Chapter 102: Ketoacidosis

Lu Feng did not answer at once. He concentrated on kneading the acupoints on Guo Yanzhi.

Seeing that Lu Feng would not take the bait, Wang Huawen said with a mocking edge to his voice, "Didn’t Doctor Lu say Chinese medicine was so amazing? Now that you’ve run into a returned overseas Western medicine doctor with a PhD, you don’t dare accept the challenge. Looks like you’re only good at boasting."

Lu Feng looked up at Wang Huawen. Seeing the gleeful expression on his face, he said loudly, with some irritation, "Have you said enough? You want to compete, do you? Fine. How do you want to do it?"

Zeng Jian saw that Lu Feng had been provoked into accepting and immediately cut in. "Simple. Let’s see who can wake him first and restore his condition to normal."

"Fine, I agree. You can step aside now, can’t you?" Lu Feng did not want to keep listening to their noise.

"Don’t be hasty. Since this is a contest, there has to be an order. I’ll be generous and let you treat him first. If you still haven’t cured him after an hour, then it’ll be my turn," Zeng Jian said.

Lu Feng shook his head with a cold laugh. "You mean the insulin you wanted hasn’t arrived, and you couldn’t treat him, so you’re letting me go first?"

At this, Zeng Jian’s expression stiffened, and Wang Huawen also looked unsettled.

Anyone with even a little medical knowledge would understand, once insulin was mentioned, that the man who had collapsed was diabetic.

To be precise, Guo Yanzhi was suffering from diabetic ketoacidosis. When there is insufficient insulin in the body, or when the body is starved of glucose and begins breaking down too much fat, ketone levels rise. Some ketones are expelled in the urine, causing ketonuria. Ketones are acidic substances, and when they accumulate excessively in the blood, they can acidify it and bring on acidosis.

From the afternoon onward, Guo Yanzhi had been eating skewers rich in fat, which had ultimately triggered diabetic ketoacidosis and led to his coma.

In Western medicine, diabetes really has only one way to be treated: insulin injections. With insulin, even a junior nurse can handle it; without it, even a doctor of medicine is at a loss.

The resort was far from the city hospital, and if they called now to have insulin brought over, it would take at least an hour before it arrived.

Of course, Zhou Fuyu knew what insulin was for. She said in surprise, "He has diabetes?"

"Yes. Go hurry them up. I need moxa sticks now!" Lu Feng said gravely.

Zhou Fuyu hurriedly stood and ran toward the house. She took the medicine box from a servant, ran back, and set it beside Lu Feng’s feet. Worried, she asked, "Can he be treated?"

"Don’t worry," Lu Feng reassured her. Then he picked up a moxa stick and handed it over. "Light one end for me."

There were charcoal embers used for the barbecue nearby. Zhou Fuyu held the moxa stick and put one end into the coals to light it, as one would light a cigarette.

A moxa stick is a long cylinder made by wrapping mugwort in cotton paper. It is mainly used for moxibustion, a part of acupuncture that warms the meridians, dispels cold, moves the qi and blood, and drives out cold dampness.

While Zhou Fuyu was lighting the moxa stick, Lu Feng picked up a pen and quickly wrote out a prescription. The main ingredients were bezoar, musk, Chinese skullcap, and gardenia, along with several other auxiliary herbs.

When Zhou Fuyu had lit the moxa stick, she handed it to Lu Feng.

Lu Feng tucked the prescription into her hand. "Go and have these herbs prepared. If any ingredient is unavailable, come tell me and I’ll see whether it can be replaced."

Zhou Fuyu nodded and handed the prescription to the servant who usually decocted medicine for her grandfather, telling him to fetch the herbs.

Lu Feng unbuttoned Guo Yanzhi’s shirt, took out a fine needle, and inserted it at the Gate Origin point, three inches below the navel. Then he cut off the lit end of the moxa stick and placed it on the tail end of the needle, allowing the heat of the burning moxa, together with the medicine’s power, to slowly travel along the needle into the point.

After the first needle was done, Lu Feng handed the moxa stick back to Zhou Fuyu. "Light it again."

Zhou Fuyu carried the moxa stick back to the barbecue area and lit it once more.

Du Zitong took a moxa stick from the medicine box and said, "I can help too." Saying that, she ran over to Zhou Fuyu and began lighting the moxa sticks with her.

Lu Feng took out a second fine needle, inserted it into the Sea of Qi point, and again placed a burning piece of moxa on the needle’s tail.

After the second needle, Lu Feng continued using the warming-needle method of moxibustion, applying needles to several points in turn, including the Pancreas-Shu point, Triple Burner-Shu point, Yang Pool point, Leg Three Miles point, and Three Yin Meeting point.

Halfway through, the servant brought the herbs over.

Zhou Fuyu opened the packet and let Lu Feng glance at it.

"Start decocting them now. Bring them to a full boil over high heat."

Zhou Fuyu immediately poured the herbs into the medicine pot, added water, and placed it on the electric stove to boil.

Meanwhile, Zhou Luyang, Wang Huawen, Zeng Jian, and the others stood watching from the outside.

Seeing that Lu Feng seemed quite confident, Wang Huawen grew somewhat uncertain and leaned close to Zeng Jian’s ear. "He won’t really be able to cure him, will he?"

Zeng Jian curled his lips in a faint, cold smile. "How could that be? Diabetes can only be treated with insulin."

"Then when will the insulin get here?" Wang Huawen asked again.

"It should be soon. They’ve already called the hospital to arrange it," Zeng Jian replied.

"I said it from the start: we should have had the insulin ready first. Now it’s going to drag on for so long," Wang Huawen said with some annoyance.

"Relax. Chinese medicine simply isn’t up to it," Zeng Jian said with complete confidence.

"Listen to me, don’t make a mess of this. That bastard Lu was putting on airs for me last time, talking about how great Chinese medicine is. This time I want him to lose on medical skill alone!" Wang Huawen said fiercely.

Wang Huawen was not a generous man. Last time, Lu Feng had struck him where it hurt and thoroughly humiliated him. This time he had deliberately come to regain face, so he had specifically picked a medical doctor from among his acquaintances, intending to make Lu Feng look bad.

For that reason, since noon he had been having people grill fatty food for Guo Yanzhi to eat.

Guo Yanzhi had always loved meat, but because he had diabetes, he was normally unable to eat sugar or anything too greasy.

Still, at today’s gathering, with several long-legged young models crowding around him and handing him skewers, he was flattered almost beyond measure. Although the doctor had said he should not eat overly oily food, most people would think, if it’s diabetes, then just don’t eat sugar; a few skewers should not be a problem.

So Guo Yanzhi ate quite a lot of skewers. And because he was genuinely craving them, he ate more and more until he overdid it.

From afternoon to evening, three or four hours passed. By then, much of what he had eaten had been digested, but the excess fat he had taken in had triggered the diabetic condition and brought on the symptoms of ketoacidosis and coma.

Very soon, the medicine had finished decocting.

Lu Feng took two bowls and poured the medicinal broth back and forth between them until it had cooled somewhat. Then he had someone prop Guo Yanzhi up, pry open his mouth, and feed him the broth.

"Prepare two more doses. Give him a bowl every fifteen minutes," Lu Feng said.

Zhou Fuyu hurried off again to fetch more herbs and boil them.

After the third bowl of medicinal broth had been forced down, Lu Feng used a fine needle to prick the Hundred Meetings point at the top of Guo Yanzhi’s head.

Guo Yanzhi’s fingers twitched, and he woke up. Shaking his head, he looked around at the people surrounding him in confusion.

"He’s awake! He’s awake!" Zhou Fuyu exclaimed in delight. "Guo Yanzhi, how do you feel?"

"My stomach hurts..." Guo Yanzhi said weakly, clutching his belly as it gurgled and churned wildly.

"Why are you shouting?" Du Zitong did not know where she had suddenly popped up from. She widened her eyes and asked.

"Have someone help him to the restroom. I added herbs to clear the stomach and intestines to the prescription," Lu Feng said.

Fat is one of the hardest substances for the body to burn off, so only about half of the fat Guo Yanzhi had eaten had actually been digested. The remainder was still in his intestines, and they needed to be cleared out.

Wang Huawen had only wanted Lu Feng to lose face. He did not care at all whether Guo Yanzhi lived or died, so when he had people feeding him those greasy skewers, he had only wanted to make Guo Yanzhi collapse. He had never considered the consequences.