25th December, Ximei’s condition continued to improve. 5000ml of fluid was drained out that day. The next morning, CT scan showed that it was pelvic tumor. Another 6000ml of ascites were drained. From 27th December onward, 5000-7000ml of ascites was drained each day.
Ximei celebrated the first day of the New Year 2010 in the hospital. Her abdomen had shrunk from 170cm to 110cm. On her hospital bed, Ximei enjoyed all the cakes and fruit brought to her by doctors and nurses. On 5th January, she recorded a weight of 60kg. A total of 50kg of abdominal fluid, equivalent to 100 bottles of beer, had been drained out. There was no record of such big amount of abdominal fluid released ever recorded in any medical journal or literature.
I had wanted to operate on the tumor at the close of 2009. However, Dr. Niu and several other younger doctors were against the idea; they were of the opinion that the patient’s abdominal wall and diaphragm were weak due to long period of force exerted by the abdominal tumor and excessive volume of fluid on the abdomen. It was important to build up stronger abdominal breathing power. This would help her to cough out sputum more easily after operation. Another issue to be considered was that Ximei had been under long term of negative nitrogen balance; this needed to be corrected. Ximei was asked to practice blowing balloons everyday and everyday she was given a big bottle of protein orally.
These young doctors were proved to be right. After doing balloon blowing exercises and supplementation of protein, Ximei had stronger abdominal breathing power and she became fitter each day. She was pinkish and had gained weight. The lesson I learnt was that I must not be stubborn and hard headed. I had to listen to others’ view points and be democratic. I was very glad that these young doctors had matured and they would be the future successors.