Fifth Vital [EN]: Chapter 315

Fifth Vitality – Episode 316 (315/502)

316. With the Determination to Pull a Leg

“Those men were burly and had an unusual aura… No, but the director hasn’t been heard from, and everyone’s too nonchalant…!”

Team Leader Choi, grumbling to himself on the way to the restroom, flinched at the sudden ringing of his phone. He quickly went inside and answered the call very cautiously.

“Hello? Director?”

-Yes, Team Leader. It’s me.

“Oh, Director, are you okay? You weren’t hurt or imprisoned somewhere, were you? You have no idea how worried I’ve been.”

Team Leader Choi expressed his extreme joy and concern, as if a family member who had left home had returned.

-I’m fine. Nothing happened.

“That’s a relief. A real relief. I was so worried about you, Director…”

-Team Leader! There’s no time for this now.

“Yes? Is something wrong?”

Come to think of it, he could sense the urgency in Tae-kyung’s voice over the phone.

-I’m at the hospital now.

“You’re at the hospital? Now? Where are you? I can’t see you…”

-Open the emergency exit, and activate the elevator we installed for our infected patients immediately. And turn off all the CCTV cameras from there to the operating room by noon tomorrow.

“All the CCTV cameras?”

-Yes, it’s urgent.

“Uh… Okay. I understand.”

Team Leader Choi wondered what was going on that required opening the emergency door and activating the elevator, which had never been used before. But he knew Tae-kyung wouldn’t say such things without a reason, and he figured the situation was definitely related to a patient, so he decided to do as he was told.

And exactly three minutes later, the emergency door opened.

“The door is open. Let’s move this way.”

Tae-kyung moved through the open emergency door and picked up his phone again.

“It’s me.”

-Yes, Director.

The person who answered the phone this time was Nurse Lim Jeong-sook.

“Listen carefully to what I’m about to say. We need to operate on a patient urgently. Among the staff…”

Tae-kyung instructed Lim Jeong-sook to discreetly prepare for surgery with only a select few employees who were known for their discretion.

“Make sure to assign people who won’t let today’s events leak out.”

-Yes, I understand.

“What about Lee Chan-hee and Choi Mo-na?”

-Choi is suturing a stab wound patient, and Lee is checking on the remaining patients after finishing with an urgent case.

“Then, tell Lee Chan-hee to come in. Tell everyone to hurry as much as possible since it’s urgent.”

-Yes, Doctor.

Less than 30 minutes after Tae-kyung’s instructions, all the preparations for surgery on Deputy Park were completed.

Rrrrrrrr

“Yes. This is Kim Tae-kyung.”

Tae-kyung, who was talking with Lee Hu-rak in the waiting room, answered the phone when it rang.

-Director, VIP surgery is ready.

The staff member who called misunderstood Tae-kyung’s unusual instructions and assumed the patient undergoing surgery was a high-ranking official, so they referred to it as VIP.

Tae-kyung didn’t feel the need to correct them since he didn’t have to explain about Deputy Park.

“Chief Lee. Then, I’ll head to the operating room now.”

“Yes, Director.”

“I’ll explain everything as soon as the surgery is finished.”

“Please take good care of our Deputy Park.”

“I’ll do my best.”

Lee Hu-rak bowed deeply at a 90-degree angle.

After that, Tae-kyung entered the operating room, put on a surgical gown, and went to Deputy Park, who was lying with his leg exposed, unlike usual.

Only his right shin was exposed, and the rest of his body was covered with sterile surgical drapes.

Tae-kyung used a scalpel to cut out all the skin sutures that had been sparsely stitched on the already incised skin.

“Okay, bring in the C-arm.”

In Deputy Park’s case, the surgery had been so rushed that they couldn’t even do a separate CT scan.

So, they decided to use a C-arm (a machine over 2 meters tall, shaped like a large semicircle, that can take X-rays from anywhere between the start and end points of the semicircle; it’s larger than the operating table, so it greatly surrounds the area) in the operating room to take X-rays from all directions.

At Tae-kyung’s words, a long-time staff member operated the machine. They unlocked it and moved it carefully, very carefully, so as not to break the sterility.

“Okay! Take a picture here. Take a picture a little higher and turn the direction to take another picture.”

“Yes, Director.”

Whenever Tae-kyung instructed to take a C-arm shot, other staff members wore lead gowns to block radiation and stayed as far away as possible.

Blocking radiation was a must, and it was the right thing to do, so of course, they had to do it.

Tae-kyung should have done the same, but he was so focused that he didn’t even think about wearing a lead gown.

“The tibia (shin bone) is fractured, but fortunately, it’s not crushed, and we can connect it directly. Lee, go down and grab the patient’s leg and pull. Let’s align the fracture line first.”

“Yes, Doctor.”

Lee Chan-hee grabbed the ankle and pulled with all his might, but Tae-kyung immediately stopped him.

“No, that’s not enough.”

“Yes?”

“The muscles are too strong, so it won’t work. You can’t just do it like that; you have to put your full body weight into it. In other words, with the determination to pull this leg off. Only then will it barely work.”

“Ah… That much? I understand!”

At Tae-kyung’s words, Lee Chan-hee grabbed the ankle and leaned back as if he were about to fall over. He really put all his strength, adding even the strength he used to suckle, into grabbing Deputy Park’s ankle.

“Okay! Now, take a C-arm shot. One more time. Lee, that’s good, pull more.”

“Yes…”

“Take another picture. Good, keep it in that state.”

“Yes?! Doctor, it’s too hard right now.”

It wasn’t a lie; Lee Chan-hee was really doing his best to pull.

“You’re doing well. I know it’s hard, but you have to maintain it. Can you maintain it?”

“Yes… Doctor. I’ll try.”

“Okay. This is all for the patient. Let’s hang in there a little longer.”

There was a reason why Tae-kyung was doing this.

In this case, the main method is to insert pillars above and below the fracture and fix them outside the leg [external fixation].

However, in Deputy Park’s case, there were no crushed bone fragments in the fracture line, and it was clean, so a plate (a plate that is attached directly to the bone, including the fractured area, to fix it) could be applied.

There was no reason to open the skin and operate twice, which was not good for the patient, when a plate could be applied.

Of course, pillars could be inserted in the case of a general patient, but Tae-kyung was not sure if he would see Deputy Park again, so he was focusing more on the plate.

“Okay! Now, give me the drill.”

“Here it is.”

Whirring-

When Tae-kyung activated the medical drill he had received, the sound that could only be heard in a woodworking shop filled the operating room.

“Oh my! Why is it so hard?”

It wasn’t a joke. Even though he was using a drill, Deputy Park’s bones were really quite hard.

Usually, a normal person’s bones are easily drilled through, but Deputy Park was a soldier and had received a lot of training, so his bones were hard.

Whirring-

After holding the drill for a long time, he was barely able to drill a hole.

“Whew! I finally drilled one hole.”

Screws had to be inserted into each hole in the plate, so the plate was placed lengthwise above and below the fractured area, and holes were drilled in each hole.

Whirring-

Tae-kyung was using his strength to drill through the bones that were not easily drilled, and Lee Chan-hee was pulling the leg with all his might to align the bone line well.

Lee Chan-hee was pulling with such great force that his forehead was sweating, and his face was turning white.

Tae-kyung knew it and felt sorry for his junior, but there was no other way to operate on the patient, so he turned a blind eye and focused on his work.

“Okay, give me something to measure the depth.”

“Yes?!”

“This.”

“Ah, the depth gauge.”

The instrument name that Tae-kyung had forgotten because it was his first orthopedic surgery in a long time was the depth gauge (a tool used to measure the thickness of the bone drilled with a drill to determine the length of the screw).

“It’s very thick. 55… No… Do we have a 55 first?”

Tae-kyung measured the length of each screw hole and inserted the screw with the length adjusted so that as few screws as possible came out of the opposite hole.

This time, instead of a drill, Tae-kyung was manually turning the screw with a tool.

The reason for doing the hard work manually was to know how far it had gone with the sense of his hand, whether more force should be applied, etc.

“Ugh!”

Of course, it took that much longer, and Lee Chan-hee was dying of exhaustion.

‘Wow! I’m really going crazy.’

Lee Chan-hee was always willing to come to any surgery, no matter what kind of surgery it was. Choi Mo-na was the same.

That’s because Tae-kyung’s surgery was worth it and learning just by watching it for both of them.

‘Ha! I shouldn’t have come.’

But Lee Chan-hee was regretting coming to the operating room for the first time now.

‘I’m going to die.’

It wasn’t a lie; it was really too hard, and the arm holding Deputy Park’s leg was even tingling and felt like it wasn’t his arm anymore.

He felt like he couldn’t last even 5 minutes in this state. No, his arm was gradually shaking and losing strength regardless of his will, and that’s when Tae-kyung’s sign that he could stop finally came.

“Done!”

At the same time as that word, the face of Lee Chan-hee, who had been frowning, gradually brightened.

“Can I… take the strength out now?”

“Yes, Chan-hee. You can take it out. Was it hard?”

“Ha! It’s not a joke, Doctor, I… I really feel like I’m going to die.”

“Okay. I know. It’s not usually that hard. It must have been harder because it was this patient. Thank you for your hard work. I’ll finish the rest of the skin and muscles. You go and rest.”

“No. I’ll finish it too.”

“With that arm?”

He wanted to participate in the surgery until the end, but as Tae-kyung said, his arm, which had been giving a lot of strength, was still shaking.

“It’s okay, so don’t overdo it and rest when I tell you to rest.”

“Yes, Doctor. Thank you. I’ll go first. I’m sorry.”

“Good job, Lee.”

“Everyone, hang in there a little longer.”

Lee Chan-hee said goodbye to the operating room staff and left first.

Of course, this would have been impossible in a general university hospital, but looking at Lee Chan-hee, whose upper body was covered in sweat, he couldn’t help but tell him to rest.

“Lee really worked hard.”

“Of course. He did a great job. His arm will probably be quite numb. Okay! Then let’s focus on finishing.”

“Yes, Doctor.”

Connecting each layer of muscle was too easy for Tae-kyung.

The subsequent skin sutures were also easier than the abdominal sutures he usually did, so the finishing was done quickly and efficiently.

Of course, it was sparsely done to prevent compartment syndrome [a painful condition that occurs when pressure within the muscles builds to dangerous levels], and the skin parts that were not yet closed were moistened with sterile gauze.

All treatment is completed by checking the wound and blood circulation for a day or two and closing the skin in the ward.

“Everyone worked hard.”

“Thank you for your hard work.”

“Thank you for your efforts.”

“It was done urgently in the morning, but thank you all for doing well.”

“Doctor, but who on earth is so great that you performed the surgery so secretly?”

One of the staff members couldn’t stand what he had been wondering since the start of the surgery and asked.