The advantage of transesophageal ultrasound was that objects reflecting the ultrasound were distinguished in several colors.
But there was nothing particularly remarkable on the screen now.
Thump. Thump.
All they could see was the heart moving as a whole.
It wasn’t the image Taesu wanted, so he asked for a slight adjustment.
“Brad, a little upward…”
“A little…”
Slide, slide.
Brad Kim moved his hand minutely.
Then, before long, something different was captured in the heart.
Something bulging out inside the left ventricle.
“Ah, here.”
Brad Kim fixed the position precisely.
As if everyone had confirmed it by then, deep exclamations burst from their chests.
“There really was a lump inside the heart.”
“How did he find this just from the symptoms?”
“I know. It’s not like he could’ve asked the heart to show itself.”
A few somewhat bland exchanges went back and forth.
It would be more accurate to say they were dumbfounded because everything Taesu had inferred had turned out to be right.
Even amid the whispering around him, Taesu maintained his composure.
‘A clear mirror and still water.’
He kept repeating only those words.
When performing a delicate procedure, he had to prepare his mind just as much.
Meanwhile, Jeong Minsu and Kim Hyeokgwon were a little busy.
Slide, slice.
“Gauze here, please.”
“Like this?”
“Yes. And retract this part like this…”
The movement of surgical instruments and even the conversation.
It looked like they were performing surgery.
That lasted only a moment, and soon Jeong Minsu called Taesu.
“Subclavian artery secured.”
“Good work.”
“Enough of that. Let’s start quickly and finish quickly.”
Jeong Minsu’s tone had grown serious.
Because this was no longer a situation where they could chatter lightly.
Taesu looked toward Jeong Minsu.
Vanessa’s shoulder was exposed.
But the skin over her left clavicle had been opened, revealing everything inside.
Several surgical instruments were fixed in place.
Among them ran the slender subclavian artery.
That was exactly the place Taesu had requested.
It was a vessel close to the heart, yet with little direct connection to the cardiopulmonary vessels.
The guidewire in Taesu’s hand moved toward the secured subclavian artery.
“…”
“…”
Everyone held their breath, faces taut with tension.
Hearing that it was Taesu’s first time, they seemed unable to relax.
Taesu was tense as well, but there was not the slightest tremor in his fingertips.
Soon the guidewire touched the subclavian artery.
Tap.
The guidewire lightly pierced the vessel and seemed to flow into it.
“…”
Slide, slide.
Taesu carefully adjusted the speed as he pushed the guidewire in.
If he went retrograde through the left subclavian artery, he would meet the aortic arch.
And the aortic arch was connected to the left ventricle.
Inside the left ventricle was the cardiac tumor.
The first step to remove it was now underway.
He had chosen the subclavian artery to reduce the procedure time.
And the field of view with transesophageal ultrasound was extremely limited.
Lastly, the procedure site was the heart and the aorta.
At this point, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say the level of concentration required was torture.
Taesu’s gaze was fixed piercingly on the monitor. He was so focused that he could almost feel the guidewire pushing against the bloodstream.
“…Huum.”
Slide, slide.
Restraining even the sound of his breathing, he pushed it in, and pushed it in again.
Taesu wasn’t the only one concentrating.
“…”
“…”
Everyone was staring hard at the monitor.
They showed such concentration that they seemed to have forgotten to breathe.
It wasn’t because of the difficulty of the procedure.
They were holding their breath for Vanessa, the patient who had gone through so much all day.
In their hearts, they prayed again and again that this moment would be the last, and that she would regain peace.
When people’s hearts gathered, change was bound to occur.
Sssrk.
The guidewire, which had shown no sign for a long while, finally appeared on the ultrasound.
“A thread, a thread.”
“It’s not a thread, it’s a wire.”
“Anyway, it’s coming down. It’s coming down.”
“Ooooh.”
Everyone cheered fiercely at the line that appeared on the monitor.
But only for a moment.
They quickly shut their mouths so they wouldn’t disrupt Taesu’s concentration.
Taesu, too, moved his hand while feeling his mouth go dry.
Accordingly, on the monitor, the guidewire could be seen vividly approaching the heart.
Thud-thud. Thud-thud.
The heart did not rest for even a moment.
As with the CABG surgery, it was the greatest obstacle.
It had been then, but this time there was a countermeasure.
It was when the guidewire approached the aortic valve.
Taesu called for Dr. Quentin.
“Kkuti.”
“Heart, let’s get to work. Here we go.”
Push.
Dr. Quentin added the prepared drug to the IV.
At the same time.
Beep, bebeep.
In an instant, the pulse rate shot up.
It had long since passed 100.
It climbed to nearly 150.
It looked almost on the verge of arrhythmia.
But it was strange.
No one reacted to it.
Beep-beep-beep-beep.
Even though the ECG was making a racket as if telling them to look at the heart, they were indifferent.
Everyone’s eyes were focused solely on the monitor.
Then something remarkable happened.
The heart, which should have been repeating relaxation and contraction, looked as if it had stopped.
It truly seemed to have stopped.
Only the sharp sound of the ECG was crying out that it had not.
They were maintaining a constant pulse with a specific drug.
It was a method widely used in PCI (percutaneous coronary intervention).
When they had performed Ohhamed’s CBAG (coronary artery bypass grafting), he had failed to think of that point.
Even now, Taesu was not able to fully use Caprene’s knowledge.
He had remembered it while thinking of how to compensate for the difficulty back then.
Thanks to that, he was now applying it like this.
Taesu pushed it in a little farther and opened his mouth for the first time in a while.
“Passing the aortic valve.”
The summit was not far now.
Everyone offered words of encouragement with one heart.
“Good. Let’s get a little closer.”
“Taesu, carefully.”
“Good. I don’t know anything, but it’s just good.”
Kim Hyeokgwon only gave blind courage.
Still, it was good.
At this moment, the fact that they had brought their hearts together for Vanessa’s procedure was more important.
The courage they gave strengthened Taesu.
Sssrk.
Little by little, he approached the cardiac tumor and closed the distance.
And then.
Tick.
Taesu felt a faint wall at his fingertips.
The monitor?
The cardiac tumor and the guidewire were touching.
“It’s done.”
The moment Taesu said it in a heavy voice—
“Yes!”
“Good.”
“Whew. That’s one worry off our shoulders.”
Various reactions came immediately.
That was how much they had passed the most difficult and dangerous moment.
Due to the nature of a guidewire, applying too much force could easily tear a blood vessel. Piercing muscle wasn’t all that difficult either.
Since the targets were the aorta and the heart, it was only natural for their hearts to be in their throats.
“Whew.”
Taesu also let out a slight breath.
Tap, tap.
Nurse Casey and Nurse Ellen dabbed the sweat from either side.
“Is that enough? Is this much enough?”
“Should I do more here? Here too?”
Pat-pat-pat-pat.
They patted so much that Taesu quickly shook his head.
“That’s enough. I’m perfectly dry now.”
“Then that’s fine. Whewww.”
Nurse Casey, in particular, had been extremely nervous.
She was clearly still blaming herself for her mistake.
Taesu, on the other hand, did not hold it in mind.
The way to lighten her burden was to finish the procedure quickly.
Through the guidewire, Taesu pushed in another surgical instrument.
Following the guidewire faithfully, it soon reached the cardiac tumor.
Taesu slowly gripped the handle-shaped controller.
Squeeze.
A change occurred in the surgical instrument touching the cardiac tumor.
Because it was transesophageal ultrasound, they couldn’t see the detailed movement.
However.
One thing was certain.
Slide.
Taesu pulled the guidewire and surgical instrument back slightly.
The same change occurred on the monitor.
“Huh?”
“Uh, uh?”
“What the?”
Everyone stared at the monitor in puzzlement.
Sssrk.
Taesu quietly withdrew the guidewire.
Insertion was difficult, but withdrawal was quick.
Tap.
After completing the withdrawal, Taesu looked at the small piece of tissue held at the end of the surgical instrument.
This was the cardiac tumor.
It had the characteristic of crumbling easily and breaking into small pieces.
If it blocked a vessel going to the brain, it would cause a stroke; if it blocked the aorta, it would cause aortic infarction or aortic stenosis.
Those dangers existed when it was inside the heart.
Now that it was in his hand, it was free of all those dangers.
“This one little thing shook up so many people.”
Taesu murmured quietly.
But it seemed his voice had been too low.
Everyone was still combing through the monitor.
“Where did it go?”
“Did it really disappear?”
“It couldn’t have been carried off by the bloodstream, could it?”
What they were all looking for was already in Taesu’s hand.
They should have known from seeing the guidewire withdrawn. But because they were searching for the cardiac tumor, they had failed to notice any other change.
Taesu did not drag it out any longer and called everyone.
“Everyone, attention.”
“What.”
“What you’re looking for is here.”
Slide.
Taesu showed them the cardiac tumor.
“Mm. Mm?”
“Uh.”
“Is that real?”
“Hey, wow, whoa.”
Their puzzled expressions gradually brightened.
And in the end?
“We did it.”
“Yahoo!”
They shouted so loudly the examination room seemed to shake.
On one side, Dr. Yamaguchi, standing alone by the wall, had a bitter smile filling his face.
It was the same world, yet the difference in temperature was far too great.
One hour later.
After Vanessa had stabilized.
She was moved back to the same sickbed.
That, too, was carried out in secret.
And Taesu and everyone else disappeared silently into the darkness.
As if nothing had happened, the hospital and the lodging were filled with quiet.
The next morning.
Dr. Kuramoto was making his rounds when he was startled out of his wits.
“What on earth happened? Dr. Takeshi.”
“Yes, Doctor.”
“Why are the patient’s vitals this stable? Why?”
“I asked everyone, but they say they don’t know.”
Dr. Takeshi answered with a troubled expression.
Dr. Kuramoto’s expression was in utter chaos.
A patient’s vitals could not become this stable in just twelve hours.
Something had definitely happened.
He had to find the person responsible right away and ask them.