Dr. Shin Seonhan: The Doctor Who Sees The Future [EN]: Chapter 15

#15 There’s a Malig Among Us (6)

‘Ah, I remember now!’

Sodam’s eyes widened.

.

‘Come to think of it, that’s the same name as a member of a famous idol group.’

‘Could it possibly be *the* Ban Jinho?’

Sodam chuckled to herself.

No matter how renowned Youngeok University Hospital is, what were the chances of a celebrity showing up in the emergency room at dawn?

The nurse continued.

“He’s been waiting for 20 minutes, but the other doctors are too busy to see him.”

“20 minutes…”

That’s a pretty long wait.

‘Maybe his bladder is really full and he’s in a lot of pain.’

Suddenly, Sodam felt a surge of professional duty.

‘Have I ever felt this way since becoming an intern?’

No, this was a first.

Sodam was more motivated and excited than ever before.

“Are you sure you can handle it? Should I call another doctor?”

“No, I’ll do it.”

Sodam confidently puffed out her chest and pressed the assign button.

For some reason, she felt like she could handle anything perfectly today.

* * *

CIC (Clean Intermittent Catheterization).

This is a procedure where a catheter is inserted into the urethra to drain urine from the body.

A patient with a urethral problem or a spinal nerve disorder who can’t self-drain urine needs to have their urine drained periodically.

Otherwise, their bladder could burst!

Sodam squeezed jelly into the d-set, prepared a 14 Fr. nelaton [a type of flexible rubber catheter], gloves, and headed to the patient.

‘B-7, so… this is it.’

Sodam opened the curtain.

A man who was groaning inside looked up.

Sodam’s jaw nearly dropped.

‘Huh… it really *is* Ban Jinho?’

Even though he was covering his face with a hat and mask, she could tell he wasn’t just anyone.

A popular idol.

A charismatic rapper hailed as the next-generation world star, Ban Jinho (Vanzino).

He clutched his groin and groaned before managing to say, “Doctor, I feel like my bladder is about to explode.”

“…”

Sodam’s mind went blank.

‘Is this what they call a brain freeze?’

‘[Subjective Question] Describe how you feel when an idol you usually see on TV asks you to insert a urinary catheter. (5 points)’

‘An idol patient… wow.’ Of course, she’d heard stories from her seniors.

That celebrity patients often came to Youngeok University Hospital.

She’d heard they usually came to the emergency room at night or early in the morning to avoid crowds.

After a moment, Sodam shook her head vigorously.

‘Get a hold of yourself!’

Right now, he wasn’t a celebrity, just a patient, and she had to do her best and focus on the treatment.

The patient was a 20-year-old male.

He had a history of surgery for urethral stricture [a narrowing of the urethra] in the urology department.

Urethral strictures often recurred even after surgery, which was why patients often ended up in the emergency room like this.

‘I need to treat him well this time.’

Thinking this, Sodam greeted him in a slightly awkward tone.

“How are you feeling?”

“Oh, doctor, my stomach is killing me… I was fine for a while after the surgery, but it’s happening again.”

The patient looked tearful.

Seeing that he’d come alone, without any company, he probably rushed to the emergency room secretly, mortified by the situation.

She felt sorry for him, suffering from urological issues at such a young age.

Sodam pretended not to recognize him and said, “The urology professor will come down to examine you when he gets to work. Before that, I’ll drain some of the urine because your bladder is too full.”

“Yes, thank you!”

The patient’s face brightened.

He felt like his bladder was about to burst, and he was finally getting treatment, so he seemed immensely relieved.

It was like hearing a voice of salvation after enduring immense suffering.

Sodam put on her gloves and said, “Then, please take off your pants…”

“W-wait a minute. Are *you* going to do it, doctor?”

The patient was startled.

He seemed momentarily embarrassed that a female doctor was going to drain his urine.

“If you’re uncomfortable, I can call another doctor…”

“Oh, no. It’s okay!”

The patient hurriedly took off his patient pants.

He had already waited 20 minutes, and any further delay could lead to a burst bladder.

At that moment, relieving the physical pain was more important than worrying about embarrassment.

Meanwhile, Sodam was brimming with confidence.

‘I can do this perfectly this time.’

CIC.

In theory, it’s a very simple procedure.

You just need to insert a thin tube into the urethra and connect it to a urine bag, making it much easier than an arterial blood test.

‘If I can’t handle this much, I can’t call myself a doctor.’

At that moment, Sodam’s mind was solely focused on performing the procedure correctly, according to the manual.

She wasn’t anticipating any unusual complications.

“This might feel a little cold.”

Sodam confidently put on her gloves, took out the nelaton, and applied plenty of lubricant to the tip.

*Thump—*

First, she grasped the patient’s penis with her left hand.

Then, with her right hand, holding the end of the nelaton, she began to insert it into the urethra.

*Squeeze—*

The patient flinched.

Because of the urethral stricture, the nelaton wasn’t going in smoothly.

‘It’s not going in well.’

Sodam frowned and readjusted her grip with her left hand.

But the more she tried, the more the nelaton resisted, bending instead of advancing.

*Slippery—*

Perhaps because she’d applied too much lubricant, it kept slipping around the penis.

‘Ugh… just go in!’

With an increasingly frustrated touch, she tried a few more times.

*Wriggle—*

At that moment, Sodam felt something moving in her left hand.

“Patient, please don’t move.”

“It’s not up to me…”

“Just bear with it a little longer.”

“Yes, yes!”

Sodam gripped tighter with her left hand and pushed the nelaton in.

Sodam didn’t realize that the patient was holding his breath and mentally singing the national anthem with each attempt.

‘Whew, I guess that was the crisis. It seems like I’ve passed the constricted area… Now, should I press on his stomach to see if urine comes out?’

Just as she thought that, the wriggling sensation in her left hand intensified.

‘Huh… what is it?’

Sodam’s eyes widened.

“Doctor, w-wait a minute.”

The patient’s voice was urgent.

This was too much for Ban Jinho, a healthy 20-year-old man.

His penis became erect against his will.

*Thud!*

‘Ugh! Surprise!’

Sodam was startled and slightly loosened her grip with both hands.

*Swoosh—*

At that moment, the nelaton almost completely disappeared into the urethra, leaving only the very end visible.

To make matters worse, urine began to gush out like a fountain.

*Trickle, trickle—*

“Oh, oh, oh… doctor.”

“Aaaah, what do I do?”

It was a mess.

It was a complete disaster.

Sodam hurriedly brought the plastic urine container to catch the stream.

At the same time, she reached out to grab the end of the nelaton, but it slipped into the penis like an eel!

Sodam was flustered and didn’t know what to do.

Jinho also looked at Sodam in embarrassment.

“Doctor… did it go inside? I’m sorry, I just…”

Jinho, unable to bring himself to apologize for having an erection, couldn’t continue, his ears turning red.

“What do I do…”

Sodam looked tearful.

Unfortunately, her medical textbooks didn’t cover this particular situation.

After a while, Jinho’s erection showed no signs of subsiding.

The orange nelaton that had vanished inside remained hidden, as if lost in the bladder.

“D-doctor.”

“…”

“What should we do about this?”

Both patient and doctor were mentally defeated.

“Please wait a moment…”

Sodam lowered her head.

There was no choice but to contact the urology department and ask them to clean up this mess.

It was the moment the Nelaton Disaster , forever etched in the memories of Youngeok University Hospital doctors, was born.

* * *

Tuesday morning commute.

As soon as I arrived at the emergency room, I heard the unbelievable news.

“Something went *into* the patient’s penis?”

“So, she was inserting the nelaton into the urethra… Ugh, I can’t even bring myself to say it.”

Joongwon-hyung shook his head in disbelief.

After hearing the whole story, it seemed Sodam had made a mistake because the patient had gotten an erection during the CIC.

“Oh my.”

I rubbed my face.

‘This is a hospital, where all sorts of things happen, but I couldn’t have imagined something like this.’

Of course, the patient himself must have been the most shocked. How horrified would he have been to have a medical device disappear inside him?

Sodam must have been so surprised she wasn’t thinking straight.

“So, where’s Sodam?”

“She’s being interviewed right now.”

Looking inside the conference room, I saw Dr. Yeo Bongcheol sitting Sodam down and talking to her.

The voice carried through the half-open door.

“Ham Sodam, no matter how surprised you were, how could you *drop* the nelaton during treatment?”

“I’m sorry…”

“Urology patients often… um… get erections, even when male doctors are treating them. It’s happened to me a few times… Anyway, you should have anticipated that possibility.”

“Yes…”

Sodam lowered her head.

Still, considering the situation, Yeo Bongcheol was trying to be as gentle as possible so she wouldn’t be too upset.

Joongwon-hyung clicked his tongue.

“I feel sorry for Sodam. Why did she have to come to work early today?”

“Came to work early?”

“Yeah. I don’t know what got into her, but she arrived an hour early to help, and then this happened.”

I frowned.

‘Could it be…’

‘Did my encouragement actually backfire?’

Damn it, I think so.

I never imagined that my attempts to prevent medical accidents would lead to *this*!

‘Changing the future is not an easy task.’

I learned a valuable lesson.

Anyway, the immediate problem was what would happen next.

“So, how’s the patient?”

“The nelaton didn’t come out on its own, so the urology department is removing it with a procedure.”

“Is the patient going to file a medical malpractice lawsuit because of this…?”

“Yeah, a medical lawsuit?”

Joongwon-hyung tilted his head at my mumbling.

“Well, I don’t think so… He even apologized to the doctor. But why are you so worked up about this?”

The last words weren’t directed at me.

Jo Jin, who had been glued to her smartphone in the corner, looked up, smiling slyly.

“I’m relaying the situation in the group chat.”

“The Nelaton incident?”

“Hehe… it’s hilarious. All our classmates are laughing and making a fuss. They’re calling it a truly epic disaster.”

It seemed she was already spreading rumors far and wide. A backstabber wouldn’t miss an opportunity like this.

‘Tsk.’

I clicked my tongue.

It was no use trying to stop it now.

This kind of sensational incident would spread quickly.

[Yeonseo]: Oppa, is the Sodam unnie [term of endearment for older sister or female friend] incident real? What should I do ㅠㅠㅠㅠ

[Geunwook]: Ya ㅋㅋㅋㅋ Is the Nelaton thing real? The rumor has already spread here. But is it really *the* Ban Jinho?

Several messages had already arrived on my smartphone.

I sighed bitterly.

How could I save Sodam from this spiral of mistakes?

* * *

To put it bluntly, patient Ban Jinho was safely discharged from the hospital.

Fortunately, the nelaton that had disappeared into his penis was successfully removed via cystoscope [a thin, flexible tube with a camera on the end].

But the process wasn’t easy.

There was an incident where the patient burst into tears, asking if they would have to cut off his penis or if he would become impotent.

Everyone was taken aback by the dramatic wailing of the next-generation world star, charismatic rapper Ban Jinho.

Fortunately, no such disaster occurred, thanks to the skillful treatment of the urology department at Youngeok University…

The patient didn’t want the rumors to spread, so it seemed like the incident would pass quietly.

Meanwhile, Sodam’s mental state had hit rock bottom.

“I’m an idiot.”

Sodam muttered, crouching alone on the emergency staircase landing.

I didn’t try to argue and sat down next to her.

Sodam ran her hands through her hair in self-loathing and muttered, “How shocked must the patient have been? A medical device suddenly disappeared inside him.”

“…”

“I guess I’m not cut out to be a doctor…”

Saying that, she shrank even further.

As I struggled to find the right words and gazed at the distant mountains, Sodam said apologetically, “Seonhan, I appreciate your concern, but… you don’t have to worry about me.”

“How can I not?”

“No, it’s really okay. I’ll just endure my internship somehow, without drawing attention to myself, and then go into a department where I don’t have to see patients later.”

“No, that’s…”

‘If you make another mistake, we’re all doomed!’

I barely swallowed the words that were about to spill out.

I wanted to avoid the worst-case scenario of a medical malpractice lawsuit at all costs. For the sake of both the patient and the doctor.

But right now, it seemed like saying anything to Sodam would be counterproductive.

“Should I stay with you a little longer, or do you want to be alone to calm down?”

“Go in first.”

“Okay.”

I got up from my seat, leaving Sodam behind.

I had to come up with a plan for the remaining 20 days.

‘To do that, I need more information…’

At that moment, an important clue came to mind.

‘Ah!’

Why hadn’t I thought of it sooner?

There were already a few hints hidden in the future I’d seen.