Fifth Vital [EN]: Chapter 33

33. U, Uterus, you say?

“Hello?”

Choi Mona, sporting a backpack with a Korean flag attached to her rugged work boots and a short haircut, greeted the staff at the reception desk.

“Hello.”

“Hello, Ms. Choi.”

“Did you have a good trip back home?”

Nurse Im Jeong-suk asked with a bright face, but Choi Mona replied without much change in expression, as always.

“Yes, I did.”

“Is your grandfather’s leg okay?”

“He fell down the stairs and got a cast, but thankfully no bones were broken.”

“He’s getting old, so that’s a relief.”

“Yes, it is.”

Choi Mona had taken a vacation to visit her hometown because of her grandfather’s accident.

“Ms. Choi, you saw the group chat, right? The hospital has a lot more patients because of the new doctor.”

“I saw it.”

“I don’t think we have to worry about finances anymore.”

“Doesn’t that mean we have other worries now?”

“Other worries?”

“I’m talking about the worry that the workload will increase as the number of patients increases.”

“Ah! Yes, well, that could be the case. Oh, Ms. Choi, you might be going into an operation (OP).”

“Yes, then everyone, please take care.”

A new nurse, who had been quietly watching Choi Mona as she headed to the doctor’s office, asked.

“But, Ms. Choi Mona, I felt this last time too, but doesn’t she have a unique way of speaking?”

“That’s because Ms. Choi’s family is a military family.”

“Military?”

“Yeah. Her grandfather, father, and even her brother are all career soldiers.”

“Wow. That’s amazing.”

“She’s been using that language at home since she was little, so it naturally stuck with her.”

“No wonder she only uses the ‘da-na-kka’ form [a formal, military-style speech ending], it sounded like military speech.”

Choi Mona had been using military language since she was a child due to her grandfather’s influence.

Hospital staff were initially awkward with Choi Mona’s way of speaking, but now they were used to it and didn’t mind.

“But she speaks comfortably to Dr. Lee Chan-hee, why is that?”

“They’re the same age, so Dr. Lee bothered her for months to speak more comfortably.”

“I feel sorry every time I see Ms. Choi, she looks like a robot. It’s even more so when she sees patients because she doesn’t have much change in expression.”

“Even at the company dinner, Dr. Lee asked her if she was working with a robot, and she calmly said that her nickname was ‘Choi Robot’ throughout her school days. I was really laughing at that time.”

“Okay! Okay! That’s too much. Stop it and let’s all get ready for work.”

Nurse Im Jeong-suk cut off the long conversation and ordered them to prepare for work.

* * *

“Hi, Ms. Choi Mona.”

“Oh.”

“Did you have a good trip back home?”

“I had a good trip.”

“Did you meet Dr. Kim Tae-kyung?”

“Not yet. I need to change my clothes and say hello.”

“Should I tell you a little about Dr. Kim? Do you know how spectacular things have been?”

“No. I’m not really curious.”

“But Ms. Choi doesn’t seem to be curious about what kind of person Dr. Kim is.”

Unlike the other employees who were curious about Tae-kyung after he took office, Choi Mona was not interested.

“Do I have to be curious?”

“Still, he’s a colleague and our superior who we’ll be working with in the future, isn’t it natural to be curious?”

“Not really. He’s not someone who will greatly affect me, and I just need to do my job.”

“Friend. It’s a world where we live together. Huh? Pay some attention to your surroundings.”

“Life is originally a solitary journey.”

“You’re cold. I bet not a drop of blood would come out even if I stabbed you.”

“Medically, blood may or may not come out depending on exactly where you stab.”

“That’s it. That’s it. It’s a mystery that Choi Mona once majored in pediatric surgery.”

“Really? Why is that?”

“Do you love children?”

“No.”

“See? You didn’t become a pediatric surgeon because you didn’t have a love for children.”

“Maybe. Does that mean Dr. Lee treats patients with love every time he sees them?”

“Isn’t that obvious? Don’t you remember the Geneva Oath [a declaration of physicians’ ethical duties]?”

“I don’t. If you’re going to keep arguing, let’s do it later. I have to prepare for the OP.”

“Oh! OP? Are you talking about the pregnant woman’s appendectomy?”

Click-

Just as Choi Mona was about to answer, Tae-kyung entered the doctor’s office.

“Hello, Dr. Kim Tae-kyung. I’m Choi Mona.”

Seeing Tae-kyung, Choi Mona greeted him like a soldier full of military spirit.

“Yes, nice to meet you. We can do more greetings later. Right now, we need to do an appendectomy on a pregnant woman…”

Tae-kyung, who had been slurring his words for a moment, looked back and forth between Lee Chan-hee and Choi Mona.

“Have you ever been in a pregnant woman’s appendectomy?”

“I went in once as an intern.”

“Dr. Lee?”

“I went in once as an intern and once as a resident.”

“Dr. Lee, come in as an assistant.”

“Yes! Me? Not Ms. Choi?”

Lee Chan-hee, who thought Choi Mona would be going into the operating room, was surprised and asked back.

“Why? Do you not want to? If you don’t want to, Ms. Choi…”

“No.”

“Don’t think about coming in out of bravado, and tell me if you’re not confident. I’m not going to force you either.”

“No. I will assist, Doctor.”

“Then Dr. Lee, prepare for the surgery and go, and Ms. Choi, see patients.”

“Understood.”

“Yes, Doctor.”

* * *

Lee Chan-hee scrubbed hard under his fingernails and between his fingers, recalling what had happened in the doctor’s office earlier.

‘Don’t think about coming in out of bravado, and tell me if you’re not confident.’

It wasn’t because of Tae-kyung’s fierce eyes or because of bravado. After hearing about the pregnant woman’s appendicitis after coming to work, he wanted to go into the operating room.

He had repeatedly dealt with appendicitis through homework and image training, so he wanted to participate in the actual surgery.

“Oh! What am I doing.”

Lee Chan-hee was suddenly putting disinfectant on his hands again, which he had already washed.

Until now, he had been so focused on the surgery that he had temporarily forgotten his fear of the operating room. But as he prepared to enter the operating room, he unconsciously became nervous.

“Don’t be conscious, don’t be conscious.”

“Are you going to wallpaper with disinfectant?”

Tae-kyung, who was standing next to him for a scrub (washing hands before surgery), said.

“Why are you washing your hands for so long? Are you going to wash your hands all day?”

“No.”

“Why? Are you nervous?”

“I’m a little nervous.”

“Being honest is good. It’s not too late yet.”

“Yes?”

“It’ll be difficult if you run away or faint during the surgery again this time. You can come in after you’re fully prepared, so don’t overdo it.”

“No. Doctor. It’s true that I’m nervous, but I won’t do that.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure. Right now, I’m more concerned about the patient and the surgery than I am about the fear of the operating room.”

“That’s a good attitude. Then I’ll give you a homework assignment, so listen carefully.”

“Homework now?”

With the surgery right in front of him, suddenly homework. Lee Chan-hee couldn’t understand Tae-kyung’s words.

“From the moment you enter the operating room, only look at the patient and my hands. Don’t look at or think about anything else. Got it?”

“Yes.”

He could accurately understand Tae-kyung’s intentions. It was obvious, but it meant to focus on the patient.

“The human brain is simpler and more honest than you think. It means that the brain follows what you focus on. Don’t be afraid to go into the operating room.”

“I will keep that in mind.”

With that, Lee Chan-hee headed to the operating room with Tae-kyung.

* * *

Tae-kyung, who entered the operating room, naturally wiped off the moisture with the towel he received.

Feeling the unique smell of the operating room, his gaze turned to the mother. The mother was anesthetized with tear marks on her eyes from how much she had cried.

“The patient’s eyes are swollen.”

“She cried until the moment she was anesthetized.”

“Dr. Jung, the general anesthesia (G/A) went well, right?”

“Yes. There was no airway constriction. Fortunately, I found a paper and used the minimum amount in case it would affect the fetus.”

“I see. Now we’ve passed the big hurdle. Thank you for your hard work. Please take care of me until the end.”

“Of course. Don’t worry.”

In fact, he had done countless appendicitis surgeries, so he wasn’t too worried.

It was a more difficult task to persuade the surprised mother to come to the operating room. Tae-kyung started the surgery with a lighter heart.

“Everyone may be familiar with appendicitis, but this patient is undergoing a surgery that she decided on with fear. There is a fetus in her belly, so please concentrate on the surgery until the end, thinking that you are operating on two people, not one.”

“Yes, Doctor.”

“Yes.”

“Let’s start. Bovie [electrocautery device].”

Tae-kyung, who received the bovie, incised a part of the right abdomen where the appendix was expected to be.

Then, after making the incision, he reached in deeply and took out the intestines one by one, searching for the appendix.

The smell became stronger with each movement of Tae-kyung’s hand through the opened gap.

“It won’t be easy to find the appendix because of the size of the uterus.”

“I agree.”

Doctors Euijin and Im Jeong-suk said, looking at the patient’s condition.

“We still have to find it.”

It is by no means easy to rummage through the long and narrow small intestine in the narrowed area due to the uterus, which has grown to be large because it is carrying a child.

“It looks like it’s around here when looking at the ultrasound…”

Tae-kyung put his hand deep into the incision line. And he took out some of the small intestine and continued to speak.

“Please put a wet gauze on here.”

“Yes, Doctor.”

The small intestine evaporates easily when taken out. To prevent that, the small intestine is placed on a wet gauze to reduce water loss.

After that, Tae-kyung repeatedly took out and put in the small intestine for about 5 minutes.

‘It should definitely be coming out around here…’

With his hands moving busily, Tae-kyung’s eyes filled with frustration.

‘The organs are more pushed back than I expected.’

The appendix, which is located where the small intestine passes to the large intestine, cannot be found no matter how hard he looks.

“Doctor?”

Lee Chan-hee carefully asked Tae-kyung, who was concentrating.

“Why?”

“I think the incision line is small. I think we need to put more in.”

“The doctor made it small on purpose.”

“On purpose?”

“Because of the mother.”

“Ah, I see.”

As Euijin said, Tae-kyung is deliberately not increasing the incision line. He wanted to make the incision line as small as possible for the mother.

But that would be meaningless if he couldn’t find the appendix. Above all, finding and removing the appendix is the priority.

“Give me the bovie.”

In the end, Tae-kyung made more incisions. And he lifted the uterus from the bottom and took it out.

“……!”

“Oh my!”

Everyone’s eyes widened at the sight.

“It’s so mysterious that I’m speechless every time I see it.”

“I gave birth to a child too, but I think mothers are great beings. Oh, look at Dr. Lee’s expression. Are you okay?”

“I’m okay. It’s the first time I’ve seen it this close… I just think mothers are amazing.”

“Save the emotion for later. Dr. Lee Chan-hee?”

“Yes, Doctor.”

“Come closer.”

At Tae-kyung’s direction, Lee Chan-hee moved closer to the surgical bed.

“Hold out your hand. Both hands.”

“Yes.”

“Do you know what I’m going to make you do now?”

“That’s…….”

“I think I made it clear that you should focus on the surgery. Why? Do you think you’re going to collapse again?”

“No. I was focusing on the doctor’s fingertips.”

“Then what’s the most urgent thing right now?”

“Securing a field of vision to find the appendix.”

“Then what should we do?”

“We need to widen the field of vision.”

“Good. Then we have to lift it, right?”

“Yes?”

Lee Chan-hee asked back, following Tae-kyung’s fingertips with his eyes.

“U, Uterus, you say?”