A Surgeon Who Uses Martial Arts [EN]: Chapter 91

The Surgeon Who Uses Martial Arts – Chapter 91

Chapter 16: Fox (1)

Through his conversation with Dae-jin, Jun-hoo gleaned some personal information.

That Dae-jin is the eldest son.

That he grew up under parents who weren’t very expressive with their affection.

Having these two aspects of his upbringing didn’t necessarily define him as having ‘nice guy syndrome’.

However, considering Dae-jin’s behavior thus far, it was highly probable.

Nice guy syndrome.

This is a term that refers to the psychology of people who excessively suppress their own desires to meet the expectations of those around them.

“Senior, you’re not good at refusing when others ask you for favors, are you?”

“I tend to be like that. If I refuse, I feel like our relationship will become distant, and I feel strangely guilty.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to say no when it’s not right?”

Jun-hoo shared his honest opinion.

“You can’t be loved by everyone. Even God gets cursed at by people, even though I’m not religious.”

“…….”

“How much more so for people?”

“Jun-hoo, it’s not that I don’t understand what you’re saying. But what can I do? I can’t do it no matter how hard I try.”

Dae-jin replied with a voice that sounded frustrated and wronged.

Dae-jin was at least aware of his own problem.

It was a silver lining, perhaps.

“Refuse a few requests from Senior Mi-ho. It’s better to start that way. Senior, you look too tired.”

Jun-hoo said, observing Dae-jin’s gaunt face.

Dae-jin’s dark circles had descended so deeply under his eyes that a panda would want to be his friend.

His eyes lacked vitality.

His shoulders were slumped.

He was already a first-year resident with an overwhelming amount of work.

But taking on the work of his colleagues as well, it was inevitable that fatigue would accumulate…….

If this state continued, Dae-jin would become a patient instead of a doctor.

In the worst case, he might collapse from overwork.

Jun-hoo wanted to avoid such a worst-case scenario.

“I’m also making a kind of request, so can you grant it?”

“Hmm…… I’ll try my best.”

“In that sense, I’ll do some lobbying. I’m a notorious lobbyist.”

After joking, Jun-hoo laid Dae-jin down on the bed in the on-call room.

He began his specialty, acupressure.

The main areas were the neck, shoulders, and waist.

Each time he segmented the waistline leading from the cervical, thoracic, and lumbar vertebrae, a chilling sound of bones cracking echoed.

He massaged the stiff muscles, rubbing his fingers imbued with internal energy in circles.

And he stretched the shortened muscles taut.

“Oh my. This is crazy. I thought you were a physical therapist, not a doctor. How can it be so refreshing?”

“…….”

“The stiffness and soreness are all gone. Thank you.”

“But Senior, why did you choose to specialize in gastroenterological surgery?”

Jun-hoo changed the subject.

The three specialties that make up gastrointestinal surgery.

Gastroenterological surgery.

Hepatobiliary-pancreatic surgery.

Colorectal surgery.

Among them, Dae-jin’s specialty was gastroenterological surgery.

As far as Jun-hoo knew, the role of gastroenterological surgery was gradually shrinking.

The reason was simple.

If you are over 40, you can get a gastroscopy [endoscopic examination of the stomach] almost for free from the National Health Insurance Corporation.

Due to these early check-ups, polyps are often removed during endoscopy.

And stomach cancer is often detected early.

“It’s nothing great.”

Dae-jin said, getting up from the bed with a relieved expression.

“I’ve had reflux esophagitis [inflammation of the esophagus due to stomach acid] since high school. It’s gotten a lot better now, though.”

“…….”

“Anyway, suffering from esophagitis made me interested in gastroenterological surgery.”

“I think I know how that feels. I’m similar.”

Jun-hoo nodded in agreement.

He suddenly thought that a person’s career path might be directed toward healing the wounds they received in the past.

In Jun-hoo’s case.

The injuries, illnesses, and deaths of loved ones that he had to watch in the Murim [martial arts world].

The powerlessness and regret he felt as a result led Jun-hoo to the path of a surgeon.

But it was then.

Knock, knock, knock!

The door to the on-call room opened roughly.

He thought Mi-ho had returned after finishing her surgical assist.

But the protagonist was not Mi-ho, but Yoo-jung.

“Senior Dae-jin, I’m sorry, but could you see a patient for me?”

Yoo-jung’s voice was urgent.

* * *

The place Yoo-jung led him to was a six-bed ward.

A dressing cart was placed near the bed closest to the entrance, and the cart was messy.

Unpacked consumables were scattered haphazardly.

It looked like a war had already been fought.

“This is the patient here. He adamantly refuses to have an L-tube [Levin tube, a nasogastric tube for feeding or drainage] inserted.”

Yoo-jung began her notification with an anxious voice.

The time was 20 minutes ago.

Yoo-jung was inserting a nasogastric tube into the patient.

The patient’s name was Go Young-cheol.

He was a patient who had undergone laparoscopic gastrectomy [minimally invasive stomach removal] two days ago.

After the surgery, his stomach was full of gas, so an order was given to decompress the stomach with a nasogastric tube.

The problem occurred during the procedure.

During the insertion of the L-tube.

The patient complained of severe pain and refused the L-tube insertion.

Despite Yoo-jung’s pleas, the patient remained unmoved.

He threatened to leave the hospital rather than have a nasal feeding tube inserted.

So she had no choice but to send an SOS to Dae-jin.

“You must be having a hard time, patient. But you must receive this treatment. That’s how you’ll get better quickly.”

Dae-jin gently coaxed Young-cheol.

“I won’t do it, no, I can’t. It feels like swallowing a lump of metal. I feel like I’m going to throw up, and my eyes are welling up with tears.”

“You came to the hospital for treatment and had surgery. Then you have to follow our procedures.”

Dae-jin did not back down either.

L-tube insertion was a necessary procedure for Young-cheol.

It was by no means a matter of compromise or negotiation.

“You’re smart doctors, so there must be another way, right? Look for another way.”

“…….”

“I can’t have a nasal feeding tube inserted, no matter what.”

Young-cheol also did not budge.

As opinions clashed head-on, the air around the bed became heavy and tense.

The patients and guardians in the same ward were looking at them with interest.

The patient was refusing essential treatment.

There was no alternative to the L-tube, so it was a dilemma.

“It will be a little different if I do it. Trust me and leave it to me.”

Dae-jin barely managed to add a word.

“Is there a guarantee that it won’t hurt if you do it? I’ll gladly allow it if you guarantee it.”

“Even if I do it, it won’t be completely painless. It’s originally a procedure that can’t be painless.”

“Doctor, have you ever had this inserted into your nose?”

Young-cheol asked Dae-jin, pointing to the L-tube on the dressing cart.

“Ah…… no.”

“What about you, doctor?”

“Me neither…….”

Yoo-jung also trailed off at Young-cheol’s question.

Both of them had only performed the procedure, but had never been subjected to it.

Healthy young people in their mid to late twenties rarely have L-tubes inserted.

“Don’t talk if you haven’t experienced it. I’m not pretending to be sick, it’s really hard.”

Young-cheol said in a complaining voice.

Young-cheol still remembered vividly.

The unpleasantness, nausea, and stinging he felt when the stiff tube passed through his throat.

He would rather have surgery again than repeat the same pain.

At Young-cheol’s confession, the atmosphere in the ward became subdued again.

“Senior, what do we do now?”

Yoo-jung looked at Dae-jin and asked.

“I don’t have an answer either if the patient refuses like this. I’ll ask a second-year senior and come back.”

“Wait a minute.”

Jun-hoo, who had been silent, joined the conversation for the first time in a while.

And he made a bombshell declaration.

“I’ll insert this patient’s L-tube.”

* * *

“Jun-hoo, didn’t you hear what the patient just said? He said he absolutely can’t receive it.”

Dae-jin dissuaded Jun-hoo.

“But if it’s a procedure that needs to be done, shouldn’t we do it?”

“Well. That’s true, but…….”

Dae-jin scratched the back of his head as if he was in trouble.

“Patient, I’ll insert the tube without pain.”

“I don’t care who does it as long as it doesn’t hurt. As long as it doesn’t hurt. But if it hurts, I’ll pull the tube out with my own hands, so keep that in mind.”

Young-cheol threatened.

Of course, he didn’t want to go this far.

He knew that the young doctors were working hard.

He also knew that they were trying to perform the procedure for him.

But what could he do?

No one can beat the pain.

“Can’t you just bear with it? It seems like everyone else is doing fine.”

“What? How can you say that now?”

Young-cheol flared up at his wife’s words.

“I’m saying it hurts because it hurts. Do I look like I’m pretending to be sick?”

“……I’m sorry. I just thought the doctor was having a hard time too, so I said that.”

The wife lowered her head.

“There’s no need for you two to fight. There won’t be any problems if I do the procedure.”

Jun-hoo said with a gentle smile.

“I clearly warned you.”

“Yes. I was listening carefully.”

Jun-hoo persuaded the worried Dae-jin and approached Young-cheol.

“I’ll take a look at your neck before the procedure.”

Poke. Poke. Poke.

Jun-hoo pressed around Young-cheol’s neck with his index finger as if poking him.

At first, he thought he was joking, but after that, Young-cheol’s neck felt strangely comfortable.

“Open your mouth slightly. Take a slow, deep breath.”

Jun-hoo put on surgical gloves and held a transparent tube with gel applied to it in his hand.

Young-cheol was already scared just looking at the tube.

“I…… it really doesn’t hurt, right?”

“I’ll take it out right away if you say it hurts. Don’t worry.”

Jun-hoo’s smile was still warm.

So Young-cheol felt a little relieved.

Young-cheol opened his mouth and took a deep breath as Jun-hoo instructed.

Whoosh.

The thick nasal feeding tube entered his nostril and went into his throat.

A strange and uncomfortable sensation.

In an instant, Young-cheol’s arms and legs tensed up.

That section where he felt like he was going to throw up was exactly this section.

That section where he shed tears was this section.

But what?

Unlike before, Young-cheol didn’t feel any pain. He didn’t feel like he was going to throw up either.

What should he say?

It felt like his throat was anesthetized.

His sense was dulled, so he was able to accept the insertion of the nasal feeding tube without resistance.

“You’re doing well. Can you swallow the tube? That way, the tube will go in better.”

Because it didn’t hurt, Young-cheol obediently followed Jun-hoo’s instructions.

Gulp. Gulp.

And the tube insertion was completed in just 10 seconds.

Quickly and easily, to the point that it was embarrassing that Young-cheol had been angry and upset with the doctors.

“There’s nothing wrong. It went in well.”

Jun-hoo auscultated [listened to] Young-cheol’s upper abdomen with a stethoscope and nodded.

“Senior, if there’s a possibility that it went into the airway, we can order a chest X-ray, right?”

“Huh? Uh.”

Dae-jin replied in a dazed voice.

“I’m sorry for earlier. It ended so quickly, but an old man caused trouble and made a lot of people suffer.”

Young-cheol blushed and apologized to the doctors.

He was just embarrassed when he thought about his tone and actions until just now.

“But it really hurt earlier…….”

“There’s no need to apologize. It’s a natural thing.”

Jun-hoo looked at Young-cheol warmly and continued.

“As you know well, elders, everyone has different kinds of pain that they can tolerate. Some people can’t stand waiting. Some people can’t stand being angry.”

“…….”

“Some people can’t stand hot things. Some people can’t stand cold things.”

“…….”

“For you, putting this tube in your nose was an unbearable pain.”

“…….”

“Everyone has pain that they can’t bear. And do you know what’s most important?”

“I don’t know…….”

Young-cheol tilted his head at Jun-hoo’s puzzling question.

What on earth does Jun-hoo want to say?

“The most important thing is, it’s not a sin to be in pain. So you didn’t do anything wrong, patient.”