Fifth Vital [EN]: Chapter 21

21. Golden Time

“Help me with this patient!”

The nurse’s shout made two heads in the station turn simultaneously.

Looking towards the sound, the patient with rectal bleeding from earlier had collapsed on the floor.

As soon as Tae-kyung saw the scene, he rushed to the patient, and Lee Chan-hee followed behind.

“Patient! Patient!”

“I was coming after dressing another patient, and they collapsed here.”

“Patient, wake up!”

“Ugh… yes…”

“Do you know where you are?”

Lee Chan-hee, after hearing the explanation from the nurse, checked the patient’s mental state.

Meanwhile, Tae-kyung’s reaction was unusual.

‘Why did it change?’

The smell had changed to stage 3.

‘Wait a minute!’

In that instant, the bathroom door was visible behind the collapsed patient.

‘Oh, no!’

With a sudden thought, Tae-kyung ran into the bathroom.

Click- Thud- Thud-

His hand, checking each stall, stopped at the second one. Along with a dropped gauze, the toilet was covered in a tremendous amount of blood.

The patient couldn’t hold back their bowel movement while urinating.

Even at a glance, the amount of bleeding was enormous.

“Dr. Lee Chan-hee?”

Tae-kyung rushes out of the bathroom and gives orders.

“Yes.”

“Stop questioning the patient and lay them on the bed first.”

“Understood.”

“Check the patient’s Hgb [hemoglobin, a protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen] level.”

“Yes, Doctor.”

Lee Chan-hee and the nurse follow the orders.

They check the patient’s condition under the eyes and on the tongue to see the extent of blood deficiency.

As a result, the tongue was dry, and the underside of the eyes had turned pale. The nurse quickly runs over and says,

“The Hgb level is normal.”

“Prepare one unit of blood for transfusion quickly.”

“Excuse me? The level is normal?”

“That level may not reflect the immediate bleeding. It’s necessary based on the patient’s physical examination. I’ll put in the order, so get it quickly.”

“Yes, understood.”

Tae-kyung knew from numerous experiences.

That the numbers provide a lot of information, but not everything.

In reality, there are often discrepancies between the patient’s condition and the test results in the hospital setting due to incorrect test results or test results that have not yet been reflected.

And he judged that this was exactly such a situation.

The questioning nurse and Lee Chan-hee were puzzled, but Tae-kyung was certain.

That what the patient needed now was a blood transfusion.

“Redo the blood test after the patient receives the transfusion.”

“Oh my, honey?”

The guardian, who had briefly left, was surprised and didn’t know what to do.

“I just went to make a phone call, why is he like this?”

“The patient had bleeding while having a bowel movement in the bathroom.”

“Oh, I can’t live like this. I told him so many times to hold it in… Is he okay?”

“The doctor will take care of it. Please come this way for a moment.”

Another nurse calmed the surprised guardian and explained the situation.

“Give me gauze soaked in vasoconstrictor or a bottle of vasoconstrictor solution.”

“Here it is.”

Tae-kyung, having received the medication, grabbed a lot of gauze. He immediately cleans the anus with saline solution and then soaks the gauze with plenty of vasoconstrictor [a drug that causes blood vessels to constrict].

Then, he packs the gauze so that the anal bleeding area is compressed.

“Patient, it may be difficult, but you really shouldn’t have a bowel movement now.”

“It just came out suddenly…”

“I followed you to the bathroom and told you so many times, how could you not hold it in?”

“If there is more bleeding here, it could be really dangerous.”

“I’ll be watching over him carefully.”

“Please keep a close eye on him even when the guardian goes to the bathroom.”

Finally, Tae-kyung earnestly emphasized once again the reason why he absolutely had to hold in his bowel movements, as if pleading.

3 hours later-

“The attending physician said to send him over after stabilizing the dangerous condition.”

Lee Chan-hee, who examined the patient’s condition after the transfusion was completed, called Tae-kyung.

“The numbers are recovering, and the patient’s mental state is clear. Understood.”

The proctologist who operated on the patient requested that the emergency be resolved.

“That’s right. Dr. Kim? What happened to that patient’s Hgb level?”

The nurse who was helping with the patient’s treatment earlier asked while working at the station.

She seemed curious about Tae-kyung’s order to transfuse blood when the Hgb level was normal.

“It turned out that the doctor was right.”

“Really? Did the Hgb drop?”

“Yes.”

“Dr. Kim Tae-kyung is amazing. I guess that all comes from experience, right?”

“That’s right. Sigh! I don’t know when I’ll become a doctor like him.”

“Dr. Lee, you’ll definitely become one too.”

“Really?”

“Of course. Anyway, it’s a relief that the patient didn’t hurt their head.”

“I agree. It would have been a disaster if they had bumped their head.”

* * *

“Are you seriously eating dinner now?”

Eui-jin, who came to the cafeteria to get coffee, looked at the clock on the wall.

The clock hands were pointing at 2 o’clock.

“Well, it’s been hectic today with patients pouring in. By the way, I enjoyed your Newtube [a fictional video-sharing platform, similar to YouTube] video.”

“Dr. Jung, you saw it too?”

“Of course. I think all the staff at our hospital have seen it.”

Thud-

“I saw it too.”

Oh Gye-soon, the head chef of the staff cafeteria, chimed in, placing a warm bowl of ramen down.

“The soup is cold, so it might not taste good. Eat this instead.”

She was the oldest person in our hospital and the same age as Kim Cheol-gi, and she was the only one who didn’t hesitate to speak informally to the doctors.

Having been with the hospital since its beginning, she seemed cold and blunt on the outside, but in reality, she was a warm-hearted person who took good care of people, a so-called tsundere [a character archetype who is initially cold but gradually reveals a warmer side].

“You didn’t have to do this.”

“What are you saying? Are you telling me to throw it away after I went to the trouble of making it?”

“What do you mean? You know how much I love ramen.”

“From now on, don’t foolishly stay until this hour, and you see that basket over there, right?”

Oh Gye-soon pointed to the basket next to the serving plate.

“There will be kimbap [Korean seaweed rice rolls] there. When you’re busy, take it and stuff it in your mouth. A doctor is also a person. You need to be healthy to treat people. Got it?”

“Yes, thank you.”

“I’ve seen many doctors go to an early grave from overworking themselves.”

“Oh, no. Madam, please don’t say such scary things.”

“Dr. Jung, you too, cut down on coffee. Caffeine isn’t good for your body. You’ll get a stomach ulcer from pouring it in like that.”

Oh Gye-soon pointed out the health of the doctors, Tae-kyung and Eui-jin, and headed to the kitchen.

“She may speak harshly, but she has a warm heart.”

“She seems like it. Dr. Jung, you must have been busy today too.”

“Don’t even mention it. There were more pain treatment patients than usual, and it was hectic. But it’s better to be busy.”

“That’s true. I was going to go to Dr. Jung’s office anyway.”

“If it’s because of a patient, I’ll come, so call me.”

While Eui-jin was talking, Tae-kyung nonchalantly handed over a convenience store bag.

Thud-

“I got this for you.”

“What is it?”

“Cake.”

“Cake?”

“It was Dr. Jung’s birthday on the day of the emergency surgery.”

Tae-kyung felt sorry for calling him out on his day off, especially on his birthday.

“No, it’s not like I’m a child, even though my birthday has passed. Anyway, thank you.”

“It’s nothing great, I bought it at the convenience store in front of my house.”

“Where you bought it doesn’t matter. And the quality of convenience store food these days is good… !”

Eui-jin’s words stopped abruptly as he happily took the cake out of the bag.

“Are you touched? How can you be so touched by something like this.”

“Ahahaha. It’s a chocolate cake.”

“You like chocolate?”

“Um… Dr. Kim, don’t you remember?”

“Remember what?”

“I’m allergic to chocolate.”

“Huh?”

In fact, he had gone to the convenience store in front of his house to buy soy milk and bought the cake without knowing what flavor it was.

But Eui-jin happened to be allergic to chocolate. Tae-kyung was embarrassed.

“I had a chocolate allergy when I went to hospice volunteering in pre-med. You helped me back then… Don’t you remember?”

Damn it! He had even forgotten that such a thing had happened.

Rrrrrrrrrrrr

The ringing of the phone helped Tae-kyung at the moment when he didn’t know what to do with this embarrassment.

“I’ll go right now.”

Tae-kyung, who hung up the phone, quickly got up from his seat with his tray.

“Dr. Jung, I’m so sorry. I’ll get up first.”

“Yes, go quickly.”

“Just eat the bread inside. Just the bread. Take care.”

“Take care.”

Eui-jin, who was staring intently at the cake, said to himself.

“Ha! Even the bread is chocolate bread.”

* * *

There was a man watching the ambulance with its siren blaring and the people coming and going from the hospital.

The man wearing a hat had been lingering on the crosswalk opposite the hospital for nearly two hours.

“Ugh!”

The man, who suddenly covered his mouth and swallowed a scream, took out his cell phone from his pocket as if he had made up his mind.

-This is our hospital.

“Hello, is this the hospital?”

-Yes. Please speak.

“Is there anyone at the hospital right now… Ack!! F*ck!!”

The man on the phone suddenly screamed and cursed before abruptly hanging up.

“Hey! Did you just curse at me?”

A heavily drunk man passed by the man and started a fight.

“Hey! Did you curse at me or not? You just said ‘sh*t’.”

Dada-da-da-

As the drunk man raised his voice and approached, the man sprinted away.

“That young punk is cursing and causing a ruckus. The world is really going to hell. It’s the end of the world.”

* * *

“What is it?”

The nurse who answered the phone at the ward station put down the receiver with an unpleasant expression.

“Is it starting again?”

The nurse next to her asked.

“Yes. It was okay for a while, but it’s back again.”

“Is the repertoire the same today?”

“No, a gentle voice suddenly screams and curses before hanging up.”

“What is that person thinking when they do that?”

“That’s what I’m saying. I want to ask them once.”

“Head Nurse, that call came again.”

Just in time, Nurse Im Jung-sook came up to go to Tae-kyung in the ward.

“Why, did you get another prank call?”

“I feel bad because they raise their voice and curse every time they call.”

“Why would they curse at our staff? I’ll talk to the general manager.”

* * *

“Doctor, I can’t get in touch with the guardian.”

Nurse Im Jung-sook approached Tae-kyung, who came out of room 307.

“I’ve left a voice recording and a text message for now.”

He was a patient who was admitted through 119 [Korean emergency telephone number], but they couldn’t reach the guardian.

“We need to watch this patient carefully. Their vitals may fluctuate.”

“Then should we put on a monitor?”

“Yes. Put on a monitor and check the vitals every two hours.”

“Yes, and about the patient’s statement in the emergency room investigation, their temperature isn’t high, but they keep complaining of feeling hot.”

“Really? Then, for now…”

Tae-kyung, who was about to listen to the patient briefing and give orders, suddenly turned back the way he came.

“Doctor?”

Nurse Im Jung-sook asked, looking at Tae-kyung, whose expression suddenly turned cold, but there was no answer.

“Doctor, what’s wrong?”

“… !”

Tae-kyung was the only one who sensed the fifth vital.

The smell of formalin [a solution of formaldehyde used to preserve biological specimens] was rising from the hallway where there was no smell.

‘It’s a weak formalin smell.’

Tae-kyung’s pace gradually quickened.

At the same time, the intensity of the smell gradually increased, vibrating on the tip of his nose to an unbelievable degree.

It was as if formalin had been sprayed all over the hallway, the most terrible of the four stages of smell he had felt so far.

Tae-kyung instinctively sensed it.

‘Cardiac arrest.’

That the patient had suffered cardiac arrest.

He sprinted towards room 307 at a frantic speed, shouting.

“Code blue! Broadcast it.”

He shouted so loudly that even the nurses in the ward station could hear him.

“Yes?”

“Patient in room 307, code blue~!”

Code blue for a patient who was fine until just now.

Nurse Im Jung-sook couldn’t understand Tae-kyung’s actions of suddenly shouting code blue.

‘The patient has to hold on…’

Since cardiac arrest had occurred, every minute and every second was precious. From now on was the golden time to save the patient, so he couldn’t delay even a second.

Creak-

The moment he opened the door to room 307, the patient was indeed in cardiac arrest.

“Cardiac arrest!”

Nurse Im Jung-sook, who followed, was surprised and shouted towards the ward station.

-Code blue~

Soon after, an announcement was broadcast throughout the hospital.

-Code blue~ Code blue, adult in room 307!

-Code blue~ Code blue, adult in room 307!