Chapter 98

A series of pads connected with the monitor were patched onto the patient’s body.

The patient was a man in his late 30s.

Suhyuk checked his heart first.

‘It’s beating.’

And then he looked at the vital signs.

His blood pressure was dropping markedly. It was natural because he shed a lot of blood.

The patient did not move at all. Even if he lifted his eyelid, there was no reaction from the pupil.

Suhyuk immediately checked the patient’s injured area.

Head, shoulder, thigh, there were wounds all over his body.

“Please give me some dressings!”

A nurse handed him dressings, and then Suhyuk pressed the dressings against patient’s head first.

“Suhyuk, let other doctors take care of him…”

Suhyuk’s fellow residents of his year, who applied for the emergency medical department, said cautiously.

But n.o.body stopped him, who was only in his first year of residency.

Oh Byungchul did not stop him either.

Oh was taking care of another patient who had been involved in a traffic accident like Suhyuk’s patient.

She was in her 60s, with bleeding from her head, and she was mentally stable, but she was screaming at the patient next to her,

“Hey, Jinsu. Open your eyes!”

“Please calm down.”

A nurse and Oh forcibly held her down.

“Doctor! Please save my sons’ life, my son. Jinsu, why can’t you open your eyes? Mom is here right beside you. So, open your eyes, my baby!”

She did not stay calm, throwing a tantrum and crying as if she was a baby.

On such occasions her face was covered with blood.

“Hey, save my son! My son!” shouted the woman.

With her head wrapped with dressing, she was pounding a man, with a haggard mustache’s heart.

“Boohoo… Save my son, man!”

Whenever she moved her hands, the man’s body shook.

The accident took place when he felt he was dozing off a bit.

His truck allegedly drove over the centerline, cras.h.i.+ng the pa.s.senger car driving toward him.

The man thought of his wife’s nagging in the morning when he went out for work.

He felt it was a bad luck.

“I want to check the black box,” said the man.

At his words, the policemen who took him to the emergency room made a feigned smile.

Witnesses told the truck drove over the centerline first.

Even if they open the black box, it would show the same outcome.

That was not the point, though.

The patient never showed any sign of repentance.

Granted it was not his intention, he did not care at all about the patients who were taken into the resuscitation unit. He was thinking hard how to avoid his own responsibility in the accident.

“Patient Choi Changoh, please come here.”

At the nurse’s calling, the man moved toward her.

***

Suhyuk was pus.h.i.+ng the stretcher carrying a patient fast.

On the other side Prof. Han was running along.

Soon they arrived at the resuscitation unit, with IV and blood packs hung over the patient’s body.

The examination was done quickly.

X-ray viewer was installed, and the CT appeared on the monitor.

Han Myungjin let out a long breath.

The patient’s belly was overflowing with blood.

Han saw such a heavily injured patient for the first time in a long time.

Not only his organs, but also his nerves must have been damaged.

Fortunately his skull was not damaged at all.

“Looks like it’s going to be tough.”

Han murmured before he knew it. Then came a voice out of the blue.

It was Suhyuk who had been looking down at the patient quietly.

He said, “We never know sir, until we try.”

Han, looking at the monitor, nodded his head slowly. How can a novice doctor dare speak like that?

Han could have felt offended, but he was different from other doctors.

“You’re right.”

They had no choice but to pint their hope on the fact that the patient was a young man.

Under the direction of Han, the medical staff moved the patient to the operating  room.

Like them Suhyuk moved to disinfect himself.

He rubbed his fingers and forearms with a disinfection brush. He rubbed so hard that those next to him were even worried. Closing his eyes, Suhyuk recalled the guy’s mother.

“The patient, no, your son was severely injured. Surgery can be dangerous, but do you want us to go ahead with it?”

Tears kept coming down from the patient’s guardian’s face at Suhyuk’s cautious suggestion.

Obviously he needed to have surgery, but the doctor’s tone was unusual.

Suddenly she broke into tears. Falling on her knees, she held Suhyuk’s gown.

At her tight holding, he could feel how desperate she was.

“Please save my son! Please…If you could save my son, I would never forget your help even if I die. I would give you all the money I have got. Please save my son, Jinsu. Boohoo…”

Suhyuk also went down on one knee.

“Please sign this form. We can do surgery only with the guardian’s consent.”

Suhyuk pulled out the pen from his gown, and gave it to her. The pen was Hana’s gift.

She held it with a trembling hand.

“Please help my son live a little longer, doctor! Please…”

After he got her consent, Suhyuk lifted her up, and said in a clear voice,

“My name is Lee Suhyuk. I’ll do my best.”

No, just doing one’s best was not enough.

He had to make the patient open his eyes after surgery.

So, the mother and son could meet look each other in the eyes again

“What are you thinking?” asked Han.

Suhyuk’s eyes opened at Han’s asking.

And he said like before, “I was thinking about how to save the patient.”

“Did you have a good sleep?”

Suhyuk knew what Prof. Han was talking about.

It meant the surgery would take many many hours.

“I don’t sleep much usually, sir.”

When he opened his both hands, a nurse immediately helped him into his gown.

Prof. Han, wearing a gown just like him, was looking at him quietly.

He made Suhyuk fill in the surgery consent form by himself, so he could feel a lot while watching the patient and his guardian.

“Let’s go!”

When Han approached the door, the automatic door opened.

The medical staff in green gowns moved busily, and a white light from the ceiling was beaming onto the patient who lay in the middle.

“Huuuuuuuh….” Suhyuk let out a long breath as if he just took a deep breath, and he approached the patient with an oxygen mask in his hand.

‘I would allow you to sleep only in this operating room. You have to open your eyes outside after.’

At that moment he heard Han’s voice.

“This patient is bleeding in his belly, so we need to finish the operation as soon as possible. Now we’re opening up his belly. Scalpel.”

A scalpel was handed to Prof. Han’s hand, and when it touched the patient’s belly, blood was gus.h.i.+ng up like a water gun.

“Suction, suction!”

The a.s.sistants suctioned blood calmly, and the patient’s belly was opened up.

“What are you doing?”

Han shouted at one a.s.sistant because he did not set up a retractor inside the belly.

Another a.s.sistant was looking for it, but could not find it.

“Obviously I put it here…”

Han suddenly made a frown.

“d.a.m.n it…” When he was venting his anger, Suhyuk came to his side, and he opened the patient’s belly with both hands without blocking Han’s view at all.

Turning his head, he looked at Han.

“We have to finish the surgery quickly.”

Han scrutinized each of the medical staff alarmed by Suhyuk’s action, and he said in a scary tone, “Let me see you guys after surgery. Irrigation.”

Soon wash fluid was poured into the belly, and the suction device was running with a big noise.

It was necessary to find the damaged organ, but the continued bleeding blocked Han’s view.

Han checked the blood packs.

“How many were used so far?”

“Seven packs, sir.”

“Just keep supplying it. Squeeze out the current pack, and then replace it with a new one.”

Han shook his head.

“Here is the retractor.”

A nurse who came into the operating room brought a retractor.

Only then could Suhyuk step back.

He looked at the patient’s opened belly carefully.

Obviously the spleen was damaged, along with other organs. Even the nerve vessels.

Now bleeding was simply too much.

Then one thing came to Suhyuk’s mind suddenly.

Main artery.

“Is his main artery okay?” At his asking, Han, putting his hand into the belly, looked at him.

“Why did you say it only now?”

Han did not think of it at all. Patients with heavy injuries usually had organ damages, and it was very rare they had their main arteries damaged too.

Han’s hand moved cautiously and quickly.

And he lifted his head quickly, shouting,

“Contact Prof. Kim right now!”

His main artery was ruptured. Though it was very minor, most of the bleeding came out of it.

It was only natural. Called the highway of a human body, main arteries carry blood throughout the whole body, and there was a leak in it.

“Quickly!”

Han could perform the surgery of th main artery himself, but could not do better than Prof. Kim who was performing such surgeries dozens of times per week.

It was the beginning of the situation. Suddenly there was heard something from the side, a blot out of the blue. It was the voice of the nurse who had contacted Prof.Kim.

“I hear he just began emergency surgery. It would take at least one hour for him to come here.”

A long sigh came out of Han’s mouth.

It would be too late if he came one hour later. The patient could not continue to survive by that time.

‘What should I do…’

The operating room was quiet.

The residents monitoring the patient’s vital signs, and the a.s.sistants squeezing out the blood pack to force blood into the patient.

Everybody’s attention was on the patient, as if they were saying in unison, “It’s not possible.”

Then Han turned his head to the side.

Suhyuk was looking at the patient quietly. What was he thinking?

Turning around, Suhyuk opened his mouth, “Please stop his heart.”