The bleeding had already welled up, so he could not see clearly.
“Damn it!”
Press.
Taesu dabbed the bleeding with gauze and absorbed it.
Now all he had to do was find the point where the bleeding started again.
“……”
“……”
Both of them stared with such force it seemed lasers might shoot from their eyes.
One second, two seconds……
Time passed.
By the time about ten seconds had gone by, tears were welling in Taesu’s and Jeong Minsu’s eyes from how hard they had been holding them open.
They quickly grabbed the surgical drape and dabbed away the tears, grumbling.
“Damn it. Where’s the bleeding that’s supposed to come out? Why are tears coming out instead?”
“Tell me about it…… But does bleeding come out with intervals like this?”
“Like hell it does.”
“That’s what I mean.”
Jeong Minsu’s voice carried his puzzlement.
At that, Taesu also froze.
Swipe, swipe.
He quickly wiped his eyes once more with the surgical drape and looked at the kidney.
It was clean.
There was not a single drop of bleeding.
Sssht.
He sprayed saline over it to add moisture.
“……”
Still, no bleeding appeared.
Only after confirming even that did the tension in Taesu’s expression slowly begin to subside.
“There isn’t any, right? It looks like there’s no bleeding, right?”
“Then what was that at first?”
“The bridge.”
Taesu answered quietly.
At that moment, Jeong Minsu grabbed the bridge.
“I saw it with my own eyes and still didn’t realize it.”
“Retrieve it and stand by.”
“You said it was here.”
“It might not be.”
Taesu replied quietly.
Even as he did, he was still examining the kidney.
Jeong Minsu quickly retrieved the bridge.
In the process, a few drops of blood appeared.
He swiftly wiped them away.
After that, no more bleeding appeared.
In particular, the kidney showed not even a trace of bleeding, as though it had been surrounded by an iron wall.
The effect of the tight double-layer suturing was becoming clear.
Even after that, bleeding did not show so much as the tip of its nose.
Now they were certain there was no bleeding.
Only then did Jeong Minsu clench both hands tightly and cheer.
“Yes! Kidney suturing successful!”
“It’s too early to celebrate!”
“I’ll check the vitals!”
Beep.
Jeong Minsu quickly reminded himself of the situation and pressed the automatic blood pressure monitor.
Was he not satisfied?
“Not just once. I’ll check several times.”
Beep, beep.
Jeong Minsu repeatedly checked the vitals and calculated the average.
Meanwhile, Taesu approached the IV stand.
He could see the nearly empty blood transfusion bag shriveling in real time. That was how desperately the body was craving the blood it lacked.
The transfusion would soon be over, but there were no more blood bags to replenish it.
Instead, Taesu hung two glucose bags.
It was, quite literally, buying time.
If only the surgery ended without issue, he intended to go out immediately and ask people to donate blood.
The problem was making it until then.
‘Please.’
With all his heart, he prayed they could finish without any further trouble.
His head was still throbbing, but he was not even aware of it.
It was not long after.
Jeong Minsu looked at Taesu intensely and said,
“The pulse is staying where it is, and the blood pressure is jumping all over the place.”
“What?”
“As expected, because there isn’t enough blood……”
Before Jeong Minsu could finish, Taesu raised a hand.
Stop.
Then he forced his sluggish mind to start turning again.
‘In a case like this……’
A lesson he had once heard from James flashed through his mind.
Taesu interpreted those words in his own way and relayed them to Jeong Minsu.
“Pulse problems right after kidney surgery are always related to urine output.”
“Oliguria?”
“No. Urination.”
“Hold on…… It’s not coming out.”
Jeong Minsu, who had lowered his body, popped back up and answered.
“It’s not as if the left kidney isn’t reacting at all.”
“The body is short on fluid.”
“Then we add more.”
Taesu reflexively hung two more glucose bags on the IV stand.
Squeeze. Squeeze.
As he immediately squeezed the glucose bags, he gave Jeong Minsu another order.
“Administer a weak dose of muscle relaxant one more time.”
“Why a muscle relaxant all of a sudden?”
“It could be a urethral sphincter problem.”
“I think I’ve seen that somewhere. Hold on.”
Clatter.
Jeong Minsu quickly rummaged through the ampoules and found the muscle relaxant.
Meanwhile, Taesu recited the additional medications.
“Electrolytes, sodium, and a mild cardiotonic……”
“First, I’ve administered the muscle relaxant. Next, preparing electrolytes……”
Click. Click.
Jeong Minsu added the drugs he had been told one by one.
Meanwhile, Taesu pushed as much fluid as he could into the body.
He did not insist only on glucose, and intermittently added saline as well. On top of that, he hung amino acids and albumin one by one.
The IV stand was loaded with bags of fluid.
He did not care about that.
The lack of urine could not be concluded to be a muscle problem.
There were also cases where the body would not excrete because it was short on blood.
There was a possibility that the left kidney, after a larger operation than expected, had temporarily stopped working as well.
Right now, everything was suspect.
The most suitable solution was to add an enormous amount of fluid like this.
While Taesu was focused on continuing fluid replenishment, he called out to Jeong Minsu.
“Dr. Jeong, do you see any bleeding inside the surgical site?”
“Hmm…… I don’t see any from the kidney. There’s a little seeping from the surrounding area.”
“Then let’s close. If there’s no bleeding from the kidney, it’s better to close.”
“Got it. I’ll close as quickly as possible.”
Jeong Minsu quickly moved his hands.
Then, with a needle holder and international forceps in both hands again, he began suturing rapidly.
A short while later.
Jeong Minsu said,
“Suturing complete.”
“Check the vitals and the time.”
“Hold on!”
Tap, tap.
Jeong Minsu moved frantically on his own.
Taesu wanted to help too, but adding fluids was more important.
It was then.
Jeong Minsu appeared, holding the wristwatch he had picked up from the floor, and his face was slightly flushed.
“Urine’s coming out.”
“Huh?”
“I just checked. It’s coming out.”
As he said that, Jeong Minsu’s face turned bright red.
Taesu slowly lowered his hands from the IV bags.
“It’s really coming out?”
“Look.”
“I don’t necessarily need to. What about the vitals and the time?”
“Here’s the time!”
Whoosh.
Jeong Minsu threw the wristwatch over the operating table.
Taesu snatched it out of the air and checked it immediately.
Taesu’s eyes trembled slightly as he confirmed the current time.
A full hour had passed since the last time he had checked.
In an urgent voice, Taesu called to Jeong Minsu, who was checking the vitals.
“Minsu, you said urine is coming out?”
“Yeah. I told you, it’s coming out.”
“Did you happen to touch the right kidney when you were suturing the skin?”
At Taesu’s question, Jeong Minsu nodded.
“Yeah. Just briefly, in passing.”
“And the temperature was warm?”
“Of course. I checked that there was no bleeding.”
“Then…… Wow.”
When Taesu let out a sound of disbelief, Jeong Minsu frowned.
“What, all of a sudden?”
“Oh, right. What are the vitals?”
“Maybe because urine is coming out, the pulse went up. But the blood pressure is still unstable. I think it’s worse because the body temperature suddenly dropped.”
Since fluids had been poured into him, his body would have cooled down.
But then.
After hearing the answer, Taesu suddenly began to laugh.
“Ha, haha.”
“Are you that happy?”
“No. It’s because what you said was exactly right. Haha.”
When Taesu did not stop laughing, Jeong Minsu tilted his head.
“Is it funny that I’m telling you the vitals as I see them?”
“You said it earlier. That it was time to harvest the tea the factory manager had raised so dearly, so even if it was hard right now, he’d overcome it.”
“Yeah. I did say that.”
“That’s exactly what happened. Look at this.”
Slide.
Taesu held out the wristwatch.
Only then did Jeong Minsu check the time as well.
“One hour?”
“If we subtract the time for skin suturing, and the time we spent watching for bleeding, how much is left?”
“A little over forty minutes. Huh!”
Jeong Minsu, who had been stating the result of his calculation, was startled.
Taesu nodded broadly and said,
“Yes. What you’re thinking is right.”
“W-wait. As far as I remember, when blood flow is completely blocked, isn’t the limit for how long a kidney can endure forty minutes?”
“That’s what I’m saying. That’s why they lower the temperature with ice to extend that time.”
“We operated without ice, without anything…… And the kidney is moving again.”
Jeong Minsu repeated the words with his eyes wide.
That was how hard it was to believe.
It was because the situation had trampled all over a medically proven fact as if to show off.
Before he knew it, Taesu’s hand was resting over the surgical scar.
“It’s warm.”
“Right. It would be. I touched it myself, and it was warm.”
“It’s not a situation where we can relax completely. He also has kidney enlargement, so we can’t estimate how much function has declined.”
Taesu calmly pointed out the blind spot.
Jeong Minsu, unable to overlook that point, nodded immediately.
“You’re right. It’s hard to imagine the function will be the same.”
“Then for now, we have no choice but to get blood donations first, transfuse him, and watch.”
“Got it. I’ll go get blood donations first.”
Just as Jeong Minsu was about to turn around quickly.
Taesu hurriedly stopped him.
“Minsu, wait.”
“I’m dying from urgency here, why!”
“We have to finish things before you go.”
“We’re done suturing the skin. What finish?”
“We couldn’t do it at the start, but we can at least greet him now.”
When Taesu spoke firmly, Jeong Minsu flinched.
“Ahem.”
He cleared his throat for no reason, then awkwardly returned to the operating table.
Soon, Taesu and Jeong Minsu stood facing each other across the operating table.
Taesu subtly jerked his chin at Jeong Minsu.
‘You wrap it up.’
The moment he saw that suggestion, Jeong Minsu wavered slightly.
But that lasted only a moment.
As if there was something he wanted to say, he soon straightened his posture.
After setting the mood like that, Jeong Minsu spoke in a low voice.
“I’m sorry that we’re still not in a position to conclude that your kidney function is intact.”
“……”
“This isn’t the end. While you stay here, and even afterward, we’ll continue to observe you, and if there is a problem, we’ll help.”
“……”
Nod, nod.
Taesu expressed his agreement with a nod.
In the meantime, Jeong Minsu continued speaking.
Perhaps because he was not used to it, his tone was a little stiff.
“It was thanks to you, Factory Manager, that we were able to protect what we had been so desperate to protect.”
“……”
“You also have something you need to protect, don’t you? You need to wake up quickly and taste the fruit of your labor. We’ll help so that can happen.”
“……”
“But it’s all right for us to congratulate you on getting through one crisis now, isn’t it? Emergency surgery complete. Factory Manager, thank you for letting us protect what we wanted to protect.”
Deep bow.
Jeong Minsu bowed so deeply the crown of his head was visible.
Taesu, who had been standing quietly, bowed with him.
He had no disagreement with anything Jeong Minsu had just said.
It was all true.
The only thing Taesu and Jeong Minsu, who had nothing, wanted to protect was the patient.
The patient’s life, and the patient’s way of living.
To protect that, they did not shy away even from such a poor environment.