Dr. Shin Seonhan: The Doctor Who Sees The Future [EN]: Chapter 157

#157 Happy Birthday (16)

Surgery day.

The day of reckoning.

I was doing my routine work in the ward after coming to work when I suddenly turned my head at the sound of someone calling me.

“Sun-han, Teacher!”

“Ah, Doctor Yoo.”

Obstetrician Yoo Jung-nam.

He approached me more affably than usual.

He massaged my shoulder as if to cheer me on.

“You know that patient Jung No-eul is having a C-section as the first surgery in room 17, right?”

“Yes.”

“The patient is in the ICU right now. Let’s go down together in 10 minutes when they ‘car-in’!” (meaning, when they transfer her on a cart).

His expression was energetic.

Knowing my situation, he seemed to be trying to ease my worries.

“The surgery will go well, so don’t worry too much!”

“Thank you.”

He’s such a kind person.

While Doctor Yoo Jung-nam went to see another patient in the ward, Nurse Misun cautiously asked me.

“Sun-han, they say that even the best doctor shouldn’t hold the knife for a family member’s surgery… Are you okay? I heard she’s like family to you.”

“Yes, I’m fine. I’m just going in as an assistant as an intern.”

I replied, telling her not to worry.

How has the future I saw changed?

I don’t know what I can do, but I definitely wanted to be in the operating room with her.

And 10 minutes later,

Doctor Yoo Jung-nam and I headed to the ICU on the 3rd floor.

“The elevator will be slow at this time, so let’s take the stairs.”

Tap, tap.

We walked down to the 3rd floor.

I couldn’t attend yesterday’s meeting due to an emergency surgery, so I couldn’t contain my curiosity and asked Doctor Yoo Jung-nam.

“Do you know the surgery plan for patient Jung No-eul? I heard they were going to decide at yesterday’s meeting, but I didn’t get a clear answer even by the evening.”

Doctor Yoo Jung-nam replied as he quickly walked down the stairs.

“First, since she’s our patient, we’ll ‘car-in’ [transfer her]. Then, TS (Thoracic Surgery) will put her on ECMO [Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation, a life support machine], and then we’ll proceed with the C-section.”

“Ah, yes.”

I replied with a straight face, but I was happy inside.

‘Thank goodness! My efforts weren’t in vain.’

Song Yoo-joo? Chun Sa-yeon? Kim Viper? Or No-eul Noona [older sister]?

I don’t know whose voice led to this decision.

But what is certain is that a different future than the one I initially saw will unfold.

‘Of course, there’s no guarantee that No-eul Noona and the baby will be okay in the changed future… Stay focused and handle any incidents that may occur.’

This is just the beginning.

I clenched my fist and strengthened my resolve.

Because I don’t yet know where the final destination of the stream I changed will flow.

I’ve thoroughly managed my condition, so my mind is clearer than ever.

‘I’ve looked up all the delivery cases of Eisenmenger patients without exception…’

Really, I looked up everything without leaving anything out.

Because there weren’t many cases.

And in the midst of uncertainty, I somehow changed it to a direction with lower risk…

Now, I will do what I can as an intern.

At that time, Doctor Yoo Jung-nam asked as he opened the iron door leading to the 3rd floor.

“TS and Anesthesia will probably all come to the ICU, so it might be chaotic. Is this your first time with such a large joint surgery?”

“Yes, that’s right. I’ll help as much as I can without being a hindrance.”

Of course, I had seen an operating room as crowded as a marketplace in my dream, but I answered appropriately, and we entered the ICU.

Whirring—

The ICU door opened.

‘Wow…’

I was briefly amazed.

It was even more chaotic than the operating room I had seen in my dream.

Originally, the ICU is characterized by beds being far apart and not many people in a large space.

However, the ICU was a completely different space now.

‘…So many people can gather for one patient.’

The existing ICU rounds team and ICU nurses.

In addition, the Cardiology, Thoracic Surgery, and Anesthesia teams that I had seen in my previous precognitive dream arrived one by one and hovered around the patient.

Doctor Yoo Jung-nam and I pushed through the crowd and arrived at No-eul Noona’s bed.

“No-eul Noona.”

“Sun-han.”

We exchanged brief greetings.

There was no need for long words.

I gently grabbed No-eul Noona’s hand.

Squeeze—

A slight tremor could be felt in her hand gripping my finger.

In an instant, complex and subtle emotions surged like a wave, and my heart ached as if pricked by a needle.

At that moment, someone called my name from behind.

“Doctor Shin Sun-han.”

When I turned around, Thoracic Surgeon Doctor Ahn Kyung-shik was smiling at me.

“Hello, Doctor.”

“I heard about it from Doctor Song Yoo-joo. As expected, our intern doctor is amazing. You even looked up all the papers.”

He praised me in a small voice like that.

“No, it’s nothing. Where is Doctor Song Yoo-joo?”

“She’s probably moving with Professor Heo Joon-im right now. The professor is preparing ECMO in the operating room…”

At that moment, the anesthesiologist shouted.

“Okay, patient Jung No-eul, let’s go in.”

Now it begins.

I released the part fixing the ICU bed and started moving the bed.

Whirr—

Unlike the usual ‘car-in’ [transfer], we moved with many people.

Like bodyguards escorting the president’s car, the anesthesiologist and obstetrician were next to her.

Meanwhile, No-eul Noona was silently looking at the ceiling with an unwavering expression.

“Ye, honey!”

“No-eul!”

As the patient came out of the ICU, her husband and family, who had been waiting in front of the ICU door, approached No-eul Noona.

“Honey, do well. Okay? Let’s see each other again in a little while, okay?”

The husband said, holding No-eul Noona’s hand.

“Okay, honey.”

Uncontrollable tears flowed from the husband’s eyes even in this short conversation.

My eyes also turned red as I watched this.

‘I will definitely… make sure you can see each other again.’

At that moment, another person clung to No-eul Noona’s bed, crying.

“Oh, No-eul.”

Ah, that person is…

No-eul Noona’s mother.

Although her white hair has increased over the years, her face remains the same.

She doesn’t seem to recognize me because I’m wearing a mask.

“Mom, I’ll do well.”

“No-eul, yes. No-eul, my daughter…”

The mother’s voice choked.

She just sobbed and called her daughter’s name pitifully.

At that voice, tears welled up in No-eul Noona’s eyes, who had been holding back.

However, a long time is not given.

“Now, the patient will enter the operating room.”

The short farewell ends.

Before we knew it, we arrived at the operating room entrance, and the bed headed to the operating room lobby, leaving the family behind.

No-eul Noona, who had all the confirmation processes done in the ICU to prevent the patient from becoming unstable while delaying time at the operating room entrance.

Thus, the bed with No-eul Noona lying on it headed to room 17 without delay.

Whirring—

The door to room 17 opened.

The operating room is fully prepared.

It’s exactly the same as what I saw in my dream.

ECMO machine.

Incubator.

Crowded people…

All the scenes are like watching a déjà vu.

No-eul Noona was carefully moved onto the operating room bed and began to fall asleep slightly under the surgical light with anesthesia gas.

* * *

Tension flows in the operating room.

The first is the anesthesiologist’s time.

As an Eisenmenger patient, various monitoring devices were intricately attached to No-eul Noona’s body.

EKG (Electrocardiogram)

A-line (Arterial Blood Pressure)

CVP (Central Venous Pressure)

PAP (Pulmonary Artery Pressure)

Core body temperature

Cardiac index

…

As an intern, I was surprised while helping the anesthesiologist.

Because I had never seen so many monitoring devices.

Someone came up behind me, who was staring at the monitoring devices with surprised eyes, and spoke.

“Is this your first time seeing such surgical anesthesia? You can see it every day if you come to Thoracic Surgery.”

Doctor Ahn Kyung-shik smiled and spoke to me.

Unlike me, who was very nervous because No-eul Noona’s life was at stake, Doctor Ahn Kyung-shik was relaxed.

Of course, because he didn’t see the hellish future where CPR occurred.

“Ahn Kyung-shik, don’t talk nonsense.”

The owner of the cold voice was Song Yoo-joo.

Did she tell Professor Heo Joon-im as I asked her to?

It was impossible to know from Song Yoo-joo’s emotionless expression looking at the patient undergoing anesthesia.

And behind Doctor Song Yoo-joo, an adorable surgical cap with many cute rabbit characters drawn on it caught my eye.

‘That person is…’

The main character of that trademark surgical cap that I saw at the disciplinary committee in April, Professor Heo Joon-im.

I bowed my head as soon as I made eye contact.

Professor Heo Joon-im was staring intently at the patient’s monitoring screen and echocardiogram screen, whether she saw my greeting or not.

“Okay, now everything is ready.”

The anesthesiology professor shouted.

As if waiting for this sound, Doctor Ahn Kyung-shik and Doctor Song Yoo-joo began to move busily.

They began to position the patient and disinfect both thighs.

The time for Thoracic Surgery had begun.

At that time, Song Yoo-joo, who had finished disinfecting, glanced at me once as she was about to go out to wash her hands.

“…?”

I made eye contact with Doctor Song Yoo-joo without knowing the reason.

Soon, Doctor Song Yoo-joo exchanged a few words with Professor Heo Joon-im.

Then she said to me.

“Do you want to wash your hands and come in to see the ECMO insertion?”

“Yes?”

“Why, are you no longer interested in Thoracic Surgery?”

She looked at me askew while saying that.

“Ah, no! Thank you.”

I quickly came to my senses and moved.

While Doctor Ahn Kyung-shik, who had washed his hands in advance, was unfolding the drape, Doctor Song Yoo-joo and I stood side by side at the sink and began to wash our hands.

I had spent so much time with her while rotating through Thoracic Surgery, but it was the first time I had stood side by side wearing surgical caps and masks like this.

Swish—

With the water running, she was silently rubbing her hands and arms with a scrub.

I also started washing my hands and arms with a scrub, following her.

“I hope ECMO insertion and C-section can end safely, Doctor.”

“Yeah, it has to.”

Silence flows after a short answer.

Tap—

She turned off the running water in the sink with her knee and opened her mouth.

“As I said last time, the post-surgery is more important.”

“Will you be going out with ECMO running after the surgery?”

“This patient goes to the Thoracic Surgery ICU after the surgery. We’ll check the patient’s stability and then remove the ECMO.”

The story was that Thoracic Surgery would be in charge of ICU care at the same time as the surgery.

“And just in case, brace yourself. You don’t know how the surgery will go.”

“I know.”

I nodded.

I recalled the words No-eul Noona had said yesterday in my heart.

.

Changing the future was also my choice.

So, it will also be my responsibility to watch and accept the results with my own eyes.

After a while, No-eul Noona underwent ECMO procedure under light anesthesia.

Doctor Song Yoo-joo and Doctor Ahn Kyung-shik stood on either side of patient Jung No-eul, with Professor Heo Joon-im watching from behind.

I decided to stand next to Doctor Song Yoo-joo and watch the process for now.

“We will now begin patient Jung No-eul’s ECMO insertion & c-sec surgery. Puncture needle, please.”

With Doctor Song Yoo-joo’s one word, ECMO insertion began.