Kingmaker (3)
That afternoon.
Choi Ki-seok was looking at the monitor in the medical office.
We are checking the profile and career of Carter, who suffered from hemiparesis, on a portal site.
As Carter said, he was a successful pianist.
Although he was not a flashy genius, he was consistently loved for his passion and unique understanding of the piano.
It is said that he was preparing for a large concert before the car accident.
“Haa…”
A sigh passed between my lips.
Because he was a medical doctor who worked with his hands, he could deeply empathize with Carter’s pain.
He must have fallen into despair after losing everything.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
When I heard a knock on the door telling me to come in, an unfamiliar face appeared.
“Hello, this is neurosurgeon Ki-Seok Choi.”
“Nice to meet you, Mr. Choi. My name is Jane, a neurologist. You asked to collaborate on patient Carter, right?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“That patient was just coming from the doctor’s office.”
Jane continued, rubbing her forehead.
“The hemiparesis is worse than I thought. I can barely move one arm and leg.”
“I don’t think surgical treatment makes any sense anymore. What should I do?”
“Please transfer me to the neurology department. I should expect recovery through both drug treatment and rehabilitation treatment.”
“If I undergo rehabilitation, will I be able to use my arm again?”
“The recovery period and degree of recovery vary from patient to patient. In the worst case, there are cases where there is no improvement at all even after rehabilitation.”
Choi Ki-seok chewed his lips in response to Jane’s answer.
“I understand. I hope that the patient can recover quickly.”
“It’s something a guardian would tell.”
“I believe that the attending physician also plays the role of a guardian. If the guardian is the person the patient trusts and leans on, is there any more reliable guardian than the doctor?”
“Perhaps because he is a much-talked-about resident, even the idea is special. It was a nice surprise.”
A smile appeared on Jane’s lips.
“I’ll figure out the best way I can.”
“thank you.”
After Jane left, Ki-Seok Choi applied for a criminal record and met with Carter and his wife to explain the need for a criminal record.
There were aftereffects from the failed surgery.
Mayjo must take responsibility for all aftereffects.
I was concerned about the possibility of the two people taking a hard line, but that did not happen.
The couple was surprisingly calm as they heard the news about criminal records and treatment plans.
Seeing their aloofness made Choi Ki-seok feel heartbroken once again.
I would have felt better if I had been angry….
The answer is repeated like a parrot with an expressionless face.
The couple looked as if they had lost their will to live.
The day ended when I returned to the ward, checked on the patients, and completed the handover.
Jiyiing.
While I was on my way to Rosette to shoot a video, my call phone trembled.
“Yes, Professor. This is Kiseok.”
[Mr. Choi. Work is over, right? Can you help me scrub?]
“What’s happening all of a sudden…”
[A patient with a gunshot wound to the chest came into the emergency room. We need to perform an emergency surgery, but we don’t have enough thoracic surgery staff.]
“Okay, I’m already on my way to the operating room.”
Choi Ki-seok hung up the phone and ran to the operating room.
Shake!
When we arrived at the operating room, Song Myeong-jin and the patient came inside just in time.
‘It won’t be easy, right?’
Choi Ki-seok looked down at the patient and frowned.
The patient was motionless and breathing was very difficult. The bandages surrounding his chest were soaked with blood.
“Doctor Choi. Let’s scrub and go straight into surgery. Let’s give a detailed explanation while scrubbing.”
“yes!”
Choi Ki-seok listened to Song Myeong-jin’s briefing while disinfecting his hands and arms.
“Excuse me Head Chief, but I have a question. Is this guy going to be first assistant?”
Alfred asked, tilting his head.
“Yes. What is the problem?”
“This friend is in neurosurgery. Besides, he seems to be a new resident… I can assist him much better than this friend.”
“Alfred, I’m sorry, but save your confidence. What you need now is not confidence, but skill.”
“If you have the skills, especially if I…”
“Once the surgery starts, you will know what I mean.”
Song Myeong-jin cut Alfred off and entered the rosette.
While the staff was busy preparing for the surgery, three surgeons took their seats.
The surgeon of the emergency chest gunshot wound surgery was Song Myeong-jin.
The first assistant is Ki-Seok Choi, and the second assistant is Alfred. The third assistant was designated as a thoracic surgery intern.
‘that’s right. ‘This was that friend.’
Alfred took a quick glance at Choi Ki-seok next to him.
I realized it too late.
A sergeant scouted by the Head Chief from Korea.
A new resident who has been at the center of attention for the past few months.
He is none other than Choi Ki-seok and the first person to perform this surgery.
Just how capable was he that he was able to beat himself, a full-time cardiothoracic surgery resident, to become the first assistant?
‘I’ll look at it clearly with my own two eyes.’
Alfred held onto his anger tightly.
“General anesthesia is over.”
Song Myeong-jin nodded slightly at the anesthesia’s words.
“Is the cell saver (a device that cleans the patient’s blood shed during surgery so that it can be injected back into the patient) ready?”
“yes.”
“Then the surgery will begin now.”
Alfred picked up the scissors at Song Myeong-jin’s shout.
The bandage on the patient’s chest came off with a clattering sound.
Fortunately, the bleeding has stopped.
“Meth.”
Song Myeong-jin received a scalpel from a disinfection nurse and made an incision from the bottom of the patient’s neck all the way to the solar plexus.
Weeeeeeeee. Drumming.
The sternum was cut vertically with a chainsaw and a retractor was installed to spread it wide to the side.
“….”
“….”
As the surgical field of view was secured, silence fell over the rosette.
The patient’s condition was worse than expected.
The bullet that penetrated tore the diaphragm and caused damage to the right bronchial tube.
This resulted in severe bleeding from the bronchi.
The other bullet was firmly lodged in the lower left lobe. This bullet broke the ribs, creating a situation where the broken ribs pierced the lungs.
“Mr. Choi. Let’s divide the treatment. Mr. Choi treats the left lung. I will take care of the right lung. Instead, the bullet must not be removed yet.”
“yes.”
Choi Ki-seok focused his gaze on the patient’s left lung.
After a long time, I was able to perform surgery with my teacher Song Myeong-jin. I wanted to show myself growing up in front of him.
“Mr. Choi. What are we going to do now?”
Alfred asked as if urging.
“Please perform chest tube intubation and prepare for pleurodesis.”
Choi Ki-seok held forceps in one hand and a suction device in the other.
In that state, the 5th rib, which was piercing the lung, was carefully lifted with forceps.
As the rib came out of the lung, blood poured out from a small hole in the lung.
Cheeeeeeeek.
When the blood was suctioned with a suction device, red blood came out.
“Are you ready yet?”
“It’s all done.”
“Then please suction it for me.”
Choi Ki-seok entrusted suction to Alfred and prepared for chest intubation. There was a need to address a traumatic pneumothorax that occurred when a rib pierced the lung.
He inserted the 32 French chest tube he held in his hand between the patient’s ribs.
Fuuuuuck.
A familiar feeling at your fingertips.
Intubation is successful.
When the tube was connected to the chest tube, blood overflowed into the drain.
While Choi Ki-seok was treating the left lung, Song Myeong-jin started treating the right lung.
“Mosquito (vascular forceps).”
Song Myeong-jin tied the upper part of the damaged bronchial tube with vascular forceps.
Then the bleeding stopped like a lie.
“What are you doing? Suction.”
“Ah yes.”
In response to Song Myeong-jin’s criticism, the intern belatedly took action.
“Meth.”
Song Myeong-jin received a scalpel from a disinfection nurse and carefully cut the area around the damaged bronchial tube.
Debridement.
This is a treatment that helps wound recovery by removing necrotic tissue and treating foreign substances and infectious lesions around it.
“Irrigation.”
“yes!”
After the resection was completed, the intern washed the wound with saline solution, and Song Myeong-jin wiped the saline solution with gauze and started dressing.
Once the treatment was completed, the affected area was cleaned up neatly.
‘As expected, it’s Mr. Choi.’
Song Myeong-jin watched Choi Ki-seok with a smile on his face.
His treatment was flawless.
To exaggerate a little, it is not much different from killing it yourself.
I had already found the broken rib pieces and joined them together.
“Professor. What should we do about Tan?”
At Choi Ki-seok’s question, all the staff’s eyes turned to Song Myeong-jin.
First aid is over and now only two things remain.
One is to decide what to do with the bullet lodged in the left lower lobe, and the other is to restore the diaphragm.
“Professor. Wouldn’t it be better for this patient not to have the bullet removed?”
Ki-Seok Choi expressed his opinion cautiously.
“Mr. Choi, are you out of your mind? How could you suggest leaving a bullet in the lung?”
“It might be better that way.”
“I beg your pardon?”
Alfred frowned.
“The lungs are an area with relatively low sensitivity compared to other organs. Not only is the bullet not large in size, but the risk of infection is not currently high.”
“….”
“Besides, if you forcefully try to remove the bullet, you may actually damage the surrounding tissue.”
Alfred became dumbfounded by Choi Ki-seok’s explanation.
“Mr. Choi is right. Even if a bullet remains in the body, there are surprisingly many cases where it is not removed. However, there is something Mr. Choi overlooked in this case.”
“….”
“First of all, the location of the bullet is not good. If done incorrectly, there is a possibility that it may erode near the heart. In this case, the risk of lead poisoning cannot be left out.”
“Then…”
“We have to remove the bullet. No matter what it takes.”
Song Myeong-jin’s words echoed through the rosette.
“C-Arm ready.”
“yes.”
The intern left the rosette and returned with the C-Arm.
The C-Arm is a C-shaped radiology machine that can output and read images at the same time.
Myungjin Song photographed the patient’s chest with a C-Arm and displayed the image on the monitor.
“It’s about here.”
Song Myung-jin’s forceps pointed to a part of the left lower lobe of the lung.
“Professor. Is it really okay to remove the bullet? I don’t think we can ignore the possibility of bleeding and sepsis…” ”
Professor Choi. You are mistaken. This task is not that difficult.”
“Huh? What do you mean….”
“You’ll find out the details later. Scalpel.”
Song Myeong-jin held a scalpel in his hand. As a result, all the staff’s eyes focused on his fingertips.
Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
The scalpel began to cut out the area where the bullet had lodged.
Choi Ki-seok, who was watching the scene, was amazed with his mouth open.
Song Myeong-jin did not remove the bullet.
The entire lung area where the bullet had lodged was being cut out.
It was a mistake to think that since the bullet was lodged in the lung, the bullet had to be removed.
There was a way to cut out the lungs.
In fact, lung cancer patients don’t have half of their lungs removed.
Empty!
A lung riddled with bullets fell onto the bench.
Song Myeong-jin’s excision was so precise that no blood vessels were damaged.
“Let’s do a debridement and immediately restore the diaphragm.”
“yes!”
The treatment that followed ended smoothly.
The patient’s vitals were normal and there was not much bleeding, so a quick recovery was expected.
As Choi Ki-seok left the rosette, he looked at the back of Song Myeong-jin walking ahead of him.
His back looked bigger today.
‘As expected of you, Master. I want to go to the thoracic surgery department quickly.’
