Toward the goal (3)
“Why doesn’t Jincheol come like this?”
Nogi-hyung bit his lip as if he was nervous. Then, he nodded slightly as if he had made up his mind.
“Let’s start the anesthesia.”
“Are you two going to do the surgery?”
The anesthesiologist behind the curtain came out and opened his eyes wide.
“I can’t help it. I have to make at least the bare minimum of preparations before I come. Otherwise…”
“I understand.”
While the anesthesiologist was preparing anesthesia, Ki-Seok Choi quietly looked down at the patient.
The first thing that caught my eye was the severed finger.
About two-thirds of the patient’s index finger was cut off, and the cut area was rounded.
The other finger had something like pitch black grime on it.
It appears that he was hit by a punching machine during factory work.
‘you can do it.’
It is also the first time that I have been able to actually see and assist with resin cementation patients. But I didn’t say that I couldn’t do it or that I wasn’t confident.
No Ki-hyung wouldn’t have brought her here without thinking.
As a surgeon, I didn’t want to give up on my patients.
Choi Ki-seok thought about the surgical procedure and the necessary tools in his head.
Tiririririn.
As the anesthesia was about to end, I received a phone call.
Choi Ki-seok hurriedly answered the phone hanging next to the rosette door.
“This is C Rosette.”
“I’m Professor Jincheol Kang.”
“Yes, Professor.”
“We are treating a patient in the emergency room with a crushed finger. I think this patient will also need surgery. Are you in surgery, Chief?”
“I think the surgery will be done right after the anesthesia is over. Then, Professor…” “
I don’t think I can go that way. I think the surgery will have to be done separately. Would you like to talk to the director?”
“All right.”
Choi Ki-seok connected the phone and informed Noh Ki-hyung of the news about Kang Jin-cheol.
Nogi-hyung sighed and nodded.
“I guess we have no choice but to do it together.”
“I will do my best not to hold you back, Chief.”
“I like the spirit.”
Noh Ki-hyung sat down in the chair, and Choi Ki-seok hung up the phone and took a seat across from him.
“The resin bonding surgery will begin now.”
Noh Gi-hyeong examined the patient’s amputated finger under a microscopic microscope.
This is a task to check whether blood vessels and nerves are well maintained.
“There are almost no tendons, blood vessels, or nerves. Only the ends of the bones remain. You have to stay alert.”
“yes!”
“Let’s start with debridement.”
Debridement is a treatment to remove necrotic tissue, which can lead to bacterial growth and recovery of the affected area.
Prior to full-scale treatment, Ki-Seok Choi wrapped the patient’s lower arm with a tourniquet.
This is to prevent bleeding during treatment.
Meanwhile, Nogi-hyung disinfected the area around the wound with betadine and picked up a mezen (scissors for cutting tissue).
Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu.
Every time Mezen moved, the black tissue was cut off.
Ki-Seok Choi cleaned the wound with saline solution while inspecting the treatment using a microscopic microscope placed near his head.
The debridement was completed in the blink of an eye.
“wire.”
At Nogi-hyung’s cries, the nurse handed him a wire.
Noh Gi-hyung fixed the patient’s finger bones with wires.
If the bone is not fixed first, it may later loosen and injure blood vessels.
While Noh Ki-hyung worked on the wire, Choi Ki-seok held the patient’s arm tightly.
“Whew…”
Nogi-hyung took his eyes off the microscope.
The severed part and the severed finger bone were barely aligned.
From now on, suturing should be done in the order of tendon, artery, nerve, and vein.
“4-0 PDS (suture).”
Gigigigigeek.
Noh Ki-hyung tightened the suture needle with a needle holder and began treatment in earnest. Accordingly, Choi Ki-seok examined the tendon under a microscope and firmly grasped the tendon with forceps.
A ring suture method that unfolds in an instant.
After suturing the proximal and distal parts of the finger, it was time to suture blood vessels, a highly difficult course.
“10-0 Nylon (suture).”
Choi Ki-seok swallowed his dry saliva at Noh Ki-hyung’s shout.
The larger the front of the suture, the thinner the thread.
Considering that 5-0 sutures are usually used in thoracic surgery, this means that 10-0 sutures are twice as thin.
Ki-seok Choi abandoned the forceps he had been using and began assisting with more sophisticated forceps.
I couldn’t move the hand that was holding the artery.
I was afraid to even breathe.
Because the patient’s blood vessels could have been damaged by his own subtle movements.
‘also.’
Noh Ki-hyung smiled in satisfaction as he sutured the sutures.
The decision to select Choi Ki-seok as an assistant was not wrong.
Because he was close with Jang Hyuk-pil, he knew that Choi Ki-seok had joined the Saber team as an assistant.
I thought that the team member selected by Jang Hyuk-pil would be able to assist with resin bonding, but of course it was.
Choi Ki-seok’s hands did not shake throughout the suturing.
By firmly holding the surgical site, I was able to suture it without worry.
That’s not all.
Treatments such as cleaning and suction were carried out without even being told.
If there was time during the surgery, the patient’s vitals were carefully checked.
‘It’s ridiculous that this guy is in his first year.’
Noh Ki-hyung internally judged that Choi Ki-seok had fellow-level skills.
It’s been about four hours since I went into surgery.
All that remains now is to suture the vein.
“shit!”
Nogi-hyung was the first to swear.
“Chief. What’s going on….”
“I can’t see the vein on the side of the stomach (farthest from the center of the body). If I can’t suture it, rehabilitation will be difficult….” ”
I’ll look for it.”
Choi Ki-seok tried to find the last vein using a microscope, but failed. The proximal vein was visible, but strangely only the distal vein was not visible.
‘Then…’
While Noh Ki-hyung examined the microscope again, Choi Ki-seok used the dragon’s eye zoom-in mode. As I gradually increased the magnification, I was able to obtain a field of view similar to that of a microscope.
‘little bit more!’
I suppressed dizziness and narrowed my field of vision even further.
Then, the veins hidden behind the nerves were vaguely revealed.
Ki-Seok Choi maintained his gaze and gently touched the vein with forceps.
The veins twitched, but could hardly come out. So I grabbed the forceps with both hands and started working again.
“What are you doing!”
Nogi-hyung’s shouting filled the rosette.
“Chief. We found the remaining vein.”
Ki-Seok Choi opened his dragon eyes and quickly pretended to look through a microscope.
“You found it?”
“Yes. It was hidden behind a nerve and I pulled it out with forceps.”
“…Nonsense.”
Nogi-hyung smiled empty-handedly.
Even though I looked closely at the microscope, I couldn’t find any veins. However, when Choi Ki-seok worked with forceps, the hidden veins were revealed.
It’s like a ghost crying.
“I guess I got lucky.”
“…Okay. Let’s continue.”
Noh Ki-hyung started the final vein suturing with the assistance of Choi Ki-seok.
After a while, the surgery was over.
The finger that had fallen off in a hideous manner and the severed part were reattached normally.
Choi Ki-seok felt an overwhelming emotion for the first time in a long time.
“Thank you for your effort.”
A bright shout spread throughout the operating room.
* * *
There is one hour left until work ends.
Choi Ki-seok went around the hospital room and checked the patients’ condition.
The moment I saw Michael’s empty seat, I felt empty. I wasn’t able to say my final goodbyes because I was called to the plastic surgery clinic. So I called Michael right away.
“Michael. It’s me. Cardiothoracic surgeon.”
[teacher. I hate you. I decided to say hello when I left the hospital.]
“I’m sorry. I had to go into the operating room because I had an urgent patient.”
[just joke. I don’t care. Don’t worry about it.]
“Thank you for saying that. Don’t overdo it just because the surgery is over, control what you eat, and limit your drinking. Okay?”
[teacher. You nag.]
I burst into laughter at Michael’s scolding.
[This is also a joke. The teacher is also healthy and I will contact you later.]
“Okay, see you outside the hospital later.”
Choi Ki-seok hung up the phone and went outside the hospital.
After going through the resin bonding surgery scrub, I went right into Park Yong-il’s lung cancer surgery.
The day ended with two surgeries.
So, to change my mood, I walked around the outside of the hospital.
Even though outpatient hours were over, there were many people coming and going from the hospital.
It was fun to see all kinds of people, including patients and guardians, visitors, hospital staff, and insurance company employees.
‘If it’s already come to this, should we go on a tour?’
Choi Ki-seok entered the main building and started walking from the first basement level of the main building. The first basement floor of Uijin University Hospital contained a staff cafeteria, pathology department, pharmacy department, and post office.
“Hey, teacher. Can I ask you something?”
A middle-aged man who looked older spoke up.
“Say yes.”
“Do you know where the medical cooperation team is? I looked around for a while and couldn’t find it…”
“Wait a minute.”
Choi Ki-seok stood there and shook his head. However, the location of the medical cooperation team was not in my memory.
The hospital has numerous medical departments and medical support departments and convenient facilities. Among them, the only places Choi Ki-seok knew exactly were the thoracic surgery outpatient clinic and the ward operating room.
“Would you like to follow me?”
Choi Ki-seok moved to the elevator.
There was a floor guide posted on the wall next to the elevator door.
“I think you can go to the third floor.”
“I went to the 3rd floor and it wasn’t there? I asked the staff there and they told me to go to the first basement floor, but it wasn’t there either. Won.”
The man pounded his chest in frustration.
“Uhm… please wait a little longer.”
Ki-seok Choi thought about it and called the Fairy of Knowledge.
“Sulwha, this is Kiseok. Do you know the location of the medical cooperation team?”
[Clinical cooperation team? It’s on the second floor. Probably across from the nuclear medicine department?]
“Thank you. I’ll contact you later.”
Choi Ki-seok hung up the phone and smiled.
Jeong Seol-hwa, who had a meticulous personality, had a lot of knowledge not only about the work of residents but also about the hospital in general.
It was different from Choi Ki-seok, who only knew patients and surgery.
“They say it’s on the second floor. Come with me.”
Choi Ki-seok took the elevator with the man and headed to the second floor.
Indeed, as Jeong Seol-hwa said, there was a medical cooperation team across from the nuclear medicine department.
“Thank you, teacher. Thanks to you, I was less lost.”
“You haven’t done anything great. Then take care of your work.”
I broke up with the man and started walking up the second floor.
I felt like the university hospital was like a maze.
After taking a long walk around the second floor, a medical record copy room appeared at the end.
The medical record copy room is the busiest place on the second floor.
The waiting line was incredibly long. Not only patients and their guardians, but also men in suits were noticeable.
Most of them are probably insurance company employees.
‘Has it already become like this?’
Choi Ki-seok checked the time and returned to the thoracic surgery ward.
Drurr.
When I entered the conference room, I saw Youngho Lee practicing suturing with a teddy bear.
“Senior. Are you here?”
“Uh. Is practice going well?”
“I’m dying. When my senior did it, it seemed easy, but when I actually did it, ugh…”
Lee Young-ho sighed, and Choi Ki-seok looked at the doll he had worked on.
“Is it too sloppy? Tightening the suture too tightly is a problem, but tying it loosely like you did is also a problem. They say it will be released later. The gap between the sutures is also crooked.”
“…Yes.”
“Don’t try to copy me, just take your time. What’s important to you is accuracy, not speed.”
Ki-Seok Choi finished speaking and used encouragement on Young-Ho Lee.
Due to the influence of the skill, Young-Ho Lee’s expression brightened somewhat.
After the conversation, Ki-Seok Choi also started practicing suturing. The conference
room became quiet.
Only the sound of needle holders being tightened and sutures being cut could be heard occasionally.
“Kiseok, come see me for a moment.”
Minjoohyuk opened the conference room door and called Choi Kiseok.
The two took a seat in the break room.
“You owe me something, right? ”
“…Ah. yes. I remember.”
Choi Ki-seok nodded, remembering the Lee Ye-rim incident.
With Min Joo-hyuk’s help, he was able to get Seo Ji-hoon into thoracic surgery.
“I hope to repay that debt this week.”
“This week?”
“It’s a little annoying. Something came up. Let’s talk while drinking coffee.”
Minjoohyuk pulled out a can of coffee and Choi Kiseok watched him blankly.
What on earth are you trying to ask?
