Fifth Vital [EN]: Chapter 344

345. Feeling the Existential Crisis as a Doctor

After walking in silence for a while, Tae-kyung called out to his junior at the end of the hallway in a tone that was unusually gentle and kind.

“Chan-hee…”

Tae-kyung patted his junior’s slumped shoulders.

One might think it was a problem with his girlfriend, Choi Mona, but it wasn’t that kind of issue.

Both Lee Chan-hee, who was full of affection, and Choi Mona were clear about separating their professional and personal lives within the hospital.

“It’s okay, man!”

“……”

“Cheer up. Are you going to stay down like this over something so trivial? You did what you had to do as a doctor.”

“Teacher…”

“Yeah? Tell me.”

“I don’t think it’s just a trivial matter.”

Looking at Lee Chan-hee’s gloomy expression, Tae-kyung seemed to be holding back a laugh.

Lee Chan-hee, who was always energetic and friendly, had been depressed as if he had a dark cloud over his head since just before dinner.

Three hours ago-

Kim Sun-min and Seung-woo had left, and the staff of our hospital were working in their respective positions.

Tae-kyung was checking overall while seeing scheduled surgeries and outpatient treatments, and Lee Chan-hee and Choi Mona were also focusing on patients, going back and forth between the operating room and the emergency room.

‘Give me chocolate!!’

A patient who looked like an elderly person but spoke in a childish manner that didn’t suit them came to the emergency room.

‘Sister, do you sell snacks here?’

Seeing the middle-aged couple looking helpless behind the extremely cheerful and lively tone, all the medical staff in the emergency room could immediately tell.

That the elderly patient had dementia.

That meant that examination and treatment would not be easy. Patients with dementia were more difficult than young children.

Of course, not all dementia patients were difficult to treat. However, treatment for people like the one who just came in was often difficult.

‘Oh my! The grandfather must have dementia. His son and daughter-in-law must be suffering a lot.’

With the words of another patient who was feeling sorry while getting an IV, a slight tension appeared on the faces of the medical staff.

‘Hello.’

Lee Chan-hee approached the bed where the patient and guardian were.

‘Is your grandfather uncomfortable anywhere?’

‘Hello, doctor. My father has a bit of a stomachache.’

‘A stomachache? How does his stomach hurt?’

‘Constipation.’

‘Ah! Constipation?’

‘Yes, he hasn’t been able to pass stool for several days.’

At the son’s words about constipation, Lee Chan-hee and the medical staff were slightly relieved, at least until then.

They thought they would do some tests and give medicine or maybe just administer an enema.

‘Then, let’s start with a checkup and some tests.’

‘Yes. But as you can see, my father has dementia. And he’s also very energetic, so it might be difficult.’

The guardians, the son and daughter-in-law, were very sorry that the medical staff might have a hard time.

‘It’s okay. Don’t worry too much. I’ll take good care of him and adjust accordingly [I’ll adapt my approach to suit his needs].’

Unlike the son and daughter-in-law who were worried, the old man kept looking for something to eat, but he didn’t make it difficult during the examination.

‘Ah! Oh no!’

But the test results were a bit of a problem. As expected, the grandfather had constipation.

Looking at the X-ray, the old man’s large intestine was full of unexcreted stool.

‘There’s nothing else wrong, but your grandfather has severe constipation. How many days has he not been able to pass stool?’

‘That’s a week.’

Lee Chan-hee had already guessed when looking at the X-ray that an enema would not be enough.

‘I’ll have to remove the stool manually.’

‘Yes, then should we do an enema? I’ve tried to do it at home several times, but it wasn’t easy.’

‘No. If we do an enema now, there’s a risk of bowel perforation [a hole in the intestinal wall], so we won’t do an enema. I’ll remove it manually.’

‘Excuse me!?’

‘Oh my. The doctor will do it manually? I’m so sorry.’

‘Don’t mention it. When people with severe constipation come to the emergency room, medical staff sometimes remove it manually. It’s okay. Just hold the grandfather still so he doesn’t move.’

After laying a pad on the bed at the end of the emergency room and preparing a large container on the floor, Lee Chan-hee immediately started the procedure.

‘You’re doing great.’

Contrary to everyone’s worries, the old man didn’t move as much as expected.

Lee Chan-hee had removed stool manually several times, so he was now doing it well with a sense of touch.

The procedure was coming to an end.

Everyone, including Lee Chan-hee, the guardian, and the nurse, was relieved that a tremendous amount of stool had come out and the procedure had gone well.

‘You’ve worked hard. Grandpa. It’s over.’

‘I feel refreshed.’

‘Thank you so much, doctor.’

‘Thank you so much.’

At that moment, when the son and daughter-in-law were sincerely grateful, an unexpected problem occurred.

‘Mom, I got the shot well, so will you buy me chocolate when we go out of the hospital?’

‘Of course. It’s a promise, so Mom will buy it for you.’

The grandfather, who was lying on the bed, reacted to the ‘chocolate’ that the child said from a nearby bed and suddenly got up, unintentionally pushing Lee Chan-hee.

‘Oh! Oh!’

‘Oh my! Lee Teacher!!’

Because of that, Lee Chan-hee lost his balance and knocked over the container full of stool, spilling all the stool on himself.

The stool that spilled in the emergency room was not a big problem.

After that, the cleaning staff cleaned it thoroughly with disinfectant, so there was no more smell.

The problem was Lee Chan-hee, who was covered in stool.

You can’t wash a person’s body with disinfectant, so the smell was indescribable.

Usually, even if a glove is torn while manually removing stool and it gets on the skin, the smell lasts for days, but he was covered in stool all over his body, so the hardship was enormous.

It’s not a joke, but even after using two bottles of body wash in the shower and washing several times, the smell didn’t go away easily.

Coming out of the shower, he felt an existential crisis as a doctor for the first time that he had never felt before.

This was the reason why Lee Chan-hee had been lacking energy and depressed until now.

“Lee Chan-hee! Straighten your shoulders! You saved that old patient.”

“Do you think so?”

“Of course. You know how painful it is to have constipation for a long time. And it’s amazing that you manually removed the patient’s stool. You did a good job.”

It was a word to encourage his junior who had no energy, but it was sincere.

He wouldn’t have felt so good after being covered in poop in front of many patients and medical staff.

It was a natural thing as a doctor, but doctors are also human, so they couldn’t be indifferent after experiencing this.

“The patient’s guardians were very sorry, too.”

“Yes, they cleaned up together and waited until I finished showering and apologized several times. It’s not because of the patient and guardians.”

“I know. But I also got poop on my face while doing a procedure on a constipation patient in the past. So I know how you feel right now.”

“Really?”

“I think I said it once before? It’s true. I had a hard time on the first day back then. But the smell goes away faster than you think, so don’t be too depressed and go eat first.”

Lee Chan-hee had a hard time eating because of the strong presence of the smell all over his body.

“You haven’t eaten yet, have you?”

“I just don’t feel like eating.”

“You know I don’t like you skipping meals while working, right? You did a great job with the procedure today. Think of it as a medal for the patient and go eat. Go now!”

“Teacher…”

With endlessly warm eyes, sincere advice and comfort for his junior, and a trustworthy tone.

Lee Chan-hee’s mood was gradually improving with Tae-kyung’s words.

“Thank you.”

“What thanks. Straighten your shoulders. The job of a doctor is originally lonely and difficult. Think of it as something everyone experiences and cheer up. Got it?”

“Yes, I understand.”

“Okay. It’s good to see you smile. Ah! And Chan-hee?”

“Yes, Teacher.”

“You…”

Tae-kyung continued in a quiet voice.

“You washed your hair, right?”

“Ah! Teacher!!”

Lee Chan-hee made an embarrassed expression at Tae-kyung’s joke and immediately went down the stairs.

“Teacher is really too much. How much did I scrub my hair while showering…!”

“Lee Teacher!”

Choi Mona blocked Lee Chan-hee’s path as he was coming down the stairs, talking to himself.

“Oh! Dog Mona. Why?”

“Don’t ask why and quietly follow me.”

“Now?”

“Yeah, right now.”

Choi Mona, seeing Lee Chan-hee hesitating and asking back because he was worried about the smell from his body, pulled his gown and said again.

“Why, what’s wrong?”

The two sat side by side on a chair in a corner hallway on the first floor where there were few people.

“Here! Eat this.”

Choi Mona put the kimbap [Korean seaweed rice rolls] she took out of her gown pocket in Lee Chan-hee’s hand.

“What’s with the kimbap.”

“Lee Teacher, I bought it for you to eat.”

“You bought kimbap? Because of me?”

“Yeah. Because of you.”

It wasn’t convenience store kimbap, but kimbap from a popular kimbap restaurant nearby, a well-known spot [a popular, highly-regarded place] that all our hospital staff liked.

Choi Mona, who knew Lee Chan-hee’s personality well, knew that he wouldn’t go to the cafeteria today.

So she quickly went out and bought kimbap when she had some time.

“You must be hungry. Eat here and come back. And…”

After looking around for a moment, Choi Mona hugged Lee Chan-hee tightly and patted his back.

“Hey! Dog Mona. What are you doing? You’re not this kind of person.”

“Shh! Quiet. I don’t smell anything from you. So don’t worry about it. You just smell like body wash, which is nice.”

“Dog Mona…”

“Then, I’m going. Eat the kimbap and come back with energy.”

Lee Chan-hee’s heart was relieved by Choi Mona’s actions, which were usually blunt, along with a surge of emotion [feeling deeply touched].

“Dog Mona! You’re the only one for me. Thank you. My girlfriend is the best.”

There was one thing Lee Chan-hee didn’t know while he was eating the kimbap deliciously.

Choi Mona endured the smell to comfort her boyfriend, and she didn’t know that she had secretly put a small cinnamon stick in his gown pocket when she hugged Lee Chan-hee.

* * *

Knock knock-

“Yes, come in.”

Clang-

“Hello.”

At Tae-kyung’s call, a simple-looking woman in her 50s greeted and entered the office.

“Have you been well? Director.”

“What brings you here at this hour?”

“I thought you might be a little more relaxed if I came at this hour.”

“Sit over here.”

The woman who greeted Tae-kyung happily was a famous drama writer who had produced many hit works.

She was one of the most famous writers, so much so that people knew her name even if they didn’t know her face.

Tae-kyung got to know the famous writer when he performed surgery on the writer’s husband during his Shinwha University [a specific university] days.

Since then, the writer would occasionally ask about medical aspects that would appear in the drama, and they would exchange greetings.

Medical aspects occasionally appeared in this drama as well, and Tae-kyung had reviewed them each time.

“How is your husband doing?”

“Of course. Thanks to you, Director, he’s been doing well so far.”

“How is that thanks to me? It’s because your husband is taking good care of his health.”

“You made him do that. My husband told me to be sure to say hello to you when I go to see you today.”

“Please give my regards to him, too.”

“Yes, I’ll come to say hello with my husband next time. And thank you so much for reviewing the script up to the last episode.”

“You’re welcome. The amount was small, and I enjoyed it as if I were reviewing [analyzing and going over] the surgery.”

“I don’t know if you’ve seen the comments, but netizens are praising our drama for its excellent medical accuracy [realistic and authentic portrayal].”

“Is that so? That’s a relief.”

“At this point, you must be wondering why I came here so suddenly, right?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll tell you quickly because you must be busy. I came here in person because I have an earnest request for you, Director.”

“A request?”

“Yes, I hope you will definitely grant it.”

“You’re saying it so seriously that I’m getting nervous. What is it? Are you not feeling well?”