Right now, Taesu was taking that in.
- L.V.H. (left ventricular hypertrophy)
Taesu’s gaze stopped there.
“Hmm.”
“Does it bother you?”
Nurse Casey’s voice came from beside him.
Taesu gave a bitter smile and said,
“There’s something about it I don’t quite like.”
“What part?”
“There was a slightly grating sound among the heart sounds. A sort of ‘grrk’ sound.”
“I think I saw that written on the chart.”
Nurse Casey was meticulous by nature, so she seemed to have checked it too.
Taesu merely nodded in silence.
“Hmm.”
Tap, tap.
Taesu’s expression was somewhat complicated as he tapped the messy initial examination chart.
It did not last long.
“Dr. Choi.”
It was Jose’s voice.
When he turned his head, another patient was approaching.
He looked unable to put weight on one leg.
There were also traces of bleeding.
Taesu scattered his worries and focused on the new patient.
“Nurse Casey, prepare saline.”
“Got it.”
Dadadak.
Taesu and Nurse Casey busily got moving again without even catching their breath properly.
A short while later.
Emergency treatment for the patient with a compound fracture in his leg was finished in a flash.
But the patient’s leg had only been wrapped in a compression bandage.
It had not yet been finally secured with a cast.
“Huuu.”
Perhaps because the pain had subsided, the intervals between the patient’s breaths grew longer.
Having endured tremendous agony to get here, his face was drenched in sweat.
Taesu lightly wiped that sweat away with a surgical drape and asked,
Tap, tap.
“Are you coming back to your senses now?”
“#$%^$%…… He says he really thought he was going to die.”
“How on earth did you get your leg caught between rocks like that? You should have been careful.”
“#^$^…… He says he doesn’t even remember. No, it seems more like he doesn’t want to.”
The sight of the patient shaking his head violently made Jose’s corrected interpretation seem more accurate.
Just then, Nurse Casey approached, lowering her phone.
“It’s the testing room. They say they’ll send people over soon.”
“Did you happen to ask about Vanessa too?”
Now that things had quieted down, Taesu’s attention immediately returned in that direction.
Nurse Casey, now used to this side of him, nodded and answered.
“Yes. They said the ultrasound was the last test just now.”
“And the results?”
“They said both the X-ray and ultrasound confirmed left ventricular hypertrophy, just as you initially examined.”
“Did they find no other abnormalities?”
When Taesu kept asking, Nurse Casey lifted her phone again.
“Wait a moment. I’ll just put you on the phone with them.”
“No.”
“No, it’s fine. I’ve come to understand your personality a little now, Dr. Choi.”
“That’s not it. I mean I’m going myself.”
At that, Nurse Casey paused and looked at him.
“You’re going over there?”
“Yes. I’ll go and hand the patient over to the testing room while I’m at it.”
“What about here?”
“He’s right there.”
Taesu subtly pointed at Jeong Minsu.
From the start of treatment, he had been radiating presence.
It was just that the conditions of the patients on this side had been so serious that Taesu had not been able to pay attention to him.
The way Jeong Minsu treated patients resembled Taesu.
Not his outward appearance, but his attitude and meticulousness were strikingly similar.
It was the result of his efforts to narrow the gap in experience.
Even so, whatever he still lacked was only a matter of time.
Even the prickly Nurse Casey accepted Jeong Minsu.
“All right. It’s only for a moment.”
“Then I’ll be back.”
“You’re not wandering around this dangerous hospital alone, Doctor. What if you get lost?”
Swoosh.
Nurse Casey joked as she helped support the patient with him.
During treatment hours, she stayed by Taesu’s side so thoroughly it was almost excessive.
After treatment ended, it was difficult even to see her face, let alone have a conversation.
That aspect of her was truly mysterious.
The thought lasted only a moment.
“Urgh.”
“Up.”
Taesu and Nurse Casey rose in sync.
“Grrr.”
Fortunately, the patient only let out a slight groan and did not seem to be in extreme pain.
Taesu confirmed that first, then looked for Jeong Minsu across the way.
“Dr. Jeong, I’m going to hand this patient over to the testing room.”
“You…… if you’re going to eat a snack, bring mine too.”
“I’ll fill my own stomach first and if there’s any left.”
Thud. Thud.
Taesu joked to ease the tension as he moved with the patient.
But to Jeong Minsu, it did not seem to sound like a joke.
“Hey, are you really going to eat something? You petty little…… No. No, that’s not it. I’m not angry at you, patient……”
Jeong Minsu yelled for no reason, then had to explain himself several times over at the sight of the patient.
A short while later.
Taesu safely handed the patient over to the testing room.
The testing room was basically equipped for CBCs, ultrasounds, X-rays, and so on.
A few kinds of tests could be performed there.
CT or MRI?
They were difficult to move and troublesome to maintain.
So there was no dreaming of such advanced testing equipment.
Thanks to that, compared to a modern hospital’s testing room, it was modest.
They covered that deficiency with the physicians’ exceptional skill.
Taesu was standing behind the doctor operating the computer, looking at the screen with him.
Dr. Sandro was a radiology specialist, and he and Taesu had come to know each other through Dr. Quentin.
He too was of Latin American descent, so his voice tended to be loud.
Sssrk. Tak.
“Mm. There. Dr. Choi, these are Vanessa’s ultrasound results.”
“Thank you.”
“This much is nothing. But what exactly is bothering you?”
Dr. Sandro shrugged broadly.
Since he had performed the examination himself, he found it puzzling.
Taesu answered while studying the test images.
“I’m not sure either. I just have a strange feeling.”
“Sometimes a person’s sixth sense can be more accurate.”
“I’m not doubting your examination skills, Dr. Sandro.”
“I don’t think that, so look carefully, until your heart feels completely at ease. That too is samba. Viva.”
Dr. Sandro suddenly shouted.
At the interjection similar to Dr. Quentin’s, Taesu gave an awkward smile.
“Samba is nice. Let’s see……”
Taesu examined the ultrasound screen in detail with a gaze as intense as if he were firing ultrasound waves himself.
But there were no results.
All he confirmed with his eyes was that the left ventricle had enlarged, significantly distorting the shape of the heart.
It was the same when he examined the X-rays.
“Was I wrong?”
Taesu felt a little embarrassed that he had made a needless fuss.
“I’ve checked it thoroughly.”
“Samba.”
Dr. Sandro replaced a farewell with that single word.
When he came out into the hallway, Nurse Casey, who had disappeared for a moment, returned.
“How were the test results?”
“Nothing.”
“I just went to thoracic surgery, and they said they’ve never picked up that kind of signal on the ECG either.”
It seemed Nurse Casey had moved separately.
He should have thanked her first, but his uneasiness came ahead of that.
“The fact that it hasn’t been heard since then is even stranger.”
“Could Jose have touched something at the time? No, I’m not saying you heard wrong, Dr. Choi.”
“It’s possible, but I don’t think that was it.”
Taesu shook his head.
He might not know about anything else, but when auscultating, his sharpness was tremendous.
It was hard to accept that during such a sensitive moment, someone else’s hand had interfered and caused confusion.
To be honest, if Taesu had been suspecting it simply because he did not know enough himself, he might have let it pass.
But this suspicion was based on Caprene’s knowledge.
Several nearby possible diagnoses had already surfaced in his mind.
“I’m not certain.”
They were diagnoses far too advanced for Taesu to mention as mere speculation.
They were at a level where one could say pericardiocentesis was nothing more than a minor procedure.
None of the circumstances were very good.
Even so, Taesu could not step back like this.
One wrong move could lead to the worst possible situation: a table death.
No one had the right to arbitrarily end another person’s life.
“Hmm.”
Taesu’s brow narrowed sharply.
Seeing that, Nurse Casey called him with a puzzled expression.
“Dr. Choi, what’s wrong?”
“Phew. Fine, then. Let’s go as is.”
“Go where?”
“……”
Sak.
Taesu turned around without a word.
And the direction he walked in was straight toward thoracic surgery.
As they walked down the corridor, there were rooms here and there with their doors wide open.
Those rooms were the nurses’ stations for each department.
They were normally in open spaces, but because of the building structure, that was not possible, so they left the doors open instead.
Patients, guardians, and medical staff alike.
It was because everyone came and went through those places.
Taesu and Nurse Casey entered the thoracic surgery nurses’ station side by side.
One of the nurses spotted Nurse Casey and called out to her.
“Casey, why are you back?”
“Dr. Choi brought me.”
“Ah. Hello, Dr. Choi.”
A familiar white nurse greeted him first.
Taesu returned the greeting briefly and immediately got to the point.
“Yes. Hello. Could I perhaps see patient Vanessa’s chart?”
“Nurse Kagari took Vanessa’s chart.”
The name alone gave him a certain feeling, and Taesu’s question immediately followed.
“Have the Japanese medical staff decided to take charge of patient Vanessa?”
“Not take charge…… They said there’d be a surgical briefing soon.”
“A surgical briefing?”
Taesu’s expression stiffened slightly.
Things were progressing too quickly.
Now that left ventricular hypertrophy had been confirmed, it was only natural to set a surgical schedule. The problem was that they were proceeding without considering the issue that had not yet been identified.
“Where is patient Vanessa?”
Taesu asked faster than a rapid-fire barrage.
But the answer came from behind him.
“Are you Dr. Choi?”
Someone called out in English, the pronunciation slightly blurred.
Taesu turned around immediately, and one of the Japanese medical staff was standing there.
He was a male doctor who looked to be in his mid-thirties.
Step.
His expression as he approached was somewhat cold.
Taesu had a rough idea of what this was about, so he spoke first.
“I’ve been trying to find you since yesterday to greet you, but we kept missing each other.”
“I know.”
“I see.”
“It is an undeniable fact that you suddenly appeared and interfered with treatment.”
The other man’s expression and words were somewhat at odds.
Since that was not what mattered to Taesu right now, he simply said,
“Even so, I apologize. Dr……”
“Takeshi.”
“Yes. Dr. Takeshi, I could have spoken in a better manner, and I apologize for my immaturity.”
“I don’t think that’s something you should apologize to me for.”
Dr. Takeshi tried to subtly push him away.
Taesu pulled this potentially awkward moment onto himself.
A trick?
Now that he was anxious, his mind spun rapidly.
With the help of that quick thinking, Taesu was able to immediately say his next words.
“Then I would like to apologize to Dr. Kuramoto directly.”
“Would you please call him Professor?”
“Ah, I see. To Professor Kuramoto, then.”
Taesu corrected himself immediately.
At Taesu’s humble attitude, Dr. Takeshi’s shoulders rose slightly.
A satisfied expression could also be glimpsed.
Then Dr. Takeshi glanced at Taesu.
“But that’s strange. I doubt you just happened to stop by the thoracic surgery nurses’ station.”
“I also wanted to see patient Vanessa.”
“I’m aware that you performed the initial examination, Dr. Choi, but isn’t she a patient you handed over?”
Dr. Takeshi strongly picked at him.
At that moment, something snapped inside Taesu.
After putting up with him and putting up with him, being treated as a complete pushover was starting to irritate him.
However.
“Endure, endure, endure, endure endure endure……”
Taesu endured with superhuman patience.
If patient Vanessa was in their hands, he needed their permission to see her.