Plague Doctor

The outpatient complex of Jikang Hospital in Dahua City, the waiting room for bone surgery on the fifth floor, a row of waiting chairs filled with patients and family members waiting to be seen.

Some of them were in wheelchairs, others were holding crutches, which was normal in osteosurgery, and an uncle who had been waiting for a long time slept in a chair snoring.

Zhou Hao Rui sat in one of the rows and pressed the phone on his hand. From time to time, he looked up at the electronic screen of the queue number on the wall. It was almost his turn. He touched the cervical vertebrae, some slight tingling, and his heart also picked up.

“Don't be so unlucky...”

Zhou Hao Rui is 20 years old, is not a native, is from abroad to study in Dahua, study chemistry at Dahua Polytechnic University.

Dahua Technologies is an ordinary two, just like he is an ordinary boy.

I wanted to go to the University of Astronomy, but I didn't have that kind of qualification.

Zhou Hao Rui touched his neck, and the medical record bag next to him contained the results of the freshly taken X-ray, while the phone showed a rare disease that he had found:

Progressive musculoskeletosis

Fibrodysplasiaossificansprogressiva, or FOR.

Today is March 30, about a week ago, Zhou Hao Rui woke up and felt a particularly sore neck. At that time, he thought it was a falling pillow. He would be fine if he took a break. After two days, instead of getting better, my neck became more stiff and sometimes it would snap and squeak, which was very painful.

Zhou Hao Rui had to take this seriously. He went to the pharmacy to buy a bottle of dropping ointment and apply it. However, after a few days of applying it, the symptoms were worsening.

Sometimes he suddenly faints for no reason, sleeps poorly, has no spirit in class, and his life is all affected.

Therefore, Zhou Hao Rui could only come to the hospital to see the orthopedic department, to see the attending physician Xiao Gang, and let him take an X-ray first for examination.

Like many of his peers today, Zhou Hao Rui is passionate about supernatural forces, the Sky Machinery Bureau, Gu Jun and other mysterious mists. But also because of this, he is so upset now, always has a lot of thoughts, always feels wrong...

Do you think you're going to get some kind of weird disease? Even the beginning of an epidemic?

The more he wanted to be scared, the more he had searched the internet for his symptoms before coming to the hospital.

Though he said that the more he checked the internet, the more cancer started, the weirder he did, the more he had a strange feeling coming from the cervical spine...

The more you look at this rare disease called progressive musculoskeletosis, the stronger the sense of dissent.

It's as if you saw your death on the calendar.

“Zhou Hao Rui.” At this point, the electronic call system called his name.

At the door of Dr. Xiaogang's office, a patient walked out slowly with a cane.

Zhou Hao Rui hurried up to pick up the medical record kit and walked into the clinic. The clinic is less than 10 square meters long, Dr. Shaw sits behind a desk, a nurse helps, and an intern works on a computer at another desk.

“Dr. Shaw, I'm done with the X-rays.” Zhou Hao Rui walked up and handed over the medical records to Dr. Shaw. Sit down in the chair.

Dr. Xiao Gang, a young and strong man in his thirties, wore a pair of frameless glasses with a very good grammar, took X-rays and reported the results and looked, quickly said: "Mild bone hyperplasia.” He looked at the patient, "he said," always pay more attention to protecting the cervical vertebrae, looking at the cell phone, reading computers and reading books. You are young, the problem is small, don't worry too much, give you some anti-inflammatory pain medicine, then go to the rehab department to cooperate with physiotherapy. ”

Bone hyperplasia? Zhou Hao Rui was relieved when he heard the words, but immediately, the discontent surged again...

The tingling sensation of the cervical spine seems to be telling him, it's not that simple, it's not bone hyperplasia...

“Dr. Shaw, I have some questions.” Zhou Hao Rui frowned and asked, "I've really looked into a lot of data." Aren't bone hyperplasia common in elderly people? I've had bone hyperplasia since I was 20. Is that a lot? ”

“Not much before, more and more now.” Dr. Shaw has a very good attitude and is able to communicate well with his patients to take care of the disease, patiently explaining: "Because modern people's lives and work place a great burden on the joints and cervical vertebrae, this disease is becoming younger. This requires your personal long-term care protection. ”

Really? Zhou Hao Rui thinks that he usually plays mobile phones with his head down a lot, but he also plays ball a lot, and the key is still that weird feeling.

And he still had to ask, “Dr. Shaw, look at me. Is it possible that it's progressive musculoskeletosis? ”

“What?” said Dr. Shaw, as did the nurse next to him and the intern across the street. "Progressive musculoskeletosis? ”

Dr. Shaw really had to think about it, and then he remembered that there seemed to be such a rare disease, “Oh, progressive musculoskeletosis... how to say it...”

Zhou Hao Rui listened nervously and saw Dr. Xiao directing him to the X-ray: "You see, bone hyperplasia on the X-ray image shows a thin projection of the bottom width and tip. This position of your cervical spine is typical of bone hyperplasia. ”

“Mm-hmm.” Zhou Hao Rui looked at the white bones on the X-ray. Although he was nodding his head, he really couldn't understand it.

“Besides, you said progressive musculoskeletosis...” Dr Shaw dropped the X-ray or had to look at the data on the desktop computer before asking: “Do you have a family history of this disease? ”

“No.” Zhou Hao Rui shook his head, “I know this is a genetic disease, but I saw that most cases were caused by new genetic mutations...”

“I see you know a lot about this disease.” Dr. Shaw is also patient, "you know, the incidence of this rare disease is estimated at one in two million, and from the last century, when the disease was identified to about 800 cases diagnosed globally, two cases have been diagnosed domestically. This disease, which is congenital, usually occurs before the age of 10. ”

Dr. Shaw looked at several pathological images on the computer screen and said, "This disease was not started by bone hyperplasia, and if a sudden attack occurs, it appears to be a tumor-like mass in imaging. Because it is a genetic mutation that causes the ossification of fibrous tissue, including the muscles, tendons and ligaments of the body, spontaneously or in the event of trauma, forming subskeletons that are permanently fused to the original normal main bone, resulting in limited joint movement, and eventually the entire human body becomes boneless and immobile like a stone. I see that the tissue around your cervical spine has no tumor mass, no fibrosis, no need to worry too much about this possibility. ”

“So... Dr. Shaw, never?” Zhou Hao Rui asked, knowing that the doctor would not fill in his words, but wanted to get a guarantee.

“You don't have the same symptoms right now.” Dr. Shaw is a little serious, "probability is unlikely. But not in the future, I don't know about that. ”

Zhou Hao Rui couldn't grip his head with confidence, touching his neck, pain, stiffness, and that kind of discomfort...

As Dr. Shaw said, it seems that bones are growing...

Fibrosis, ossification, petrification...