Fifth Vital [EN]: Chapter 405

Fifth Vitality – Episode 406

Episode 406. A Pretty Decent Operating Room

The Next Day-

Tae-kyung went to Lee Jae-san’s house early in the morning with a portable ultrasound and other equipment.

The reason was to accurately confirm Jin-i’s diagnosis and perform some tests.

After completing several tests, including the ultrasound, Tae-kyung returned to the hospital and confirmed his suspicions: it was a Wilms’ tumor [a rare kidney cancer that primarily affects children].

A few hours later, the staff arrived earlier than usual in preparation for Jin-i’s surgery.

Although Jin-i’s condition was serious, Tae-kyung, as the hospital director, was adamant that no patient, inpatient or outpatient, should be unable to receive treatment.

So, he adjusted the staff’s working hours and finalized the surgical plan.

“Director, preparations are complete,” Chief Choi said, approaching Tae-kyung as he exited the emergency room.

“Is everything loaded in the car?”

“Of course.”

“Thanks to you, Chief, we were able to prepare so thoroughly. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. I’ve double-checked everything, so there shouldn’t be any major issues during the surgery.”

When Tae-kyung told Lee Jae-san that he would perform the surgery at his house, it wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment decision. He had a plan.

Thanks to Kim Cheol-gi, our hospital was better equipped with medical equipment for external use than I had realized.

Kim Cheol-gi, the first director, now the chairman, had always been deeply interested in medical volunteer work.

He began planning medical outreach in earnest after starting his medical career at our hospital, following his graduation from university.

While going abroad for volunteer work was difficult due to hospital operations, he made it a point to visit remote areas in Korea for medical missions once or twice a year.

Consequently, we had medical devices suitable for volunteer work, and Tae-kyung had replaced the older models when he received a large donation some time ago.

Of course, creating a perfect surgical environment like the hospital’s operating room was impossible, but we had enough equipment and personnel to perform the surgery.

“Director, have a successful surgery and come back safely,” Nurse Lim Jeong-suk said, seeing Tae-kyung and the medical staff off at the back door.

“Yes, I’ll be back. Please take good care of the patients.”

“Don’t worry.”

“Doctor Lee, you haven’t forgotten what I said, have you?”

“Of course. The list of patients that need careful monitoring is already etched in my mind. Forget about the hospital work for a while and focus on a successful surgery.”

“I’ll help out in the emergency room today, so our director can relax and return safely,” Lee Dong-hoon said, placing a reassuring hand on Lee Chan-hee’s shoulder.

“Okay. I’ll do my best and come back.”

“I’ll be back.”

“Everyone, have a successful surgery.”

Tae-kyung left the parking lot with a small medical team, including Doctors Eui-jin and Choi Mona, in a car following the van carrying the medical equipment.

The vehicles arrived safely at Lee Jae-san’s house a short time later, thanks to the lack of traffic during off-peak hours.

“Director, hello,” Lee Jae-san, who lived in a detached house, said, waiting outside the gate after receiving a call that they had left the hospital. “Thank you for coming all this way.”

“It’s no trouble at all. This is the medical staff who will be assisting with the surgery today.”

“Ah, yes. Hello.”

“Hello.”

“Thank you all for taking this difficult step. Please, come in.”

“Is what I asked for ready?”

“Of course. I have prepared everything as you requested.”

Lee Jae-san had asked Tae-kyung for something the day before: the operating room.

He had requested the use of the largest room in the house as an operating room, and without hesitation, Lee Jae-san had hired movers to relocate the furniture from the master bedroom to the basement storage.

Though not explicitly instructed to remove all the furniture, Lee Jae-san had cleared everything out to avoid hindering the medical staff.

He was also concerned about the staff slipping during the surgery, so he had removed all the floor coverings and thoroughly disinfected the entire room.

He had also prepared several household generators to prevent the electricity from overloading due to the use of medical equipment.

“Here, this is the room. Is this the largest room okay?”

“This is more than enough. But you’ve removed all the furniture.”

“Yes, I thought it would be best.”

“You didn’t have to do that, but thanks to you, I can move around comfortably.”

“No, Director. It’s my daughter’s surgery, so I have to do everything I can.”

That’s right. The medical staff, including Tae-kyung, were working tirelessly for his daughter’s surgery, and he was ready to do anything he could to help.

“If you need anything, please feel free to tell me.”

“Yes. Okay! This room is the operating room, so let’s start setting up.”

“Yes, Director.”

“I understand.”

The staff went back and forth, busily preparing the operating room.

“……!”

“Doctor Oh?”

Oh Chang-gyu, who was assisting with the surgery, was standing still during preparations, so Eui-jin called out to him, but he didn’t respond.

“Dr. Oh Chang-gyu?”

“Ah, yes. Did you call me, Doctor?”

“Yes, I was wondering why you were suddenly standing there like that.”

“Ah! I can’t believe it’s real, even seeing it with my own eyes.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m amazed that a positive pressure room [a room where the air pressure is higher than the surrounding environment, preventing outside air from entering] is installed in a home.”

“As Dr. Oh said, a real operating room is being created.”

“Dr. Jung. You’re amazing.”

“Hey! It’s not that amazing.”

“Yes, it is. You have a lot of experience in medical volunteer work, so you know how to install positive pressure in a room like this. It’s amazing.”

Choi Mona, who was working silently next to Oh Chang-gyu, also gave him a thumbs up.

“Positive pressure isn’t that difficult. Just cover all the holes with tape, install that fan-like device, put vinyl on the floor, disinfect it again, disinfect the room again when entering and exiting, and then put the surgical table in place, disinfect the lights, hang them again, and it’s done quickly.”

The room that Lee Jae-san provided was large, so there was no problem listing and positioning the sterile table and other equipment.

“How do you know all this, Dr. Jung? Did you learn it during medical volunteer work, as Dr. Choi said?”

Oh Chang-gyu kept asking questions, seemingly amazed.

“That’s right. I learned a lot during medical volunteer work. When I first started volunteering, there were many times when I wondered if such surgery was even possible, but people say that if you are desperate, you can do anything.”

“I’m from a military family, so I grew up hearing that story from my father since I was young, and it’s really true. They say that people become what they think and what they want.”

“Dr. Choi is right. They say that thoughts lead to actions and produce results. That’s why I wasn’t so surprised when the director said he would perform surgery at home yesterday.”

To Eui-jin, who had saved patients by performing surgery on dirt floors and in places where sterilization was far from perfect, this was a pretty decent operating room.

“But what about this light? Isn’t it ours? It looks bigger than ours…….”

“That’s not ours.”

A nurse who came with them said, looking at the shadowless lamp [a surgical light designed to minimize shadows] installed in the room, and another nurse answered.

“Then what is it?”

“Here, the guardian prepared it?”

“Really?”

“Yes. I overheard the director talking earlier, and the guardian got it through someone he knew.”

“Really? This is a bit surprising.”

“Well. It’s a matter of my child’s life or death, so I would have done anything. Still, the guardian has good instincts.”

“I know. I didn’t know he would even prepare the lights.”

While preparing his daughter’s operating room, Lee Jae-san learned that operating room lighting was crucial.

Operating room lighting is provided by a shadowless lamp that minimizes shadows and allows the surgical site to be seen clearly, unlike general lighting.

He, who runs a small to medium-sized business with his mother, had quite a few acquaintances as a businessman.

Fortunately, he was able to contact someone who runs a medical device company through an acquaintance, and he was able to rent a used light for a fee.

After about an hour of hard work by the staff, the operating room was completed, resembling a proper hospital operating room.

“Dr. Jung, did the director go to pick up the child?”

“I think so. I believe he’ll talk to the grandmother and bring the child.”

“To be honest, I didn’t even know that the director would arrange for counseling.”

“I know, he must have been busy preparing for the surgery, but I don’t know when he even thought about that. He’s really amazing.”

The counseling that the staff mentioned was mental health counseling.

A mental health specialist sees patients twice a week at our hospital.

Tae-kyung felt that mental health counseling was necessary after observing the family’s distress yesterday, and he thought that the grandmother, Madam Go, especially needed it.

He could have easily ignored it, but he didn’t want to.

Frankly, Madam Go’s hospital phobia could resurface if another family member needed to go to the hospital again.

With the intention of preventing such a recurrence and healing their emotional wounds, he asked the mental health specialist to accompany him, and she readily agreed after hearing the situation.

“Mother, I explained it to you yesterday, right? He’s the doctor who came with the director.”

Madam Go, who had a deep and sincere conversation with her son for the first time in a long time the day before, decided to undergo counseling without much resistance.

“Hello. Elder. I’m someone whose job is to talk to people who are having a hard time.”

“I know. You’re a psychiatrist, right?”

“Yes, that’s right. I came here today at the request of Director Kim Tae-kyung. Is it okay if I talk to you for a while?”

“Yes, it’s okay.”

Madam Go thought that she had to change after seeing her granddaughter, who had almost fainted. And it was a good thing because she needed to be sober while the surgery was going on.

After Madam Go went upstairs to encourage her granddaughter, she started counseling in one room, and Tae-kyung headed to the child’s room with Lee Jae-san.

“Jin-i, how is she? She seemed fine this morning.”

“I think she’s better than this morning. And my wife and I told her yesterday that she would have surgery at home instead of the hospital, and she said she understood.”

“Was she scared?”

“No. She said she wanted to get well soon because she had been sick and tired. I explained about the surgery as you told me, and she said she would have the surgery bravely.”

“That’s a relief.”

“Yes, I think so too, but on the other hand, I feel strangely sad.”

“The guardian should cheer up.”

“Thank you. Director.”

“Jin-i, there, Dad and the doctor are coming.”

“Hello, Jin-i. We meet again after seeing each other this morning.”

“Hello.”

Jin-i, who was being held in her mother’s arms and greeting them, was definitely in a more stable condition than in the morning.

“I heard from Dad that you slept after the doctor left this morning. Did you sleep well?”

“Yes, I slept well and woke up a while ago.”

“Really? Good job. Do you know why the doctor came again today?”

“I know. Because of Jin-i’s surgery.”

“That’s right. The doctor came today to operate on Jin-i’s pain.”

“Doctor, if you really operate, can you get rid of what’s in here?”

Jin-i said, pointing to her uncomfortable abdomen.

“Of course. The doctor will do a good job of operating so that Jin-i doesn’t have any discomfort in her stomach. Can you bravely have the surgery?”

“Yes, bravely!”

“Okay, let’s all go downstairs first.”

Jin-i came downstairs with her parents and Tae-kyung.

“Jin-i, do you know that room?”

“Yes, it’s our master bedroom.”

“That’s right. The doctor had other doctors turn that room into an operating room so that Jin-i could have surgery at home.”

“Mom, is that true?”

“Of course, it’s true.”

Jin-i, who had heard it from her mother, was amazed that an operating room had been created in the room in one day, as she had mostly been in her room on the second floor.

“Jin-i?”

Kim Yeon-ju, meeting her daughter’s eyes, looked at her with mixed emotions, wanting to give strength to her young daughter who was about to undergo surgery.