Fifth Vital [EN]: Chapter 76

76. The Protector’s Heart

“Superman!!”

A brave voice reaching out to his despairing heart made Lee Go-chul lift his head.

“Lee Go-chul is Superman.”

It was Phuong’s cry, who had been quietly listening to the two from behind.

“Honey…….”

A small hand firmly grasped Lee Go-chul’s large, rough hand.

“I’m here. Phuong is next to you. I believe in you. Lee Go-chul is a wonderful man. You can be brave like our Kkan-dam.”

The name ‘Kkan-dam,’ given by Phuong’s father, meant courage in Vietnamese. It was a prenatal name [a name given before birth] given with the meaning of living without losing courage no matter how difficult things may be.

The two did not know that the prenatal name of the child in the womb would come as real courage.

“Superman is not afraid of anything.”

Phuong was comforting her husband, even though her own heart was breaking.

In fact, a little while ago, Tae-kyung saw Phuong secretly shedding tears behind Lee Go-chul’s back. But only for a moment, she saw her startled husband and quickly composed herself, wiping away her tears with a brave face.

“My husband is the greatest Superman I know. He can overcome cancer.”

“Ha!”

At Phuong’s unexpected reaction, Lee Go-chul let out a short, involuntary laugh. And his eyes changed. It seemed like he was finally coming to his senses.

“Oh! Honey laughed just now.”

“I couldn’t help but laugh because of you.”

“Laughing is good. Honey, you can laugh like that.”

Tae-kyung, who was watching the two of them from the side, stared intently at Lee Go-chul. And he held his hands tightly once.

“Lee Go-chul, you must have been very surprised.”

Others might say that he is still an overreacting doctor, exaggerating, or even criticizing him for lacking dignity as a doctor.

But Tae-kyung didn’t care if he had to take a truckload of such criticism, not just a handful.

Knowing the feeling of being alone in that swamp of despair, the feeling that gnaws at the mind, he didn’t want to comfort him with formal remarks.

‘I will live for the sake of the patient.’

He had vowed at the moment of his death.

If he lived again, he would use all his medical knowledge solely for the sick and become a real doctor who saves people.

He promised to do his best for the patient as a doctor. He had been doing that every moment while living as a doctor again, but now seemed to be the time when the most desperate effort was needed.

“You’ve been healthy and doing well, but suddenly it must feel like the sky is falling. You must have thought a lot about your wife and child.”

“……Yes. For a moment, I felt like the ground was sinking and everything went dark.”

“I will help you. I will do my best and then do my best again.”

“Doctor…….”

Looking at Tae-kyung, who was holding his rough hands tightly, Lee Go-chul knew in his heart that those words were more sincere than anyone else’s.

Lee Go-chul was convinced that he could trust and follow Tae-kyung, the doctor, as a patient.

He looked at his wife and showed a reassuring expression, then asked Tae-kyung to take care of him again.

“Please take good care of me.”

“I’ll take good care of you too.”

“Doctor, I’ll go to work tomorrow to sort things out and then come see you right away.”

“No. That won’t do. I understand how you feel, but every day is precious now. It’s best to be hospitalized today.”

“Today right away?”

Lee Go-chul had expected the schedule to proceed quickly to some extent. But he didn’t expect to be hospitalized so soon.

“Yes, as Lee Go-chul’s doctor, I strongly recommend it.”

“Honey! Listen to the doctor. Listen unconditionally.”

“You heard your wife, right? Now you have to cooperate with me.”

“Yes.”

Lee Go-chul looked at Tae-kyung’s serious eyes, which had no hint of a smile, and answered as if he had made up his mind.

“I will follow the doctor well. Please save me!”

It was Lee Go-chul’s usual cool and fiery tone. Courage filled his eyes, which had been full of despair just a moment ago.

He had seen such eyes a few times before. Eyes that faced death bravely and clearly.

It was not at all a surrender of life. Rather, it was close to the opposite. He felt a strong will to live somehow, tenaciously.

“I will do my best.”

“Then how will it proceed from now on?”

“We will insert a needle into the tumor here with an ultrasound and take out a part to examine under a microscope.”

“A biopsy.”

“That’s right. And we will take a PET-CT [Positron Emission Tomography-Computed Tomography] to check if there are any metastases in other parts of the body. Then we will proceed with the surgery right away in the afternoon.”

“PET-CT? Is that different from the CT scan I took today?”

Lee Go-chul asked, curious about the unfamiliar term.

“Yes, first of all, cancer cells consume more energy than other cells. So, we will inject a radioactive isotope into the glucose that the cells eat. Then, it circulates throughout the body and accumulates more in areas with cancer. That’s how we identify where it has metastasized.”

“That’s difficult. I don’t understand.”

“My wife and I don’t understand even if we listen carefully. Just please take care of it, doctor.”

“I understand.”

“But honestly, I have some regrets.”

Regret washed over Lee Go-chul’s calmed mind.

“Regrets?”

“Back then. If I had done it when the doctor recommended the test, I wonder if the situation would be a little different now.”

Why wouldn’t he?

Anyone would have said that. It was a natural feeling since it was about his own life, not something else.

Tae-kyung had also thought about it countless times. But now, focusing less on that thought and concentrating on the future would be much more beneficial for the patient.

Tae-kyung also decided to erase the regret about that day.

“It’s already past. The future is important, honey.”

“Your wife is right. If you put your heart into the treatment as much as you regret it, you will be fine. It’s a pity, but let’s focus on what we can change rather than what we can’t.”

“You speak so wonderfully. Strangely, when the doctor speaks, my heart feels much more comfortable.”

“You have to be strong. It will be a very long and difficult journey.”

“I’m a stubborn guy, you know.”

“You know the marathon?”

“Of course. Isn’t it a long-distance run? I like running, so I know it well.”

“Think of it as running a marathon. Instead of being alone, I and our medical team will be pacemakers and run alongside you.”

“I’ll run with you too. No, our Kkan-dam will run with Dad too.”

“Yes, I understand. You have such strong support.”

“Okay, first lie down on this bed. Now, I’ll do a biopsy.”

Under Tae-kyung’s direction, Lee Go-chul’s marathon began.

“It will sting a little.”

“It doesn’t hurt as much as I thought.”

“You endured it well. You can get off now. The nurse will help you with the admission process.”

Clank-

“Patient, guardian. I’ll help you with the admission process.”

After the biopsy, nurse Im Jung-sook left the ultrasound room with the two.

-Yes, it’s the 3rd floor ward.

After the people left, Tae-kyung made an internal call.

“It’s me. Lee Go-chul patient will be admitted right away. He’s having a PET-CT tomorrow and surgery right after, so please give him a glucose-free IV.”

-Yes, what is the patient’s weight?

“Just a moment.”

Tae-kyung checked Lee Go-chul’s weight, which he had written down earlier, and continued the call.

“He’s 75kg, so give him normal saline at 80cc/hr. And give him the PPI (proton pump inhibitor, antacid) too.”

-Yes, doctor. What time is the surgery scheduled for tomorrow?

“I’ll do the test in the morning and the surgery right away in the afternoon.”

-I understand.

Tae-kyung hung up the phone and looked at the patient’s CT scan again with sharp eyes.

“This is the problem…….”

Now it was time to strategize how to conquer the cancer in Lee Go-chul’s body and move his brain busily.

* * *

Phuong was sitting on a bench in the hospital yard, talking to her older sister in Vietnam.

-Are you really okay?

“Of course, I’m okay, sister.”

She was in a daze due to Lee Go-chul’s sudden cancer diagnosis and surgery schedule, which led to an urgent hospitalization.

She brought the necessary items from home and watched Lee Go-chul fall asleep in the hospital room, then came outside for a while. Tomorrow was the surgery, and Phuong deliberately came outside because she was worried that her husband would wake up from the sound of the call.

-Phuong, should I go?

Her caring older sister, who called several times a day, was worried about her youngest sister living in a foreign country.

“Sister, you know my personality. If it was a really dangerous disease, I would have asked you to come right away.”

She had been loved by her older sister since she was young, so they knew what was going on just by listening to each other’s tone. That’s why Phuong told her sister about her husband.

Of course, she didn’t say everything. She glossed over it as a very simple and mild illness.

In fact, if she told the story as it was, her older sister would have come to Korea right away with a worried mind.

-You’re not even fully recovered, and it will be hard to take care of your brother-in-law’s hospital life. I’ll go.

“If you come, what about brother-in-law and the kids? It’s not just the next neighborhood, it’s Korea. No way.”

-Do you know how surprised I was when I got your call earlier?

“I thought you would be very worried again.”

-Phuong, it’s cancer, not another disease…….

Phuong’s sister couldn’t just congratulate her on her marriage to Korea, which she had chosen solely for her husband without any relatives. Still, she was happy to see them loving each other and living well, but she was very worried about the news that her brother-in-law was sick.

“Sister, they said it’s a good cancer at the hospital.”

-A good cancer?

“Yeah. It hasn’t metastasized, and they said they only need to operate on that part after the biopsy.”

-Really?

“That’s right. That’s why they said we should have the surgery right away tomorrow without waiting any longer.”

-Still, that’s a relief. Thank goodness. I heard it’s hard if cancer metastasizes.”

“I know. I don’t know how lucky I am.”

-Do you have money? I’ll send you some tomorrow.

“I have insurance, so it’s okay. And in Korea, there are some benefits for hospital bills if you have cancer. And above all, I met a really good doctor.”

-That’s the best thing I’ve heard. Meeting a good doctor is also lucky.

“I know. The doctor here is very caring. So don’t worry too much. Don’t tell Mom and Dad.”

-Okay, I understand. Instead, contact me often, and I’ll pray all night. Be sure to contact me after the surgery tomorrow.”

“Okay, I’ll contact you.”

-Oh, have you eaten? Have you eaten?

“Of course. I ate. Go in quickly.”

-Okay. Don’t skip meals and take care of yourself.”

After hanging up with her older sister, Phuong looked up at the sky for a moment.

“The sky is pretty.”

She always looked at the sky with her husband on the veranda in the evening and shared each other’s day, but today she was alone.

“Kkan-dam, let’s cheer up with Mom.”

“……Mom?”

Someone called Phuong, who was giving herself strength.

“Are you Kkan-dam’s mom?”

It was Oh Gye-soon, the head chef of our hospital’s cafeteria.

“Who are you?”

“Me? I’m Grandma Oh Gye-soon, who cooks at this hospital.”

“Oh, hello.”

“Kkan-dam’s mom didn’t have dinner, did you?”

“No.”

Lee Go-chul thought Phuong had eaten dinner, but she couldn’t.

Her husband was fasting before the surgery, so she fasted with him. She felt sorry for Kkan-dam in her womb, but she didn’t feel like eating because of her husband who was about to have surgery.

“I knew it. You were like that because of your husband, right?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“You can’t do that. Come on, let’s go with me.”

“Where are you going, Grandma?”

“You’ll know when you get there.”

Oh Gye-soon took Phuong’s hand, who was bewildered, and entered the hospital.

* * *

“T, this is all…….”

Before Phuong’s eyes, who followed Oh Gye-soon, there was food. It wasn’t just food. There was seaweed soup with Korean beef, Vietnamese pho, rolled omelets, and all kinds of vegetables and kimchi. It was truly a proper meal.

“Why is there so much food?”

“This? I made it for Phuong to eat.”

“For me?”

“Kkan-dam’s mom, I know you don’t have an appetite because you’re worried about your husband, but you can’t do that. You have to eat even if you think about the baby in your womb.”

“Did Grandma make this for me and our Kkan-dam?”

“I showed off my skills a little bit. In Korea, we call this ‘bap-shim’ [the strength one gets from eating a good meal].”

“Bap-shim?”

“It means that people need to eat and have energy to work. So Kkan-dam’s mom, eat quickly.”

The reason why Oh Gye-soon prepared Phuong’s dinner in the medical staff’s cafeteria was because of Tae-kyung’s request.

A few hours ago-

‘Madam, I’m sorry, but can I ask you for a favor?’

‘What kind of favor is the hospital director asking the employee for? At times like this, you just order me to do it. Of course, I can do it. What is it?’

‘I was wondering if you could make some seaweed soup.’

‘Wow, is it Director Kim’s birthday? Is seaweed soup enough? Should I make ribs too? Japchae [a Korean glass noodle dish]?’

‘No. It’s not my birthday, but there’s a patient’s guardian who’s about to have surgery, and I was hoping she could eat something.’

Oh Gye-soon, who heard about Phuong’s situation, bought pho ingredients and Korean beef brisket from the mart and prepared the meal.

“I had cancer surgery a long time ago, and my child was sick, so I know the heart of the patient and the heart of the guardian well. But it burns darker when you are a guardian than when you are a patient. Kkan-dam’s mom, your heart hurts because of your husband, right?”

“……Sniff.”

Was it because of Oh Gye-soon’s warm hand stroking her back? Or was it because of the comfort of being caught in her heart?

“Sob! I’m so sad. My heart hurts so much.”

Phuong, who had been brave until now, began to cry. The tears that she had been gritting her teeth on burst.

“My husband is pitiful. Sniff! He’s unfortunate.”

“Oh my, my heart hurts too. To come to a foreign country and have this happen.”

Oh Gye-soon hugged Phuong like a mother and continued to comfort her.

“Cry comfortably. But you’re only crying today. From tomorrow, never cry and be strong. Got it?”

“Sniff……Yes. I won’t cry tomorrow.”

Phuong shed the stuffy feelings in her heart in tears for a long time.

“Did you cry it all out?”

“Yes, thank you, Grandma.”

“Thank you for what. That’s enough. Now let’s eat. Kkan-dam must be hungry. And for the sake of your husband and the baby in your womb, you must never skip meals in the future. Got it?”

“Yes. I’ll eat well.”

“The guardian must be strong for the patient to recover quickly.”

“The seaweed soup is so delicious.”

Phuong ate the warm meal prepared by Oh Gye-soon and strengthened her heart.