Chapter 13 – Grandmother Mi-seon (4)

“We must save Grandmother Mi-seon at all costs! Even if it leads to a regrettable outcome. On a battlefield where shells pour down like rain, there is nothing we can choose. We must save her no matter what!”

At that, Senior Shin Jeong-eun joined in and strongly appealed.

‘Dr. Shin Jeong-eun! I respect you! If I ever return to the era I used to live in, I will surely visit you to pay my respects!’

Kim Ji-hyuk felt deeply moved by her presence.

The Korean War, a tragedy of fratricide.

Yet, ironically, this war served as a turning point for South Korea’s medical technology to achieve dazzling growth.

Shin Jeong-eun!

She was indeed the very person.

In this era when anesthesiologists were non-existent, Shin Jeong-eun acquired advanced foreign techniques to become the country’s first anesthesiologist.

Despite a short training period of only two weeks under Captain Palmer, an Indian doctor, Shin Jeong-eun was the best anesthesiologist who had the most outstanding performance among the 28 trainees.

She calmly began the general anesthesia.

Although beads of sweat formed on her forehead, she remained completely unfazed.

“Beginning endotracheal intubation!”

* * *

At the same time, the observation room.

Around the time Director Gustafsson was silently watching the surgery, a Korean doctor walked inside.

“How is it going right now?”

He was Brigadier General Yun Chi-wang, the Surgeon General of the South Korean Army. He was the one who had arranged for the 28 Korean doctors, including Shin Jeong-eun, to be trained by Captain Palmer.

“As you can see, it seems they are about to start the surgery.”

Director Gustafsson said in a calm voice.

“Is Dr. Shin Jeong-eun administering the anesthesia?”

He looked closely at the operating room.

“It seems so.”

“If it is Dr. Shin Jeong-eun, she will do well.”

“She must do well, of course. Since a strict order to save the patient at all costs has come down from UN Commander Ridgway.”

“I see! Heaven helped us! Just in time, aren’t Heidbrink, endotracheal tubes, and laryngoscopes supplied to this field hospital? Because general anesthesia is possible via the closed-circuit method!”

General anesthesia using the closed-circuit method.

Considering South Korea’s medical level at the time, it could be called a state-of-the-art anesthesia technique.

“Indeed. General Yun made so much effort, and it seems to finally bear fruit.”

“That is correct, Director! In the future, it will show great effectiveness not only in treating soldiers but also in civilian surgeries. And Dr. Shin Jeong-eun, Dr. Kim Ji-hyuk, and Dr. Kim Yun-seok down there are talents who will become the foundation of the Korean medical community!”

Surgeon General Brigadier General Yun Chi-wang said with an excited voice.

“That will depend on the outcome of this surgery. Whether they grow into the prodigies of the Korean medical community, or…”

“Or what, Director?”

“It’s nothing. At any rate, they must save that patient today!”

Director Gustafsson stared at the operating room with a stiff face.

“………”

At this, Surgeon General Yun Chi-wang could not help but wear a tense expression as well.

Operating Room.

“Anesthesia induction will be done with Pentothal!”

Shin Jeong-eun said in a bold voice.

It was an anesthetic agent used in modern medicine along with etomidate.

“Good!”

“Curare is going in!”

A moment later, as the anesthetic and muscle relaxant were administered, all preparations for the surgery were completed.

Now was the time for the full-scale surgery to begin.

“General anesthesia is complete!”

Phew, Shin Jeong-eun finally let out a sigh of relief.

Although she was anxious due to the short two-week training period, she was able to finish the anesthesia calmly. Although the anesthesia was successful, Shin Jeong-eun did not let her guard down even slightly.

Watching the patient’s condition to the end, from the intravenous line for blood transfusion to the urinary catheter.

Shin Jeong-eun calmly proceeded with the surgical steps.

‘Is it my turn to step up now? Hmm, it won’t be easy. But!’

Kim Ji-hyuk bit his lip slightly, perhaps feeling a bit nervous.

“Students! Can you do well?”

“Yes!”

“Nice spirit! Thanks to you all, this surgery will definitely be successful. Shall we begin then?”

“Yes!”

“A lot of blood will gush out as soon as we open the abdomen. Please prepare plenty of irrigation.”

“Yes. Understood!”

“We are starting now! Nurse Erika! Scalpel, please!”

“Yes. Here it is.”

Kim Ji-hyuk took the scalpel handed to him by Nurse Erika and began to make an incision on the surgical site.

“Suction!”

“Okay!”

As he unconsciously yelled “Suction” out of habit, Nurse Erika brought the suction machine.

‘Oh my, this is a suction machine? It’s so crude!’

“Yun-seok, I will hold the surgical site with forceps, so please apply the suction.”

Tasks that would be simple with a state-of-the-art suction machine, like in a modern operating room, were not easy in this current situation.

“Got it.”

*Suck, suck—*

Like that, Kim Yun-seok held the suction tip and sucked up the overflowing blood, which flowed steadily and accumulated inside a glass jar.

The operating room in the 1950s was definitely in a poor environment, to the point it could not be compared to a modern operating room.

There were too many things that looked like a wooden-framed phonograph-like ECG that one would only see in an encyclopedia, along with devices whose uses could not be known without an explanation.

Every single one of them was an unfamiliar machine.

Although many diseases had been discovered theoretically and treatment methods had developed dazzlingly, medical devices were failing to keep up with that pace.

Kim Ji-hyuk was struggling under these adverse conditions to continue the surgery.

“Nurse! Irrigation! Quick!”

As soon as the scalpel went deep, blood spurted out as if it had been waiting.

As expected, a significant amount of blood had already accumulated inside the abdominal cavity.

“Okay! I will start right away.”

Nurse Erika and Kim Yun-seok busily carried lukewarm saline in a yellowish brass bucket.

“You need to bring more! As much as possible!”

Still not enough!

Because of the blood filling the cavity, he could not secure any visibility yet.

Securing a clear view was the priority.

“Stop!”

Kim Ji-hyuk raised his hand toward the medical team.

A first bucket, a second, a third, and then a fourth!

Only after pouring in the saline did the ruptured organs slowly begin to come into view.

“Yun-seok, pull the retractor!”

“Got it! I am pulling with every ounce of my strength!”

Kim Yun-seok was pulling the retractor with all his might, his face turning red.

“Students! Come over here! Stand opposite Dr. Kim Yun-seok and pull this.”

“Ah, understood.”

As Kim Ji-hyuk beckoned with his finger, one of the students rushed over and clumsily pulled the retractor.

“Is that your best?”

“Pardon?”

‘If only we had an Iron Intern at a time like this, we wouldn’t have to go through this trouble!’

The “Iron Intern” was a fixed retractor system named so because it easily did the work of one intern.

“Pardon?”

“I asked if this is your best! You need to pull harder.”

“Ah, understood.”

Judging that one person was not enough, another student joined in to pull the retractor.

“Student! You come over here and hold the suction tip.”

“Yes. Understood!”

‘It’s tough, so tough! To think the senior professors performed surgeries with these kinds of instruments! They are truly amazing to have achieved such great results even in these conditions!’

Like that, Kim Ji-hyuk struggled to proceed with the surgery while controlling the medical team.

*Suck, suck—*

Although clumsy, a student grabbed the suction tip and began to suck up the gushing blood.

“Irrigation!”

“Irrigation!”

Before they knew it, the saline poured in surely exceeded 100 liters.

Only after pouring in several more buckets of physiological saline were the patient’s organs fully revealed.

The patient’s organs were in such a wretched state that one could hardly bear to look at them.

“Sigh, they are all shattered! Just how many places had an earthquake?”

“Earthquake? Do you express torn organs like that?”

Kim Yun-seok asked, finding it curious.

“Huh? Uh, yeah. They call it that in America.”

Kim Ji-hyuk glossed it over.

It was a dilemma.

Grandmother Mi-seon’s condition was more serious than he had thought.

The liver was nearly 80% crushed, and even the right liver had already turned black.

In other words, necrosis was occurring.

If it were an ordinary patient, a table death would have already occurred.

However, Grandmother Mi-seon was showing superhuman strength, not letting go of her lifeline.

Was it because she had too many regrets? The reason she held onto her life so tenaciously.

‘Grandmother Mi-seon! If you wish to live that much, I will save you!’

In this kind of situation, the probability of death was 80%, or rather, it was more likely to be higher, but a probability was just a probability.

Kim Ji-hyuk did not have the slightest intention of giving up on the patient.

“I can’t even get a sense of how much blood she lost. Here, three blood vessels are ruptured too!”

Not only was the liver ruptured, but even the blood vessels were severed, leaking blood continuously.

It was a miracle that the vitals had not faded out.

“Senior Shin Jeong-eun! What is the patient’s blood pressure?”

‘What if even the blood pressure drops at this point?’

“Yes. The systolic blood pressure is currently 60mmHg. It is continuing to drop, but it’s not falling any lower than that! It’s a miracle. I think the grandmother is holding on with all her might.”

If more than 80% of the liver was shattered and the vena cava was severed, it was normal for the blood pressure to drop helplessly.

Yet, the patient was holding out to the end.

It was a miracle that could not be explained theoretically.

“Sigh, how could she still be alive until now? It is truly wondrous!”

Shin Jeong-eun also felt a chill down her spine at the miraculous situation.

“It seems so! In that sense, we must also cheer up.”

“Of course. Giving up is a word only used when counting cabbages!”

‘So that saying was already around in the 1950s!’

“Right! Students! You saw the patient holding on, right? We can’t lose either, can we?”

“Yes! That’s right!”

“Great. Let’s squeeze the blood bags with all our might again!”

“Yes, yes!”

As Kim Ji-hyuk encouraged them, the students began to squeeze the blood contained in the plastic bags with all their might.

*Beep, beep, beep, beep. Beep, beep, beep, beep.*

The patient’s vital signs were fluctuating slightly.

*Rattle, rattle.*

An electrocardiogram that checked the patient’s heart rate as a drum rotated in a dark brown wooden casing.

A device whose data was impossible to know how to read.

“Vital signs are stable, and the heart rate is normal! Dr. Kim Ji-hyuk!”

However, Shin Jeong-eun was reading the data accurately.

Although the patient was recovering little by little, the surgery was by no means easy.

‘I must piece together all the torn liver pieces within thirty minutes. If there is an additional rupture or re-bleeding occurs, even a ten percent survival probability will mean nothing! We must stop the bleeding first at all costs.’

Suturing the torn liver and blood vessels was a matter for later.

Right now, they had to somehow stop the bleeding that was spouting like a fountain.

“Yun-seok, temporarily clamp the blood vessels with forceps, and gather the torn liver pieces as quickly as possible!”

“Kelly!”

“Yes. Here it is.”

“One more!”

“Yes! Here.”

Thus, Nurse Erika handed over two Kelly forceps, and after clamping the torn blood vessels as a temporary measure, Kim Ji-hyuk began to gather the fragmented liver masses together.

“Gauze!”

“More! Faster, more! Just bring all of it over here!”

Kim Ji-hyuk’s mind began to grow anxious.

“Yes. Understood!”

A critical situation!

Not to mention Nurse Erika and Nurse Ena, even Kim Yun-seok stepped in to desperately pack gauze into the patient’s abdomen.

“Yun-seok, pack in more, more!”

“Got it.”

The gauze sucked up blood as soon as it was placed inside, turning bright red.

Putting in, taking out, putting in, taking out.

Before they knew it, bright red gauze accumulated like a mountain in the trash can.

An endless repetition of packing.

Until the bleeding stopped completely, the medical staff had to repeat packing and unpacking.

And finally!

“It’s done!”

Finally, Kim Ji-hyuk put both hands into the abdominal cavity and was able to piece together the last detached liver fragment. It looked plausible, as if a shattered toy had been pieced together to form its shape.

“Yun-seok, hemostatic agent!!”

“Insane! He found even the microscopic pieces and put them together!”

Watching that scene, Kim Yun-seok shook his head in amazement.

“Y-you did this! I can’t believe my eyes, Ji-hyuk!”

Kim Yun-seok stared at Kim Ji-hyuk with a half-dazed expression.

“I don’t think we have time to be spacing out like that right now. What are you doing? I told you to bring the hemostatic agent!”

“Okay, okay!”

Kim Yun-seok received the hemostatic agent from the nurse and handed it to Kim Ji-hyuk.

*Psh, psh.*

Having received the hemostatic agent from Kim Yun-seok, Kim Ji-hyuk carefully filled the cracked gaps with the hemostatic agent.

‘It has decreased a lot! Now we stand a chance!’

Even at a glance, the amount of blood flowing from the liver had significantly decreased. Now, a situation where they could actually manage had been created.

Just as they were catching their breath.

*Beep, beep, beep, beep—*

A loudly ringing warning sound!

It was a sign announcing that the patient’s condition was deteriorating rapidly.

The medical team reflexively gathered their gazes toward Shin Jeong-eun.

“Patient’s blood pressure is dropping!”

Sure enough, Shin Jeong-eun’s voice became urgent.