water lily (3)
“What… what?”
Gary’s eyes shook as if there was an earthquake.
“You’re an intern at James Hopkins Hospital, right? It’s obvious that you came here to spy on me.”
“….”
“The symptom description is a textbook aortic dissection. Weren’t you trying to pretend to be a patient with an aortic dissection to show the level of outpatient treatment?”
By the way, next time you come, it would be better to leave that pen out.”
At Choi Ki-seok’s point, Gary looked down at the pen hanging in his chest pocket. The logo symbolizing James Hopkins Hospital was emblazoned on the top of the pen.
In an instant, Gary’s face turned bright red.
“Now you know what I mean, right? Fuck off.”
When Choi Ki-seok growled again, Gary quickly left the treatment room.
He smiled bitterly as he watched Gary’s back.
James Hopkins’ heart clinic was also located in New York.
They started treatment a year before MHC, and it seemed like they sent a spy to monitor MHC’s level.
‘Competition is inevitable.’
Ki-seok Choi muttered under his breath as he accepted the next patient.
As time passed, the outpatient treatment came to an end.
Meanwhile, Choi Ki-seok examined nearly thirty patients.
This figure is equivalent to that of a resident who completed a degree in thoracic surgery.
Without the eyes of Hippocrates, I would not have been able to treat patients like this.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Her father and daughter came into the treatment room with a knock on the door.
This is the last patient of the day.
“Hello, this is Jamie.”
A girl who looked to be about five years old waved her hand and greeted me warmly.
A happy smile naturally appeared at the sight of her cute appearance.
“Jamie and her guardian please take your seats.”
“yes.”
Jamie sat down in her seat and glared at her brightly.
“Jamie, where are you hurting?”
“It hurts here.”
Jamie’s hand pointed to her heart area.
“It’s hard to even breathe.”
“It’s been almost two months since Jamie said she was sick. At first she thought it was nothing, but she’s been saying she’s been sick lately…”
Guardian Samuel added a word.
Choi Ki-seok carefully examined Jamie and her guardian and checked Amy’s heart sounds with a stethoscope.
aorta pulmonary artery ribs and finally to the mitral valve region.
His forehead was wrinkled as he listened to the heart sounds.
‘Strange.’
Choi Ki-seok hung the stethoscope around his neck and stared at Jamie.
Jamie’s heart sounds were unusual.
The sound was excessive and even an organic heart murmur was heard.
Another factor contributing to her anxiety was Jamie himself. She was unable to keep her body still during auscultation and she continued to make her strange facial expressions.
She seemed normal and yet she seemed not normal.
Ta-ta-da-da-dak.
Ki-Seok Choi used the Eyes of Hippocrates on Jamie while creating a chart.
The moment I confirmed the diagnosis, all my doubts were cleared away.
“Samuel. We’re going to run some tests on Jamie now.”
“Are you… a prosecutor? Is Jamie seriously ill?”
“We will have to check the test results, but there is a high possibility that surgery will be needed. First of all, pulmonary artery stenosis is suspected, and there also appears to be a problem with the coronary arteries.”
“ah….”
Samuel held his head and made a painful expression.
“Teacher. Can I go now?”
Jamie asked with an innocent expression.
“Jamie can stay out. She will talk to the nurse and she will give her a snack, so she has to stick with the nurse.”
“yes!”
“Samuel. Didn’t you notice something strange about her while raising Jamie?”
“What’s strange? Is it my child?”
Samuel asked back with surprised rabbit eyes.
“It’s okay even if it’s something trivial. Just feel free to tell me what you’ve felt so far.”
“Well… Actually, Jamie’s learning speed is slower than her other children. I divorced her wife and raised her child alone… so I couldn’t take care of her well.”
“….”
“But Jamie is sociable and she gets along well with other children. She is also popular in kindergarten.”
Samuel’s expression showed pride as she told her story about Jamie.
“Samuel. I think Jamie has Williams Syndrome.”
“William Syndrome? What is it?”
“I will explain now.”
Williams syndrome is a congenital disease in which symptoms of heart disease and mental retardation appear simultaneously. Children suffering from this usually have good social skills and speak well.
So it was easy to mistake him for simply suffering from cognitive decline.
“Teacher, aren’t you saying too harshly? Our Jamie is normal. You’re saying he’s mentally retarded!”
“Have you ever had a proper conversation with your kindergarten teacher?”
“No. I’m so busy with work….”
“Go and talk to her about how Jamie is doing with her kindergarten experience.”
At Choi Ki-seok’s words, Samuel lowered his head helplessly.
“Get tested first and then come back to the clinic.”
“Isn’t the morning treatment over now?”
“It’s okay. Eating lunch a little late doesn’t mean you’ll die.”
“All right.”
After a while, her father and daughter returned to the clinic after completing an electrocardiogram and chest CT scan.
Click. Click.
Ki-Seok Choi sighed as he checked the results.
As expected, the test results and the diagnosis of Hippocrates’ eye matched.
“Are you able to be hospitalized today?”
“Is it to the point where I need to be hospitalized?”
“It’s to the point where I have to be hospitalized and have surgery.”
“Today is… difficult and I will come back again sometime this week. I have to finish my work and go to kindergarten.”
“Yes. Please do so. Thank you for your hard work receiving treatment.”
“Thank you teacher.”
Jamie smiled and waved her hand, and Ki-Seok Choi also waved her hand to her child.
She wanted to smile like a child, but she couldn’t bring herself to do so.
The ordeal that was to come for her father and daughter was right before her eyes.
* * *
“Haa… Well, there are all these bastards!”
Gary huffed and glared at the MHC building.
When I remembered the time I was bullied by Choi Ki-seok again, I wanted to rip his hair out.
In fact, it was true that I saw the doctor with impure intentions.
The system of entrusting outpatient treatment to residents in training was first introduced by MHC.
[MHC’s one step ahead treatment. Resident outpatient treatment.]
[You can trust us. MHC’s new treatment system gaining momentum due to the professor’s re-examination of patients.]
[Patients are satisfied, doctors are also satisfied. How MHC kills two birds with one stone.]
Community reviews of MHC care are generally favorable.
James Hopkins, who felt threatened by this, dispatched Gary to experience MHC’s new treatment.
Gary pulled himself together and drove back to the James Hopkins Heart Clinic.
“How are you? Did you get good treatment?”
Gary’s direct senior smiled and greeted me.
“No. I’m completely screwed.”
“Why? She even went to practice with me. I was giggling with her classmates, thinking about Reggie, who must have seen MHC outpatient treatment.”
“Ha… It’s a long story. I’ll tell you in detail after I see the head chief first.”
“okay.”
Gary walked through the ward hallway and stood in front of the James Hopkins Cardiac Clinic Head Chief’s office.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
When I knocked, I heard a voice telling me to come in.
“You’re coming back from seeing treatment at MHC, right?”
“…yes.”
“Looking at his expression, it looks like he wasn’t very happy.”
Clara pointed to the sofa across from her with an expressionless face, and Gary fidgeted in his seat.
“As instructed by the Head Chief, I pretended to be a patient with an aortic dissection. At first, I thought it would work, but the treating doctor quickly noticed.”
Gary explained what happened in a voice the size of a mosquito, and Clara just listened quietly.
“Did you get tested?”
“No. I didn’t even get tested, but the doctor realized it was a faking illness. I was so embarrassed that I just left.”
“Stupid…. Just by getting tested, we have a justification.”
Clara’s forehead was wrinkled.
“Do you remember the doctor’s name?”
“Yes. I am an Asian named Ki-Seok Choi.”
“…The opponent was not good. Just leave.”
“Really? Is it really okay for me to just leave?”
Gary asked back, blinking.
Clara’s nickname is Guillotine.
She was famous for severely punishing doctors who failed to carry out her instructions. It was hard for her to believe that she could just ignore this incident.
“Stop it. Don’t make me say it twice.”
“Ah… I understand. I’ll see you later in the operating room.”
After her Gary left, Clara leaned back on her sofa and rubbed her forehead with one of her hands.
“You mean Ki-seok Choi came to MHC?”
* * *
After completing outpatient treatment, Ki-Seok Choi visited the thoracic surgery ward.
His colleagues were eating pizza in the conference room. The fragrant smell of pizza pierced his nose.
“Mr. Choi. You are blessed to eat.”
“Welcome. I just arrived.”
Charles and Emma said something to each other, and Jeremy silently pointed to the seat next to him.
Choi Ki-seok sat next to Jeremy and went to eat.
Pizza eaten after outpatient treatment is delicious.
“How do you feel about your first outpatient treatment?”
“It’s a lot harder than I thought. I think I’d be better off in the ward or scrubbing.”
“Anyway, outpatient work will be more difficult than scrubbing? Aren’t you just scaring me for no reason?”
Charles playfully touched Choi Ki-seok’s side with his elbow.
“Do you think dealing with people is normal? A patient lying on the operating table doesn’t say anything. Even when an organ is cut and blood splatters, they don’t say anything. But outpatient treatment is the exact opposite. Each patient has different symptoms and disease names, and what is needed for each patient? “You talk a lot.”
“It must have been really difficult for Mr. Choi to say this.”
Emma nodded her head.
The conversation continued with lunch.
Even though it was only for one day, Ki-Seok Choi shared with his colleagues the tips he had learned while attending outpatient treatment and received a patient from them.
There was silence for a moment, then Charles began to cry.
“Have you ever heard that story?”
“What story?”
“They say a drama is being filmed at our hospital. It’s a drama with a thoracic surgeon as the main character. They say he shares a world view with Dr. Mouse.”
“I didn’t know you’d be involved with Dr. Mouse. That’s unusual.”
Choi Ki-seok added a word.
Dr. Mouse is a medical drama that ended a few years ago, and the main character is a genius internist with a grumpy and talkative personality.
The drama was so loved that it reached season 9.
“I don’t think it’s a very good thing.”
Emma continued calmly.
“If we were to film a drama, it would interfere with our work. It bothers me for no reason. I wish it would be canceled.”
“Emma doesn’t want to see the actors?”
“Yes. Even your fingernails.”
“What about Mr. Choi?”
“I’m the same as Emma. When we start filming, only trouble will happen.”
“I wish I did.”
Jeremy, who had been silent, opened her mouth.
Because it was the first thing she had said out of her mouth since lunch until now, the weight on her was different.
“Why you?”
“Because the female lead in the drama is Jennifer Lopez.”
“Do you like Jennifer?”
Jeremy shyly nodded her head in response to Charles’ question.
Choi Ki-seok burst into laughter at the sight of Jeremy, a unique character that has never been seen in Korea or the United States.
“The drama probably won’t be canceled. I understand that MHC brought in the ABD channel for promotional purposes.”
“It’s annoying. It’s annoying. When do you start filming?”
“I don’t know the exact thing, but they say it starts this week.”
Charles finished speaking and looked at the wall clock.
“Let’s get up quickly.”
“I’m going to go scrub.”
“Scrub? I understand there is no surgical assistance until tomorrow? Am I mistaken?”
“Head Chief Yasada called me urgently in the morning.”
“Okay. Don’t forget to have a team meeting in the evening.”
Choi Ki-seok separated from his colleagues and went to the operating room.
The first of twelve tasks, video thoracoscopic lung surgery, was just around the corner.
