Fifth Vital [EN]: Chapter 17

Fifth Vital Sign – Episode 17

Episode 17. Spleen

“So, this stone came out of Hoon’s mom’s gallbladder?”

“That’s right. I’m a woman without a gallbladder now.”

The patient, who had gallbladder stone removal surgery a few days ago, was talking with a neighbor who came to visit, with a much brighter expression.

“Gallstones, they say the pain is like childbirth… My sister-in-law had that surgery the year before last.”

“Don’t even mention it. I almost died.”

“I was so surprised to see the ambulance come at night. So, are you feeling better now?”

“I’m fine. The surgery went well. You know how I always felt bloated and got indigestion whenever I ate?”

“Right, Hoon said his mom always felt uncomfortable after eating.”

“It turns out it was because of the gallstones. I couldn’t digest food well, and it was especially worse when I ate meat.”

“Really? Good thing you had the surgery. By the way, why is this hospital so empty of patients?”

The neighbor of patient Jo Mal-lye continued, looking at the empty hospital room.

“But Hoon’s mom, is this hospital okay? You should have had it done at Seodae Hospital.”

“Seodae Hospital? Don’t even talk about it. I went there first, but they told me they didn’t have any beds.”

“Really? How can such a big hospital not have any beds?”

“I don’t know. They said the emergency room was overflowing with patients.”

“That place is big and has a lot of people.”

“But Hoon’s dad said it didn’t seem like there were that many people in the emergency room.”

“Well, Mikyung’s mom went there, and the professor was so picky and haughty that she couldn’t even ask questions and came out in 3 minutes.”

“This hospital was under renovation and closed, but they took me in as an emergency and did the surgery right away at dawn.”

“Oh my gosh, I’m so grateful.”

“I know, right? Everyone here is so kind. My attending physician explained everything so thoroughly.”

“You met a good doctor.”

After finishing the conversation with her acquaintance, the patient took a bottle of vitamin drink and went to see Euijin.

* * *

“Doctor, are you busy?”

“Are you feeling unwell, ma’am?” [Euijin uses polite language to address the patient]

Euijin, who was looking at a chart, stood up and approached the patient who had suddenly come to see him.

“No, I don’t hurt anymore. I just wanted to give you this.”

“You should drink it yourself. It’s okay.”

“My friends and family bought so much when they came to visit that I can’t eat it all myself.”

The patient put the drink on the desk, brushing off Euijin’s refusal.

“It’s nothing much, please share it with everyone.”

“Thank you.”

“I heard from the nurse that the anesthesiologist came right away, even though it wasn’t his day off, so I could have the surgery.”

“I just did what I had to do. By the way, is your collarbone not hurting anymore?”

“It’s okay now that I’m walking slowly and the gas has gone away.”

“That’s good. Dr. Kim asked me to check if you were doing okay.”

“Now that I think about it, I didn’t see my attending physician during the morning rounds.”

“Dr. Kim went out because of a patient transfer.”

“I see. Then I’ll go back up. Please continue with your work.”

“Yes, I’ll enjoy the drink.”

“Excuse me, Doctor?”

The patient, who had left the examination room, came back in and called Euijin.

“Yes?”

“I wanted to ask you something.”

“Why, are you hurting somewhere?”

“No, it’s not that, it’s a bit of a personal question…”

The patient smiled awkwardly, looking like she didn’t know how to start.

“It’s about my attending physician.”

“Dr. Kim Tae-kyung?”

“Yes. From what I see, he doesn’t seem to be married yet, and I was wondering if he has a girlfriend.”

“Excuse me? A girlfriend?”

Euijin’s voice rose in surprise at the completely unexpected question.

“No, it’s just that Dr. Kim is such a good person. He’s tall, has a kind face, is skilled, and treats patients well. There are a lot of people, but it’s not easy to find a good person.”

“That’s true. So, what are you trying to say…”

“I have an older niece who isn’t married yet.”

“Ah, I see.”

“She’s a university lecturer and will be a professor soon. She’s a very kind girl.”

“She sounds like a wonderful niece.”

“So, I was wondering if it would be a good idea to set them up.”

“He has one!”

“Excuse me!?”

“Dr. Kim… Dr. Kim has a girlfriend.”

Euijin suddenly announced the existence of Tae-kyung’s non-existent girlfriend.

“Really?”

“…Yes.”

“I thought so. Just pretend you didn’t hear that. Then, good luck.”

After the patient left, Euijin closed the examination room door and said to himself in embarrassment.

“I’m crazy. What did I just say?”

* * *

Lee Chan-hee, following the paramedics, headed to the area where people with relatively minor injuries were gathered.

“What! Why didn’t you come after telling me to wait?”

“I’ll take a look at you, ma’am,” [Chan-hee uses polite language] he said to the woman who was making a fuss because of her injured boyfriend.

“Then, please take a look.”

“Yes, don’t worry about here and go.”

“Forget it, hurry up and look at my forehead. It’s not severely torn, is it?”

The woman looked at her bleeding forehead with a makeup mirror and worried.

“Can you sit down so I can see, ma’am?”

“Doctor, I just got a forehead implant, and it’s still settling in. It’s not ruptured, is it?”

“It doesn’t look like it’s ruptured from what I can see now. It’s just a slight tear.”

“Really? That’s a relief.”

“But it’s best to go to the hospital where you had the surgery. I’ll disinfect it, so tilt your head back slightly.”

Lee Chan-hee disinfected the wound with povidone [iodine solution] and compressed the bleeding area by wrapping a bandage around the forehead.

“Oh my, Doctor, what is this? I’ll ruin my hair. Can’t you bandage it differently?”

“No, I can’t. Where does it hurt?”

He answered the woman’s words with a firm tone and examined the next patient in line.

* * *

Tae-kyung’s brow furrowed over his focused gaze.

“Damn it! It’s worse than I thought.”

More blood was pouring out than expected. The problem was that it was blocking the view inside the abdominal cavity.

“This is bad.”

There was another problem.

‘It’s dark.’

Not only was there no lighting, but the surroundings of the abdominal cavity were shadowed because he was looking down at the patient.

It was a more difficult case than the man with bleeding in the popliteal area [the hollow behind the knee] a little while ago.

However, he couldn’t just stand by and watch the unconscious patient.

“That’s it!”

A glimmer of hope came to mind. The answer fell from Tae-kyung’s lips as he thought calmly.

“Spleen.”

The hope was the organ between the left kidney and the diaphragm, the ‘spleen’.

The patient is bleeding due to damage to the spleen. If you don’t know which part of the spleen is bleeding, you can just clamp the artery leading to the spleen.

Tae-kyung ignored the bleeding and inserted a sterilized Kelly clamp [a type of hemostat used to clamp blood vessels] between the aorta [the main artery carrying blood from the heart] and the spleen.

“Hoo.”

He took a short breath and raised his gloved hands to face level.

‘I need light.’

Tae-kyung nudged his pocket with his elbow so that his gloves would not be contaminated. He was thinking of using his cell phone as a light.

Oh dear!

There was something he had forgotten because he was focused on the patient.

He had left his cell phone in the ambulance, and he couldn’t take it out anyway due to contamination issues with the sterilized gloves.

“Hello?”

He shouted to ask for help, but it was no use. It was a bit far from where the paramedics were rescuing people.

He had no choice but to proceed as is, but then.

“……!”

Something caught on the tip of Tae-kyung’s foot as he moved slightly to the side to get into position.

“A lantern?”

When you’re desperate, things work out. It was a medical lantern. It seemed to belong to the fallen patient’s team member.

“That’s a relief.”

A small smile spread across Tae-kyung’s tense face.

A small lantern couldn’t have been more welcome. Although the lantern was on the ground, it didn’t matter at all.

“If the gloves get contaminated, it’s over.”

The gloves on his hands were the last sterile gloves.

Tae-kyung raised his hands in the air, sat down, raised his knees, and secured the lantern with his right foot.

In that state, he bent over and buried his face over the lantern on the ground.

Then, he stuck out his tongue and applied force to the lantern button.

“Ugh!”

The soft silicone button didn’t seem to be pressed.

‘More!’

His spine was aching from the unfamiliar position, but he couldn’t stop.

‘Just a little more……’

It was the first time in his life that he had put so much force on his tongue.

No lie, he focused and put more force on his tongue than when he had his first kiss.

Click-

‘It worked.’

After moving his tongue two more times, the lantern turned on.

“Kaak! Ptooey!” [Sound of spitting]

Tae-kyung immediately straightened his back, turned away from the patient, turned his head, and spat out the saliva that had collected in his mouth, with his hands behind him.

Then, he immediately put the remaining new gauze that Lee Gi-tak had brought into his mouth.

Clack!

With the gauze in his mouth, he bent his head and bit the lantern tightly with his upper and lower front teeth.

The reason for putting the gauze in his mouth was to prevent saliva from falling on the patient.

‘The smell has gotten stronger. Let’s hurry.’

Tae-kyung, who had finished preparing, ignored the surging blood vessels and pushed his hand holding the Kelly clamp into the patient’s abdominal cavity.

‘Let’s find the pulsation.’

Tae-kyung focused on the sensation felt at his fingertips to find a place where pulsation was felt like a blood vessel.

‘Please……’

His heart was pounding because of the unconscious and bleeding patient, but his hands were careful.

He moved carefully so as not to damage other organs.

‘No. It’s not here either.’

And then, he was calmly moving his fingertips between the spleens.

‘……!’

A pulsating flow moving at regular intervals was felt. There was no more time to hesitate.

Tae-kyung could only trust his judgment.

‘Here it is.’

Without wavering in his choice, he hurriedly closed the Kelly clamp to clamp the artery where the pulsation was felt.

Creak-

He felt the protrusions on the clamp handle fit together perfectly. And at that moment, the fierce bleeding noticeably decreased and soon stopped.

‘The bleeding has stopped.’

After confirming that the bleeding had stopped, Tae-kyung poured all the hexamedine [antiseptic solution] on the remaining gauze and covered the patient’s abdominal cavity. Then, he spat out the lantern and gauze he was holding in his mouth.

“Ptooey! Kaak Ptooey!” [Sound of spitting]

He had bitten the plastic lantern so hard that there were slight teeth marks on it.

Also, the gauze in his mouth was soaked with saliva because it was not easy to swallow saliva with the lantern in his mouth.

“Hoo……!”

Tae-kyung let out a big sigh of relief. His serious expression finally brightened.

“You held on well.”

Tae-kyung, who was focused on saving people, realized that the vibrating formalin smell had disappeared.

“Just hang in there a little longer.”

“D, Doctor!?”

Someone called Tae-kyung, who was finishing the emergency treatment and cheering on the patient.

“S, Senior… Our senior……”

It was Lee Gi-tak, who had asked him to take care of the patient and left.