编辑文：
A man named Deng RL came from under the dam and asked me to treat his son. Riding my new bike, I came back with him. The sick boy was four years old, pale, short of breath, full of veins and edema in the lower limbs. The examination showed a diastolic rumble at the top of his heart, which was enlarged. The child has acute congestive heart failure caused by rheumatic heart disease and mitral stenosis and needs to be treated with digitalis preparation. I suggest RL can find this medicine only in the hospital. RL said that as long as there are ready-made ones, he can get them. The result is that the Irishman is the chairman of the commune and has a wide range of social networks. I refer to RL the "ouabain" in the Vietnamese Drug Manual. What he knows about me is Vietnamese. I explained that I had taught myself a little. RL wrote down that he went to town on his bicycle. He came back that night, reporting that he went to the county hospital first, and then to the state-run drugstore. The chief pharmacist said there was a shipment, but it was packed and ready for shipment to Wangcai because no one ordered it for a long time. RL asked him to get it back from the bus station, saying he would come back the next day. The next morning, RL brought ouabain. RL's wife said the child was making a fuss all night. I found that the boy, who was blue, restless and crying all the time, knew that the situation was urgent. I quickly extracted ouabain, diluted it with glucose solution, and injected it into the vein slowly. The boy soon calmed down. I told RL and his wife frankly

原文：
A man named Deng RL came from Dam Ha requesting me to treat his son’s illness. Riding my
new bike, I returned there with him.
The sick boy was four years old with a pale complexion, shortness of breath, engorgement of the
jugular vein and lower extremity edema. Examination revealed a diastolic rumbling murmur in the
apical region of his heart, which was enlarged.
The child had acute congestive heart failure due to rheumatic heart disease with mitral stenosis
and required treatment with digitalis agents. I advised RL that this kind of medicine could be found
only in the hospital. RL said as long as it was readily available, he could manage to get it. It turned out
that RL was chairman of the commune and had a wide social network.
I pointed out "ouabain" from the Vietnamese drug manual to RL. He was surprised at my
understanding of Vietnamese. I explained I had taught myself a little. RL wrote down the name of the
drug and immediately rode his bicycle to the town. He came back that evening, reporting that he went
first to the County Hospital without result, and then to the state-run pharmacy. The chief pharmacist
said it was available but had been packed for shipment to Mong Cai because no one had ordered it for a
long time. RL asked him to retrieve it from the bus station, saying he would return to pick it up the
following day.
Next morning, RL brought the ouabain. RL’s wife said the child had kicked up a fuss all night.
Finding the boy with a livid face, restless and constantly crying, I knew the situation was urgent. I
quickly drew ouabain, diluted it with a glucose solution and slowly injected it intravenously. The boy
soon calmed down. I told RL and his wife frankly that this condition was extremely dangerous if
treatment was delayed. All family members looked at each other with alarm.
Following daily intravenous injections and treatment with other drugs, the child improved
gradually.
Deng RL treated me to rice porridge for breakfast, rice for lunch and dinner, plus fried fish, or
fried peanuts, or scrambled eggs, every day for more than 10 days. This was not a menu that ordinary
farmers could typically afford.
One day, RL’s brother-in-law came to visit. When he inquired about the boy, RL’s wife
complained: "Isn't he almost the same?"
I heard and understood she believed I treated the child too slowly, giving just one shot per day, as
if I were extending treatment deliberately. I felt it necessary to advise her: "This medicine is very potent
and can only be injected once a day. In any case, all intravenous injection must be done slowly." But I
wasn’t sure if she accepted my explanation at that time.
Deng RL's brother-in-law was passing by on his way to the neighbor county Ha Coi to "consult
the fairy.” His daughter-in-law was sick and medication didn’t work. He had been told that the
Demigod Liu of Ha Coi was very efficacious and wanted to consult him.
The next day he returned and talked with RL and his wife in a low voice. He said that Demigod
Liu told him that there was a human skeleton buried under the bamboo clump on the left front side of
his house. The dead bones complained of discomfort because of too much rain recently. The demigod
said if the bones were removed to a dry place, his daughter-in-law would be healed.
RL asked, "Are there really bones buried there?"
His brother-in-law replied, "No idea! I have never heard of that but will go back and dig to see."
Then he said hesitantly, "Demigod Liu and I live far apart, separated by mountains and rivers. We are
strangers, so how can he know that there is a bamboo clump on the left front side of my house and
bones buried underneath? It is really strange."
About a dozen days later, RL’s brother-in-law came again. He said he had gone home that day and
really did find bones under the bamboo clump. Therefore, they prepared incense, candles and paper
money, and requested a master to help move the bones to a hillside. His daughter-in-law began
improving and the edema was almost gone. But, unfortunately, the edema recurred. Demigod Liu again
was consulted and this time told RL’s brother-in-law he had to seek help from another able man. This
was when he requested my services.
I have never believed in weird things. However, the fact that Demigod Liu said there were bones
buried under the bamboo clump that even the homeowner didn't know about yet found to be true, made
me feel incredulous. I should say that although current science can't explain such things, facts are facts,
which we must admit and then search for a cause.
It is best not to be self-righteous about respecting only scientific knowledge and dismissing all
else as "superstition”. If one could better understand such a “miracle” later, it could mean a great
advance in scientific knowledge. Aren’t there a few examples in the history of science? A
photosensitive film wrapped with black paper was found exposed by unknown "light”. At that time
scientists had no idea that some elements were radioactive which could make the film sensitized, so
they could not explain. However, the scientists refused to regard it as “haunted" but continued their
research which later resulted in the atomic theory.
In another instance, a bacterial culture medium displayed a few spots without bacterial growth.
Scientists didn't know about antibiosis between different organisms at that time, but they persisted with
research and finally developed the first antibiotic - penicillin, and a series of other antibiotics later. To
this day, there are few men and women in civilized society who have not benefited from antibiotics.
Deng RL accompanied me to his brother-in-law's home. After examination I suspected the patient
suffered from nephrotic edema. As it was not practicable to send the urine for a lab test, I tried an
alternative method. Asking her and her sister-in-law each to collect their urine in small bowls, I drew
the urine with a syringe into two waste ampoules, held the ampoules with a bamboo clip and placed
them obliquely above a glowing charcoal to heat the upper portion of the urine inside. In a moment, the
patient’s urine solidified into a white mass, while her sister-in-law’s remained clear. Because the urine
became solid, it should be an excess of protein in the urine - proteinuria. This meant she most likely
suffered from nephrotic edema.
Everyone around was amazed. However, I knew that the disease was not easy to cure and frankly
told them so. Deng RL asked me to prescribe the needed medicine and said he would help to get it. His
brother-in-law was the commune public security agent and might have some friends help. Therefore, I
prescribed her a diuretic plus a Chinese herbal formula and told them to give them a try.
Unexpectedly, nearly a year later I learned that the patient had recovered and given birth to a baby
boy. Unfortunately, the edema returned. I was not in Dong Hoa at that time and did not know the final
outcome.
RL’s son, whom I had treated for congestive heart failure, became strong enough to get up and
walk. Assuming I no longer was needed, I was preparing to leave when Deng Rong of Dong Hoa came
to ask me back to treat his grandson's foot injury. RL and Deng Rong were of the same surname clan
and had known each other for some time. Deng Rong had noticed two small caliber rifles hanging on
the wall of RL’s hall and said to me, "See, RL is a person trusted by the Communist Party, so he has
these things." That reminded me that when I was in college, I attended militia training and had
practiced rifle shooting. So the two guns on the wall did not seem alarming and had not caught my
attention. Hearing what Deng Rong said, I sighed, “Oh, there is more to this story!”
Before I followed Deng Rong back to Dong Hoa, I reminded RL, "Later the child may have
shortness of breath again. You can ask the commune health worker Honggui to help inject ouabain (RL
had bought all the ouabain from the pharmacy). Honggui is able to do intravenous injection and has
watched me do it several times, so there should be no problem. Remind him that the medicine is very
strong, and the injection must be done slowly and never too fast."
Panic Stricken at the Police Station
After one or two months, Deng RL hastened to Dong Hoa to report that his son could not stop
vomiting. I followed him on my bicycle to his house where I learned that Honggui had given
intravenous ouabain to the boy. As Honggui had been in a hurry to leave, I was told he injected the
medicine rather quickly. Soon the child began to vomit continuously. They had failed in their efforts to
stop it. I suspected that because the drug was injected too quickly, the blood concentrations increased
rapidly and the vomiting center in medulla was activated. I happened to have chlorpromazine at hand,
so gave the child an injection and the vomiting soon ceased.
At this time Honggui also came and heaved a sigh of relief: "I just pushed the drug a bit faster and
didn't expect that it would be so terrible!" Now I believed that RL’s wife finally understood why I had
injected only once a day before.
In the afternoon, Deng RL took me and Honggui to the town to buy something. We each rode our
bikes and had just reached a street corner when a policeman stopped me: "Hmm! You are here again.