Fifth Vital [EN]: Chapter 19

19. YouTube Doctor

For some reason, Lee Chan-hee came to the hospital on his day off.

He was meticulously sanitizing his hands in front of the operating room.

‘Dr. Lee, we have an urgent patient for surgery.’

He received a call from Tae-kyung two hours ago. There was an emergency surgery scheduled, and he asked if he could come.

‘Tell me if it’s too much.’

‘No, sir. I’ll be there.’

Tae-kyung didn’t force him. Rather, Lee Chan-hee volunteered to go.

“Concentrate.”

Only one thought was on Lee Chan-hee’s mind right now.

“Let’s assist well today.”

He had shown a poor performance during his first surgery with Tae-kyung a few days ago, so he had no choice but to pull himself together.

“I can do it.”

He couldn’t run away from the operating room like a fool again like that day. Ironically, the operating room was a scary place, but also a place he liked.

“Let’s show them properly.”

Fear of the operating room was a problem he had to face and overcome as a doctor.

He didn’t want to avoid it anymore.

“Don’t be nervous. I can do it.”

Lee Chan-hee steeled himself and opened the operating room door.

“Welcome.”

Tae-kyung, who had arrived earlier, greeted him. But something was strange.

“……!”

The surgical bed was clean. There was no patient who should have been there, and the anesthesiologist, Dr. Eui-jin, was nowhere to be seen.

Lee Chan-hee had received a call from Tae-kyung earlier, telling him to come straight to the operating room as he would escort the patient directly.

“What are you spacing out for?”

“No, sir. Doctor, is the patient not here yet?”

“Patient?”

“You told me to come to the hospital because there was a patient surgery today… Weren’t we supposed to do surgery?”

“Of course, we have to do surgery.”

“Yes?”

“Male, 25 years old. He felt abdominal pain and gradually felt pain in the right lower abdomen when he came to the hospital.”

Tae-kyung suddenly began to list the patient’s symptoms.

“The patient feels nauseous and vomits and has a fever. CT [Computed Tomography] showed that the maximum diameter of the appendix is enlarged to 9mm, and findings due to inflammation such as wall thickness were confirmed. What is this patient’s symptom?”

“……”

“What are you just looking at? Don’t you know the patient’s symptoms?”

“Appendicitis.”

“Correct. The anesthesia is good and the blood pressure is normal. Now, let’s start the surgery. Dr. Lee, start.”

“Yes?”

Start the surgery out of the blue. Lee Chan-hee couldn’t understand what was going on.

“Dr. Lee. Are you just looking at the patient? What if the chief surgeon is just standing still?”

“Doctor, I’m sorry, but what are you doing…?”

“Lee Chan-hee!”

A loud voice was heard that echoed throughout the operating room.

“Do you think I’m playing doctor with you like kids playing house?”

Tae-kyung’s eyes, visible between the mask and surgical cap, were fierce.

“No. No, sir.”

“Get your head on straight. There’s a patient lying on the bed.”

Lee Chan-hee, realizing the atmosphere, knew that this was not a joke.

“I will start the surgery.”

After being scolded loudly, Lee Chan-hee proceeded with the mock surgery as if there was a real patient.

“Surgery is over.”

After several tens of minutes, the mock surgery ended with the act of suturing the surgical site.

“Good job. You weren’t nervous and did very well. Didn’t you think, ‘What is this all about, calling me out of the blue saying there’s surgery?’”

“I was a little embarrassed at first.”

“Do you know why I did that?”

“Yes, I think I know.”

The moment he realized that Tae-kyung’s eyes were not a joke, Lee Chan-hee knew right away.

‘It’s because of me.’

It was because of his fear of the operating room.

“A surgeon can’t stay away from the operating room for the rest of his life. If you weren’t a doctor, you could cover up the scary parts and pretend you don’t know.”

There was nothing wrong with what he said.

“But if you’ve decided to live as a surgeon, you can’t be afraid of the operating room.”

That’s right. Lee Chan-hee nodded at Tae-kyung’s words.

In fact, he wanted to overcome and face it more than anyone else, but that was only temporary.

“I still haven’t forgiven Dr. Lee for abandoning the patient that day.”

“I’m sorry.”

“So, I’m going to give you a chance to be forgiven by me.”

“I will accept any punishment.”

“If you want to be forgiven by me, overcome your fear of the operating room.”

“I will overcome it.”

“Really? How are you going to do it?”

“……”

Lee Chan-hee couldn’t easily open his mouth at Tae-kyung’s question asking for an exact plan.

“I’ll help you.”

“Yes?!”

“From now on, do whatever I tell you without complaining. For your information, I’m going to push you hard. Are you going to do it or not?”

“I will do it. I will do it. I will definitely do it.”

In the meantime, Tae-kyung thought about how to help Lee Chan-hee. He searched through papers and even overseas medical journals.

In the end, there was only one answer. Repeat the surgery and get used to it.

It was to gain experience and break free from the fear in his heart.

But he couldn’t just ask for surgery, and he couldn’t do anatomy practice like he did in college.

“How was the mock surgery we did earlier? You didn’t feel anything, did you?”

“No. I thought it was a real surgery.”

He wasn’t just saying it. He wasn’t just reciting the order of the surgery.

“The bleeding isn’t stopping now, is it?”

“The patient’s blood pressure is dropping, what are you doing?”

Tae-kyung threw new situations in the middle and had to think about how to deal with them.

As a result, he had no choice but to concentrate as if he were performing a real surgery.

“From now on, I’m going to call you to the operating room like today whenever I have time.”

What Tae-kyung thought of for Lee Chan-hee was image training. The human brain is complex yet simple.

A famous brain scientist said that the brain reacts the same way to things created by imagination and things actually done.

Tae-kyung got a hint from that and decided to create a situation in the actual operating room.

If you do image training, you can accept the situation naturally without panicking when faced with it.

“And practice and practice at home and on the road. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

“Yes, I understand. But aren’t you curious?”

“About what?”

“About why I became like that.”

“It’s personal. It must be a kind of trauma for Dr. Lee. Tell me later when you feel like you need to tell me to feel better.”

“Thank you, Doctor.”

“Let’s receive thanks later, and there’s one more thing.”

“One more thing?”

“Yes. Write down and review all the surgeries you have done, including the image-trained surgeries, as well as assisting and performing them, by hand.”

“Yes? By hand?”

“Yes. Today, write down the cholecystitis [inflammation of the gallbladder] surgery and appendicitis surgery and send it to my email.”

“No, Doctor, I’m sorry, but writing by hand in this day and age is a bit old-fashioned. Doctor?”

Tae-kyung came out of the operating room and suddenly stopped walking and looked at Lee Chan-hee.

“Here it is. An old-fashioned person.”

“Yes?”

“Stop looking at my face and take care of what’s under your feet.”

Tae-kyung pointed to a pile of more than ten notebooks placed on one side of the hallway.

“What is this?”

“Surgery review notes.”

“Review notes?”

Lee Chan-hee picked up a thick notebook. The inside of the faded notebook was even more spectacular at a glance.

“……!”

Not only did he write in detail about each surgical situation in nano units, but he also drew pictures of the organs in the surgical area.

‘Is this possible?’

Come to think of it, Lee Chan-hee had also heard about surgical notes from a professor during his pre-medical years.

He said that if you make a surgical review note, you can completely make that surgery your own.

‘There was someone who actually did this.’

But it was easier said than done to write down the entire process of the surgery, especially by hand. He had never seen anyone doing it around him.

“Oh my god!”

“Why are you surprised?”

“Of course. No, who the hell is this crazy bastard?”

It was a ridiculously perfect review note that could be used to write a textbook.

“He’s right in front of you. That crazy bastard.”

“Then… you’re that crazy bastard, I’m sorry.”

Lee Chan-hee looked back and forth between the note and Tae-kyung and clicked his tongue. Come to think of it, Tae-kyung was the kind of person who would do this.

“Doctor, you’re so cruel.”

“For your information, that’s my treasure. Take pictures and save it within 5 days and bring it back as is.”

“No, how can I take all these pictures in 5 days?”

“There’s more at home. I’ll bring you something else when that’s done.”

“Still, 5 days is too tight.”

“Why? Don’t you like it? Give it back if you don’t like it.”

“5 days! I will definitely do it within 5 days.”

“Good. That’s the spirit. Dr. Lee, aren’t you hungry? What do you want to eat?”

“No, thank you. I have to go home and do my homework.”

“Then lock the door and go home. Good job.”

“No, Doctor?”

Despite Lee Chan-hee’s cry, Tae-kyung waved his hand coolly.

“Please help me move this.”

Lee Chan-hee grumbled subtly, but it was actually because he was embarrassed. Who would help him this much?

* * *

-Hello. This is Itja, the issue vending machine that delivers the world’s issues.

Today, we started with a video reported by a subscriber. What did you think?

It’s obviously an emergency, but he calmly saved the patient.

I think I saw a real doctor when I saw him saving people like this instead of watching a sudden love line in a doctor drama.

Isn’t this the real doctor of this era?

You have to get treatment from a doctor like this. Where else can you find a doctor who cares about patients this much? If you’re good, you’re arrogant, and if you’re arrogant, it’s not easy to say a word.

At this point, you’re probably wondering which hospital the doctor in the video belongs to. Unfortunately, the reporter doesn’t know the name or the hospital.

If anyone has been treated by him, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment. The hospital with such a wonderful doctor needs to be widely known.

“Son, it’s good to watch YouTube, but don’t watch strange videos.”

Nurse Lim Jeong-suk was taking her son to the academy before going to work.

“It’s not weird.”

“Then what is it?”

“It’s a video of a doctor saving someone after a traffic accident, and it’s going viral in Indong right now.”

“A video of saving someone?”

“Yeah. Mom, look here.”

“Mom is driving.”

“When the doctor treated the fallen person with blood spurting out, the blood stopped.”

“Really? The doctor did a great job.”

Unlike her son, who was excitedly talking, Nurse Lim Jeong-suk didn’t show much interest.

“There are over 3,000 comments here now, and people keep asking which hospital it is so they can give them money.”

“Money? What’s that?”

“It’s a recent word that means punishing with money [paying a large sum as a form of admiration or support].”

“Our country’s people have great creativity. How great would it be if that hospital was the hospital where Mom works?”

“Why? Does your hospital have no patients?”

“It’s not that there are no patients, but the number has decreased a lot.”

“Then what? Are you going to get fired, Mom?”

“Why would I get fired? The staff has to work hard.”

“Oh! I found out which hospital it is.”

Her son, who was still watching YouTube, found a new comment.

“Okay, which hospital is it?”

“Hello. I think this is the doctor who operated on my mother a while ago. I was watching the video and my mother was happy, saying that he was her doctor. She said that the doctor was good at his job, had a good personality, and the staff were all kind. The hospital name is……”

Bbang- Bbang-

While her son was saying the hospital name in the comments, Lim Jeong-suk honked her horn because of a car that was annoyingly cutting in.

“Mom. I think this doctor is really cool.”

“I guess so. He’s doing good things and getting blessed. That hospital is going to be very busy now.”

* * *

Shortly after, Nurse Lim Jeong-suk arrived at the hospital and was puzzled by the full parking lot.

“It’s not even the hospital’s opening hours yet, but why is it full? That’s strange.”

“Teacher!”

Eui-jin called Lim Jeong-suk, who turned on the blinker and got out of the car.

“Did you come, Teacher Jeong? There are so many inconsiderate parkers today. I’ll have to call them before opening and tell them to move their cars.”

“No. They’re all cars of people who came to our hospital.”

“Yes? What do you mean?”

“Teacher, did you see the front gate?”

“No. I came to the small intersection, so I didn’t see the front gate. Why?”

Nurse Lim Jeong-suk didn’t see it because the hospital parking lot was in the back. More than that, she couldn’t understand Eui-jin’s words that suddenly mentioned the front gate.

“Why! Did someone poop again?”

“No. It’s not that, but I actually drove my car today, but it was so full that I parked in the public parking lot and came here. But… no. See for yourself.”

“Yes?”

Eui-jin stopped talking and pulled Lim Jeong-suk’s hand and headed to the front gate.

“No, Teacher Jeong. What’s going on?”

“It’s no joke.”

“Ho, did something happen to our hospital?”

The front gate was crowded with unexpected people.

“No. It’s not a problem, but I think it’s right to say it’s a good thing.”

“Oh, tell me something I can understand.”

“They came to the hospital.”

“Don’t tell me all these people came to our hospital to see a doctor?”

“That’s right. I asked them.”

“Suddenly? Everyone is worried because the number of patients has decreased, but how did this happen?”