June 20, 202X (Wednesday), Clear
Today was a truly special day.
No, perhaps it may be the starting point of a change in my life.
I arrived at Geumsan Clinic early in the morning. It was already the day of my third customized enzyme treatment.
To be honest, I hadn’t expected anything at first. For the past three years, I had gone from hospital to hospital countless times, and every treatment had ended in failure. Every time I received an injection, I would struggle to breathe, break out in hives all over my body, and be seized by terror.
But Director Kang Taeho was different from them.
“Ms. Kim Miran, how are you feeling today?”
His greeting was always just as calm. The moment I stepped into the examination room, I felt as though I was being treated not as a patient, but as a person. His warm gaze and voice seemed to ask not merely about my symptoms, but about my day, my life.
“I think I’m much better than last week.”
I answered cautiously, but it was true. For the first time in two years, I had been able to sleep through the night without pain, and the numbness in my hands and feet had noticeably decreased.
“That’s a relief. Then shall we begin today as well?”
As always, he prepared the injection himself. At other hospitals, nurses had done that work, so I had been surprised at first, but now that sincerity no longer feels unfamiliar.
He took the enzyme vial from the refrigerator, quietly placed it on the desk, and let it reach room temperature. It was a procedure to prevent the protein from being rapidly warmed and denatured.
Then, when diluting it with saline, he mixed it slowly so that no foam would form.
As a pharmacist, I know. Each and every one of these minor steps can determine the success or failure of treatment.
“We’ll administer it at a rate of 1 mL per minute.”
Normally, it should be started slowly from 0.25 mL, but since I had already received it several times, that speed was not unreasonable for me.
The injection needle was not 18G, but 20G. A slightly thinner, less painful needle. A very small consideration to reduce the patient’s discomfort. He was someone who did not miss even details like this.
About ten minutes after the injection began, Director Kang asked carefully.
“How does it feel?”
For a moment, I was flustered.
“It’s strange. I’m not having any allergic reaction at all.”
Astonishment and relief washed over me at the same time. The agalsidase alfa I had received before had felt like poison, damaging my body every time. But this time was completely different.
As a pharmacist, I could immediately guess the reason. The glycosylation pattern of the enzyme had been adjusted to match my genes. There was also a possibility it had been produced in a human cell line instead of CHO cells. This was not a simple attempt. It was a genuine customized treatment that had gone through a precise and complicated process.
Around thirty minutes later, I sensed an even more astonishing change in my body.
“Doctor. The numbness in my hands and feet has decreased a lot!”
A common symptom in Fabry disease patients, acroparesthesia.
That prickling pain was disappearing. When I moved my toes, I felt the sensation I had lost all this time returning.
“That’s a good sign. The enzyme is doing its job.”
Director Taeho answered with a pleased expression.
A face that was sincerely happy, as if he were my own family.
After the injection, he carefully checked the administration site.
“Are your blood vessels all right? How was the previous site?”
I hesitated for a moment.
I had never been asked a question like that.
At other hospitals, they had carelessly injected into the same blood vessels over and over again, and as a result, some of my vessels had hardened completely.
“It’s much better because you alternate the sites here. My blood vessels are still fine, too.”
“We’ll continue doing that. This is long-term treatment, after all.”
His words were always consistent. Practical yet warm, and filled with certainty that they were for the patient.
“Let’s continue the treatment. I’ll see you again next week.”
“Thank you so much.”
I bowed my head and conveyed my sincerity. I had worked as a pharmacist for fifteen years, but this was the first time I had met a doctor this meticulous and responsible.
I could not believe that he was truly the doctor who had caused that medical accident in the past.
What truth had there been behind that incident…
I am gradually becoming certain now.
This man is absolutely not someone who lets go of a patient easily.
After finishing treatment, I stopped by the village restaurant. While waiting for my meal, I exchanged a few words with the owner, and unexpectedly heard something.
“Director Kang? That man’s truly extraordinary, they say. Last year, for the elderly folks in the mountain villages, he went over mountains and across streams every week to make house calls.”
The grandmother at the next table nodded as well.
“Even when he wasn’t in good health himself, he never missed a single time. Snow or rain, didn’t matter.”
At that moment, I felt something well up from deep within my heart.
A person who gives hope to patients.
As a doctor, as a human being, what kind of life he was living.
That faith was raising me up even before my treatment could.
July 25, 202X (Wednesday), Clear
A month has passed since I began treatment.
And the results could only be called a miracle.
Holding the test results I had received early that morning, I sat facing Director Kang Taeho in the examination room.
“Ms. Kim Miran, you’re showing truly remarkable recovery.”
The director nodded as he looked over the test sheet.
My eyes naturally grew moist.
“Doctor. It really feels like a miracle.”
“It is the effect of customized treatment.”
Director Taeho spoke calmly, as he always did. But I knew. This was not merely the power of medicine. It was because of this man’s devotion, and his almost tenacious sense of responsibility.
Every time, before and after treatment, he checked my condition thoroughly.
Blood pressure, pulse, and respiration were basic, and he never left out my condition and emotional state that day.
“Stress can trigger the worsening of Fabry disease. Your mind has to be at ease for your body to respond as well.”
At first, I found those words strange, but gradually, I came to understand. He was someone who looked not only at the illness of the body, but also at the illness of the heart.
Thanks to him, for the first time, I was able to speak about what was inside me.
The anxiety, anger, and sense of isolation I had never been able to tell anyone about…
And the reasons I had to live.
My husband was happy, too. When I showed him the test results, his eyes reddened as he said,
“Honey. I’m so relieved. That you met this doctor…”
I smiled and nodded, but one corner of my heart would not settle so easily.
Confusion mingled with joy.
‘Could someone this considerate really have caused a medical accident back then?’
That incident that had come to mind at Seeyoung Hospital.
This man was clearly trusted by everyone, and more diligent than anyone. But after that day, he had quietly left the hospital.
What happened back then?
While writing in her diary, Miran suddenly put down her pen.
Memories she had long folded away kept lifting their heads.
Miran stood and opened the closet in the main bedroom. Inside were the diaries she had kept since middle school, arranged without a single year missing.
She took out the diary from two years ago.
The time when that incident had taken place.
Her fingertips trembled as she turned the pages.
The record from that day remained exactly as it was.
Miran could not take her eyes off it.
After reading it, she sat there for a long while.
Her mind went blank.
It was a little—no, very—different from what she had remembered.
***
As the morning consultations were nearing their end, Taeho was waiting for his last patient.
“Ms. Kim Miran, please come in.”
Following Nurse Park Geumja’s guidance, Kim Miran stepped through the quietly opened door.
The sight of her leaning on her husband to walk two months ago was nowhere to be seen. Now she walked in alone with steady steps.
“Hello, Director.”
There was vitality in Kim Miran’s greeting. Her fatigue and lethargy seemed almost gone.
As always, Taeho asked in a soft, warm voice.
“How are you feeling today?”
“Really good. Yesterday, I even went to a nearby mountain with my husband.”
“A mountain?”
Taeho smiled in surprise.
“That’s truly amazing. Considering how you were when you first came in, it’s remarkable. You did well.”
He turned the pages of her chart and checked the test results. A moment later, he nodded with a satisfied look.
“Your blood test numbers are good as well. Your kidney function is almost approaching the normal range.”
Taeho wrote the prescription and added,
“From now on, you only need to receive regular treatment. Just keep managing it as you are now. We’ll check your progress again in about six months.”
But Kim Miran’s face held hesitation rather than joy.
“Doctor.”
She carefully opened her mouth.
The question she had been carrying for the past few days. And her decision.
“Do you perhaps have a moment? There’s something I’d like to tell you.”
Taeho looked at her. He sensed that something was different.
A cautious, yet profound atmosphere.
“What is it?”
“It’s a somewhat personal matter.”
Kim Miran took a breath and continued.
“Doctor, you used to work at Seeyoung Hospital, didn’t you?”
“Yes. I did.”
Kim Miran watched his expression closely, but there was no great change on the surface. His face remained quiet and peaceful.
“Actually, I worked at that hospital too. In the surgery department pharmacy.”
“I knew.”
“What?”
Kim Miran’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Since the first time you came in. As soon as I saw your name, I remembered. But because you didn’t show it, I didn’t bring it up first either.”
“Then you knew from the start?”
Kim Miran’s expression relaxed somewhat, as though she felt deflated.
“A patient is a patient. Whatever the past may be, if there is a sick person in front of me, my role is to do my best to help them.”
At those words, Kim Miran’s heart tingled. She could feel his sincerity.
Perhaps because of that.
In that moment, she felt as though she could finally set down the weight she had been carrying in her heart all this time.
“Doctor. You remember back then, don’t you? The patient named Jang Yuna.”
Taeho’s expression hardened subtly. But he did not show his emotions.
“I was in charge of preparing the medication right after that patient’s surgery. I was there that day.”
Kim Miran’s voice grew quieter, but gradually firmer.
“A few days ago, while organizing my old diaries, I found a record in which I had written down the details of what happened that day.”
She took an old notebook from her bag.
“This is the record from that day. Back then, I did feel that something was strange. But at the time, my illness was just beginning to develop too, so I was in no state of mind. That’s why there were many things I simply let pass.”
Kim Miran carefully placed the diary on the table. Taeho stared at it silently for a moment, then nodded.
“I’ll read it.”
His voice was low, but deep.
***
After finishing Kim Miran’s diary, Taeho sat at his desk in the examination room, lost in deep thought.
Just then, his cell phone rang.
The moment he checked the caller’s name, Taeho gave a faint smile.
It was Lee Donghyeon, the third-generation heir of Taeyoung Group, whom he had treated for gold poisoning.
“Mr. Donghyeon, it’s been a while.”
—Is this a good time to talk?
“Yes. Consultations just ended.”
Lee Donghyeon paused for a beat before speaking.
—Actually, I sent a patient your way…
“You mean Ms. Kim Miran.”
—Huh? How did you know?
Lee Donghyeon was startled.
“To be honest, I guessed from the time Ms. Kim Miran first came to the clinic. Not long ago, I asked you once again for materials on the Jang Yuna incident. Then suddenly, Ms. Kim Miran visited Geumsan Clinic. Someone who worked in the pharmaceutical department at Seeyoung Hospital at the time of the incident.”
A loud laugh came from the other end of the phone.
—I knew you were sharp, Director, but… Hahaha. That’s amazing. The truth is, I couldn’t help you directly. The Seeyoung Hospital records are still beyond the reach of my position…
“I understand. I knew accessing hospital records would be difficult.”
—So instead, since there was someone in our company’s HR department who was close with Ms. Kim Miran, I had them naturally pass along the story of Geumsan Clinic.
“You approached it quite carefully. At first, Ms. Kim Miran was skeptical about the treatment as well. If anything, that made it feel more natural.”
—So did it help?
His voice was filled with anticipation.
“Ms. Kim Miran showed me the diary in which she recorded what happened that day.”
—Really? What did it say?