Dr. Shin Seonhan: The Doctor Who Sees The Future [EN]: Chapter 67

#67 You’re New to Thoracic Surgery, Right? (15)

“Here! Help me!”

The nurse, who usually spoke in a voice barely louder than a mouse, shouted intensely, her voice echoing throughout the ward.

‘What’s going on?’

Thud.

My body reacted before I could even think.

I ran with Ryu Myung-in.

The nurses who had been waiting at the station also ran towards room 908, their faces etched with surprise.

And I couldn’t help but feel a surge of agitation at the sight that unfolded before my eyes.

“Cough, cough—”

Patient Kim Ha-joong was vomiting blood.

He certainly wasn’t this bad when I saw him earlier.

This time, it was a much more severe case of hemoptysis [coughing up blood].

He was spitting out what looked like a carton of milk’s worth of blood.

‘Massive hemoptysis!’ It looks like about 200cc [cubic centimeters].

Traces of bright red blood spewing from his mouth were already evident on the patient’s sheets and blankets.

The patient’s lungs seemed to be deteriorating much faster than expected.

“When did this start?”

“He just started coughing violently a moment ago…!”

The nurse said, her face pale.

It was an emergency situation.

Ryu Myung-in and I shouted in unison, without even thinking.

“Get the patient to the treatment room, quickly!”

The surroundings became a flurry of activity in an instant.

Creak—

The ward nurses moved the bed with the patient lying on it to the treatment room.

Tap, tap, tap—

I ran with Ryu Myung-in.

We moved with a sense of urgency, as if we had never bickered before.

“Turn the oxygen on full blast!”

“What’s the saturation [oxygen saturation level]?”

“It’s checking at 78!”

“Prepare for intubation [endotracheal intubation] right away!”

I ordered the nurses to prepare for securing the airway.

It was the only logical decision.

Right now, the priority was to maintain the patient’s airway despite the blood spurting out and provide oxygen.

Then Ryu Myung-in glanced at me.

“I was going to say intubation first.”

“Is this the time to be arguing about that? Call Song Yoo-joo right now!”

“I’m already doing it!”

Ring, ring—

Ryu Myung-in picked up the phone and called Song Yoo-joo.

Even in the meantime, the patient’s oxygen saturation was dropping.

The countdown of terror had begun.

* * *

At that moment, in operating room number 2.

Song Yoo-joo was silently wrestling with the patient alongside Professor Han Sang-gi.

The surgery had already been going on for 3 hours.

“Yoo-joo, pull this a little tighter; I can’t see well.”

There was a hint of annoyance in the professor’s voice.

The surgery was originally supposed to end at 6 o’clock.

However, it was being delayed considerably due to unexpected severe adhesions [scar tissue sticking organs together].

In such cases, the surgeon becomes extremely sensitive.

“Why does this patient have such severe calcification [calcium buildup]?… It’s like a lump of stone.”

“Yes.”

Song Yoo-joo replied with a single word to the professor’s words, focusing on assisting with the surgery.

The patient’s lymph node calcification was severe, making the surgery difficult.

At that moment, the ringing of a phone broke the silence of the operating room.

It was Song Yoo-joo’s phone.

Beep, beep, beep—

The circulating nurse in the operating room looked at the phone and asked.

“Dr. Yoo-joo, it’s intern Ryu Myung-in. Should I connect it on speakerphone?”

Intern?

Song Yoo-joo’s eyes took on a questioning look.

Why was the intern calling at this hour?

Was it because of the patient Ma Dong-seop was talking about?

…Wait, no.

That patient should be in the operating room by now.

If not, then a new patient with a problem has arisen in the ward…

“Hey!!”

Burst!

The professor suddenly shouted.

The resounding sound echoed throughout the operating room.

In the brief moment of contemplation, Song Yoo-joo’s left hand had obstructed the professor’s view.

Of course, it wasn’t enough to interfere with the surgery, but the professor was that sensitive.

“Song Yoo-joo. Are you not concentrating on the surgery?”

“I’m sorry.”

Song Yoo-joo immediately apologized.

Of course, she was concerned about the situation outside, but…

Now was not the time to worry about other things.

Song Yoo-joo refocused on the surgical field and said to the nurse.

“Tell them I’m in surgery right now. Dr. Ahn Kyung-shik should be outside; tell them to call there.”

“Ye…es…”

The nurse, startled by the professor’s outburst, whispered into the phone.

“Dr. Song Yoo-joo is in surgery in room 2. She says Dr. Ahn Kyung-shik is outside, so call there.”

Click—

The call was disconnected.

The surgery soon resumed.

Of course, they had no idea about the situation outside.

That the only doctors in the thoracic surgery ward right now were interns.

* * *

“Did you get through?”

“Dr. Song Yoo-joo is in surgery!”

“Damn…!”

“I’ll try contacting the other doctors.”

Ryu Myung-in started calling elsewhere.

Meanwhile, the nurses were still moving busily.

The tools needed for intubation were soon prepared.

“Doctors, we’re ready!”

The tools were laid out.

Now all that was left was the procedure [the actual intubation process].

I watched the patient’s condition and waited for a moment.

But…

The resident doctors didn’t seem to be coming.

At this rate, the patient’s oxygen levels would continue to drop.

One second felt like a minute.

“Are the doctors still far away?”

I asked anxiously.

At that moment, the nurse holding the phone shouted.

“It seems all the doctors are in the operating room right now!”

“Yes?”

That couldn’t be?

I thought I passed Ma Dong-seop in the ward just a little while ago…

He went into the operating room in that short amount of time?

“Dr. Ma Dong-seop too?”

“Yes. Dr. Ma Dong-seop is also in surgery in room 12. It seems the emergency surgery has already started!”

The hairs on the back of my neck stood up.

Suddenly, Ma Dong-seop’s line from the dream flashed through my mind.