20th December, we left Zhanjiang for Lianjiang. In the afternoon I received a call from Xiao Zheng, a trainee nurse. She told me that they had managed to contact Ximei’s family members. I told her to ask Ximei’s family members to see me. That night I returned to Guangzhou.
The following morning, I gathered all the heads of departments to discuss Ximei’s case. At about 10.00am, Xiao Zheng phoned again to tell me that Ximei’s elder brother and his wife were with her. I asked the brother whether they wanted to send Ximei to Guangzhou for treatment. He gave a firm affirmation but the problem was Ximei could not travel by bus due to her condition. I told them we would send an ambulance to fetch them the next day.
Our hospital’s ambulance left at 6.00 a.m. on 22nd, December. Xiao Chen at the wheel accompanied by a nurse Xiao Yuan and Xiao Liao from the Planning Section. They came back to our hospital the same day at 7:30 p.m. after travelling a total distance of almost a thousand kilometers. Ximei was sitting on the passenger seat in the front row together with her brother; she was panting badly. Dr. Niu Lizhi and Dr. Mu Feng waited at the ambulance door while Xiao Yuan and Xiao Liao assisted Ximei to move, inch by inch, to the door. Ximei was panting even more heavily. Just as she was saying that she wanted to urinate, urine came out and soaked her dress and dripped onto the ambulance’s floor. Dr. Mu who was both tall and strong went forward and assisted Ximei to the wheelchair. But the wheelchair was too small for Ximei who had a huge tummy. Fortunately, we also got ready a trolley and Ximei was put on it. A nurse at the side immediately inserted an oxygen-carrying tube into Ximei’s nostril. She was escorted by doctors and nurses into the lift and sent into the ward on the eighth floor where doctors measured her blood pressure, checked her heart rate and installed monitoring equipment. Nurses helped Ximei to change her urine and sweat-soaked dress and rinsed her body with warm water. Wei Chang Qiang, the head nurse, immediately brought some food from the canteen for Ximei.
At 8:20 a.m. on the 23rd December, I went to Ximei’s ward. Her breathing was much smoother than last night. Wei, the head nurse, was combing her hair. Ximei said she had not washed her hair for more than a month. Now she felt much more comfortable after her hair had been washed. The most difficult thing was to take bath. Weighing at 110kg, waist at 170cm circumference, her humongous abdomen was pressing against her legs and she could walk just for a few steps. Her perineum was pushed to the lower back of the body. Wei and other nurses had to assist her to go to the bathroom to take a bath and change into uniform for patients.
An ultrasound examination was done in the morning. A large amount of intraperitoneal fluid was seen in her abdominal cavity pressing the intestines to upper abdomen. Tumors could not be seen. ECG showed that her heart rate was 120 per minute. Due to her enormous abdomen, CT inspection incision could not be made hence CT scan could not be done.