Episode 11. Acupuncture (2)
“Yes?”
“It means that needles are not something that can be inserted indefinitely.”
“…..”
“If it doesn’t matter if you become mute or blind, you can stick a needle in it until the blood stops completely.”
At Congressman Bong’s words, not only the man with the beard and the other man next to him were speechless.
The painter listened to them and pondered whether to go out or not.
At a university hospital, there was a time when microvessels were connected using a high-magnification microscope.
For such a painter, the surgery to connect the patient’s blood vessels was not a difficult operation.
stop.
But it did not come easily.
‘He’s also a doctor, but if I suddenly interrupt and promise to treat a patient, he’ll naturally get angry.’
If it was the world of beasts, they would invade the territory and hunt.
My hands itched and the words came up to my throat, but I had to hold it in.
“But who are you?”
Congressman Bong looked at the painter dressed as a Confucian student with a puzzled expression.
“Oh right. I said this person was also a member of the council.”
Before the painter could speak, the man with the beard spoke first.
“Yes, Senator?”
“yes. He said with his own mouth that he was a member of the parliament.”
“Are you a Member of Parliament?”
Congressman Bong tilted his head toward the fireman and asked.
Wearing Confucian clothes meant that he was a nobleman. Of course, an ordinary member of Congress could not do it carelessly.
In fact, among the gentry, there were people who read a lot of medical books and treated patients, making their names known.
“After reading, I came across a lot of medical books, so I often practice medicine when there are patients.”
“Oh, you see.”
In response to the fireman’s reply, Congressman Bong tried to put an end to his interest.
“Hey, can I connect that patient’s broken blood vessel?”
“yes?”
Congressman Bong put on a puzzled expression, like someone hearing words he didn’t understand.
“Bleeding will no longer occur if the broken blood vessels are reconnected.”
“Can you splic the tongue veins?”
“yes.”
“What kind of medical book describes how to connect blood vessels?”
“I’ve read so many books that I can’t remember the title.”
“That’s right. If you can, give it a try.”
“thank you. Oh. Also, you are much older than me. Although I am a nobleman, I am also in a position to learn medicine, so please relax.”
“Is that okay?”
“yes.”
“I see… I see.”
Congressman Bong did not believe in something and was hesitant, but decided to watch it for now, thinking that the self-restraint of a nobleman would not make a mistake.
The fireman approached the patient and quickly removed the bandages. Then, he soaked his bandage with an alcohol called gwiju and wiped off even the golden spear.
A small amount of blood gushed out as he wiped off the golden spear.
‘The muscles are pressing the blood vessels, but the pressure is high and the blood starts to flow again.’
“Senator, please hold down here while I connect the broken blood vessel.”
At the request of the painter, the lawmaker seemed to hesitate for a moment, but then stretched out his hand and pressed the part pointed out by the painter.
“You mean to press down on this bloodline?”
“yes.”
The congressman immediately realized why the fireman had to press the blood vessels.
“Please press a little harder.”
“Is this enough?”
“Hard.”
“This much?”
“yes. Just keep pressing it like that.”
“…..”
When the amount of blood flowed, the painter hurriedly took out the thinnest needle, washed it with a gwiju, and put a silk thread through the eye of the needle.
Senator Bong’s eyes widened.
The needle in the painter’s hand was the first he had ever seen.
‘Are you trying to connect blood vessels with that? It looks like a needle, but it curves like a half moon and is very thin.’
I captured the shape of the needle as if it were engraved in my head.
‘The blood vessels need to be sewn with thinner needles, but this is the maximum I’ve changed, so I can’t help it.’
The painter regretted the thickness of the needle, but there was nothing he could do about it, so he hurriedly gathered his mind and searched for the broken blood vessel.
Arteries are like rubber, so when they break, they hide under the skin.
‘I guess I’ll have to make a tool to hold the blood vessels.’
As the blood vessels were not easily captured, the absence of instruments was again regrettable.
He continued to try to grasp the blood vessels by digging through the wound with his fingers.
“Aww…”
Then the patient let out a painful moan.
‘Oh, this patient is not anesthetized. I have to do it as quickly as possible, but why are his blood vessels so slippery?’
While searching for both blood vessels hidden in the muscle, the patient’s moaning grew louder and louder.
hooked
At that time, Congressman Bong took out another needle and inserted it into the center of the nerve bundle.
Suddenly, the patient’s moaning was silenced.
The fireman checked to see if he had fainted, but the patient was sober that his eyes blinked.
“Did you ever feel pain with acupuncture?”
“So, didn’t you say you read a lot of medical books?”
“I read a lot of acupuncture books, but I haven’t tried acupuncture.”
“The hour hand is not something you can do just by reading a book.”
“Please teach me later.”
“Please do that later and treat yourself first.”
“Ah yes. Just got a blood vessel.”
The painter pulled the blood vessels on both sides and began to sew quickly.
The first time it was sewn and both blood vessels were connected, it was easier to suture from then on.
“You don’t have to click anymore. And remove the needle that compresses the blood vessels.”
“It is very fast. OK.”
Congressman Bong made a face of disbelief as he looked at the stitched blood vessels, and then moved his hand to pull out the needles.
suddenly.
When the saliva was removed, the blood vessels swelled.
The painter confirmed that there was no blood flowing from the stitched area and hurriedly began to suture the skin as well.
‘It’s not a thin thread used in plastic surgery, so it will leave scars, but this is pretty good.’
Satisfied with himself, the painter knotted the silk thread and cut it with a knife.
Congressman Bong’s pupils were shaking so badly that it was obvious in his eyes.
‘Was there a medical technique like this to sew blood vessels and flesh? What the heck did you read?’
Just like a person who used to eat only noodles and tried meat, the fireman’s medical skills were both new and wonderful.
The hand of the fireman soaking a cloth in the ear canal, wiping the stitches, and wrapping the bandage was familiar, as if he had been doing it for a long time.
The novel medical technique is surprising, but its boldness and familiarity were another surprise.
‘He looks younger than my son… Plus, proficiency isn’t something you can get out of just reading a book.’
While Congressman Bong questioned, Hwabu washed the surgical needle with gwiju and wrapped it in a cloth.
“You can’t move your cheek muscles too much, so for the time being, eat mostly porridge rather than rice. Also, since the stitched area may become inflamed, wipe it with high-alcohol white wine in the morning and evening.”
“All right.”
At the fireman’s words, the bearded man and his colleague nodded.
“You can remove the stitches in about a week and a half. Oh, and I get paid for treatment.”
“Of course I have to. How are you?”
“First, give the medical expenses to Congressman Bong. I will tell you after that.”
“yes.”
The painter was thinking of setting the cost of treatment after seeing the money Congressman Bong was receiving.
“How are you, Senator?”
“The treatment cost 10 nyang, and since a lot of blood was shed, I have to make a decoction to restore blood.”
“Of course I have to take the decoction. Please give me some medicine.”
Congressman Bong wrote a prescription on a bamboo stick and handed it over to a seemingly medical doctor.
“Make ten in the morning and in the evening.”
“yes.”
“It’s 30 nyang for everything.”
The moment Congressman Bong called for the price, the fireman widened his eyes in surprise.
‘What’s so expensive.’
The fireman naturally thought that the man with the beard would be angry.
“Here it is.”
However, the man took out the money and gave it to Congressman Bong as if it were natural.
‘Is this the price in this era?’
“How much is the young congressman?”
‘Should I call you 20? No, I’ve used up a bottle of gwiju, so let’s call for 30 nyang. If it’s expensive, you can cut it by about 5 nyang.’
“It’s 30 nyang.”
“3 30 Nyang. Here you are.”
The man with the beard looked startled, but nodded and took out the money.
The surgery to connect the blood vessels seemed amazing even to him, who was not familiar with medical science.
‘uh! I’m not saying cut it. Well, I did a good job with this operation.’
The fireman put in the money and looked at Congressman Bong.
I thought that if I learned acupuncture from Dr. Bong, it would be of great help to me in the future.
If it were modern times, I would not have thought of learning acupuncture from an oriental doctor, but the stereotype was already broken.
“Mr. Bong.”
“Why but.”
“I want to learn acupuncture from the doctor.”
“Weren’t you a Confucian scholar who read a lot of medical books?”
“Yusaeng is right. But I am also interested in medicine. So I really want to learn acupuncture from the doctor.”
“If you teach me the art of connecting blood vessels and stitching flesh, I will teach you acupuncture.”
“If you want, I will teach you. But it won’t be as easy as it looks.”
“My acupuncture won’t be easy to learn either.”
Looking at Bong’s eyes, the painter could guess that his medical skills, not acupuncture, were far superior to the common sense of the former painter’s acupuncture in his head.
“I wish you well in the future.”
“I wish you well too.”
“I will come to learn from tomorrow.”
“Okay.”
* * *
“Is it because your body has changed? I always felt tired after surgery, but I don’t feel that at all.”
The fireman tilted his head as he returned home.
The surgery itself required a lot of concentration, so after it was over, tension was relieved and fatigue naturally came over me.
Of course, it was a short operation that only took less than 30 minutes, so I didn’t feel very tired, but it was strange that I didn’t feel any fatigue.
“Is it because it’s been a while since I grew up? Or is it because it is a resurrected body?”
For some reason, I wondered if this was the case because I was dead and then came back to life.
In fact, it was speculated that it was because all the flexibility beyond common sense had been revived.
“Where are you wandering around like that?”
When I entered the house, the second older brother, the flower pot, greeted me with folded arms.
“I just have a few things to do.”
“Wait, aren’t those bloodstains?”
The flower pot seemed to frown for a moment, then came straight over and grabbed his arm.
“It’s bloodstained.”
“Who did you fight with?”
The flowerpot’s eyes were scanning the fireman’s entire body in an instant.
“no. There was a man whose face was cut by a knife, so he treated me.”
“He treated me! I heard you read a lot of medical books, so now you’re pretending to be a doctor?”
Only then did the flower pot look a little relieved and let go of the hand that was holding her arm.
“Among other nobles, there are many who have gained fame for their medical skills.”
“So, do you plan to become a city doctor by gaining a reputation for medicine?”
Siui was a term used to refer to the imperial court.
Poetry doctors were selected through the medical department, but if the reputation was high, they became a city doctor through recommendation.
“I don’t know if I’ll become a city doctor later, but I’m thinking of researching how to cure my mother’s illness first.”
“My mother’s illness will be cured by the doctor. It’s none of your business.”
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