With Director Qee Sheng, as well as Zhu Xiangdong, Lei Qingping, We Xin, and the others looking on, Yan Feifan slowly said, "Initially, Sun Wei's abnormal weight loss might have been caused by gastrointestinal issues or perhaps an abnormal hormone secretion."
"But by the time he noticed the abnormal weight loss and went to the hospital for a check-up, the cause of his condition had unexpectedly resolved itself..."
Lei Qingping interjected, "Mr. Yan, are you saying that Sun Wei isn't sick? That he's healthy?"
Yan Feifan nodded.
"Then what's caused his continuous weight loss over the past few months?"
Yan Feifan replied without hesitation, "Fear and anxiety!"
Lei Qingping questioned him, "Mr. Yan, the psychiatrists at Ren'ai Hospital have already provided Sun Wei with psychological counseling and therapy."
"But it had no effect at all. He's still losing weight."
"Let me also remind you, Mr. Yan, that when Sun Wei was weighed today, he was nearly a pound lighter than yesterday."
Yan Feifan explained, "Ren'ai Hospital was the third Grade-A Tertiary hospital Sun Wei was transferred to. By that point, you could say the fear and anxiety had already seeped into his very bones."
"In that situation, if you tell him he's not sick, is he going to believe you?"
"Besides, psychotherapy is a slow, gradual process. In Sun Wei's case, you're clearly not going to see results in a short period of time."
Zhu Xiangdong said thoughtfully, "I think Mr. Yan's hypothesis is still possible."
"Intense fear and anxiety can indeed cause a person to lose weight rapidly. But most ordinary people don't really accept psychological reasons like this."
"Information found online often links abnormal weight loss with various types of cancer..."
"Add to that the repeated examinations at multiple hospitals that failed to produce a clear diagnosis... all of this undoubtedly intensified the patient's fear little by little."
We Xin chimed in, "Extreme fear and anxiety really can kill someone. There was a cruel experiment done once."
"They tied a person up in a pitch-black room, made a cut on his wrist, and let him hear the sound of blood dripping onto the floor."
"The next morning, they found the person had actually died. The characteristics of the corpse were highly consistent with death by exsanguination."
"But in reality, the person's wrist hadn't been cut open at all. What he heard was just a simulated sound of dripping blood."
At this point, the others stopped talking and all looked toward Qee Sheng.
Qee Sheng said in a slow tone, "Xiaoyan's hypothesis is a possibility."
He sighed. "For anyone who comes to us seeking medical advice, we doctors always try every possible way to find some kind of illness, especially with someone like Sun Wei whose symptoms are so obvious."
"It's an occupational hazard for us doctors. In our eyes, everyone looks like they have some kind of illness."
"It's also a blind spot in our thinking."
He looked at Yan Feifan and continued, "Sherlock Holmes said, 'When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.'"
"That quote is also very instructive for us in medical diagnosis."
"Xiaoyan, looking at your hypothesis through the process of elimination, the probability is actually quite high."
After a pause, Qee Sheng tested him, "You said that fear and anxiety have seeped into Sun Wei's very bones, and that conventional psychotherapy is unlikely to be effective in the short term."
"According to your hypothesis, how should we prescribe a course of treatment?"
Yan Feifan said, enunciating each word, "Treat a fake illness for real."
He elaborated, "Sun Wei is already convinced he has some major or serious illness that's hard to diagnose. So, we'll follow his line of thinking. After various high-tech, cutting-edge examinations and a consultation with specialists, we'll 'find' a relatively rare disease for him."
"Then, we'll treat his 'illness' accordingly."
Qee Sheng chuckled. "I understand. To put it simply, we're going to put on a play for the patient, based on his psychology."
"I've been a doctor for thirty-six years, and this is the first time I've ever treated someone by acting."
He mulled it over for another moment, then made his decision. "Alright. For Sun Wei's initial treatment here in the diagnostic department of the Affiliated Hospital, we'll proceed according to Xiaoyan's hypothesis."
Qee Sheng's tone suddenly became stern. "Even though the illness is fake, the treatment must be real."
"This 'real treatment' is, in effect, the 'medicine' Xiaoyan has prescribed for the patient."
"If anyone leaks this, or doesn't take the acting seriously, and that reduces the efficacy of this 'medicine,' don't blame me for being harsh."
Zhu Xiangdong, Lei Qingping, and the others all stated that they would strictly follow the treatment plan designed by Yan Feifan and that there would be absolutely no slip-ups.
Qee Sheng was very satisfied.
He then instructed, "While this treatment plan is being carried out, you will continue to analyze Sun Wei for other potential causes of his illness based on any new test data we acquire..."
At five in the afternoon, Qee Sheng led Yan Feifan, Zhu Xiangdong, and all the others in a great procession to Sun Wei's hospital room.
Qee Sheng solemnly informed him that for the next twenty-four hours, he would be undergoing continuous, comprehensive monitoring of all his vital signs.
Immediately after, Sun Wei was moved to a special monitoring ward.
Yan Feifan, We Xin, and the others proceeded to hook him up to sixteen different types of monitoring devices on his head and various other parts of his body.
Simultaneously, screen after screen on the instruments lit up, displaying either jumping waveforms or constantly changing data.
Sun Wei looked around and said with feeling, "The Affiliated Hospital really is the best and most advanced hospital. So many instruments checking me all at once."
"I've never had a check-up like this at any other hospital."
"Doctor, what do I need to do now?"
Yan Feifan said in a deadpan voice, "Eat what you need to eat, drink what you need to drink. Just act as you normally would. We need to collect all your physiological data over a twenty-four-hour period."
Sun Wei said, "Oh," and affirmed, "Doctor, I'll cooperate fully..."
As the one who had proposed and designed the treatment plan, Yan Feifan led by example, staying to watch over the monitoring equipment for the entire night.
After the twenty-four hours of physiological data collection was complete, Sun Wei rested and recovered for a night. Then on Friday, he was taken for several more high-end, impressive-looking examinations.
For example, an MRI, color Dopplers of various organs, a full-body PET-CT scan, and so on.
Of course, for some of these tests, Sun Wei was just taken for a tour, a mere formality. The machines weren't even turned on.
At nearly six in the evening, Yan Feifan, We Xin, and the others once again flocked around Director Qee Sheng, who was accompanied by three other distinguished-looking, highly respected doctors, as they all entered Sun Wei's room.
"First, let me make some introductions..."
Qee Sheng pointed to his colleagues and said to Sun Wei and his family, "These three are Dr. Chen Boyu, Director of our hospital's Neurology Department; Dr. Sun Ya, a senior physician in the Neurology Department; and Dr. Yv Zebin, Director of the Gastroenterology Department."
"At my invitation, the three of them joined me this afternoon for a specialist consultation regarding Sun Wei's condition..."
Hearing this, Sun Wei couldn't wait and interrupted, "Does that mean you have a result?"
Qee Sheng noticed that Sun Wei, who was sitting up in bed, was gripping the blanket so tightly that the veins on the back of his hands were bulging. His breathing had also become rapid.
He said with a grave expression, "We do have a result."
"Our unanimous conclusion is that you have a very rare neurological disorder: visceral autonomic dysfunction."
"Autonomic dysfunction?" Sun Wei's face was full of confusion.
Qee Sheng explained, "The internal organs in our bodies are controlled by a relatively independent nervous system that isn't subject to our conscious will. We call this the visceral autonomic nervous system."
"Right now, your visceral autonomic nervous system is severely dysfunctional and disordered."
"To put it simply..."
Qee Sheng elaborated, "During the day, when your internal organs should be active, your autonomic nervous system is instead dormant."
"But at night, it becomes active instead."
"This causes the food you eat during the day to not be properly absorbed. But at night, your organs are consuming a large amount of nutrients."
Hearing this, Sun Wei began to understand.
'Not absorbing during the day, but consuming a lot at night... It's all output and no input. No wonder I've been losing so much weight.'
He then asked worriedly, "Mr. Qee, this autonomic dysfunction... is it easy to treat?"
"Can it be cured?"
Qee Sheng said in a serious tone, "This disease is very rare and rather difficult to treat, but..."
"This disease... can be cured."
Sun Wei's mind and body instantly relaxed. He went limp and fell back onto the bed, murmuring, "As long as it can be cured, as long as it can be cured..."
"Sun Wei, let me go over the treatment plan we've decided on..."
Qee Sheng was halfway through his sentence when he suddenly noticed that Sun Wei, lying on the bed, had started to snore lightly.
'The guy actually fell asleep that fast...'