"Good morning."

Lu Xuan returned the smile and asked, "What's wrong with the child?"

If a child is brought to the health center, especially by a man, it's almost certain that it's the child who is ill.

In the case of a woman, it might be because there's no one at home to watch the child and she's unwell herself, so she has no choice but to bring the child along. However, generally, if they are unwell, they wouldn't bring the child.

Parents usually avoid bringing children to hospitals unless necessary.

Mentioning the child, the man's face visibly showed worry: "About a year ago, the child had diarrhea, and part of the intestine would protrude. The hospital checked and said it's rectal prolapse. Initially, it could heal on its own, but over time, it needed to be manually pushed back.

Recently, due to diarrhea again, it's gotten worse—after pushing it back, squatting, running, or exerting some force would cause it to protrude again.

We had another check-up at the hospital, and the doctor said it can't go on like this, and that that something-something rectopexy surgery is needed. But there's risk involved and significant side effects; I hesitated for a long time and couldn't decide.

After hearing a friend's suggestion, I decided to see if traditional Chinese medicine could offer a good solution. I heard you were consulting here, so I brought my child over."

At this point, the man couldn't help but sigh.

Children are their parents' world, and when they're unwell, parents are more anxious than anyone else, wishing they could take the illness upon themselves.

Lu Xuan, upon hearing this, showed a slight movement in his eyes.

In traditional Chinese medicine, rectal prolapse is known as "tuo gang", describing the rectal tube emerging out of the anus. Due to incomplete development in children, the rectum is more vertical, or due to factors like malnutrition weakening rectal tissues, the incidence is higher than in adults, typically seen in children aged 1 to 3 years old.

Noticing Lu Xuan was silent, the man looked at him worriedly and took a deep breath to ask: "Dr. Lu, can this condition be treated with herbal medicine?"

Lu Xuan didn't address that directly; instead, he calmly observed the other person and said, "Let me take the pulse first to assess the situation."

Though the man was anxious, he understood that he needed to trust the doctor now that they were here.

Since the child was still small, the location of the inch, bar, and cubit pulse points was hard to determine, so Lu Xuan could only hold the child's wrist with one hand and use his index finger to feel the pulse.

He didn't ask about the child's symptoms or what discomfort they might have.

There was no need to ask, as a three-year-old cannot accurately articulate these things, and asking might even cloud his judgment.

In the past, pediatrics was known as "infants' department," and in ancient Chinese medicine as "mute department."

This was mainly because young children couldn't speak; even slightly older children couldn't effectively communicate with doctors, unable to express when they fell ill or where it hurts, posing significant challenges to diagnosis and treatment, thereby dubbing pediatrics as a "mute department."

The art of medicine is indeed challenging, and treating children is particularly so. The "Inner Scripture of the Yellow Emperor" didn't even record pediatric treatment methods. Thus, the "Medical Canon of Gold Mirror" states: Pediatrics is historically the hardest, a tiny deviation leads to great error, reflecting this sentiment.

The master of the Warm and Nourishing School, Zhang Jingyue, also once said, "In diagnosing children, since they can't communicate effectively, pulse diagnosis is particularly vital."

Once a child leaves the mother's body, having a complete form and veins, their pulse is distinguishable.

Adults' pulses can be felt, and children's can too, but the difference is that when checking adult pulses, one can use three fingers to press on the wrist's inch, bar, and cubit points.

However, because a child's wrist is thin and those pulse points are tightly packed, it's difficult to differentiate them. Thus, for children under three, Chinese medicine typically uses the "one-finger three-position" technique to observe the child's overall pulse, without subdividing the inch points into inch, bar, and cubit.

In practice, the method involves holding the child's hand with the left hand and using the right thumb to simultaneously press on the child's three pulse positions (or vice versa), and then using different finger pressures—light, medium, and deep—to observe the pulse.

Lu Xuan released the child's hand and directed his gaze at Ji Xiuwen, "You take a look."

Ji Xiuwen was still contemplating how to coax a word out of Lu Xuan after work. Hearing this suddenly made him pause for a moment, but soon, his doubts dissipated, leaving his face full of flattering expressions.

At this moment, Ji Xiuwen felt he was finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

He initially thought Lu Xuan was teasing him, considering how many people are seen in a day. It would be quite something to let him see one or two, which was already a favor due to them knowing each other for years and being classmates, and because Lu Xuan was looking out for him.

If it were another doctor, even seeing one patient would be a lot, and certainly wouldn't be explained as thoroughly as Lu Xuan would.

Often, it's a one-to-many consultation, one doctor to seven or eight patients at once. One-to-one explanations were unheard of.

Yet against all expectations, the first case and he was given hands-on experience.

It was impossible not to feel moved.

Ji Xiuwen instantly felt that calling him "foster father" yesterday was not in vain.

Look at this treatment, you can't find it anywhere else!

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