A Surgeon Who Uses Martial Arts [EN]: Chapter 408

Chapter 79: An Unexpected Destination (3)

Operating Room 3.

Associate Professor Kyung-soo of the Neurosurgery Department, specializing in cerebral blood vessels, was in charge of the surgery.

The patient’s name was Seo Jung-min.

He was 23 years old.

He was said to be the person responsible for the absurd incident of driving a car into a cafe.

Kyung-soo had just opened the patient’s skull.

The temporal skull of the patient was resected [removed surgically] in a neat rectangular shape.

A white membrane like a layer of milk fat.

It was enveloping the outside of the resected hole.

It was the dura mater, the outermost of the three membranes surrounding the brain: the dura mater, the arachnoid mater, and the pia mater.

“Hyun-cheol, measure the intracranial pressure.”

“Yes, Professor.”

Under Kyung-soo’s direction, Hyun-cheol, the first assistant, inserted something like a long needle into the brain.

“It’s 6mmHg.”

“Are you sure? Did you see it correctly?”

“Yes. Even if I did a somersault while looking, it would still be 6mmHg.”

Kyung-soo frowned at Hyun-cheol’s report.

Wrinkles formed on the bridge of his nose.

His lips curled inward.

Because the intracranial pressure was within the normal range.

Kyung-soo, who had been examining the patient’s meninges [membranes covering the brain and spinal cord] with a micro microscope, took his eyes off the microscope.

He stared at the intracranial pressure monitoring device that resembled an old-fashioned radio.

The needle on the front panel was indeed pointing to 6.

“Huh… this is uncanny.”

Kyung-soo muttered to himself.

A weak sigh was mixed in.

Something impossible had happened.

The patient had suffered a major head impact, enough to cause a temporal bone fracture.

But how could the intracranial pressure be normal?

“Isn’t it a good thing if the patient’s intracranial pressure is normal?”

Hyun-cheol tilted his head, as if he didn’t understand.

“Of course, it’s a good thing. But I don’t understand the reason at all.”

“Doesn’t spontaneous hemostasis [natural stopping of blood flow] occur in cases of cerebral hemorrhage? I think I saw it in a textbook.”

“That only happens when a micro vessel ruptures. This patient doesn’t fall into that category.”

Kyung-soo’s voice was firm.

The cerebral blood vessel of the patient who had the hemorrhage was very close to the cerebral artery.

It was that thick.

The blood flow was fast and strong.

It was not a cerebral blood vessel from which one could expect natural hemostasis.

If natural hemostasis were to occur when a blood vessel of this size ruptured, the frequency of emergency cerebral blood vessel surgery in neurosurgery would decrease by 50 percent.

‘Should I write a paper on this?’

Kyung-soo relaxed his furrowed face.

He brought his eyes close to the micro microscope again.

Finding the reason for the hemostasis was a problem for later.

The important thing was to complete the surgery neatly first.

“Argon gas knife (electric scalpel).”

Cheeeee.

White smoke rose from the dura mater that the scalpel touched.

The sweet smell, like when making honeycomb candy as the tissue burned, spread around.

Kyung-soo resected parts of the dura mater and arachnoid mater in rapid succession.

In the process, he avoided bleeding from the micro vessels distributed in the meninges like a ghost.

The movement of the scalpel was unusual.

The wrist was moving flexibly as if dancing.

It had already been seven years since he obtained his resident license.

It was a long time ago.

In the meantime, Kyung-soo completed his fellowship.

He wrote dozens of papers.

He honed his skills through outpatient care and surgery.

The current Kyung-soo and the Kyung-soo of seven years ago were completely different people.

After about 40 minutes of struggle.

Kyung-soo succeeded in reaching the surgical site.

For some reason, a dark red mass the size of a little fingernail was attached in front of the naturally hemostatic blood vessel.

It was a hematoma [a solid swelling of clotted blood within the tissues].

A hematoma increases intracranial pressure.

If something went wrong, it could cause a disaster by blocking blood vessels while moving along the bloodstream.

“Focus a little more. It’s almost over!”

Kyung-soo encouraged the staff and headed for the finale of the surgery.

* * *

At the same time.

Jun-hoo was watching Kyung-soo’s surgery from the observation operating room.

Kyung-soo was Jun-hoo’s one and only resident classmate.

At first, he was as prickly as sandpaper, but he became softer as he spent time with Jun-hoo.

‘He’s quite good, isn’t he?’

A fatherly smile appeared on Jun-hoo’s face as he looked at the monitor.

Jun-hoo was not the only one who had grown over the past seven years.

Kyung-soo was the same.

Even compared to the classmates who completed the boost-up program at Mayo [Mayo Clinic, a top-ranked hospital in the US], Kyung-soo was not even a thread behind.

At least in cerebral blood vessel surgery.

In fact, when you think about it, the skills of Korean surgeons were not inferior to those of American surgeons.

What was inferior was the state-of-the-art surgical environment.

In fact, American surgeons often flew to Korea to observe surgeries.

Then someone might ask Jun-hoo this.

Why did you bother going to Mayo?

You could just receive advanced training in Korea?

The reason Jun-hoo decided to go to Mayo was not because American surgeons were better than Korean surgeons.

It was the boost-up program.

In other words, it was to drastically reduce the learning time for subspecialties related to neurosurgery.

It would take 18 years to get a fellowship in each subspecialty in Korea.

That meant Jun-hoo would be 50 years old when he finished his training.

Thanks to the boost-up, Jun-hoo was able to save almost 10 years.

Clap. Clap. Clap.

After Kyung-soo’s surgery was over.

The sound of applause echoed in the observation operating room.

Since Jun-hoo was the only audience.

There was only one applause.

Kyung-soo’s hematoma removal and blood vessel suturing were perfect.

Even if there was a surgeon who hated Kyung-soo.

It was such a neat surgery that they couldn’t find fault with Kyung-soo’s surgery.

Jun-hoo left the observation operating room with a light heart.

Kyung-soo, who had explained the surgery progress to the guardian, was crossing the hallway.

“What brings you here?”

Kyung-soo’s eyes widened as he discovered Jun-hoo.

He knew that Jun-hoo had returned to Korea.

Kyung-soo never dreamed that Jun-hoo would be at Shinwon University Hospital.

“I was the one who gave first aid to that patient and transported him to the hospital.”

“Even after 7 years, your ‘fanatic’ spirit hasn’t changed? Anyway, it’s good to see you, you son of a…”

“Me too.”

The two smiled brightly and shook hands.

“You weren’t near the hospital to see me. Did you come to see Ah-young?”

“Bingo.”

Jun-hoo’s finger snapped cheerfully.

After finishing the interview with Seo-yeon.

Reuniting with Ah-young was today’s schedule.

Soon, the afternoon outpatient clinic would be over, and he would be able to see Ah-young.

“I have a question. Can I ask you something?”

“What is it?”

“When you were training at Mayo, have you ever experienced a case where a cerebral hemorrhage stopped on its own? Not a micro vessel.”

Kyung-soo’s explanation followed.

The cerebral hemorrhage of the patient he had just operated on had stopped naturally, but he didn’t know the reason at all.

Of course, that was inevitable.

Because Jun-hoo had blocked the patient’s torn blood vessels with his internal energy.

However, Jun-hoo’s ability was something that could not be revealed, nor should it be revealed.

There were often times when his mouth was itchy, but he had no choice but to endure it.

“Well… I don’t think there was such a case at Mayo either?”

“Right? I’m not the only one who feels strange, am I?”

“Heaven must have helped.”

“Well, I don’t have a religion, but that’s the only way to explain it. By the way, did you stick that patient to me?”

Kyung-soo asked with his arms crossed.

Hyun-woo, a medical school classmate and emergency medicine doctor, had contacted him 2 hours ago.

He asked him to urgently operate on a patient.

This was quite unusual.

It was as rare as hen’s teeth [extremely rare] for the emergency department to specify the surgeon.

The emergency department only connects patients to the department.

They did not connect the surgeon.

Because that was strictly crossing the line.

“That’s right. I did. I wanted to see your skills.”

“So, did you like my skills?”

“Well, not bad.”

“Are you trying to fight me, you bastard? Do you want to have a go?”

Kyung-soo said jokingly, realizing that Jun-hoo was joking.

Jun-hoo was happy to see Kyung-soo, whom he had met after a long time.

Despite being reunited after 7 years.

Not even 1 gram of awkwardness was felt.

It must be because of the affection he had built up while bickering and arguing for 4 years of residency training.

“Anyway, Kyung-soo. About the patient you just operated on.”

“Yeah. Why?”

“Do an additional drug test.”

“What? Drugs?”

Kyung-soo’s voice, asking back, echoed loudly in the hallway. Some guardians stared this way.

Jun-hoo put his index finger to his lips.

Kyung-soo belatedly realized his slip of the tongue and nodded.

“You can’t conduct a drug test without the consent of the guardian or the patient. It’s not even a request from the police. You know that.”

“I know. That’s why I’m asking you.”

Jun-hoo gritted his teeth.

Saving a patient and punishing a patient for drug use were completely different areas.

From the latter’s point of view.

Jun-hoo could never forgive the patient.

Even now, when he thought about the incident, the back of his neck felt cold.

It was fortunate that Jun-hoo was on the scene.

Otherwise, the customer sitting by the window.

The employee at the checkout counter would have tragically lost their lives.

Also, if the patient did not receive appropriate punishment, there was no guarantee that the patient would not repeat the same act.

“You’re asking for a big favor as soon as we meet. Was choosing me as the surgeon not just to see my skills?”

“Half and half.”

“I want to grant your request if possible…”

Kyung-soo scratched the side of his head with his index finger as if he was in trouble.

“Do you have evidence? If you don’t have evidence, I can’t move rashly either. If the guardian is eccentric, they can even file a lawsuit.”

“I have evidence. Two pieces.”

“What’s the evidence?”

Jun-hoo’s explanation followed.

One of the pieces of evidence was Jun-hoo’s sense of smell.

While giving first aid to the patient.

Jun-hoo smelled a sour drug smell from the patient.

It was the unique smell of heroin.

He had operated on many patients who had caused traffic accidents after taking drugs in the United States, so he could not have been unaware of the smell.

There was another piece of evidence.

It was the widespread injection marks on both of the patient’s arms.

“He must have taken drugs. If what you’re saying is true.”

“Of course, it’s true. Do you think I’m the kind of person who would falsely accuse an innocent person of being a drug offender?”

“Still, I’m uneasy…”

Kyung-soo lowered his head and pondered for a long time, and Jun-hoo waited only for Kyung-soo’s decision.

As the silence grew longer.

Someone approached this way.

It was the patient’s guardian who had heard the surgery progress from Kyung-soo earlier.

He thought she had been moved to the intensive care unit.

For some reason, she turned back.

The patient’s guardian was a woman in her mid-50s.

The clothes, accessories, and bags she was wearing were all luxury brands. The logos were openly displayed on all products, so there was no way to not know they were luxury brands.

If there was one flaw in her…

It was that her son was by no means a luxury brand.

“Doctor. I have a question that I came back with.”

The guardian looked at Kyung-soo and continued.

“Why did my child rush into the cafe? Was there any sudden acceleration of the car?”

Kyung-soo knew the reason.

Because he had just heard it through Jun-hoo’s mouth.

Then what would Kyung-soo say to the guardian?

What would he do in the future?

Jun-hoo was curious about Kyung-soo’s judgment.

Anyway, Jun-hoo was a third party in this matter. He had no choice but to follow Kyung-soo’s decision.

“Guardian.”