Fifth Vital [EN]: Chapter 185

Fifth Vital Sign – Episode 185 (185/502)

Episode 185. 10,032,078.

“Can you believe this! Doctor, I think I’m going crazy!”

“Was the procedure you had two days ago liposuction?”

The woman nodded at Tae-kyung’s question.

“Yes. I had liposuction on my upper arms and thighs. After that, I got these bruises all over my body and felt so dizzy. I tried to ignore it, but I had night sweats all night, so I couldn’t take it anymore and came here. And I’m a model, so my body needs to recover quickly. But the clinic where I had the procedure is far away, and they told me to go to the emergency room right away, so I rushed here.”

“Please turn around for a moment.”

“Yes, and I wore compression shorts on purpose. I think it would be good to check my lower body too.”

‘Oh, no!’

There’s massive bleeding around the areas where she had liposuction. And judging by the night sweats, it seems there was bleeding due to blood vessel damage during the procedure.

“First, please lie down on the bed. We’ll do a quick examination and start a blood transfusion. There’s severe internal bleeding right now, so you need intensive emergency treatment. Please lie down, and we’ll start the examination.”

“Yes, please take good care of me.”

Clatter-

“Please proceed with a quick examination of this patient.”

“Yes, Doctor.”

The medical staff moved quickly upon Tae-kyung’s order. After a short while, the patient’s test results were ready.

“Doctor, the results are in.”

“I’ll check them now.”

Tae-kyung’s eyes darted across the page as he reviewed the results.

He somewhat expected it, seeing the bruises all over her body, but the Hgb [hemoglobin, a protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen] level is 6. The patient is in critical condition.

“Patient 12, V/S [vital signs] full monitoring, and tell them to rush the blood transfusion. Before that, give her 1L of H/S (Hartmann’s solution) with the controller fully open, just let it all go in.”

“Understood.”

“And monitor I/O [input/output] from now on. Check if there’s a bed available in the ICU right away. First, for hemostasis… what’s the product name, something Boat, I can’t think of the name suddenly. That…”

“Are you talking about this?”

Nurse Lim Jung-sook held up the medicine, seeing that Tae-kyung couldn’t recall the name in his haste.

“Yes, give her that with Vit.K [Vitamin K, used to help blood clot]. Move the patient to a station closer to me. I’ll watch her directly until she goes to the ICU.”

“Yes, Doctor. Understood.”

The patient’s blood test results were very concerning. It seems she had been bleeding continuously. But since she is a young patient, she should recover with symptomatic treatment for the bleeding.

Of course, if the bleeding continues even after this, then we may have to incise the skin and ligate [tie off] the causative blood vessel. But if she’s a model, she might refuse due to scarring.

For now, he decided to keep a close watch on the patient.

Clatter-

“We’ll start the blood transfusion now. You have a lot of bleeding. This is not common, but it can happen.”

“I did push myself a bit too hard. I shouldn’t have been so greedy.”

The woman expressed her frustration as if talking to herself.

“Don’t be too alarmed, we’ll take good care of you.”

“Yes, thank you.”

Under Tae-kyung’s orders, the patient began to receive a blood transfusion.

At that time-

While Tae-kyung was taking care of the patient in the emergency room, Lee Soo-jung arrived at the hospital with her youngest son. But when she arrived at the hospital, she hesitated to go inside.

She just stared blankly at the people coming and going, as if her feet were stuck to the ground. Then she sat down on a bench in the hospital yard.

“Hyun-joon. Let’s sit here for a while.”

“Oh, right! Mom, something good happened at school today. The teacher…”

“Later. Mom needs to think for a moment. Okay?”

“Okay.”

Hyun-joon answered quietly and lowered his head.

It wasn’t a fun outing, but he was happy to be going out with his mom after a long time.

After his father’s accident, going to school and the playground in the apartment complex was all Hyun-joon did for outings. So, taking a bus with his mom to another place felt like going on a trip. But he couldn’t talk to his mom much on the bus.

Because his mom was a bit different than usual.

His mom, who always smiled and listened to him well no matter how hard things were, wasn’t smiling or talking much today.

The young son, unaware of his mom’s situation, felt a bit sad about her behavior.

Lee Soo-jung, whose head was full of complicated thoughts, couldn’t understand her son’s feelings either.

“Hyun-joon? Mom came here today for something important.”

“Something important?”

“Yes. Mom has a lot to think about right now. So, when we go into the hospital, can Hyun-joon be a little quiet? I’ll play with you when I’m done.”

“Mom, aren’t we going to the store today?”

“No. We don’t have to go today.”

“Okay.”

“Thank you, my son.”

Lee Soo-jung smiled as she hugged Hyun-joon, but her eyes were full of worry and anxiety.

“Mom. But aren’t we going in?”

“Oh, oh. We have to go in.”

After sitting on the bench for nearly 40 minutes, Lee Soo-jung seemed to have sorted out her thoughts. She held Hyun-joon’s hand tightly and headed into the hospital.

“Welcome. Hello, little one.”

The two were greeted by Jang Deuk-chil, who was standing at the main entrance, and went inside.

As they went inside, a different atmosphere from Shinwha University Hospital greeted them.

If Shinwha University Hospital felt like a hotel with spotless marble floors, Woori Hospital felt like a friendly neighborhood clinic.

Looking at the old building from the outside, she thought there wouldn’t be many patients, but that wasn’t the case.

Many people were waiting in the reception area and on the waiting room chairs.

“Lee Cheol-min?”

“Yes. What’s bothering you today?”

“I think I have a stomach bug. I came because I have diarrhea and a stomach ache.”

“Yes, please have a seat for a moment.”

“Kim Young-woo?”

“Yes, that’s me.”

Lee Soo-jung headed to the desk to register.

“Welcome.”

“I’m here to see a doctor.”

“Have you been to our hospital before?”

“No. This is my first time.”

“What’s bothering you?”

“Nothing’s bothering me. I came for a check-up. Is ultrasound available?”

“Of course. We can do breast, abdominal, thyroid, etc. But, as you can see, we have a lot of patients. You’ll have to wait quite a while, is that okay? We have a lot of scheduled appointments today too.”

She trusted Go Gye-deuk’s words that it was a small neighborhood hospital and didn’t expect this many people.

“Is it possible later this afternoon?”

“Is Dr. Kim Tae-kyung here in the afternoon?”

“The director? Are you going to see the director?”

“Yes.”

“But as I said before, we have a lot of appointments today, and the director is going into surgery later.”

“Surgery?”

“Yes. We have other doctors and a radiology doctor, how about them?”

“No!”

A short but firm answer came back, embarrassing the receptionist.

Lee Soo-jung saw that the staff was flustered by the sudden rise in her voice, but she couldn’t help it. She wanted to finish what she had set her mind to today, and she felt tense.

“I don’t mind waiting a long time. But please let me see Dr. Kim Tae-kyung today. Please.”

“I’d like to help you, but…”

“Young-yi, just a moment.”

Nurse Lim Jung-sook, who was heading to the examination room, approached while the staff was in trouble.

“We’ll make sure you can see the director.”

“Really?”

“Yes, Young-yi? Put the patient’s name on the list at the end.”

“Ah, yes. Head Nurse.”

“You’ll have to wait a long time, is that okay?”

“It’s okay. I don’t mind.”

“If a patient cancels their appointment, I’ll put you in that spot.”

“Yes, thank you.”

Lee Soo-jung took Hyun-joon’s hand and sat down on a chair in the waiting room and began to wait.

* * *

“Is the patient okay?”

Choi Mona, who was at the emergency room station, asked as she saw Tae-kyung coming down from the ICU.

“She’s okay. I think she’ll get better if she maintains this condition.”

“That’s a relief.”

The patient who had liposuction and showed bruises due to bleeding was successfully transferred to the ICU without further bleeding.

“I’m going to see outpatients, so Choi should stop by and check on the patient later.”

“Yes, don’t worry.”

Tae-kyung, who came out of the emergency room, headed to the examination room.

“There are a lot of outpatients today.”

Tae-kyung’s gaze stopped at one place as he looked at the people waiting, and his steps also stopped.

“What is it?”

“What are you staring at so intently?”

Lee Chan-hee, who came to work, greeted him, sticking his face out, seeing Tae-kyung standing blankly.

“Lee, get your face out of here.”

“Doctor, can’t you reconsider?”

“No, even if I think about it twice.”

“It’s a place that others can’t leave even if they want to, but you’re just leaving.”

“That’s right! Dr. Lee is right a hundred times over.”

What the two were strongly arguing about, with even Team Leader Choi suddenly joining in, was about appearing on a TV entertainment show.

This is because the rumor spread throughout the hospital after PD [Production Director] Park Pil-seung visited the day before. Since then, every employee he sees has been saying something about appearing on the show.

“If you really want to go that badly, Dr. Lee can go.”

“I wish I could, but I’m not the doctor. So, I think it’s right for you to appear on behalf of our hospital. Don’t you think so, Team Leader?”

“Dr. Lee’s eloquence is good. Good!”

“And the cumulative prize money for that show is enormous right now.”

“……!”

“Who have you been staring at since a while ago?”

Lee Chan-hee turned his head, following Tae-kyung’s gaze, who kept looking at the same place without answering.

“Who am I looking at? Never mind. Hurry up and change your clothes and see the patients.”

“Are you really not going to appear?”

“I’m really not.”

Tae-kyung showed the same reaction and went into the examination room.

“Doctor, patient Go Min-joo has come from the recovery room.”

“Tell her to come in.”

“Are you feeling better?”

“Yes, I’m fine. I slept for an hour after the endoscopy, you know? So I feel very refreshed.”

“Many people have a hard time with the colonoscopy because of the medicine, so thank you for going through the examination.”

“Don’t mention it. I had a good examination thanks to you. How am I?”

“To tell you the conclusion first, you are very clean. There isn’t even a small polyp.”

“Oh! Really? That’s a relief.”

“I’ll show you here on the monitor and tell you in detail.”

Tae-kyung showed the patient the endoscopy photos and continued to explain in detail.

“You explain it really thoroughly. Doctor, can I ask you something?”

“Of course. Feel free to ask me anything you’re curious about.”

“It’s not a question. Could you take a look at this for me?”

The patient took out a spring notebook from her bag and showed a page with several numbers written in large red marker.

“10,032,078. What is this?”