Fifth Vital [EN]: Chapter 69

69. Courage

“Mr. Lim?”

“Yes.”

At Tae-kyung’s signal, Nurse Lim Jung-sook placed pillows around Go Yoon-ki.

‘It must have been growing for quite a while…’

Tae-kyung examined the cyst closely. In cases like this, the cyst must be completely removed to prevent recurrence. Therefore, he would perform local anesthesia and make an incision along the cyst wall.

‘I have no choice but to cut it out.’

To do that, he first needed to trim the hair around the cyst.

“Hey, Yoon-ki?”

Tae-kyung carefully called Go Yoon-ki. He felt bad having to tell a young patient, who was 20 years old and conscious of his appearance, that he needed to cut his hair.

“I need to do a local anesthetic on the cyst, but before that, I need to trim some of your hair. Is that alright?”

“Doctor, agh! I’m so handsome… damn it! It’s okay.”

Go Yoon-ki, sounding much relieved, joked and made Tae-kyung feel more at ease.

“But don’t cut too much… agh! Please.”

“Okay, I’ll try my best.”

Nurse Lim Jung-sook, who was next to him, used a razor to carefully trim the patient’s hair around the cyst, not too widely.

“Now, I’m going to anesthetize it.”

“Doctor, don’t… hurt me! Agh! Please.”

“It’ll sting a little.”

Tae-kyung then began to apply local anesthesia around the cyst. Since he couldn’t accurately determine the boundaries of the cyst, he decided to anesthetize only the surrounding area first.

He injected lidocaine (a drug mainly used as a local anesthetic but also as an antiarrhythmic) and pulled back once again to check that no blood entered the syringe.

Since no blood was drawn, he confirmed that he hadn’t pierced a blood vessel and injected the local anesthetic.

“Ugh!”

Go Yoon-ki, who was secretly scared despite his brave face, squeezed the pillowcase and let out a shriek at the anesthetic injection.

“You endured it well.”

“I have good endurance! Agh!”

“You really do endure well.”

Tae-kyung praised Go Yoon-ki, checked that he was anesthetized, and put on sterile gloves.

“Doctor, should I cover him with a fenestrated drape [a sterile sheet with a hole in the middle]?”

Nurse Jung-sook, having received the signal, covered him with a fenestrated drape so that only the area with the cyst was visible. Then, she thoroughly disinfected the area, including the parts where the hair was not cut, with povidone [an antiseptic solution].

“Doctor? Now… agh! It won’t hurt, right? Damn it!”

“Well, the anesthesia should be working.”

“Agh! I don’t want to get another shot of anesthesia…”

Tae-kyung and Nurse Lim Jung-sook smiled slightly at Go Yoon-ki’s grumbling.

“Forceps, please.”

“Yes, Doctor.”

First, Tae-kyung used a small mosquito forceps [a type of hemostat] to grab and lift the skin at the boundary where the cyst and scalp were attached. Then, he incised the skin with scissors, being careful not to rupture the cyst.

Then, the cyst wall became visible, and he pulled the skin along the wall, separating the wall from the scalp while pulling the cyst.

‘My prediction was correct.’

As expected, it looked small on the outside but was quite large, extending into the scalp muscles.

Tae-kyung continued to move his nimble hands, incising inward without rupturing it. But at that moment.

“Doctor… it hurts. It really hurts.”

Go Yoon-ki flinched and complained of pain. Tae-kyung knew best that he was in pain.

“Yeah, Yoon-ki, it hurts a bit, right?”

“Yes, agh!”

In his medical life, he could tell whether a patient was exaggerating or not, and this pain was real. Even getting a shot for a cold stings and hurts, so how much more would it hurt to have a needle pierce incised skin?

But this was unavoidable. Since the boundaries of the cyst couldn’t be determined from the outside, he had to partially incise it. If the patient said it hurt, he would apply more anesthesia each time and repeat this process until the entire cyst wall was removed.

“You’re doing really well, patient. You’re very manly and brave.”

Skilled Nurse Lim Jung-sook mixed praise with comfort as Tae-kyung administered the anesthetic.

“Enough gauze, right?”

“Of course.”

Since the scalp has many blood vessels, blood flowed profusely each time an incision was made. Each time, Nurse Jung wiped it away with sterile gauze and continued the procedure. After repeating this several times, he almost lifted the bottom wall, and now the entire body of the cyst was out.

“Agh! You son of a bitch!”

As he was about to do the other side, Go Yoon-ki raised his hand with a vocal tic and tried to get up because of the pain.

“Yoon-ki, it’s almost done. Just a little more? It’ll be over soon.”

“Hold him so he can’t get up, please.”

“Our patient can’t get up. It’s almost done.”

While Nurse Lim Jung-sook held his upper body, Tae-kyung excised all of the cyst on the other side. The cyst was larger than expected, and some of the patient’s scalp muscle was also excised.

“I’m really going to finish up.”

Tae-kyung, having cleanly removed the cyst, began the finishing touches. He would prescribe antibiotics, but just in case, he disinfected the removed area again. Then, he finished the procedure by suturing the area with about three stitches.

“All done. You worked hard.”

“No… agh! It’s nothing. Wh-what… damn it! What is this?”

Go Yoon-ki, getting up from the bed, looked at the removed cyst and quickly turned his head away as if he had seen something he shouldn’t have, then slowly looked back at it.

“Are you telling me this big lump came out of my head? Agh!”

“That’s right. To be exact, it came out of Yoon-ki’s scalp.”

“No, what’s with this… agh! How did it grow so big?”

Go Yoon-ki’s reaction was natural. To make a comparison, it looked like a piece of fatty meat full of blood, or like a piece of alien flesh falling off in a movie.

“Disgusting, right?”

“Yes.”

While medical professionals might not care, it was a surprising and disgusting sight for the average person to actually see.

“You endured it well even though it must have hurt in the middle.”

“It’s nothing. Agh! Damn it!”

“Yoon-ki, just a moment!”

“Yes?”

Tae-kyung habitually and slowly took off Go Yoon-ki’s hat, which he had put on backwards.

“Why do you keep covering your handsome face? Don’t cover it.”

“Well… agh!”

“I know how much courage it took for you to come to the hospital today.”

Tae-kyung offered Go Yoon-ki not comfort but encouragement. A single word of encouragement might not be of much help to someone struggling. It might even be unnecessary meddling. But even so, there was something he wanted to say.

“It won’t be easy, but I hope you can be confident in the future, just like you showed courage today. You’re not different from others, but more special.”

He wanted young Go Yoon-ki to come out into the world rather than isolate himself any longer.

The CPRS [Complex Regional Pain Syndrome] patient of a similar age who had passed away recently came to mind, and he wanted to convey his feelings even more.

Because sometimes, people gain the courage to live just from the heart of one person who believes in them.

“Thank you, Doctor!”

Go Yoon-ki quickly spoke and greeted him as if he was being chased, without even taking a breath.

“Agh!”

It was because he wanted to convey his feelings fully, without his symptoms, even just once.

“I’m grateful too.”

“Thank you too, Nurse! Agh!”

“You worked hard getting treatment.”

“Yes… agh!”

After that short reply, Go Yoon-ki took out a notebook as if he had something to say and hurriedly wrote something down.

“Please… damn it! Be sure to read it later. Agh!”

“Okay. I’ll be sure to read it.”

* * *

“The guardian has been waiting for a long time… Guardian?”

Nurse Lim Jung-sook, who came out of the treatment room into the examination room, faced the grandfather sitting on the chair, wiping away tears.

“What’s wrong? Here’s a tissue. If you’re worried about your grandson, you can rest assured now. The procedure went well.”

“Really? Oh, thank you so much.”

“Grand, Grandpa! Agh!”

“Our Yoon-ki worked hard.”

The grandfather patted Go Yoon-ki, who came out of the treatment room, and shifted his gaze to Tae-kyung.

“Thank you for your hard work, Doctor.”

“You’ve been waiting a long time, haven’t you?”

“No, it hasn’t been long.”

“I trimmed a little bit of the hair around the area to remove the cyst. The cyst was removed cleanly.”

“Thank you so much. Doctor. Thank you.”

The grandfather, so grateful, held Tae-kyung’s hand tightly and bowed his head.

“Please pay and get your prescription. Come this way.”

The grandfather took Go Yoon-ki’s hand, who had taken off his hat, and left the examination room, guided by Nurse Lim Jung-sook.

“That’s right! He told me to read the note!”

Tae-kyung, who was watching the scene with a satisfied expression, took out Go Yoon-ki’s note, which he had put in his gown pocket.

-Doctor, I was a stranger. Since the tics started when I was young, I couldn’t belong anywhere in this world. At school, among friends, even to strangers passing by. Everyone called me a crazy bastard, a cripple, a foul-mouthed lunatic, not Go Yoon-ki. Only my grandfather saw me as Go Yoon-ki and gave me love. It wasn’t a disease I wanted to have, but I felt wronged and angry.

It was so hard to bear the cold gazes of people that I lived cut off from the world. I thought there was no one who would understand or recognize me except for my grandfather.

But the lump on my head kept growing, and it became difficult to sleep, so I mustered the courage to come to the hospital.

I didn’t choose a good hospital, but a hospital that was open late, so there was no choice. I had to avoid encountering people as much as possible. But I think I did a really good job coming to our hospital.

It was the first time that someone other than my grandfather understood me and treated me like an ordinary person without prejudice. I don’t know what words of gratitude to express. I will live diligently. For my grandfather and for myself. I’m going to try studying again, which I wanted to do.

Thank you, Doctor Kim Tae-kyung.

The hastily written letters were scribbled so much that neatness could not be found. But the sincerity was more genuine than any letter written on any paper.

“He wants to be a songwriter, and he writes well.”

Tae-kyung had treated Go Yoon-ki’s cyst today, but what he really treated was his wounded heart.

“Where would be a good place? This is perfect!”

Tae-kyung, feeling proud, attached the note to the bottom of the monitor and picked up the phone on his desk. It was to ask Nurse Lim Jung-sook about the status of outpatient visits.

“Are outpatient visits over?”

-Yes, Doctor. There are no more outpatients.

“Then I’ll go on rounds and then head over to the emergency room.”

-Yes, I understand.

Click-

Tae-kyung, who opened the door of the examination room, flinched for a moment and stopped in his tracks.

“……!”

“It seems the examination is finally over.”

Kim Geon-hyung, whom he thought had definitely left, was standing right in front of the door, looking at Tae-kyung.

“Now it’s my turn, right? Don’t tell me to wait any longer.”