In the outpatient complex of Dahua Jikang Hospital, the waiting room of the Department of Orthopedic Surgery on the fifth floor is full of waiting chairs for patients and their families.

Some of them were in wheelchairs, some were on crutches, which was the norm in orthopedic surgery, and there was an uncle who had been waiting for a long time and slept in a chair and snored.

Zhou Haorui sat in a position in one of the rows, pressed the mobile phone in his hand, and looked up from time to time to look at the electronic screen on the wall that was queuing and calling numbers, it was almost his turn. He touched his cervical vertebrae, and there was a slight tingling pain, and his heart was so painful that he also pinched up.

"Won't be that unlucky......"

Zhou Haorui is 20 years old this year, not a local, he came to Dahua from other places to study, majoring in chemistry at Dahua University of Technology.

Dahua Polytechnic is an ordinary second book, just as he is an ordinary boy.

I once wanted to enter Tianji University, but I didn't have that kind of talent and talent.

Zhou Haorui touched his neck, and the medical record bag next to him contained the X-ray results he had just taken, and the mobile phone showed a rare disease he had detected:

Progressive muscular ossification

Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva, abbreviated as FOR.

Today is March 30th, about a week ago, Zhou Haorui woke up, he felt that his neck was very sore, and he thought it was a stiff neck, and he would be fine after a rest. Unexpectedly, after two days, not only did it not get better, but my neck became more and more stiff, and sometimes it would click when I moved, which was very uncomfortable.

Zhou Haorui had to pay attention to it, and went to the pharmacy to buy a bottle of bone-setting ointment to apply, but after a few days, the symptoms were still aggravating.

Even sometimes he would suddenly faint for no reason, he couldn't sleep well, he had no energy in class, and his life was all affected.

Therefore, Zhou Haorui could only come to the hospital to see the orthopedic department, find the attending physician Xiao Gang's consultation, and ask him to take an X-ray for examination first.

Like many of his peers today, Zhou Haorui is keen on supernatural powers, the Heavenly Machine Bureau, Gu Jun and other things that are shrouded in mystery. But it's also because of this that he is so nervous now, always has a lot of ideas, and always feels wrong......

Could it be that I have some strange disease? Or even the beginning of some kind of epidemic?

The more he thought about it, the more frightened he became, and before he came to the hospital, he had already searched the Internet for his symptoms.

Although it is said that the cancer started when he checked the Internet, the more he investigated, the more he had a strange and inexplicable feeling, which was a strange sensation from the cervical spine......

The more you look at this rare condition called progressive muscular ossification, the more intense the strange sensation becomes.

It's as if you've seen your own death date on the calendar.

"Zhou Haorui." At this time, the electronic calling system called his name.

At the door of Dr. Xiao Gang's office, a patient walked out slowly on crutches.

Zhou Haorui hurriedly got up and took the medical record bag and strode into the consultation room. The consultation room is less than 10 square meters, and Dr. Xiao sits behind a desk with a nurse helping and an intern operating a computer at another desk.

"Dr. Xiao, I've got my X-ray." Zhou Haorui walked up, handed over all the medical records to Dr. Xiao, and sat down in a chair.

Dr. Xiao Gang, a young man in his thirties, wearing a pair of rimless glasses, was polite, took the X-ray and the results of the report, and quickly said, "Mild bone hyperplasia." He looked at the patient, "Usually pay more attention to protecting the cervical spine, look at the mobile phone, look at the computer and read books appropriately." You are still young and the problem is not big, don't worry too much, prescribe you some anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving medicine, and then go to the rehabilitation department to cooperate with physiotherapy. ”

Hyperostosis of the bones? Zhou Haorui breathed a sigh of relief when he heard this, but immediately, that strange feeling came to his heart again......

The tingling sensation in the cervical spine seemed to tell him that it was not so simple, it was not bone hyperplasia......

"Dr. Xiao, I have some questions." Zhou Haorui frowned and asked, he really checked a lot of information, "Isn't bone hyperplasia only common to the elderly?" I had bone hyperplasia at the age of 20, is this a lot of cases? ”

"There weren't many before, but now there are more and more." Dr. Xiao has a good attitude, and full doctor-patient communication can take care of the disease, patiently explaining: "Because modern people's life and work will cause a great burden on the joints and cervical spine, the disease of bone hyperplasia is getting younger. This requires your personal long-term care and protection. ”

Yes, Zhou Haorui thinks that he usually lowers his head and plays with his mobile phone a lot, but he also plays a lot, and the key is that weirdness.

This made him still can't help but ask: "Dr. Xiao, looking at my situation, is it possible that there is progressive muscular ossification?" ”

"What?" Dr. Xiao was stunned, the nurse next to him and the intern opposite seemed to be stunned, and Dr. Xiao asked, "Progressive muscular ossification?" ”

Dr. Xiao really thought about it, and then remembered that there seemed to be such a rare disease, "Oh, progressive muscular ossification...... How can I say it......"

Zhou Haorui listened nervously, only to see Dr. Xiao instruct him on the X-ray and say: "You see, bone hyperplasia will show a protrusion with a wide bottom and a thin tip on the X-ray image, and this position of your cervical spine is a typical bone hyperplasia. ”

"Hmm." Zhou Haorui looked at the white bones on the X-ray, although he was nodding along, he really couldn't understand it.

"In addition, you said that progressive muscular ossification ......" Dr. Xiao put down the X-ray, but still had to use the computer on the table to search for information before asking, "Do you have a family history of this disease?" ”

"Nope." Zhou Haorui shook his head and said, "I know it's a genetic disease, but I see that most cases are caused by new genetic mutation......s."

"I see you know a lot about this disease." Dr. Xiao is still patient, "You know that the incidence of this rare disease is estimated to be 1 in 2 million, since the last century when this disease was confirmed to about 800 confirmed cases in the world, there have been one or two confirmed cases in China." This disease is a congenital disease, and patients generally develop it before the age of 10. ”

Dr. Xiao looked at a few pathological pictures on the computer screen and said, "This disease does not start with similar bone hyperplasia, but if it occurs suddenly, it will appear as a tumor-like mass on imaging. Because it is a genetic mutation that causes the fibrous tissues of the body's muscles, tendons, and ligaments to ossify spontaneously or in the case of trauma, forming secondary bones, and these ectopic secondary bones are permanently fused with the normal main bones, resulting in limited joint movement, and finally the whole body is full of bones, and becomes immobile like a stone. I see that the tissues around your cervical spine do not have a tumor-like lump, and there is no fibrosis, so there is no need to worry too much about this possibility. ”

"That'...... Dr. Xiao, absolutely not? Zhou Haorui asked, knowing that the doctor would not be full of words, but he wanted to get a guarantee.

"Your symptoms really don't look like that." Dr. Xiao solemnly said, "It's unlikely in terms of probability. But whether it will be in the future, I can't say this well. ”

Zhou Haorui couldn't rest assured that he scratched his head, and touched his neck again, the pain, stiffness, and that strange feeling......

Like Dr. Shaw said, there seems to be bones growing......

Fibrosis, ossification, petrochemical......