Fifth Vital [EN]: Chapter 37

37. A Doctor’s Qualification

“Waaaa! I don’t want to!”

The child’s wails, which had started at the beginning of the examination, had been going on for over 15 minutes.

“Waa, waaa!”

No, it was actually getting worse.

“Excuse me, nurse?”

“Yes, is the spot where you got the shot still hurt?”

“No, it’s not that. It’s just that the child is crying so sadly, I thought they might be seriously hurt.”

“No, it’s nothing like that.”

“Poor thing. Even I, a grown adult, am scared of needles, so how hard must this be for them.”

“Yes, please call if you have any discomfort.”

The sound was so loud that other patients in the emergency room thought the child was in great pain and asked the medical staff about it.

“Waaaa! Sniff, sniff!”

The eyes of the child, who was crying and wailing, were bloodshot, snot was running down both nostrils, and saliva was flowing from their lips.

“Haa… I, I don’t want to.”

“Please hold the child still. They must not move.”

“I’m sorry. Sola, just bear with it.”

If you were to pick the most difficult patients for the medical staff among the many who come to the emergency room, child patients would definitely be one of them.

Children are fearful and cry easily. Moreover, the strength of a child struggling and refusing treatment is greater than you might think.

As a result, the examination was at a standstill because the child would throw a tantrum and move whenever they tried to check for foreign objects in their nose.

“Waaaa!”

“The child’s head is moving.”

“Hey!!”

It was then, as both the child and the guardian were becoming increasingly sensitive due to the child crying as if they were about to pass out.

“Hey!!”

When a small amount of blood came out of the child’s nose, the father finally lost his temper and shouted.

Thud-

The speculum [a medical instrument for examining body cavities] that Choi Mona was holding fell to the floor as the father knocked away the instrument in the child’s nose.

“Are you even a doctor!!”

“Yes, I am a doctor.”

“Blood is coming out of the child’s nose!”

“Excuse me, but that’s because the child’s nasal mucosa [the lining of the nose] is ulcerated and was attached…”

“Ah, forget it. Are you telling me a doctor can’t even take that out and makes the child like this?”

The bleeding wasn’t Choi Mona’s fault, but the agitated father wasn’t willing to listen.

“I understand how you feel, but your words are a bit excessive.”

“What!? Excessive? Isn’t it excessive that you saw us late because I said something to you earlier?”

“I think you’re misunderstanding. The emergency room prioritizes patients based on urgency at the time of registration. The most critical patients are seen first, and then it’s basically in the order of arrival.”

Unlike the sensitive guardian, Choi Mona dryly continued her explanation without any change in expression.

“The foreign object in the child’s nose may be a big deal to you, but from the medical staff’s perspective, it’s not an emergency situation. So, we’re just seeing patients in order.”

“Can’t you speak any differently?”

The father didn’t like anything Choi Mona said.

“Honey, you stop too.”

The wife, who had been comforting the crying child, chimed in.

“Doctor, the child is having a hard time. Can’t you just put them under with anesthesia and take it out?”

“It’s not to the point where we need to use anesthesia. The two of you need to hold them still better.”

“What!? I don’t need you. Call another doctor here. I won’t let my daughter be treated by a doctor like you.”

“Sir, please calm down a bit.”

The nurse who was with them tried to stop the father, but it wasn’t easy.

“With that doctor’s consistently expressionless face and stiff tone, how can you say that? Just call the head doctor here.”

“Then you’ll have to wait…”

At that moment, as Choi Mona was speaking nonchalantly, unlike the embarrassed people around them,

Swish-

“Choi, I’ll take it from here, so go see other patients.”

Tae-kyung, who had rushed down from the ward, said as he opened the curtain.

“Good work.”

“Understood.”

Choi Mona greeted him without saying anything else and stepped away from the bed.

“Hello.”

“Are you the head doctor here?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Tae-kyung confirmed that there was no odor coming from the child and continued.

“I’m Kim Tae-kyung, the director.”

“Kim Tae-kyung, are you the doctor from that YouTube accident video?”

“The director is young…”

The mother, who had been watching the child, raised her head and asked when she heard Tae-kyung’s name, and the father was slightly taken aback by the unexpectedly young director.

“Ah, yes. That’s me. Hello, Sola.”

“Hee hee!”

The child, whose crying had subsided slightly, looked at Tae-kyung, who was greeting them, while panting.

“Our Sola had a hard time. Can I get some gauze here?”

“Yes, Doctor.”

Tae-kyung wiped the saliva that had pooled on the child’s hand with gauze and continued to talk to them.

“How old is Sola?”

“Hee… four.”

“Wow. Sola is four years old. Sola, would you like me to show you something amazing?”

“Hee!”

Tae-kyung took out his phone from his gown and clicked on a short video from Nutube [a fictional video-sharing platform, similar to YouTube].

“Oh! It’s Pororo and Crong.”

Pororo, which even 119 paramedics [Korean emergency medical services] sometimes use, was enough to stop the tears of the crying child, as its reputation suggested.

“Sola knows Pororo?”

“I know. Pororo and Crong went to the hospital.”

“That’s right. Our friend Pororo came to the hospital like Sola because he was sick.”

“Really. Pororo came to the hospital.”

The child, who had been crying as if the emergency room would collapse, couldn’t take their eyes off the phone.

“Father, Mother?”

While the child was distracted by Pororo, Tae-kyung explained to the guardians.

“You two need to help me. First, Father, please sit on the bed and hold Sola completely in your arms.”

“Like this?”

The father obediently followed the instructions, impressed by his skill in handling the child.

“Yes, that’s good. And Mother, please get on the bed and prepare to hold Sola’s head from behind Father.”

“Oh! Is it over? Pororo, Pororo.”

When the video ended, the child called out the characters’ names as if they were disappointed.

“Show me Pororo.”

“Sola, you saw Pororo getting a shot, right?”

“Yes. Pororo got a shot from Doctor Crong. I want to see more.”

“Well, Mom said she’ll show you if we take out the toy that’s in Sola’s nose.”

“Then, Mom will keep showing you.”

“See? If the toy in Sola’s nose goes into her body, it can be really bad. You’ll have to get a big shot.”

“Uh-uh. Sola doesn’t want a shot.”

“Right? So, I’m going to take the toy out of Sola’s nose so she doesn’t have to get a shot. Is that okay?”

“I don’t want to…”

The child nodded silently.

“Sola, look at this. This doesn’t hurt at all.”

Tae-kyung reassured the child by putting the speculum (Nasal Speculum) that he had received from Nurse Im Jeong-suk into his own nose.

“See? I’m not crying at all, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then I’ll just take a look at Sola’s nose with this.”

“Look quickly and take it out.”

“Okay, I understand. Mother, get ready to hold her head, and Father, hold her tight.”

“Yes, I’ll hold her tight.”

“The child will cry, of course. It’s best to hold her as still as possible and take it out quickly. Shine the light.”

“Yes, Doctor.”

“Change the speculum and hold her head well.”

At Tae-kyung’s signal, Nurse Im Jeong-suk shone the light, and the guardians held the child.

“Waaah!”

As expected, the sound of crying was heard, but Tae-kyung focused on the child’s nose.

“Sola is doing well. Oh! I found it.”

Contrary to expectations, he quickly found the toy piece. The pink piece was visibly stuck slightly above the inside of the nose.

‘Choi did it.’

It was thanks to Choi Mona, who had been struggling with the child until just now, that the toy piece had been moved.

“Waaaa! I don’t want to.”

“All done.”

Tae-kyung quickly took out the piece with forceps before the child’s concentration wavered.

“It’s out. You endured well. Can you see this?”

“Oh my gosh. It really came out.”

“Sola, I took the toy out of your nose.”

“Is Sola’s nose okay? Does it hurt?”

“No. It doesn’t hurt.”

“Thank you so much, Doctor.”

“I heard you were a great doctor, and you really took it out easily. Thank you.”

The father, who had been full of complaints, looked at Tae-kyung with trusting eyes and thanked him.

“It’s nothing. The doctor who saw you earlier had already loosened it to the bottom.”

“Oh, really.”

“Did the child have a cold?”

“Yes, that’s right. She’s had a cold for a while now.”

“I see that the inside of her nose is a bit sore.”

“Sola’s nose gets sore easily whenever she has a cold.”

“The blood that came out earlier wasn’t a wound caused by the instrument, but it came out when the scab peeled off.”

Tae-kyung explained, showing the scab that was attached to the toy piece.

“Why did you say that to the doctor earlier when you didn’t even know?”

“Did I do it on purpose? I didn’t know either.”

“I applied ointment to the sore spot on her nose. It’s almost healed, so it should be fine.”

“The examination is all done, and you can go after paying at the cashier.”

“Thank you. Sola, say goodbye to the doctor.”

“Goodbye, Doctor.”

“Okay, Sola, don’t get sick. Goodbye.”

Tae-kyung smiled contentedly as he watched the child, who was being held in her mother’s arms, say goodbye.

“Doctor, you don’t happen to have a hidden child, do you?”

Nurse Im Jeong-suk joked at Tae-kyung, who skillfully handled the child.

“What are you saying? I’m a legally single man.”

“I was just joking. How did you know about Pororo?”

“This is all experience.”

Tae-kyung had experienced all sorts of hardships in the hospital. Dealing with children was easy for him, who had even been beaten by gangsters while treating patients.

“But why are you looking around so much?”

“She was over there a little while ago.”

“Who?”

“Doctor Choi.”

Tae-kyung was looking for Choi Mona, who had been seeing a patient in the opposite bed.

“Doctor Choi went to the restroom a little while ago.”

Chief Choi of the General Affairs Department, who had come to the emergency room on business, answered instead.

“And the medicine you mentioned will arrive by tomorrow. This…”

Chief Choi handed over a few postcard-sized papers and continued.

“I need to report this to you. Should I put it in the examination room?”

“No. Give it to me now. What is this?”

“You’ll know when you see it. Then, I’ll be on my way.”