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℃, pulse 85/min, respiration 20/min. Blood pressure... still unclear, the 1100th reminder to himself to get a blood pressure monitor...

Conscious, acute facial expression, breathing difficulties, no cyanosis of the lips, soft neck, trachea in the center, no distension of the jugular vein. Moist crackles heard in the lower right lung.

Preliminary diagnosis...

He paused with the pen. The gout-stricken merchant immediately asked nervously:

"Priest, how is it? Can my father be cured?"

Garrett stopped writing, glanced at him, then at Priest Martin. Based on the current auscultation, the first consideration was a right lower lung infection. However, if it were just an infection, it should have been cured by a treatment spell or a 【Remove Disease】 spell...

So, ruling out pneumonia for now. What could it be next?

"We need to do some more tests." Garrett murmured, pulling out an oak staff and standing it behind the old man:

On the top of the oak staff, a vine discreetly coiled around an 【Endless Ink Pen】, shining brightly in the meditative vision. Good, no conditions for a CT, let’s start with a chest X-ray...

Priest Martin watched Garrett’s every move, not even blinking. Looking at the oak staff, then the patient, then back at Garrett, he suddenly squinted:

"【Detect Magic】?"

"Not bad!" Garrett glanced at him with a smile, giving a thumbs up. Priest Martin let out a soft exclamation, almost leaning into the patient’s chest:

"What’s this?"

He moved his finger back and forth across the old man’s chest, tracing lines:

"Rib? Is this a rib? And what’s this, this bright area, is it really the lung?"

The gout-stricken merchant looked at his father, then at Priest Martin, rubbing his eyes hard. What ribs? What had he missed? Why could he see the ribs through the clothes?

Garrett made a gesture to him, signaling him to be patient. Then, he turned to Priest Martin, taking the opportunity to be surprised:

Impressive! Without any hints, he recognized the fluctuations of 【Detect Magic】, then observed like I did! And to recognize the ribs and lungs on his first try!

He pointed at the old man’s ribs, explaining a few more things to Priest Martin. After all, the spirit of the contract was very tricky to handle, but 【Detect Magic】 was cheap and could be used as a routine examination method:

"Look, these are the ribs, this one in the middle is the spine... the heart is in between, and the bright areas on either side are the lungs. Hmm, something is not right with the lower part of the right lung, see that? Right there..."

Priest Martin nodded repeatedly. Although the gout-stricken merchant couldn’t see anything, he also leaned in eagerly, as if getting closer would help him know his father’s condition sooner.

Priest Martin opened his eyes, then closed them, looking where Garrett was pointing, then comparing with his meditative vision, frowning:

"I see it, so what’s wrong with it? How should it be treated? Just with a healing spell?"

His palm slightly lifted, white light flickering at his fingertips, eager to release it directly at the lesion. Garrett casually pressed his hand down:

"Just that won’t do. Look here, on the right side of the old man’s chest, there’s a concave arc, see?—Old man, come over here to the bed and lie down slowly, on your side, facing me..."

The gout-stricken merchant hurriedly went over to help. Garrett picked up the oak staff, casually placing it behind the old man. Throwing another 【Detect Magic】, the concave arc was still there, only now perpendicular to the ribs.

"What is this?" Priest Martin stared at the arc, amazed:

"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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