Chapter 467: Wow, there’s fluid in his chest!


    Garrett hastily got up and sat opposite the old man.


    Coughing up blood is no small matter. Clinically, it could be minor or severe, and a major episode could be fatal before any help could be administered. Garrett had seen and personally handled such emergencies in his past life in the emergency department.


    Though the old man looked fine and walked in without needing support, it’s better to be safe than sorry.


    He took the seat opposite the old man, forcing the gout-stricken merchant to sit by the wall. As for the War God Priest, Martin, he didn’t even sit, standing by the side instead. Garrett, noticing Martin’s concerned and slightly anxious expression, casually asked:


    "Have you treated this before?"


    Martin smiled wryly and nodded. Garrett’s attention briefly shifted to the gout-stricken merchant. The two did not look like father and son; the old white-haired man was thin, while his son was bloated as if all the father’s fat had shifted to him.


    Regardless of being fat or thin, neither resembled a warrior—Garrett thought to himself, asking casually:


    "So it was the War God’s Temple that treated you? I thought you would go to the Spring God’s Temple!"


    The gout-stricken merchant quickly stood up again. He looked at Priest Martin, smiled wryly, and said:


    "Don’t joke about that. How could someone as insignificant as us get into the Spring God’s Temple? The War God’s Temple is more accessible..."


    At least, as long as the offerings were sufficient, treatment was guaranteed...


    While examining the old man, Garrett listened to Priest Martin recount the medical history, quickly understanding the situation. It seemed Priest Martin had treated them several times before, detailing the medical history, general condition, treatment process, and various tidbits.


    The old man, named Karel, was 72 years old, had served in the navy in his youth, and spent ten years stationed in the New World. He smoked and drank, never missing a beat in forty years.


    ...Who wouldn’t cough up blood with such a history? Opening his chest, you’d see his lungs have blackened, right?


    Garrett braced himself for the possibility of lung cancer as he continued to listen. According to Priest Martin and the gout-stricken merchant, Karel had coughed up blood about seven or eight years ago. The treatment method involved a single treatment spell...


    The spell was exceptionally effective. Of course, the old man continued his habits, and while changes in weather would cause coughs, it was only two years ago that he coughed up blood again.


    "And this time?" Garrett asked while taking notes. The gout-stricken merchant smiled wryly:


    "This time I was delayed returning from sea by half a month, and the old man stubbornly refused to go to the temple. When I came back and took him, the treatment could only alleviate, not cure, the problem. The 【Remove Disease】 spell cured him that day, but it relapsed after half a month... Oh, and it was very painful during the treatment that day..."


    A fifth-level priest was already a mainstay in the temple. Seeking someone of a higher order was not an option for the old man as he was too stingy. Left with no choice, hearing about Garrett’s newly opened clinic, they decided to try their luck here.


    "Do you produce a lot of phlegm? What kind of phlegm? Do you have a fever? How high... never mind, is it a high fever or a low one? When do you get the fever? Other than coughing and coughing up blood, where else do you feel uncomfortable?"


    As Garrett asked, he reached over and touched the old man’s forehead; it seemed slightly warm. He got up, took a thermometer, and let the old man hold it in his mouth while he took out his stethoscope to listen to his chest and back attentively:


    Hmm... The heart sounds are mostly normal, the heartbeat is slightly fast, but not too much. Moist crackles can be heard in the lower right lung... Just from the breath sounds, it seems not too bad...


    Garrett bowed his head and wrote swiftly. The patient had been exposed to cold three weeks ago, which led to coughing and phlegm that was yellow and sticky, easy to cough up. The cough was intermittent, more noticeable in the morning, and symptoms worsened thereafter, accompanied by fever with an irregular temperature pattern...


    He took a breath, checked the thermometer—37.2°C, a slight fever. Alright, that indicates the 【Remove Disease】 spell did work...


    One week after the onset, a 【Healing Spell】 was administered, and the fever slightly subsided, but relapsed on the third day. Two weeks later, a 【Remove Disease】 was given during which severe chest pain occurred on the right side, sharp and persistent, accompanied by heavy sweating.


    What an odd medical history...


    Garrett sighed. After completing the history, he started on the physical examination and diagnosis: Temperature 37.2°C, pulse 85/min, respiration 20/min. Blood pressure... still unclear, the 1100th reminder to himself to get a blood pressure monitor...


    "It changes position!"


    "What? There’s something inside my father’s chest that changes position?"


    The gout-stricken merchant immediately exclaimed. In his haste, he kicked the corner of the examination bed with his toe, yelping in pain. Garrett glanced at him sideways:


    Are you having a gout attack again?


    For now, that was the least of his concerns. He pointed at the arc and explained to Priest Martin:


    "Think about what could cause this? Think?"


    He casually picked up a cup, filled it halfway with water, tilted it left, then right. No matter how much he shook it, the water level always remained constant. Priest Martin’s eyes lit up:


    "There’s fluid in the chest! Er, wait..."


    There’s always fluid in the chest! If you open up the chest, there’s blood and other fluids... But...


    "Pleural effusion."


    Garrett seriously provided the technical term:


    "This is in the chest cavity, where there shouldn’t be fluid, but now there’s a large amount. So much fluid pressing down, that’s why the old man feels chest tightness, breathlessness, difficulty breathing. Now, we need to solve one problem—"


    He turned to old man Karel. After explaining, the old man lay slanting on the treatment bed, right armpit inserted with a vine, the other end dipping directly into a glass bottle. In no time, yellowish-white fluid gushed out, dispersing under the water in the bottle.


    "Ah..."


    Priest Martin stared intensely at the fluid spreading under the water, unblinking. As a priest of the War God, he was all too familiar with such colored fluids:


    "Is this pus?"


    "Yes, pus." Garrett nodded lightly:


    "Releasing a healing spell to let the body absorb this pus isn’t impossible. But the strain on the body, the consumption of the healing spell, is too great, it’s better to drain it. This is how your War God’s Temple would do it, right?"


    But we can’t see the pus in the chest cavity, nor dare to operate inside. Priest Martin quietly memorized the details of Garrett’s procedure, while the gout-stricken merchant had already rushed forward:


    "Draining the pus will solve it, right? My father will be okay, right?"


    "Not so fast." Garrett squinted, staring at the lesion inside the old man’s right lung:


    "We still need to see what this pus is..."


    "How? Open it up?!"


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