On the evening of the day I was hospitalized, Zhukov, who received the news, sent Zikov to inform me that the appointment of sending me to the reserve front as chief of staff had been cancelled and that I should stay in the hospital to recuperate and reconsider my work arrangements after I recovered.

I thought I would feel a deep sense of loss when I heard the news. Unexpectedly, after Bezzikov announced Zhukov's order, I actually breathed a sigh of relief, more than a year of non-stop fighting, I felt physically and mentally exhausted, since now my superiors took the initiative to give me a holiday, then I will take this opportunity to recuperate for a while.

After reading out the order, Bezikov was afraid that I would have any bad thoughts, and comforted me: "Lida, you also know that this is a time of war, and although the reserve front is a reserve force, the post of chief of staff cannot be vacant for a long time, so a new chief of staff has been appointed temporarily. You can be treated in the hospital with peace of mind, and when you are fully recovered, with your friendship with Marshal Zhukov, he will definitely be able to arrange a proper job for you. ”

I smiled gratefully at Bezikov's concern, and then said, "Colonel Bezikov, don't worry, I won't have any psychological burden." After fighting for more than a year, I was also tired, so I just took advantage of the opportunity to recuperate for a while. ”

"Are you really okay?" Although Bezikov heard me say this, he still asked in disbelief: "We are friends, if you have anything on your mind, you must tell me." ”

"It's okay, it's really okay, Colonel Bezikov." I saw that he was skeptical of my words. Quickly make it clear to him: "I won't bear any psychological burden for such a trivial matter." You've been out for a long time today. It's better to go back early. Maybe your superiors have some other tasks to assign to you. ”

"Well, since you say so, then I'll go back first." When he was about to go out, he specially told me: "If there is anything, you can call directly, or ask Captain Yushchenko to send someone to me." ”

"Okay, Colonel, I see." After saying that. I also deliberately asked Yushchenko, who was standing outside the door: "Captain, did you hear what the colonel just said?" ”

"Hear me, Comrade Commander." Yushchenko replied respectfully: "If I have something, I will immediately send someone to Comrade Colonel." ”

When Bezikov heard Yushchenko say this, he nodded in satisfaction and turned to leave my room.

For the next two days, the nurse came early in the morning to give me eye drops, and after the pupils were dilated, the doctor Sergei came to examine me. After the next day's inspection, Sergei politely said to me: "Comrade General. I want to have surgery for you tomorrow, can you? ”

"Comrade Sergey. You are a doctor, and I am nothing more than your patient. When I faced my attending doctor, I politely said, "Of course, you have the final say when the surgery will be performed." ”

When he saw that I had agreed to the operation tomorrow, he continued: "Comrade General, I think you also know that no matter what kind of surgery, there will always be certain risks, and no matter how skilled a doctor is, there will be accidents during the operation. I'm telling you about this now to make you mentally prepared. ”

Hearing Sergey say this, my heart immediately panicked, and my heart said accident, what accidents will happen during the operation? According to the medical knowledge I learned from the nurses, I know that retinal repair surgery is to cut the eyeball, and if you have an accident when you operate on me, then my eye will be reimbursed. If I were a pirate, I would be a one-eyed pirate; But I'm a general now, and if I become a one-eyed dragon, how can I go out to meet people?

Sergey did not know that there was a fierce struggle going on in my heart, and he said to himself: "...... When repairing the retina, you need to cut open the eyeball, which may affect your cornea......"

Before he could finish speaking, I raised my hand to interrupt his later words, and couldn't wait to ask: "Comrade Sergey, I want to find out one thing, will I be in danger of going blind after this operation tomorrow?" ”

Sergei probably didn't expect me to ask this question suddenly, and couldn't help but be stunned. After a moment of silence, he said carefully: "Comrade General, as I just said, even if a doctor with excellent medical skills can have an accident during surgery. I have been doing this for more than 10 years and have performed more than 500 eye surgeries, with a success rate of about 90%......"

90%, although this percentage is very high under the current medical conditions, but I am still not sure, and I am afraid that I will become one of the unlucky 10%. Thinking of this, I said to Sergei with a sad face: "Comrade Sergei, I beg you, tomorrow's operation must be successful, and I don't want to wear a black blindfold when I go out in the future." ”

Sergei was silent again after my words, and after a long time, he gritted his teeth and said to me: "Comrade General, don't worry, although I am the chief surgeon tomorrow, the dean Osiminin will also come to the scene to observe and guide, I think the chance of your operation is still very good." ”

I was relieved to hear Sergei's assurance, and I remembered that Krochkov had said that he was an excellent ophthalmologist, and that there should be no major problem for him to operate on me. After letting go of the big stone in my heart, I was afraid that he would carry too much psychological burden in tomorrow's surgery because of my identity, so I comforted him and said, "Doctor, you don't care what level I am now, just treat me as an ordinary patient of yours, and treat me as you want." ”

After I said this, I keenly noticed that Sergei seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, and I immediately realized that he was actually quite nervous when he told me about the preoperative medical advice.

On the day of the operation, just after 8 o'clock, a male nurse pushed a wheelchair into my room, parked the car in front of and behind my bed, and respectfully said to me: "Comrade commander, please sit down, I will push you to the operating room." ”

I nodded, sat down with a big grin, and he pushed me outside. As soon as I reached the door, Yushchenko reached out and stopped the nurse, then bent down and asked me: "Comrade commander. Need us to come with you? ”

I looked at Yushchenko, who was heavily armed. and two fighters standing there like nails outside the door. Slowly shook his head and said, "No need, Comrade Captain. If you stand at the door of the operating room in this dress, it will cause great psychological pressure to the surgeon and affect his normal performance. You'd better stay here, it's a minor operation anyway, and it won't take long. ”

After Yushchenko got out of the way, the nurse pushed my wheelchair. Head down the hallway. When I got to the end of the hallway, the wheelchair turned a corner, allowing me to see the two closed glass doors of the operating room at a glance. The nurse pushed the wheelchair to a stop in front of the glass door, went around to the front and pushed the door open, then turned over and pushed the wheelchair back into the operating room.

The nurse pushed me to an operating table, made a gesture and said to me, "Comrade commander, you will be here for surgery later, please lie down first, and the doctor will come in a moment." ”

I got out of my wheelchair and climbed onto the operating table and lay down on my back. At the same time, he politely said to the caregiver sincerely: "Thank you!" ”

"It's okay, Comrade Commander!" The caregiver politely replied to me later. He pushed his wheelchair out of the operating room.

I was lying on the cold operating table, nervous, not knowing when Sergei, who operated on me, would arrive. I was even thinking about getting out of bed and walking around instead of lying here and waiting.

While I was thinking about it, I heard a knock on the door of the operating room, followed by the footsteps of several people. Before I could look back at who it was, I heard Osimmenen's familiar voice: "Good morning, Comrade General! ”

Hearing that there was Osiminain among the people, I hurriedly stood up and turned sideways to greet the old dean: "Dean Osimmenen, you are early!" Seeing that Sergei was following him closely, I added, "Hello, Comrade Sergei!" ”

Seeing that I wanted to sit up, Sergei hurriedly quickened his pace and walked to my side, supported my body and said, "Comrade General, lie down quickly, we are going to operate on you soon." ”

After I lay down, I looked at Sergey and asked, "How long will today's surgery take?" ”

"It won't take long, soon." Sergei, after answering me, hurriedly said: "I'll change my clothes first, and I'll talk to you later." With that, he walked with Osiminen and the nurse who had worked with him towards the next dressing room.

After lying alone on the operating table for a while, Sergei and Osiminin, who had changed into surgical gowns, came back to me. Osiminin lowered his head and said to me with a smile: "Comrade General, today's operation was performed by Dr. Sergei, and I will watch it all the time, so you can rest assured." ”

Seeing the dean and the most skilled doctor standing in front of me, I nodded with satisfaction and said, "If you're ready, let's get started." ”

Sergei turned to the nurse next to him and said, "It's time to make preoperative preparations." ”

At his command, the nurse walked up to me, leaned down, and carefully cut off the eyelashes of my left eye with medical scissors. After completing the pre-operative preparations, she straightened up and nodded at Sergei.

Then it was Sergei's turn to step in himself, and he carefully injected three shots into the corner of my left eye and the lower socket. But I shuddered when I heard the needle tip piercing my skin clearly.

Sergei, who was taking an injection, noticed my small action, quickly stopped, and said to me angrily: "Comrade General, I gave you an anti-inflammatory injection and anesthetic, don't worry, it won't hurt too much." ”

Because the tip of the needle was staying in my eye socket, I couldn't nod my head, so I could only barely say "um" to indicate that I understood.

After the anti-inflammatory injections and anesthetics, the nurse who had just trimmed my eyelashes came over and put an earthy yellow tape on my eyes. When my eyes went dark and I didn't know what was going on, I heard the sound of the tape being cut by a scalpel, and then my left eye was seeing again. At this moment, I realized that the purpose of the adhesive tape was to fix the eyelids and facilitate the next surgery.

When Sergei's scalpel carefully cut a cut in my eyeball, I couldn't help but hold my breath nervously, fearing that my slightest movement would affect the scalpel in his hand.

While Sergei skillfully repaired the retina through the incision, Osimmenin, who was standing next to him, kept whispering something, because his speech was too fast and his voice was too low for me to hear a word, but I could guess that he was instructing Sergei.

I don't know how long it took, but I vaguely heard Sergei breathe a sigh of relief, and stopped what he was doing, just about to ask if the operation was over. But I heard him turn his head and say to the nurse next to him: "The intraocular pressure is too low, inject 5CC of gas." ”

The nurse agreed, took a syringe from the side, and pierced it into my eyeball. It didn't take much effort, and I felt that my eyeballs were swollen, and it was probably the gas injected by the nurse that had taken effect.

After the nurse had finished the series of operations, I heard Osimmenen say to Sergei: "It's time to stitch it up, you can do it yourself." ”

"Okay." Sergei readily agreed, and he took matters into his hands to stitch up the wound on my eyeball.

I waited for him to finish all this and stand up straight again before I asked tentatively: "Comrade Sergey, is the operation done?" ”

"Yes, Comrade General." Without waiting for Sergei to answer, Osimmenin, who was next to him, preemptively replied: "The operation has been completed, it was very successful, and then we will take you back to the ward." ”

"Thankfully, it's finally done." As I spoke, I tried to sit up, intending to walk back to the room on my own.

Sergei pressed my shoulder and said nervously: "Comrade General, don't move yet, be careful to open the wound that has just been sewn." Then he raised his head and said to the nurse standing next to him, "Comrade nurse, go and call the nurses in and let them push the general back to the ward." ”

Not long after the nurse walked away, she returned with two male nurses. Osiminen pointed at me and said, "You two, send the general back to the ward." The two nurses said yes, stepped forward and pushed the operating table I was lying on and left.

When we returned to the ward, Yushchenko greeted us and said in an anxious tone: "Thank God, Comrade Commander, your operation has finally been completed. We're going crazy waiting here. ”

I thought back to my experience during the operation and felt that it didn't take long, but why was Yushchenko in such a hurry, so I casually asked, "How long did the operation last?" ”

"Five hours, five full hours!" Yushchenko spread his palms out in front of me and said, "You went in at eight o'clock in the morning, and it's one o'clock now." (To be continued......)