Chapter 83
Patients with angina are prescribed with medication to help facilitate a smooth blood supply and flow.
Patient Lee Byunchol was prescribed with one of those such medications.
Suhyuk approached the grandpa and became worried for a moment. How could he explain it to him so that he could understand?
“Grandpa, you do not feel as if there is blood passing through your neck anymore, right?”
“Well, I guess I don’t feel the blood rushing out anymore.”
At this, Suhyuk smiled a bit.
“You have been prescribed pills for angina at True Hospital, correct?”
“That’s right, that’s right.”
“The prescribed pills for angina contain ingredients that dilute the blood. Do you know what aspirin is?”
He nodded as if he knew what it was.
“You mean those white pills, right?”
“Yes, well you know what they look like when sold as they are. Aspirin can cause the blood in your body to circulate more easily, but aspirin can also cause problems. If you get hurt, the blood won’t stop flowing. That’s why blood was coming out from your nose.”
The grandpa’s eyes grew bigger.
“So, I should not take the pills for angina anymore?”
Suhyuk shook his head, saying, “For the time being you can take the medicine, as long as it doesn’t contain aspirin.”
He had to take only the medicine containing the anticoagulant until bleeding in the nose has completely stopped and the wound healed.
When the grandfather nodded, Suhyuk opened his mouth again, “As you shed too much blood, I think I need to get you a sap.”
Even if he had the sap put in, it was necessary to watch his condition for several hours.
“If you get the sap, it will be very late in the night when treatment is finished. Therefore, will you call a guardian?”
The grandfather shook his head. His wife and children were at home. He did not want to make them worried.
“Can I make a quick call outside and then come back?”
As he was in the emergency room, they might notice him making a call and he might disturb the other people there.
Smiling, Suhyuk nodded his head.
“Yes, go ahead sir!”
So the grandfather made a short phone call and soon came back.
Suhyuk immediately put a ringer needle in his arm and asked, “Grandpa, do you smoke?”
“It is my joy and relaxation.”
“Smoking is not very good for people with angina pectoris, so I think it would be better if you quit, for the sake of your family.”
The grandfather nodded his head.
“Do you usually exercise?”
“What I do at my workplace is exercise enough.”
Actually he had to move around until he was finished working at his workplace.
“What do you do?”
“Plastering work.”
His job is to plaster cement finely on the wall, but such a job could never be called a form of exercise. This is because the amount of movement that is done is limited.
“It is good for people with angina pectoris to do whole body exercises. Can you do it for 30 minutes a day? And do not overeat. Please eat less. Mainly a vegetarian diet and avoid salty food.”
The grandpa nodded his head and looked at him.
“By the way doctor, are you not busy?”
He has never talked with a doctor for such a long time like this before. All the way up to now, he had never talked to doctors for more than 10 minutes during the examination.
Before, even though he talked to the doctor, they said only words that he could not understand, and all they did was just make some injections and then give prescription drugs as a solution for his disease or illness. And if he could not get any better, the doctor recommended surgery. That was it.
But the doctor in front of him looked different compared to doctors such as those he had seen before. He felt as if he was meeting a close acquaintance.
While the grandpa was looking at Suhyuk, he kept talking,
“The most important thing is not to be stressed because stress is the source of all illnesses.”
He then responded to Suhyuk with a relaxed smile,
“I’m afraid I’m taking too much of your time.”
“I’m actually off today.”
“Thank you.”
Suhyuk shook his head, “This is my job, sir. After you get the sap, and it is confirmed that you have stopped bleeding, then you are good to be discharged.”
Then he heard Oh Byunchul’s voice.
“Lee Suhyuk. If you want to work, get dressed in a doctor’s gown and come back.”
—–
Monday morning.
Suhyuk and his roommate Kwon Jaeik went to the underground convenience store for a light breakfast. One banana milk and one triangular dried laver roll each. That was their breakfast.
Kwon Jaeik, still rubbing his half-closed eyes, swallowed down the milk and then he asked Suhyuk,
“What time did you come in yesterday?”
When he entered the lodging around 1am, Kwon fell into deep sleep immediately.
It was already in the morning when Kwon opened his eyes, and he found the alien Suhyuk already dressed in a robe.
“I came back here after 2am.”
“You came back an hour later than me.”
Suhyuk nodded a little. He had no clue why, but everybody egged him on to leave before 2am. Especially, Oh Byungchul.
If Suhyuk told him that he wanted to do a little more work, Oh expelled him with a threatening tone. Suhyuk muttered to himself. “It is not easy to work.”
Other interns were anxious to rest, even shunning work, but Suhyuk thought the complete opposite.
“Can you manage your work?”
At Suhyuk’s question, Kwon lowered his face,
“I’m afraid I will die, and I just feel nervous and uneasy if I do not receive any abusive language even for a day. This is a disease, isn’t it?”
Suhyuk, lightly tapping him on the shoulder, said, “Now your internship at the pediatric department is over, right”
“Yes, I will now be assigned to another department, and I am worried about it already.”
Having said that, he looked at Suhyuk. The place where he once left from was the department of pediatrics, and there were still lots of praises of him going around.
“How are you so good at figuring out the patients’ disease?” asked Kwon.
“Well, the patient tells you. Think about the hints they give off,” said Suhyuk with a smile.
Kwon shook his head. One of Suhyuk’s many nicknames, Alien… He could not figure out what he was talking about just as if he were an alien talking. ‘Someday I could make a name for myself,’ Kwon thought to himself.
After having milk and dried laver rolls, the two separated from each other in the lobby.
Suhyuk was heading to the emergency room when his phone rang.
It was Professor Lee Mansuk.
“Yes, this is Lee Suhyuk.”
“Are you available right now?”
He had still 30 minutes left until his shift.
“Yes, I am, sir.”
“Great, then can you come to see me for a while?”
“Okay.”
Suhyuk immediately went to his office.
As he opened the door, Prof Lee Mansuk rose from the seat to welcome him.
“Have you eaten breakfast? ”
“Yes, why did you want to see me…?”
“Man, don’t be impatient like that! Just sit down and have a cup of coffee first.”
Suhyuk sat on the sofa and Lee put out a prepared coffee.
“Thank you.”
Lee Mansuk looked at Suhyuk sipping the coffee quietly.
“Mr. Lee, do you have a girlfriend?”
“No, sir.”
Then Lee Mansuk recalled a memory, while taking his cup of coffee to his mouth.
The image of Suhyuk standing side-by-side with a nurse on that particular day.
Apparently, both of them looked sweet like lovers.
‘If she is not his girlfriend, are they getting into a lovers’ relationship? If so, there is still a chance.’
“Let’s have lunch today.”
“Do you have anything to say?”
He nodded his head.
“I have a little bit of a long story to tell you, and now you have to go to work. So, I’ll see you at lunch. Let me tell those at the emergency medical department about this.”
“I will wait for you in front of the restaurant then.”
Lee shook his head. “Wait for me outside the hospital, or wait in the lobby.”
Suhyuk nodded and rose from his seat.
“Then I’ll see you then.”
“Okay. See you then.”
Suhyuk went out the office, and Lee Mansuk enjoyed the aroma of coffee with a pleasant mind.
***
Suhyuk, heading to the emergency room, was walking in the hallway.
Then the nurses passing by him whispered to each other.
“I hear that intern doctor kicked out the gangsters?”
“Look at his face. He’s such a hot guy!”
“I heard he’s as good as a resident in terms of treating patients?”
The existence of Suhyuk continued to be felt throughout Daehan Hospital.
Of course, Suhyuk did not know about it at all. He was oblivious to all the rumours about himself.
When Suhyuk went into the emergency room, Oh Byungchul approached.
“Good morning, sir.”
“Good morning. Don’t stay working until after 2am today. Just go back to your lodging and take a rest.”
Suhyuk made a bitter expression. What kind of workplace would stop those who want to work? This was that kind of place. He had no choice as it was an order from his supervisor.
“Yes, sir.”
“And check if the equipment is OK.”
At Oh’s words, Suhyuk started to look at the medical devices attached to each bed.
The emergency room was not busy, and there were other medical staff already taking care of a few patients.
Suhyuk carefully checked the equipment. He could not take his work lightly as the equipment was designed to show the vitality pattern of patients.
Could it have been 20 minutes since he started checking? He checked all the devices, and fortunately, there were no problems. After he was done, he had nothing to do anymore.
Suhyuk went to Oh, and said, “All the equipment has been checked. They’re all normal.”
“Good.”
Saying so, Oh fixed his gaze on the chart again. Then, Suhyuk’s voice was heard from behind,
“Is there anything else?”
At his asking, Oh scratched his head with a ballpoint pen.
Other interns, when given assignments, made a miserable scowl on their faces, but he was the opposite. There was nothing in particular for Suhyuk to do, and there were very few patients visiting the emergency room today.
Oh, who was thinking what to say for a moment, opened his mouth, “Wait for a patient to arrive then.”
Suhyuk made a bitter smile, but suddenly opened his mouth as if something came to his mind,
“The patient record, can I check it?”
“What do you want to do by checking it?”
“I was wondering how the patients were being treated.”
Oh nodded his head.
It was a good attitude. If he checked the illnesses of the patients, as well as the medical records of treatment and prescription, he would certainly find it a very valuable experience later.
“Yeah, if you’re not busy, you can go ahead and check.”
“Yes, sir.”
Suhyuk went to a PC installed on one side, and he moved the mouse. Looking at the monitor, Suhyuk muttered,
“There is an infection in the urinary tract, but the treatment was extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy, and he must have felt pain…”
The term ‘extracorporeal shock lithotripsy’ refers to using bruising stones from the outside without the need for surgery.
Suhyuk saw the next patient’ records.
“Tension pneumothorax.”
It referred to a condition where the pressure in the thoracic cavity gradually disappeared when the lung tissue was damaged and the air entering the thoracic cavity could not escape. That made it possible for the heart to move out of place and become biased to one side. If so, the vena cava breaks and clogs the flow of blood back to the heart. It was an emergency situation that could endanger life with the patient going into shock.
As such, Suhyuk moved the mouse and scrolled through the paitent files for a while.
“Hey, you can go out for your lunch break,” said Oh who came up to him.
Suhyuk moved to the lobby at his words, and there he could meet Lee Mansuk as previously agreed.
Suhyuk opened his mouth when he saw him walking ahead.
“Where will we go to have lunch?”
“You’ll see once we get there.”
And so, Suhyuk went out of the the hospital following Prof Lee Mansuk.