Dr. Shin Seonhan: The Doctor Who Sees The Future [EN]: Chapter 104

#104 A Stroke of Luck at the Summer Sea (7)

It was Teacher Jang-poong.

He must have run into us on his way home from work.

Without his white coat and in casual clothes, he looked even more intense.

“What did you guys eat?”

“We had milmyeon [wheat noodles with spicy sauce] and dumplings at the sea squirt market.”

Teacher Poong clicked his tongue and replied.

“Tsk, tsk, that’s why newbies from Gokdam are no good. I’ll show you some real *matjip* [delicious restaurants] later.”

“Oh, really? Thank you!”

“I used to dream of being a gourmet. I even have a gourmet certification.”

Is that true?

No, wait, is there even such a thing as a gourmet certification?

“On the first day, a man should drink at least 10 bottles of soju [Korean distilled rice liquor] with *gwamegi* [half-dried herring]. Don’t you think?”

Ten bottles of soju?

Did I hear that right?

The exaggeration is too much.

But Teacher Jang-poong doesn’t seem to care much about what he said.

He leisurely whistled and walked towards his motorcycle, which stood out even from a distance.

‘That’s a Harley-Davidson, isn’t it?’

Wow…

It’s my first time seeing one in person.

There’s someone who rides that in Korea?

The rugged, macho body, which I only saw in old Hollywood movies, caught my eye.

It looked like it should be on Route 66 in the American West, but I never thought I’d see something like that in Gokdam City.

“Is that your bike, Teacher?”

Geun-wook asked with wide eyes.

Teacher Poong smiled and said.

“Cool, right? Believe it or not, I’ve won the gold medal in the Korean amateur race for three consecutive years.”

“Wow…”

Geun-wook exclaimed.

But I looked at him again with suspicious eyes.

Is that true?

It seems like he just throws out random words.

Could this person’s real name be Heo-poong [a character known for exaggeration] instead of Jang-poong?

“Then, take care!”

Vroom!

Teacher Poong rode off on his bike.

The roar echoed, and his silhouette disappeared beyond the street.

He was too far from the typical image of a doctor.

“Wow… isn’t that cool? I feel like I should call him ‘hyung’ [older brother or male friend] instead of ‘teacher’ or ‘chief’.”

Geun-wook said in admiration.

He seemed to have fallen for Teacher Poong’s macho image.

Meanwhile, I was thinking something else.

‘That face, I feel like I’ve seen it somewhere…’

Where did I see him?

The features and voice are somehow familiar.

I tried to remember, but I couldn’t quite recall.

“What’s wrong?”

“Come to think of it, Teacher Poong looks a bit familiar, doesn’t he?”

Then Geun-wook chuckled.

“Hey. You can’t forget such a unique appearance. A doctor with a beard and long hair tied up? It’s my first time seeing that.”

“Is that so.”

I scratched my cheek.

I must be mistaken, right?

Yeah, where would I have seen someone like that?

I erased the question mark that briefly popped up in my head.

We went into the dorm, washed up, and went to bed early for tomorrow.

* * *

.

It is a regional hub hospital.

In other words, when an emergency critical patient occurs in Gokdam, they come here, and if they can’t solve it here, they have to go to a university hospital in a nearby major city.

7 a.m. the next morning.

We put on Gokdam First Hospital gowns over our shirts.

It’s our first day at the emergency room.

Soon, we were able to greet the people who welcomed us.

“Hello, you must be the new doctors who came this month, right?”

“Yes.”

“Please take good care of us!”

“Oh my, you must have had a hard time coming from Seoul. Welcome!”

Two older nurses surrounded us and laughed boisterously.

The thick dialect felt warm.

“But the interns this month are both so handsome, aren’t they?”

“Really.”

“Oh my, oh my. Look how reliable our intern doctor is.”

Geun-wook was especially popular.

While we were being welcomed, the head of the emergency medicine department, wearing a white coat, passed by.

“Chief, these are the interns for this month. Please take good care of them.”

“Oh, okay. Don’t cause any accidents for a month.”

The chief nodded.

And then he didn’t pay much attention to us.

Well, this is normal.

Even in Gokdam, there aren’t only people with unique personalities like Teacher Jang-poong.

‘Let’s see… is this everyone on the medical team?’

Two nurses.

Two emergency medical technicians.

One chief.

And me and Geun-wook.

That was all the personnel to be responsible for the emergency room.

This made the role of a single doctor all the more important.

‘I need to stay focused.’

A total of 12 beds.

These are the beds we will be responsible for.

About half of them already had patients lying in them.

Beep―

At that moment, a new patient we had to take care of appeared.

“First patient.”

“Who wants to see them first?”

“Rock, paper, scissors?”

“Forget it. I’ll go.”

I lightly tapped Geun-wook, who was slyly making a fist, with my palm and headed towards the patient.

First patient.

A man in his 30s.

A body as thin as a twig.

He was walking almost crawling, as if in severe pain.

The 119 paramedic who followed him told me.

“He’s been having abdominal pain for 2 hours.”

“Please come to this bed.”

I listened to a brief explanation from the paramedic and guided the patient.

Here in Gokdam, there are no residents or professors to help me.

Of course, there is an emergency room chief, but…

I only ask for help when I can’t handle it or need final confirmation; they don’t help from the beginning.

In other words, if Yonkuk University Hospital was a greenhouse, Gokdam First Hospital was literally the wild.

I felt like Doctor Shin Sun-han was being put to the test.

‘I have to make a diagnosis based solely on my judgment. Let’s work with the thought that if I miss something, it’s over.’

.

As the name suggests, it means examining a patient who is visiting the emergency room for the first time.

This process is similar to Twenty Questions.

You have to narrow down the choices based on a few clues and get the answer right.

What if you make a wrong guess here?

Big trouble happens.

For example, imagine thinking of a myocardial infarction patient as simple chest pain and sending them home with only painkillers.

The patient may die a few hours after returning home from the emergency room.

Or, conversely, a doctor may make a wrong judgment and give strange treatment.

A patient who has gone down the wrong path like this misses the chance to be cured early and can only regain their health after suffering for a long time.

Therefore, doctors who see initial examinations in the emergency room have a heavy responsibility.

“Doctor, my stomach suddenly hurts so much. Waaah…”

The patient is holding his stomach and complaining.

Sudden abdominal pain…

It is one of the most common (m/c, most common) symptoms in the emergency room.

Soon, several possibilities come to my mind.

Gastritis?

Appendicitis?

Bowel obstruction?

Perforation?

Even cancer.

There are so many cases I can think of.

In other words, it’s like finding Kim Seo-bang [a common name, like finding a needle in a haystack] in Seoul.

“Specifically, where and how does it hurt?”

“Haa, my lower abdomen feels like it’s twisting. I usually have a bad stomach, so… I ate tteokbokki [spicy rice cakes] and spicy chicken noodles together yesterday, so I think I have gastroenteritis.”

He said, panting.

Gastroenteritis?

The patient seems to be judging that way himself.

But I can’t believe it as it is.

I recalled the advice of Teacher Yeo Bong-cheol.

And I also remembered what Teacher Song Yu-ju said.

In other words, doctors should not be swayed by the words of others.

Of course, even if it is the patient’s own opinion.

I confirmed the patient’s CC (chief complaint, main complaint) and said.

“I’ll give you an IV and painkiller first. Did you have diarrhea or vomiting?”

I gave a few prescriptions.

Soon, the emergency medical technician tied a rubber band around the patient’s arm and quickly secured a line in the blood vessel.

Then, the painkiller was immediately administered through the IV line to relieve the patient’s pain.

Prior to this, basic vital signs such as blood pressure and body temperature were checked as soon as the patient entered the emergency room.

Fortunately, the patient had no fever and the vital signs were normal.

Swish, swish―

I signed my name on the patient’s chart.

It was like declaring .

‘Let’s start with the basics.’

Ways to quickly assess patients.

History taking.

Physical examination.

I slightly bent the lying patient’s knees and asked a few questions while pressing on several places on his stomach.

“Patient. Does it hurt here?”

“Ugh, I don’t know.”

It was not pain limited to the RLQ (Right lower quadrant, right lower abdomen), and there was almost no muscle guarding.

‘I don’t think it’s appendicitis…’

I was erasing the possibilities in my head one by one.

“Please sit down for a moment.”

And I tapped the patient’s lower back, left and right, once each.

“Ugh!”

The patient showed more severe pain when I tapped his lower back.

At this time, something came to my mind.

A man over 30 years old?

Intermittent, stabbing, sudden pain in the lower abdomen?

Plus, severe pain when the ribs on the back are tapped near the spine!

One possibility is strongly suspected.

“Do you remember urinating recently? Was the color a bit unusual or something?”

“Well… was the urine color a bit dark?”

The Twenty Questions in my head were already over.

‘Let’s see… I heard that video analysis is possible in 30 minutes during the day, right?’

I said to the patient.

“Patient, please change your clothes and get a abdominal CT scan. And a urine test too.”

“Huh? Why do I need those tests when I have gastroenteritis?”

The patient looked at me with an incomprehensible expression.

Shortly after.

I checked the test results through the hospital’s internal system.

[Abdomen― Pelvis CT]

1. 4mm sized Lt. mid ureter stone with hydronephrosis.

2. A few calyceal stones in both kidneys.

‘Bingo.’ My prediction was correct.

A satisfied smile appeared on my face.

I checked the test results and immediately moved my steps.

Shortly after, the emergency room chief listened to me and asked back.

“Kidney stone?”

“Yes.”

I nodded.

“Hematuria came out in the urine test, and a stone was confirmed in the ureter on the abdominal CT.”

“Let’s see.”

Click, click.

The chief checked the monitor.

Shortly after, his eyes widened slightly as he looked at the screen.