Obeid Hospital (4)
“Dr. Choi. Are you sure it’s okay?”
“What?”
“Surgery.”
Abna continued speaking with a worried expression.
“The Red Cross hospital has a slightly better environment than our hospital. There are artificial tissues, but there are no artificial bones or microscopic microscopes. In this situation….”
“Abna.”
“yes.”
“I didn’t come this far without thinking. We’ll soon find out we weren’t in vain. “You haven’t forgotten what kind of person I am, right?”
“He is currently the only triple board thoracic surgeon.”
“You just have to remember that.”
Choi Ki-seok calmed Abna down with a lot of bravado, and perhaps it had an effect, as Abna’s expression relaxed somewhat.
Relying on authority isn’t always a good thing, but there’s no denying that it sometimes works.
Soon, all preparations were completed, including connection to the patient monitoring device, setting of surgical tools, and general anesthesia.
Now all that’s left is a fight with my wrist.
“It’s a snowflake.”
“okay.”
Jeong Seol-hwa, who read Choi Ki-seok’s eyes, cut the bandage with scissors.
Square Square.
When the bandage was removed, the patient’s wrist appeared the same as before.
This means that no infection or special problems occurred during transport. Thanks to this, I was able to feel the reward of doing a good job of open dressing.
“From now on, we will begin wrist reconstruction surgery on patients with gunshot wounds. Needle holder 7-0 prolene.”
After tightening the suture needle with the needle holder, his gaze focused on the wrist, the surgical site. At the same time, the staff also swallowed their saliva and looked at the same place.
A microscopic microscope is an essential element in hand surgery.
In a situation where it is not there, how will Choi Ki-seok continue the surgery?
It was a moment that caught everyone’s attention.
‘ruler. Shall we go?’
When he used the dragon’s eye, an optimized surgical field of view was automatically obtained. However, it was only a helpful range for removing bullets, and the field of view was too shallow for fine bonding.
“Dr. Jeong. Can you see the veins?”
“You can see it if you open your eyes, but I doubt whether you can even treat it.”
While Abna and Jeong Seol-hwa exchanged a few words, Choi Ki-seok zoomed in on the surgical field of view. Then, the faintly visible wrist nerves suddenly came into view.
It felt like someone grabbed my wrist nerve and thrust it in front of my eyes.
As a result, even the parts damaged by the bullet became clear enough to be seen with the hand.
Ki-Seok Choi created a field of view optimized for micro-splicing after repeating zoom-in and zoom-out modes.
A faint smile appeared on his lips.
Even though the surgery was impossible for other doctors, he had special abilities and was able to use his skills to perform the role of a microscopic microscope.
The view obtained using the dragon’s eye zoom-in mode was comparable to that of a microscopic microscope.
Moreover, the icing on the cake is that you can change the magnification of zoom in and zoom out as you wish.
“It’s a snowflake. “Are the artificial nerves ready?”
“huh.”
“Let’s suture the nerve first. “Move the nerve tissue piece here and fix it.”
“I can’t see very well. Is this okay?”
“no. A little further to the right. more. more. okay. It’s right there. “Hold it well.”
As Jeong Seol-hwa connected the damaged nerve and the end of the nerve to be transplanted, Choi Ki-seok began suturing with a needle holder.
The field of view was sufficient, and his suturing skills had long surpassed those of general surgeons.
It is a joint surgery that other people would be embarrassed by, but for Choi Ki-seok, it was not much different from a regular surgery.
A surgery that proceeds as naturally as water.
He boasted of his suturing skills and speed that made it hard to believe that he was sewing a nerve as thin as 0.1 millimeter in size.
It takes only three minutes to connect the first nerve using the continuous suturing method, which sews the area without tying a knot.
Of course, Jeong Seol-hwa’s contribution was also huge for following his instructions well and holding his nerve without wavering.
Although Jeong Seol-hwa was an internal medicine doctor, her skills were so good that she took third place in the intern suturing competition at Uijin University facilities.
As the saying goes, skill never goes anywhere, she helped him show off his skills with a solid foundation.
‘what. It’s true.’
Abna kept sticking her tongue out as she watched the surgery.
Ki-Seok Choi was connecting the major nerves and suturing the nerves and tendons in a seamless manner.
Performing surgery without using a microscopic microscope to see such minute details that you could barely see even if you widened your eyes…
It felt like I was dreaming.
“Abna. Come to your senses. “The sutures need to be cut.”
“Ah yes. I’m sorry.”
click!
Abna, who came to her senses late, cut the upper part of the knot.
But there was still one unanswered question in her mind.
That is general anesthesia.
According to her knowledge, there was no need to give the patient general anesthesia.
This is because the only surgical site was the wrist.
In fact, only local anesthesia was performed when the bullet was removed at Obeid Hospital.
I wanted to go inside Choi Ki-seok’s head if possible to see what he was thinking.
As her curiosity deepened, the joint surgery was nearing its end. The wrist, devastated by the gunshot wound, was suddenly regaining its new appearance.
“All the nerves, blood vessels, tendons and joints were connected. Now all that’s left is the wrist bone. “What should I do with this?”
“what. “Why do you act like you’re worried?”
Seeing Choi Ki-seok sighing, Jeong Seol-hwa burst into laughter.
“Did you know everything from when I was under general anesthesia?”
“what?”
“We’re going to carve the pelvic bone and connect it to the wrist.”
“As expected, you can’t fool a folktale.”
Choi Ki-seok nodded slightly.
It was like that.
Just because there is no artificial bone does not mean that bone grafting cannot be done.
There was a good alternative method called autologous bone grafting.
As a result of searching on the way home, I found that it is better to shave off the pelvic bone when autografting a wrist bone.
“Meth.”
Ki-Seok Choi made an incision in the patient’s pelvis without hesitation and opened it with a retractor.
The pelvis revealed in the expanded surgical field of view.
With orthopedic surgery tools in hand, he carefully chipped away at the bone in the iliac region.
He had no idea how much bone to cut or how to attach it to the surgical site, but he had another weapon called the three-dimensional mode.
So, I used three-dimensional mode to float the shape of a normal wrist in the air, and based on that, I estimated the amount of bone that needed to be cut.
“I think this will be enough?”
“okay. I’ll take care of transforming the carved bone to fit your wrist. “You know I worked hard as an intern at an orthopedic surgery center, right?”
Jeong Seol-hwa confidently trimmed the pelvic bone, and Choi Ki-seok assembled the bone fragment she had completed with the patient’s wrist bone.
Assembly was not difficult because there was a wrist image in 3D stereoscopic mode floating in the air.
It was as easy as looking at a completed picture and doing a puzzle.
“Please give me the plate and screws.”
“yes.”
Ki-seok Choi placed the steel plate given to him by Abna on his wrist and tightened it with screws.
The task was to fix the reattached bones.
The surgery was completed with autologous bone grafting.
When I looked at the patient with the eyes of Hippocrates, I realized that the patient’s progress was normal.
Considering that a thoracic surgeon operated on the hand surgery part as an emergency, the level was astounding.
If this is done, the patient’s wrist will return to its former appearance with proper care and rehabilitation treatment.
Choi Ki-seok left the operating room with his colleagues in relief.
* * *
Red Cross Hospital Lounge.
Choi Ki-seok and his group, who had just finished the surgery, and Clad were sitting on the sofa drinking coffee.
“I can’t believe it when I see it.”
Clad clicked his tongue and continued speaking.
“How can joint surgery be performed without a microscopic microscope? Moreover, Mr. Choi is a thoracic surgeon. It would be a long way from joining surgery…”
“The principle of surgery is one. Cut out the unnecessary parts and join the rest. “As long as you remember that, in principle, any surgery is possible.”
“Hmm. “Isn’t that something only Mr. Choi who gets a triple board can do?”
“ha ha ha. well.”
“Anyway, I was surprised. Actually, I was skeptical while watching the surgery. “It was not a normal situation.”
“The situation has reached its extreme, so the way to respond has no choice but to deviate from common sense. “I have one question. Can patients receive rehabilitation treatment at the Red Cross Hospital?”
“We don’t have a rehabilitation medicine department, but…”
Clad rubbed his chin.
“I know that the orthopedic surgeon has a lot of knowledge in rehabilitation treatment. “I might be able to get help if I’m admitted to an orthopedic hospital.”
“Then, without shame, I will ask for the patient. Obeid Hospital is far from rehabilitation.”
“There’s nothing you can’t do.”
“thank you. “Thanks to the generous understanding of the Red Cross, I completed the surgery safely.”
Ki-seok Choi expressed his gratitude by gently squeezing Clad’s hand.
It is not normal to give the operating room and treatment equipment to other hospital staff.
If the Red Cross Hospital had not approved the surgery, the patient would have lost his wrist.
In other words, depending on one’s perspective, it could be said that it was the Red Cross Hospital, not Choi Ki-seok, who saved the patient’s life.
“Isn’t the relationship between NSF and the Red Cross mutually beneficial? Moreover, both are organizations created to care for patients in extreme environments. If you need anything, please let me know anytime. “We will help as much as possible.”
“Just your words are reassuring.”
There was warmth in the eyes of the two people as they stared at each other.
“By the way, Miss. You’re really amazing.”
“Me?”
“yes. I think I heard earlier that you specialize in cardiology. Your skills in assisting with surgical operations were excellent? “Anyone who sees me will think I’m a surgeon.”
“Not to that extent.”
Seolhwa Jeong lowered her head in shame.
“Now that we’ve mentioned it, can we send an evacuation to Obeid Hospital?”
“Evacuation?”
“yes. There are many excellent doctors at our hospital, but sometimes patients come to us who are difficult to handle. “If we determine that the patient is out of our hands, we want to entrust the treatment to Mr. Choi.”
“As long as you contact us in advance, there is no reason not to do so.”
“I never knew it was so reassuring to have a triple board thoracic surgeon nearby.”
After a while, after talking with Clad, Choi Ki-seok and his companions visited the orthopedic ward.
This is to see the patient for the last time after the joint surgery.
The hospitalization room at the Red Cross Hospital was clean and tidy.
First of all, the interior looked nice and I couldn’t even smell the sweat coming from the people crowded together.
Moreover, they did not operate a horrible 7-bed room like Obeid Hospital.
Should I say that it is a typical type of hospital that can be found in the United States or Korea?
Drurr.
When I entered the hospital room, I saw a patient with a bandage wrapped around his arm.
The patient, who could not wake up from anesthesia, was still in a deep sleep.
He will probably never know how urgent and difficult today’s surgery was.
But Choi Ki-seok didn’t mind.
I didn’t pour out my passion to get something in return from the patient.
What he wanted was not reward, but reward.
It was about washing away a person’s physical pain and at the same time adding a little hope to their future life.
In that sense, today’s surgery was a great success.
“Shall we go now?”
“okay.”
He held Jeong Seol-hwa’s hand tightly and left the hospital room.
After an eventful day, the second day of the short-term mission was dawning.
