Chapter 86
The ambulance crew shook their heads at Suhyuk’s words.
If they cut the stone, the surroundings might collapse.
“Then the surroundings may collapse,” they said.
Suhyuk, fixing his gaze on the victim, opened his mouth,
“My idea is to have his leg amputated.”
Everyone’s eyes turned big. It was an idea that n.o.body thought of.
“You are talking nonsense. Who are you?”
When a crew member asked, Suhyuk said briefly, “I’m a doctor.”
Then he knelt down to one side of the victim’s head, with the blood pack still raised, and Suhyuk asked the victim smiling blankly, “Can you move your right leg?”
His leg wriggled. As expected, the right side was not trapped, but there was bleeding coming from there. The victim let out a painful groan.
“It seems like you’ve been pierced by something.”
Suhyuk knitted his brows. What was it? But right now that was not the point to focus on.
“You said earlier you do not have feeling. Can you feel anything on your left leg?”
He shook his head. He could not get out because of his trapped left leg.
Suhyuk gave a brief sigh. The muscles in the crushed area were getting worse and worse. That’s why he had no sense of feeling there.
“I think you have to have your leg amputated. The odds are 6 to 4.”
“Oh …” A sigh came out of the mouth of the victim.
“It sounds like the odds are that I might die.”
“Yes.”
However, the worst could also happen when they took away the stone as it was.
Bywater syndrome. Muscles that are pressured in some parts of the body are necrotic and produce toxic substances. When they release the stone and the pressure is released, the poisonous substance in one place will start roaming through the body in the blood. Also the amount of bleeding was severe.
“I am taking low blood pressure medicine. Will it be okay?”
At his bittersweet words, Suhyuk’s expression became worse.
That’s why such excessive bleeding was happening.
“I think you should make a decision now.”
“Give me a little time to think.”
Suhyuk nodded his head, and then, he handed the blood pack to the paramedics and climbed up.
“Please save my husband!”
Tears flowed constantly from the eyes of the victim’s wife.
“Do you think he can’t be pulled out?”
Suhyuk nodded his head at Lee’s question.
“One of his legs was trapped under a stone. I think we should consider an amputation.”
A bolt out of the blue to the wife. She knelt down helplessly.
Suhyuk, moving the heap of stones that trapped the victim, said to Lee,
“Bywater syndrome. I think we need to cut his leg and have him get immediate surgery.”
Lee looked at Suhyuk quietly. His shoulders slumped. It was as if Lee was a part of the victim’s family when he saw what he was doing.
He was throwing the piled stones away one by one. As for a large stone that he could not remove with just his hands, he rolled it over with a steel pipe. But his own strength was limited. Among the stones, a big rock did not move even a bit.
A murmur came out of his mouth, “Move… d.a.m.n it!”
Then he stood up and moved to the victim.
Then Lee Mansuk caught him by the shoulder, asking, “How is the victim’s condition?”
“He was bleeding and taking blood pressure medication.”
“I think I have to take a look,” said Lee.
When Lee tried to put his foot into the pit, Suhyuk shook his head.
“The inside is fairly narrow, let me go in.”
Suhyuk’s eyes met with Lee’s eyes, as if they were begging him to believe him.
When Lee nodded his head, Suhyuk began to move.
***
“Have you made a decision?”
The victim closed his eyes for a moment and fell into thought.
It did not last long.
He lifted his eyelids and opened his mouth, “I want to go out with normal legs.”
That meant he rejected the amputation idea.
Suhyuk respected his judgment, and gave a slight smile.
The situation was not that pessimistic and hopeless.
He could pin some hope on the fact that he was still conscious.
‘I will do what I can.’
“Got it.”
Suhyuk immediately loosened his belt and tightened it around the thigh of the victim.
“It is an ad-hoc prescription to prevent toxicity that can go up the leg.”
Suhyuk said to the ambulance crew who were looking at the surroundings.
“Please remove the stones so I can pull out his leg.”
The crew nodded, even though the heavy equipment vehicles were still on their way over here.
When they went out, Suhyuk and the victim were left alone.
Suhyuk leaned against the wall holding the blood pack.
“You’re having a real trouble because of me. Thank you.”
Suhyuk laughed.
“You do not have to thank me, this is my job,” he said, looking at the hole where the light was coming in from.
“No, you’re having this trouble because of me… If I had chosen to have my leg amputated, I would have gotten out already.”
Suhyuk listened to what he was saying. It was good for him to continue to speak, so he could stay conscious like that.
“I felt as if I was going to be kicked out of my company if I had my legs amputated.
And I still have a lot of loans to pay back and a family to feed…”
“I think you are a great family man. You should stay calm in order to get out of here.”
“Thank you.”
As soon as he said that, the dirt fell down. It meant that the heavy lifting machinery arrived.
The paramedics came down again.
“There is a risk of collapse while we are removing the stones, so we will install some equipment around here first.”
The paramedics immediately installed hydraulic support beams here and there.
Soon, solid iron steel was installed to support stones that could collapse, and the place inside became even narrower.
“Okay. We will remove the stone from above. Tell us if you see any sign of collapse here.”
When Suhyuk nodded his head, they went up again.
Dirt kept falling from above. Suhyuk picked up the jacket he had overlaid over the victim.
“You’ll be able to get out of here soon, just be patient.”
How long has it been so far? The amount of light pouring down was becoming more and more.
Then the paramedics came in.
“We’re ready. We’re going to remove the stones.”
“Please do it as much as possible without any vibration.”
They nodded, and got the cutter from above.
“Even with sprinkling water there will be have a lot of dust.”
The man who put a mask on the victim handed another one to Suhyuk.
Weeeing… The cogwheel started to turn and the machine cut the stone slowly.
On all such occasions, the victim’s face frowned.
Suhyuk asked him, “Are you okay?”
He nodded his head. He felt the vibration in the part where bleeding came from, and the pain became more severe than before. But he could hold on, for he had to, for the sake of his family.
The cogwheels kept turning without stopping. It took 20 minutes before the cutter stopped, and the stone on which the victim was trapped was cut into several pieces. The stones were removed, and Suhyuk checked the bleeding leg.
A rebar was poking through the thigh, which protruded from the stone.
Suhyuk knitted his brows.
The risk of cutting the rebar with the cutter and removing it was too great.
Because muscles and nerves could be damaged by the ensuing vibration.
Even though he wanted to pull out his thigh, excessive bleeding could occur.
Though he agonized a bit over it, Suhyuk made a quick judgment.
Even a second was not to be wasted.
He could not delay anymore.
“Please give me some bandages.”
Suhyuk, who was handed bandages by the crew, tied up the upper part of the stabbed wound with the bandages.
“You will feel a bit of pain.”
When the victim nodded, Suhyuk slowly pulled the thigh from the rebar.
“Ugh…”
The blood poured out. However, it was blood that was stagnant and that had stayed trapped in the leg.
The bleeding was getting less frequent because he tied the wound very tight with utmost pressure.
“Move him quickly!” When Suhyuk said that, the crew began to raise him out the pit.
“Honey!”
“Boohoo… Dad!”
The victim was carried into the ambulance amid the family’s crying.
As soon as the victim arrived at the emergency room, he went through an examination while he was receiving blood transfusions first. Of course, the place that was penetrated by the rebar was also treated. A teta.n.u.s shot was given to him too.
Can there be such a miracle?
There was a small crack in the bones of his trapped leg, and only a little muscle damage.
However, his blood pressure slightly dropped. In the end, that was all.
The reason why the man was not seriously hurt was something Suhyuk could only guess at.
As the head of the family, he had such a great care and consideration for his family.
Could that devotion have caused such a miracle?
But he could not afford to be off guard. Even bywater syndrome could cause trouble.
He immediately administered sap and medication. It was a drug that diluted toxicity.
Prof. Lee took the lead there. Well, it was mostly done by Suhyuk, because the victim followed what Suhyuk said.
“Don’t cry, I’m okay.”
The victim, lying in a stretcher bed, smiled and soothed his child.
Then Lee brought the chart and came up to him.
“Fortunately, there seems to be no problems, but I need to watch over the progress of your condition while you’re being treated here for a few days.”
When Lee said that, the man turned his gaze to the side.
There, Lee Suhyuk, the intern, was laughing with his child.
‘If he had not been there at the time of the accident, what would have happened to me?’
Suhyuk made him hold open his eyes that he felt were closing by having him think of his family.
“Guardian, follow me.”
Lee left the place, and Suhyuk, left alone, opened his mouth, “You’re lucky. You’ve got insurance, right?”
The man smiled and nodded, “Yes, even life insurance for the family.”
Suhyuk laughed a little. He was such a great patient, still caring about his family so much.
“But it looked like a new house…”
At Suhyuk’s words, his expression got harder and harder.
It was less than a week since his new house was built. How did they build it like that…
“I think there’s only one thing I can do for you.”
The victim made a curious expression.
What does he mean when he said he could do something for him?
He was already so grateful that he saved his life and treated him.
Then he heard something.
“Hey, Suhyuk!”
A woman with long waving hair approached him laughing. It was reporter Han Jihye.