Chapter 58: Golf (2)
Shine University Hospital Emergency Room.
The emergency room was, as usual, a chaotic scene.
Several beds were already occupied by patients.
Medical staff were performing CPR on an emergency patient who had just arrived in an ambulance.
The emergency medicine doctor’s face was drenched in sweat as he performed chest compressions.
The patient’s guardian paced anxiously nearby.
A drunken patient shouted and caused a commotion, his voice as loud as a trumpet.
The emergency room’s hellish scene was as diverse as the number of patients admitted.
‘Haa… I’m going crazy. Seriously.’
Daewhi bit his lip and looked down at the patient lying on the bed.
This was C sector, designated for treating minor patients.
The patient Daewhi was in charge of was named Seo Jin-oh.
He was 34 years old.
The prominent acne scars spread across his face were striking.
The patient’s guardian, his mother, had a sharp chin and thin lips, giving her a sensitive appearance.
“Ugh…”
“Doctor, our Jin-oh is having such a hard time. Aren’t you going to do anything?”
The guardian pressed, her voice laced with anxiety as the patient continued to groan.
“It’s not that I’m not doing anything. I’m trying to find the exact cause. We need to know the cause to treat it properly.”
“So when are you going to give him that treatment?”
“I understand how you feel, but please don’t rush me too much. Treating people isn’t easy.”
Daewhi’s forehead furrowed at the guardian’s constant nagging.
Twenty minutes ago, Daewhi had confidently come down to the emergency room after receiving the call.
According to the emergency room chart, he thought he could simply prescribe a headache pill and send the patient home.
But how wrong he was.
Daewhi’s initial judgment proved incredibly naive.
Chest X-ray.
Blood test.
Urine test.
Electrocardiogram.
The results of the basic tests all came back normal, but the patient’s condition was far worse than indicated on the chart.
The patient described a head pain that felt like it was breaking him apart.
He also complained of severe nausea.
The patient didn’t usually suffer from headaches.
And he had no underlying diseases related to his head, leaving Daewhi bewildered.
He couldn’t figure out the cause of the patient’s pain.
So, he brought out his secret weapon: a brain CT scan. But even the CT scan showed nothing abnormal.
So, what the heck was he supposed to do?
Feeling helpless, Daewhi immediately sent a distress signal to Junhoo.
“Patient.”
“…Yes.”
“Have you ever hit your head hard on a desk corner or wall?”
“No. I haven’t.”
“Have you been under a lot of stress recently?”
“I haven’t.”
Daewhi asked a few questions he hadn’t asked during the initial consultation, but it was no use.
He felt as deflated as a soccer player who had missed a penalty kick.
“Oh, Doctor, could you check the patient’s vitals one more time?”
Feeling awkward just standing there, Daewhi gave the order to the nurse next to him.
The nurse nodded and checked the vitals.
Temperature: 36.7 degrees Celsius.
Respiration rate: 15 breaths per minute.
Pulse: 120 beats per minute.
Blood pressure: 145/100 mmHg.
The patient’s temperature and respiration rate were normal, while his pulse and blood pressure were slightly elevated.
But Daewhi’s gut feeling told him something serious was happening to the patient.
It was driving him crazy that he couldn’t figure out what it was.
“Patient, is your back not feeling well either?”
Daewhi asked, noticing the patient had placed a hand on his back.
“Yes, it’s a little tingly.”
“Have you ever been injured or had disc surgery?”
“No. But… my back hasn’t been good, usually.”
“Hey, doctor. He’s having a hard time. Why do you keep asking questions? If you’re going to do this, at least give him a painkiller.”
He didn’t know why the patient was in pain.
And the guardian kept pecking at him from the side.
Daewhi barely managed to resist the urge to shout and run out of the emergency room.
But it was right then that he saw his savior, Junhoo, approaching the bed.
It seemed like light was radiating from Junhoo.
In the chaotic scenery of the emergency room, Daewhi could only see Junhoo.
“Senior, please save me.”
Daewhi whispered to Junhoo, who had arrived at the bed.
* * *
While Daewhi gave a long and detailed notification of the patient’s case, Junhoo stroked his chin while staring at the patient.
He was diagnosing the patient by referring to the test results he had reviewed before coming down and Daewhi’s report.
The patient’s CC (Chief Complaint) was a headache, but the brain CT scan showed no abnormal signs.
He understood why Daewhi was struggling.
“Who are you?”
The guardian gave Junhoo a sharp look.
“I’m a neurosurgery resident. My junior was having trouble, so I came to examine the patient.”
“What year are you in?”
“I’m in my second year.”
“Ha… so next time, a third-year will come down?”
The guardian’s tone was sarcastic.
Daewhi was huffing and puffing, angry at the rude remarks, but Junhoo remained unfazed by the guardian’s words.
Guardians were usually sensitive.
How could they be calm when their loved ones were in pain and struggling right in front of them?
Of course, there were some real jerks among them…
“Fortunately, that won’t happen. Please stay still, patient.”
Click.
Junhoo turned on the penlight and examined the patient’s pupils.
He checked the size of the pupils and their constriction and dilation response.
There were no major abnormalities.
For someone complaining of a severe headache, the tests related to the head were remarkably clear.
It was a strange phenomenon.
He was definitely missing something.
But it was right then that Junhoo noticed the patient was putting his hand on his side.
Junhoo’s instinct screamed that the clue to the diagnosis lay in that action.
Wait a minute…
Come to think of it, Daewhi said the patient had lower back pain, right?
“Patient, would you like to lie down on your stomach first?”
“Why… why?”
“You said you have pain in your back, right? I need to do a test called a muscle strength assessment (Motor power grade).”
“No, is this really a university hospital? Why are you looking at my back when my head hurts the most?”
“Senior, isn’t this a bit much? These days, people who work in offices have back pain as a basic complaint… How are you going to handle the fallout later?”
The guardian interrupted.
Daewhi also showed a skeptical reaction in a small voice.
He was wondering why Junhoo would perform a back exam on a headache patient.
But Junhoo had a plan.
“Guardian.”
“Yes.”
“A medical license isn’t something you get for free by playing a game. I know you’re worried about your son, but please be patient and watch.”
After persuading her nicely, the guardian stopped nagging, though she still looked displeased.
“Ugh… is it done?”
The patient groaned and lay down on his stomach.
“Yes. Well done.”
Lifting up the patient’s gown, Junhoo placed his hand on the patient’s back.
The internal energy drawn from his core flowed into his palm.
The internal energy in his palm penetrated back into the patient’s body, spreading out in concentric circles like ripples in a lake.
Woo woong. Woo woong.
The internal energy, transformed into a wave, caressed and passed through the structures of the patient’s back, including bones, muscles, blood vessels, and nerves.
‘If there’s no problem with the head, there must be a problem with the back.’
Junhoo suspected the patient’s back condition was the key.
It was rare, but there were cases where back conditions affected the head.
What if there was nothing wrong with the back either?
Then even Junhoo would have to surrender.
He couldn’t predict the outcome.
‘Internal Energy Lumbar Angiography’ was in progress with an anxious heart.
At some point, Junhoo’s brow furrowed.
An abnormality was detected in the spinal artery located between the 2nd and 3rd lumbar vertebrae.
The blood vessels were tangled like a twisted skein, and some of them were pressing on the spinal cord.
The disease that was tormenting the patient was…
‘Spinal dural arteriovenous fistula [an abnormal connection between an artery and a vein in the membrane surrounding the spinal cord].’
The spinal blood vessels should normally flow in the order of artery → capillary → vein.
This disease was caused by skipping the capillary step, resulting in a direct connection from artery to vein.
Arteriovenous fistulas mainly occur in the brain, making this patient a special case.
‘This is a disaster. It’s a disaster.’
Even though he had confirmed the diagnosis, Junhoo’s face didn’t brighten.
The hand he was taking off the patient’s back was also trembling faintly.
The patient’s condition was serious.
The dilated blood vessels were pressing on the spinal cord.
If time passed like this, the patient could suffer from both gait disturbance and urinary disturbance.
In the worst case, a spinal vascular rupture could occur, leading to death.
Not only that, the fact that the back pain extended to the headache meant the spinal blood flow was disrupting the cerebral blood flow to the point of impairing circulation.
A situation that required immediate emergency surgery!
A fire the size of a large wildfire had landed on Junhoo’s feet.
“Didn’t you say you were going to do a muscle strength test? What were you doing just putting your hand on my back?”
The guardian asked nervously.
“This is also a type of test. Anyway, I think the patient has a problem with his back. Let’s take an emergency CT scan of his back too.”
“You’re really too much. Do you think I’m stupid? You’re planning to take CT scans here and there and get money, right?”
“Absolutely not. If there’s nothing wrong with the patient’s back, I’ll pay the full medical bill today.”
“Can you keep that promise?”
“Of course. Daewhi, I’ll put in a CT order, so take the patient and go get an emergency CT scan.”
Junhoo’s urgent gaze turned to Daewhi.
“Senior, aren’t you making things too big? A back CT scan for a headache patient is a bit much… How are you going to handle the fallout later?”
Daewhi asked in a whisper.
“I’ll take responsibility, so hurry!”
“Ah. Yes.”
Junhoo shouted loudly. Surprised, Daewhi pulled the patient’s bed and hurried away.
“Would you mind waiting here for a moment? I’ll let you know as soon as the results come out.”
After asking for the guardian’s understanding, Junhoo quickly moved to the emergency room station.
He put in an emergency order for a back CT scan for the patient and called the operating room to make a surgery reservation.
And then he called Hoonshik again.
Hoonshik was the on-call professor today.
Neurosurgery was so short-staffed that even the professors were on call to perform surgery when an emergency patient came in like now.
‘What are you doing? Hurry up and answer!’
‘A person is about to die!’
While the 10 seconds of the ringtone felt like 10 minutes, the first call went unanswered.
The message saying it would connect to voicemail sounded annoying.
Junhoo didn’t give up and called again.
Fortunately, Hoonshik answered this time.
But the surrounding sounds coming from the receiver were unusual.
“Nice!
Today, Mr. Yang, …your senses are amazing?
The one I bought this time… is a real gem. …the completion of fashion is still a luxury…”
With a bad feeling, the back of Junhoo’s neck became chilly, and the fine hairs on his arms stood on end.
“Uh. Why? What’s wrong?”
Hoonshik belatedly asked what was going on in a sulky voice.
“Professor, this is Junhoo. A patient came to the emergency room and has a spinal dural arteriovenous fistula. He needs emergency surgery.”
Hoonshik’s answer that followed was a masterpiece.
“I can’t do surgery? I’m at the golf course right now.”