nodded slowly, his mind racing as he quickly integrated the information he had just collected with Xue Yiwen's physical signs to reach an accurate syndrome differentiation as soon as possible.

Xue Yiwen had a bow slip pulse. A string pulse means Yin exists within Yang; when Yin manifests as a string pulse, it causes abdominal pain, and digestion is poor as Wood overcomes Earth. A slippery pulse indicates a decline in Yang's original qi and is associated with phlegm causing myriad diseases and food causing inflammation.

The pulse and physical signs are consistent; there's heat.

At the same time, Xue Yiwen's tongue was red with a yellow, thick, greasy coating, and there were bruise-like spots on the edges and tip.

A red tongue with a yellow coating indicates excess heat, which again aligns with the pulse.

And the greasy coating, along with the bruise-like spots on the edges and tip, combined with his previous overindulgence in rich foods and alcohol, confirms the presence of dampness in his body.

During a brief silence of ten to twenty seconds, everyone's gaze was fixed on Du Heng.

The patient himself, perhaps not fully aware of Du Heng's reputation, remained relatively calm. However, Xu Pinglin and Doctor Hou both had a hint of expectation in their eyes, hoping that Du Heng could once again bring them a surprise.