Disaster (1)
“What are you doing at this hour? Manager Choi?”
Kim Han-cheol, who connected the call, had thorns in his tone of voice.
It seemed like the fight they had at the meeting not long ago still remained as bittersweet.
Especially when you look at the power put into the word ‘nim’.
“This is a story about one of the associate professor’s patients, Taehyun Lee, who was hospitalized with a cardiovascular tumor. “The patient complained of chest pain and difficulty breathing, and upon examination, we found that the right atrium had ruptured.”
“So?”
“I need surgery right away… I would like to share my opinion about the surgery.”
“If the right atrium ruptures, you will have to have surgery anyway. Is it because of the scope of the surgery?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Let’s just wait and see. The patient was scheduled to undergo conventional resection, which involves removing only the cancerous area, two days later…”
Kim Han-cheol paused before continuing.
“What do you think, Manager Choi?”
“I think we need to remove all the cancerous tissue. “If you don’t do total resection, the outcome will be worse.”
There was not a single hesitation in Choi Ki-seok’s answer.
What was important to him was not the difficulty of the surgery but the patient’s progress.
“Is there really a need for that? “If metastasis has occurred, there is a high probability of recurrence even if the entire tumor is removed.”
“After total resection, I have to hope that the chemotherapy and radiation treatment will be effective. “That’s the best.”
“Well, if that’s the case, that’s fine.”
Kim Han-cheol paused before continuing.
“Do whatever the patient, Director Choi, wants to do.”
“Is that true?”
“There is a condition instead.”
Kim Han-cheol’s low, sinister laughter flowed through the phone.
His conditions were simple.
If you want to treat the patient the way you want, Choi Ki-seok should become the patient’s doctor. It is natural for the attending physician to decide the direction of treatment for the patient.
‘You can see right through the inside.’
Choi Ki-seok smiled bitterly while listening to Kim Han-cheol’s story.
Taehyun Lee was a patient with a terminal heart tumor and had a high probability of death. So, Kim Han-cheol was plotting to hand over Lee Tae-hyun to Choi Ki-seok.
There seemed to be no thought at all that patients with mild symptoms or patients with terminal cancer were all the same.
“great. From today, I will be the attending physician for patient Taehyun Lee. “We will change it as soon as we get back to the medical office.”
“It is a wise decision. Manager Choi. How soon are you looking forward to this?”
Kim Han-cheol chuckled, said a few more words, and hung up.
“teacher. “My child…”
When Choi Ki-seok returned to the hospital room, the guardian pointed to Lee Tae-hyun with a worried look.
Taehyun Lee was sweating coldly with a painful expression.
“Hae-cheol, did you get to the operating room?”
“yes! Just go to the C rosette.”
“Let’s do well this time too.”
Choi Ki-seok playfully touched Yang Hae-cheol’s shoulder and then headed to the operating room with him.
“Chief. What should I do in this case? A patient hospitalized with a heart tumor suddenly experiences a rupture of the right atrium. “I never dreamed something like this would happen.”
While washing his arms with a brush soaked in disinfectant, Yang Hae-cheol stared at Choi Ki-seok. There are many particularly troublesome cases today, and patient Lee Tae-hyun is the highest among them.
It was a case in which neither a cardiovascular tumor nor a subsequent right atrium rupture could be easily experienced.
“Normally, tumor removal surgery and right atrium surgery would be performed together. But I won’t do that.”
“Then…”
“I need time to think because this is my first time dealing with a case like this. At least one thing is certain. “If the patient is not normal, you should not give normal treatment.”
Jiiiing.
The two entered the rosette while talking.
As preparations for the surgery continued, Choi Ki-seok thought about the patient’s treatment direction.
The difficulty level of the surgery was good.
I just wanted to find a way that had even a 1% chance of the patient surviving.
“ah. I’m sorry, Manager. I haven’t called the other staff members yet. “I’ll call you now.”
“it’s okay.”
Choi Ki-seok stretched out his hand and blocked Yang Hae-cheol’s movements.
“Surely, the director and I are going to do this surgery? “It seems like it would be overwhelming to reconstruct the right atrium and remove the vascular tumor.”
“We don’t remove heart tumors. “Only the ruptured right atrium is restored and the main surgery is performed later.”
Choi Ki-seok answered in a low voice.
Although we established the principle of simultaneously resecting the cancerous tumor and metastatic site, there were many concerns regarding the timing of surgery.
After much deliberation, I decided to postpone the surgery date.
More time was needed for a perfect surgery.
“From now on, we will perform reconstructive surgery for right atrium rupture caused by a cardiovascular tumor.”
The surgery began with loud cries.
Since there was no treatment for the vascular tumor, the surgery proceeded smoothly as before. The only difference from before was that Choi Ki-seok took the lead in carrying out the entire process.
Cheeeeeeeek.
Choi Ki-seok frowned as he sucked in the blood that had accumulated in the mediastinum.
It seemed like surgery to remove the tumor would not be easy.
This is because the cancer tissue spread more widely than expected.
White cancerous tissues the size of rice grains invaded the ascending vena cava to the descending vena cava.
The extent of the diaphragm invasion was more serious than that.
Among the terms related to cancer, there is an expression called dissemination, and anyone can understand why that expression was created by looking at this patient’s chest.
Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
Choi Ki-seok removed some of the cancer tissue, sent it to the laboratory, and began preparations for full-scale suturing.
Geek. Whirring.
Choi Ki-seok completed the suturing that Yang Hae-cheol had done for twenty minutes, with his hands shaking and sweating, in just three minutes.
At that sight, not only Yang Hae-cheol but also other staff members who were watching clicked their tongues.
Choi Ki-seok’s suturing seemed half-hearted and haphazard, like an elementary school student playing house, but the result was perfect, without any flaws.
Currently, the world’s only triple board thoracic surgeon is different no matter what.
“Everyone worked hard.”
After closing the surgical site, Ki-Seok Choi left Rosette without hesitation.
Now his mind was filled with only how to deal with Lee Tae-hyun and his anger towards Kim Han-cheol.
‘The patient you gave up on. I’ll save you.’
Choi Ki-seok’s eyes were burning hotly as he stared somewhere.
* * *
The next afternoon.
Choi Ki-seok was returning to Sewon Hospital after attending a seminar held at Uijin University.
Strangely, I didn’t feel well the whole way back.
I felt like I was missing something very important.
But that was right then.
While the car was stopped at a red light, the sound coming from the radio woke me up.
Mers.
Although there is still only one confirmed case, the epidemic that is causing fear in Korea has been forgotten.
According to the government’s explanation, there was no risk of additional infection because the confirmed cases were isolated in time.
Of course, the pitfall is that no one is naive enough to believe what the government says.
‘Good.’
Choi Ki-seok remembered his afternoon schedule and nodded slightly.
There were no outpatient clinics today and only one surgery to be performed in three hours.
Since I had some free time, I thought I would prepare for any possible danger.
Returning to his office, he put on a gown and walked around the ward using the eyes of Hippocrates. Meanwhile, I opened the door to a hospital room and went inside.
“hello. “How are you feeling?”
“It’s not very good.”
Park Gwang-jin answered with a forced smile.
Park Gwang-jin, an actor and patient who received outpatient treatment a few days ago, was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer.
Perhaps because he had just started radiation treatment, he looked gaunter than when I first saw him. The jawline, which was already thin, became sharp like a needle, and the eyelids became deeply sunken.
“Where are you most uncomfortable?”
“It’s still hard to breathe. I didn’t realize this before. “Breathing is so important.”
“There will be many hardships ahead, but I believe you will overcome them well. “I will do my best by Gwangjin’s side.”
“thank you. But…”
Park Gwang-jin hesitated and then began.
“I don’t know if I can last until the time you say. “Honestly, I’m not confident.”
“Don’t speak weakly. Mr. Gwangjin can endure it well enough. And the Incheol I know wasn’t that weak.”
When Choi Ki-seok mentioned the character in the movie that Park Gwang-jin played, Park Gwang-jin smiled.
“I feel like I keep forgetting my first thoughts because I’m sick. “I was the one who asked the teacher to save me and said that I could overcome anything.”
“If you were in a situation like Gwangjin, anyone would be like that. “Since you are having more difficulty breathing, we will add oxygen treatment.”
Ki-Seok Choi responded with a smile and opened the status window.
[Use the encouragement skill.]
[The patient’s emotions become brighter after receiving encouragement. Immunity, resistance, and regeneration greatly increase.]
Hwii-ing.
As the light emitted from his body enveloped Park Gwang-jin, his expression brightened somewhat.
He talked some more with Park Gwang-jin and then moved to the pediatric ward.
How to treat Park Gwang-jin, who has stage 4 lung cancer.
Finding it at a thoracic surgery clinic was no different from finding a dropped needle in the desert. At this point, people usually give up on surgery and receive chemotherapy.
As a result, Choi Ki-seok underwent a lung transplant.
Although the survival rate would increase with chemotherapy, recovering the lungs was close to impossible.
No matter how much you think about it, the only thing that can restore Park Gwang-jin’s lungs to their original state is a lung transplant.
Of course, many people dissuaded his decision.
Not only the staff at Sewon Hospital but also the staff at Uijin University whose opinions were sought all reacted negatively to lung transplantation. The dominant argument was whether lung transplantation would be effective for patients with terminal lung cancer.
Their opinions were carefully listened to, but Choi Ki-seok did not give up his argument for lung transplantation.
This was because it was judged that if there was at least one way for the patient to survive, it was right to try, even if it was a meaningless action.
‘I hope a donor appears quickly.’
While I was thinking about this and that, I visited the pediatric thoracic surgery ward.
Fortunately, the expected problems did not occur in the thoracic surgery ward.
Choi Ki-seok began to wander around to other wards, just in case.
Because it was not just a thoracic surgery problem.
He checked on the condition of as many patients and staff as possible over the course of forty minutes.
The last place we arrived was the gastrointestinal surgery ward on the 3rd floor.
His steps, scanning the wards and rooms, stopped in front of one room.
The hospital room was a double room, one bed was empty, and the patient and his guardian were having a busy conversation in the other bed.
‘Is this the end?’
Ki-Seok Choi sighed in relief and used the Eye of Hippocrates on the two people.
The patient had completed colon cancer surgery and was doing well.
But the guardian was in trouble.
The moment I confirmed the diagnosis that came to my guardian’s mind, my whole body was thrilled as if I had been struck by lightning.
He rubbed his eyes and checked the diagnosis again, wondering if he had seen something wrong, but the diagnosis was still clearly visible.
“Oh fuck.”
Choi Ki-seok couldn’t stop swearing as it came out of his mouth.
The guardian contracted MERS.
