Fifth Vital [EN]: Chapter 30

30. Heimlich Maneuver

“Nurse Jung? Did you hear the news?”

A nurse asked Dr. Euijin, who was reviewing a patient chart at the ward station.

“News? What news?”

“You were in surgery earlier, so you probably haven’t heard yet.”

“What is it? Is there some big news?”

“A drunk patient came to the ER earlier, and guess what? That patient tried to poop, thinking it was their own house!”

“Defecate?”

“Yes. They took off their underwear in an instant, and the doctors had a hard time stopping them.”

“Did Doctor Choi say he’s been working at the hospital for two years?”

“It’s been a little less than two years.”

“Then he hasn’t seen anything yet.”

“What do you mean?”

“When you work at a hospital, you meet all sorts of people. That’s nothing. It’s quite common for patients to defecate or urinate in the beds.”

“Oh, really?”

“Of course. I had a really absurd experience before.”

“What was it?”

“A drunk patient kept telling his wife, who came as his guardian, things like, ‘I’ll see you at home later, how did you know to come?’ and ‘I love you, you’re the only one for me. My wife is living with my shell,’ just spilling all his dirty secrets.”

“Oh my, what is this? The husband was cheating.”

Another nurse next to her chimed in, focusing on Euijin’s story.

“That’s right. It was a patient who came in with a torn forehead. The angry wife threw her husband’s phone at his forehead and left the hospital.”

“Honestly, I’d be angry if I were the wife.”

“Right. But what happened after that was even more amazing.”

“There’s more?”

“There was a Usual Suspects-level twist [referencing the famous movie with an unexpected plot reveal].”

“What is it? Dr. Jung, don’t keep us in suspense, tell us quickly.”

“Oh! I have a call.”

The story, which was heading towards its climax, stopped abruptly due to a ringing call from a patient’s room.

“Yes, go ahead.”

-This is room 207, please call a doctor quickly.

“What’s wrong, guardian?”

-I think he can’t breathe. Hurry.

“I’ll be right there.”

Click-

“A child with enteritis and a high fever is hospitalized in room 207. The guardian said he can’t breathe….”

“I’ll go check it out, call the attending physician quickly.”

“Yes, Doctor.”

Before the nurse could finish speaking, Euijin ran to room 207.

* * *

Click-

Euijin, who had sprinted to the hospital room, opened the door.

“Guardian? To the child…….”

“Grandpa! Oh my, are you okay?”

Euijin, who naturally thought something had happened to the hospitalized child, saw an elderly man in distress.

“My husband suddenly can’t breathe because he choked on a glutinous rice cake.”

“Let me take a look.”

Euijin approached the old man and immediately realized that the rice cake was the problem.

‘His airway is blocked.’

More people than you think visit the hospital because food is blocking their airways. Among them, rice cakes stick to the throat, which can block the airway and cause death.

‘It needs to come out quickly.’

Euijin hugged the old man from behind, who had been raised up. And with one hand, he made a fist and put the other hand on top of it, giving it a tight squeeze.

This puts strong pressure on the diaphragm (a muscle that divides the chest and abdomen), causing foreign substances to escape through the mouth.

This is the Heimlich maneuver (an emergency procedure performed when a foreign object is in the airway of a large child or adult) that many people know. Euijin strongly pressed on the old man’s abdomen.

“Hoo-ooh!”

“Are you doing it right, doctor? This man’s breathing is strange.”

The old woman asked, worried about her husband, but Euijin focused on what he was doing instead of answering.

After repeatedly and vigorously pressing the abdomen several times,

Thud-

“What’s going on?”

The rice cake that was blocking his airway came out of the old man’s mouth and landed on the crown of Lee Chanhee’s head, who had arrived at the hospital room after receiving a call.

“Hoo!”

Soon after, the old man’s breathing returned to normal.

“Hoo! I’m alive.”

“Grandpa, are you okay?”

“Mother, what’s going on?”

The daughter-in-law, who had gone to the convenience store, was surprised to see the gathered medical staff.

“Is Cheolwoo sick again… oh, never mind.”

She wondered if her sleeping son was sick again, but her son was still asleep.

“Don’t even mention it. He choked on a glutinous rice cake, and the doctor gave him first aid.”

“Yes? Oh my gosh, Father, are you okay?”

“I’m okay now, dear. Honey, I almost crossed the River Jordan [a euphemism for dying].”

“Why didn’t you just cross it? You’re making my heart burn!”

The surprised old woman scolded the old man while worrying about him, and the two thanked Euijin repeatedly.

“Thank you for saving our grandpa.”

“I don’t know how to thank you. I lived thanks to you, doctor.”

“You’re welcome.”

“I came to the hospital at dawn because my grandson was sick, but if it weren’t for you, I would have died without seeing my grandson wake up. Thank you again.”

“It’s nothing, sir. In the future, when you eat food, chew it slowly and thoroughly. And especially rice cakes, be extra careful because they can stick to your throat.”

“I’m never going to look at rice cakes again.”

“Give me that rice cake. Reduce your appetite from now on.”

“Okay. Even if I come back from the dead, your nagging is still the same.”

“Be quiet!”

The three people left the hospital room, leaving behind the cute bickering of the elderly couple.

* * *

“Usually, guardians don’t eat well in the hospital room, but I guess the grandfather was very hungry.”

“You can feel hungry faster as you get older.”

“Still, I was worried because he was old, but I’m glad the rice cake came out quickly.”

“When I saw you earlier, you did the Heimlich maneuver well. It was like the textbook itself.”

“While I was in Africa with Doctors Without Borders, I did it more often than in Korea, no lie.”

“The Heimlich maneuver?”

“Yes, there is a food similar to rice cake in Africa. Patients often came with blocked airways after eating it.”

“Indeed, there is no better study than experience.”

“You’re on duty today too, right, doctor?”

“……!”

Taekyung stopped walking as if embarrassed by Euijin’s words.

“What’s wrong all of a sudden?”

“Yes? What is it?”

“It’s sudden to call me ‘doctor’ all of a sudden.”

“Okay, when we’re alone, just call me ‘senior’ like you used to. Got it?”

“Yes, Senior.”

“Leave out the ‘nim’ at the end too.”

“Senior, I have a question, can I ask you something?”

“Ask.”

“Maybe. Maybe, I mean.”

“What is it? Why are you hesitating like this?”

“It’s nothing much. Senior, do you have a girlf…….”

“Ha! I’m going crazy.”

Lee Chanhee, who had gone to the bathroom, came back just as Euijin was about to carefully bring up the topic.

“Oh my! What’s wrong with Dr. Lee’s hair?”

“I know, did you go to the bathroom and wash your hair?”

For some reason, Lee Chanhee’s hair looked like a broom that had fallen into the water.

“It’s not that, the glutinous rice cake fell on my head.”

“Really? I was so out of it that I didn’t notice. But Dr. Lee, I think you need to cut your hair.”

“That’s what I’m saying. It doesn’t come off like gum. I grew it out on purpose to get a perm…….”

“Just shave it clean into a buzz cut.”

“They say the completion of fashion is hair, but shave it? Doctor, you don’t have a girlfriend, do you?”

“Dr. Jung!”

The nurses at the station called Euijin just as she was listening to Lee Chanhee’s question to Taekyung.

“Doctor? Tell us quickly.”

“We’re dying of curiosity.”

“About what?”

“The ending of the story you were telling us earlier.”

“Ah, that. As soon as the wife left the emergency room, the husband got up perfectly fine and said, ‘Ugh, that foolish bear, I made it so obvious, how could she not know? I’m sick of it. I’m sick of it.'”

“Wow! That crazy person did it on purpose.”

“He’s crazy. Those cheating bastards should just be castrated.”

“What’s cheating and what’s castration?”

“What kind of stories are you guys talking about?”

“Are you two curious too?”

“Honestly, I am.”

“Then I’ll tell you when Dr. Lee gets off work.”

“Huh? Why me?”

“Dr. Lee is leaving soon, and we have to work the night shift. It’s infuriating.”

“Hey. There’s no such thing. Tell me too.”

“Dr. Lee? If you don’t leave work quickly, it’s three homework assignments.”

Lee Chanhee, who immediately recognized that the word ‘three’ meant homework, left the ward like a shot.

* * *

“Here! Have some fruit.”

The man, who had just finished washing the dishes, headed to his wife with the prepared fruit.

“Let’s eat fruit together with our Blessing.”

“It’s so nice that you’re home on a weekday.”

“You like it that much?”

“Of course, I do. But you said the company is busy these days? The manager gave you a look when the employees took their monthly leave last time.”

“I’m an exception.”

“Why?”

“No one in our department doesn’t know you’re pregnant.”

“Our Blessing is a filial daughter [a daughter who is dutiful and respectful to her parents], isn’t she?”

The wife, leaning against the head of the bed, looked at her swollen belly with loving eyes.

“Of course, she’s a filial daughter.”

“That’s right, she’s a filial daughter. I gave up everything, but she came to me like this after 10 years…….”

“Hey. Suni, what’s wrong again?”

Tears began to well up in the wife’s big eyes.

“Honey, I… I realized it after becoming a mother. The child in my womb is more precious and valuable than my life… sob.”

The wife was overwhelmed as she thought about her and her husband’s past, who had grown up in an orphanage.

“How could you and my parents abandon us at such a young age? I didn’t hate my mom and dad. But now that I’m a mother, I hate them so much. Sniff!”

“Suni, don’t cry. Huh? We decided to only think about good things. If you keep crying, Blessing will worry.”

“Okay. I’ll stop crying. Blessing, I’m sorry.”

“Mom, don’t cry. Dad is worried.”

The husband wiggled his butt and danced comically to make his wife laugh.

“What is that! Hehe. Anyway, you have to know that my husband is a terrible dancer.”

“Oh? You just laughed. If you laugh after crying, you’ll grow hair on your butt.”

“I didn’t laugh at all.”

“Is that so? Blessing, Mom is lying. Then we’ll have to check.”

“What are you saying? Stop it… Ah!”

The wife, who was playfully joking with her husband, frowned at the pain she felt in her stomach.

“Why? Does your lower abdomen hurt?”

“It’s nothing.”

“You said you were okay earlier, but it’s been hurting since this morning?”

The husband looked at his wife worriedly.

“No. I’ll be fine if I rest.”

The two married early in their early 20s to become a family to each other.

Soon after, they had news of a child, but she miscarried.

After experiencing six miscarriages and missed abortions over the course of 10 years, the wife became exhausted, and the two gave up on having children.

But while they were living giving up, Blessing miraculously came to them.

“You’re in pain again, aren’t you? Let’s go to the hospital.”

“It’s not that bad.”

The problem was that since it was a child born after 10 years, the wife would not tolerate even the slightest thing that could harm the child.

For 24 weeks, she didn’t take any medicine. Even when her throat was sore from severe morning sickness, she didn’t take the morning sickness medicine prescribed by the doctor.

The husband was worried about his wife.

“Suni? You’re not really holding it in, are you?”

“Of course. I think the chicken I ate yesterday is a bit upset.”

“Should I get you some digestive medicine?”

“It’s not enough to take medicine.”

“Really?”

“I’ll tell you if it hurts. Honey, I’m sleepy. I’m going to sleep for a bit.”

“Are you? Take a good nap. I’ll make you tteokbokki for dinner later.”

“I’ll look forward to it.”

The husband thought it was just indigestion because of his wife’s usual calm expression.

Three hours later-

“Great! It’s not too spicy, it’s perfect. As expected, Baek Jongwon [a famous South Korean chef and entertainer] is the best at cooking.”

The husband, who made the tteokbokki that his wife wanted to eat, headed to the bedroom with a proud expression.

“Honey? Are you awake?”

“…….”

The wife, who was lying on her side tossing and turning, did not respond to her husband’s call.

“I made amazing tteokbokki…….”

The husband, who lay down on the bed, faced his wife’s face, and his complexion changed in an instant.

“Ugh!”

“Suni?”

It was because his wife was clutching her lower abdomen and in pain.

“Suni, what’s wrong?”

“Honey, my stomach… my stomach hurts so much. Something’s wrong with our Blessing, isn’t it?”