Golden Time

Suhyuk opened his mouth with an embarra.s.sed expression.

“I’m only a PK[1].”

‘Why do I feel sorry to him when I was forced to come here involuntarily?’

“What the heck?”

The professor, who had a cold look, quickly softened his face.

Actually he was in a situation where he had to deal with all the work, including the role of an a.s.sistant. He lifted the patient’s closed eyelids to check the pupils.

No matter how the professor flashed the light from the torch in the eyes, there was no reaction from the patient.

Clearly he was in an unconscious state.

Giving a sigh, he immediately put on an oxygen mask to help the patient breathe, and then checked the blood pressure. The professor knitted his brows. He could not get any blood pressure. It was impossible to administer medication to the peripheral vein.

The criterion for severely traumatized patients worldwide is when they fall down from a place higher than 6 meters up. It was natural that the patient’s body would have problems, because he fell down from a place as high as 13 meters. One has no choice but to create a route to administer the drug by using the central line[2].

Then the other patient was brought into the helicopter.

Suhyuk helped to move the patient and lay him down, and he took off his clothes and checked the status as if he were performing an a.s.sistants role.

“Professor, I can’t get his blood pressure.”

At his words, his face was further distorted. The condition of the two patients was serious.

The professor moved hastily. First, he applied a local anesthesia to the patient in front of him, and poured out all the stuff from the bag he had packed. Inside was a box of long length. It was a kit exclusively for central venous catheter insertion. It was composed of a long and thick needle, wire and drape, suture and so on.

The professor began disinfecting the dimple beneath the collarbone of the patient.

His eyes shone sharply and he had a point in his eyes.

He located a position to poke a long and thick paracentesis needle, which needed a skill that required a high concentration as the needle was put into the chest.

Pneumothorax[3] could have happened if the needle was slightly deflected or stretched.

Besides, they were inside the helicopter that shook the surroundings.

Even the professor, unable to balance his body and hands, was shaking.

But there was no hesitation. The needle was pierced into the vena cava precisely.

His work did not end there. He inserted a guide wire all the way through the needle.

As he wore such a serious look, his face seemed to have no expression at all.

At that moment the professor’s eyes moved toward Suhyuk. He was drawing out blood in the abdomen with a syringe. Not only did he do that but he also marked off the exact location with the disinfectant to draw the C line correctly.

“You say you’re a student?” asked the professor.

Because it is not easy for a student to draw blood from the abdomen as well as locate the exact position to catch the C line.

“He seemed to be in such a critical condition, so I drew out the blood first.”

Moving his hands busily, the professor alternately looked at his patient and the patient Suhyuk was taking care of. The Golden Time has already pa.s.sed. Five hours after the accident.

Even one more second could not be missed. And there were not enough hands to treat the patients. The professor turned the unvented central venous catheter insertion kit to Suhyuk, and he said,

“Just poke it where you already marked off.”

What he meant was that he apply the paracentesis needle to the C line. Winding the wire, he opened his mouth again,

“You just do it as I tell you to do. First, put the needle...”

At that moment the professor had no choice but to stop talking, because he found the needle already being stuck in the patient’s chest. He saw Suhyuk doing it skillfully. That was not all. When the blood flowed back, Suhyuk was checking whether it was an artery or not.

“Oh... just marvelous,” said the professor.

The professor, shaking his head with a dumbfounded expression, focused on his patient.

Blood was supplied through the line planted in the patient’s chests, and various liquids were also inserted. Then, little by little, the condition of the patients began to recover with signs of vitality appearing.

However, it was necessary not to be careless.

They had to confirm the exact diagnosis at the hospital.

The two of them continued to pull blood from the patients’ abdomens.

Whenever they did so, the professor looked at Suhyuk unbelievably.

Beads of sweat dropped from his forehead. He could have wiped the sweat blocking his vision, but instead he just concentrated on the procedures. His eyes looked even somewhat scary.

The propeller of the helicopter was running for about 30 minutes. Finally it reached the rooftop of the hospital. The waiting medical staff rushed toward it quickly. They carefully laid the patients on the wheeled bed and headed for the elevator.

“Run! Faster!”

At the professor’s shouting the medical staff quickened their gait. It was the same for Suhyuk.

Pus.h.i.+ng the stretcher with the medical staff, Suhyuk’e eyes were tinged with regret.

“Could they ever stand up again?”

Suhyuk looked at the professor yelling at the medical staff.

‘He could... The expressionless face and the quick action of his when he deals with a patient. In a way it seemed he took care of them without caring about them. There was no hesitation or indecision on his part. But his glaring eyes were different. He was full of a determination that he could do his best to treat a patient.’ Suhyuk clearly could discern it.

The two patients had examinations immediately. As expected, their organs were damaged and abdominal bleeding was severe. The bones were cracked and broken. The situation was urgent. Eventually, the professor decided to take care of the most urgent patient, and the other patient was a.s.signed to another team.

Before entering the operating room, the professor said to the patient’s wailing family, “I will do my best, calm down and look at me, and I will do my best.”

The guardians also grabbed Suhyuk’s hands and entreated him to save his life.

Whatever money the surgery needed, they said they did not care as long as his life could be saved.

Suhyuk’s expression changed bitterly, because the patient’s condition was too serious.

He wondered if the patient could survive, and he could not partic.i.p.ate in the surgery.

So Suhyuk looked at the professor who entered the operating room.

Somehow he felt the professor could save the patient by all means. He just felt it vaguely.

Soon the door to the operating room was closed and Suhyuk turned back.

At that moment, the door opened again.

“Where are you going?” the professor appeared again and asked of Suhyuk.

“As you have touched the patient, you have to take responsibility until the end!”

So, Suhyuk went into the operating room.

The operating room with a cold mechanical sound.

The medical staff were moving busily. Blood and sap were hanging around and the preparation for surgery was over. Then the professor moved with a scalpel. Finally, the patient’s abdomen was opened, and a sigh came out from the mouth of the professor.

The organs were ruptured and distension was occurring. Watching it nearby, Suhyuk knitted his brows. The blood caused by damaged organs was slos.h.i.+ng in there.

It was impossible to pinpoint exactly which organ was ruptured and how much blood was to be ablated because the blood blocked his vision.

“First we will lower the pressure at the site where the dissension occurred. Suction!”

What the professor meant was to draw out the blood from the organ with distension.

The scalpel moved, and the organs poured blood like water guns.

The medical staff were quick to respond. They immediately put the suction device to draw the blood coming up.

“Irrigation!”

When the professor ordered, the speciality nurse handed down the saline solution. “More.”

The saline in the container continued to pour into the abdomen of the patient. Saline was slos.h.i.+ng with the blood in the patient’s abdomen. The device continued to suck out the blood. But that was not enough. In the end, the blood was overflowing and the floor was filled with blood.

In order to prevent slipping, the medical staff threw down onto the floor surgical gowns and the doctor gowns hung on one side. After removing blood and saline, they could see the ruptured organs finally. The professor shook his head while Suhyuk gave a sigh.

Now they had to find out how much of the ruptured organs they had to incise, and where bleeding occurred. The professor’s hand moved busily. Next to him, Suhyuk was just watching.

Although the professor told him to take responsibility for the patient, he was a student.

He could not have him use the scalpel.

“I feel like the inside of the patient’s stomach had received a shock,” Suhyuk murmured.

With a faint sigh, the professor stared at Suhyuk.

He confirmed the patient’s condition, but when he reexamined it, Suhyuk was right.

Was he really a PK? His suspicion quickly disappeared.

Now it was time for him to concentrate on the patient.

***

After four hours of long surgery, the patient was taken to the recovery room.

Now that the patient had his damaged organs partly cut and removed, it was time for him to fight the complications. The professor met the guardians immediately.

“The surgery did go very well, but I need to check the progress. So, please steel yourselves. You will have a lot of difficulties from now on. The patient will become strong when you’re strong-minded. I’ll do my best until then.”

After meeting the guardians, the professor moved with Suhyuk.

“Where are you going, sir?”

At his question, he answered briefly, “To smoke a cigarette.”

The two escaped the hospital building and arrived at the smoking room.

As the cigarette was burning, the smoke filled the professor’s lungs and then it came out.

“Huhwu ...”

The professor was looking up at the night sky and said,

“He did look like a climber, did he not?”

“Yes,” Suhyuk nodded his head.

He was referring to the patient he just did the surgery for.

He could feel it from the patient’s clothes.

“He fell down while working.”

The professor heard from someone that he fell down while carving a rock. He could not know what he was carving and how much he was making for that, but one thing was certain.

“Do you know what kind of work most emergency patients in critical condition are doing?” asked the professor.

Suhyuk shook his head. He did not know it.

The professor, puffing out the smoke, said with a lonely smile,

“Most of them are doing manual work, such as s.h.i.+pping deliveries or working at distribution centers, and many of them come to the hospital as patients.”

Mainly poor people suffering from daily life get involved in accidents.

About 80% of those patients had similar jobs. Those without enough income become more exposed to risk and become patients. The professor no longer spoke.

As those people were in such a miserable condition, does it mean that doctors should do their best to treat them? Suhyuk was nodding his head, when the professor put out the smoked cigarette and put a new one in his mouth.

“By the way, are you really a student? What’s your ident.i.ty?”

He skillfully located the C line and the bleeding area of the patient in the operating room, which was a high-level technique that a PK could never carry out. Suhyuk just scratched his head.

‘Finally the time came... What should I tell you?’

Suhyuk opened his mouth.