However, in his view, traditional Chinese medicine for such terminal illnesses was essentially a form of palliative care.
Doctors were no longer truly aiming to cure the disease but rather to make the patient’s final days more comfortable.
Therefore, he speculated that Hank would still need to undergo surgery here upon his return.
He had already prepared profiles of several top pancreatic cancer specialists and their teams in the U.S., ready to discuss with Hank upon his arrival to decide which team would treat him.
At dawn.
Hank’s plane landed at New York Airport.
This time, he didn’t choose to travel to the hospital by car but had arranged for a medical helicopter to wait at the airport.
The doctors at the hospital were also prepared, just like last time.
Dr. Johnson, who had been in charge last time, was again appointed by the hospital as the lead. When he saw Hank, he immediately said, “Mr. Hank, I don’t think we need to run more tests now. The best approach is to quickly assess your condition and then formulate a treatment plan to implement as soon as possible!”
Hank shook his head, “Draw my blood now and check my CA199 levels. Let’s see what the numbers say first, then decide what to do next.”
Johnson asked, “Should we run the other tests again?”
Hank thought for a moment and asked, “How long will it take to get the CA199 results?”
Johnson replied, “About six to seven hours.”
Hank then asked, “Is the CT scan faster?”
Johnson nodded, “Our last full-body scan already identified the lesion. If we want to do another CT, the simplest way is to perform a localized CT scan on your pancreas. It will be very quick. After injecting the contrast agent and taking the scan, our most experienced doctors will immediately evaluate the images. We should have results in about half an hour.”
Hank immediately said, “Arrange the blood draw, then inject the contrast agent, and go straight for the CT scan. Don’t delay anything.”
Johnson had no choice but to agree, “Mr. Hank, please wait a moment. I’ll arrange it right away.”
Since fewer tests were needed this time, the hospital quickly arranged for a nurse to draw blood and administer the contrast agent.
Twenty minutes later, Hank was already being wheeled into the CT room.
All the relevant experts at the hospital, including Johnson, were gathered in the CT control room.
Everyone was waiting to see the imaging results as soon as they were available.
The examination table slid Hank into the machine, and the operator focused the machine on his pancreas.
Soon, the machine began to operate rapidly, and three-dimensional CT images quickly appeared on the computer.
The doctors, watching the dynamic images, went from indifferent to astonished.
Someone exclaimed, “This… this can’t be… there’s no sign of the lesion anymore? Has it really been cured?”
Johnson was also stunned. The previous scan had clearly shown a mass in Hank’s pancreas.
But now, the enhanced CT showed no abnormalities.
A doctor asked Johnson, “I heard Mr. Hank made an urgent trip to China. Could he have been cured there?”
Johnson frowned, “Even if China could treat it, there’s no such treatment! Normally, for his condition, the entire pancreas would need to be removed. There’s no treatment that can preserve the pancreas!”
After saying this, he hurriedly urged the technician, “Quick, pull up Mr. Hank’s previous CT scan for comparison!”
