Chapter 14 – Grandmother Mi-seon (5)

Grandmother Mi-seon’s blood pressure dropped helplessly, and Shin Jeong-eun’s voice grew urgent.

“Please administer a vasopressor!”

“I already did. But it’s not holding. I think she lost too much blood. At this rate, the patient won’t survive!”

Shin Jeong-eun cried out in a raspy voice.

“Damn it! Senior Shin Jeong-eun! Blood! We need more blood.”

With his insides burning with anxiety, Kim Ji-hyuk cried out urgently.

“Sigh, that is all. There is no more spare blood in our hospital. I scraped together every last drop!”

Shin Jeong-eun pointed to the blood bag hanging on the stand.

“There’s no blood??”

“Yes. What should we do??”

*Beep, beep, beep, beep.*

“Dr. Kim Ji-hyuk! The patient can’t hold on any longer! She has reached her limit! I think she is going into cardiac arrest!”

Even the usually calm Shin Jeong-eun could not help but be frantic at this moment.

The patient’s blood pressure and all vital signs were declining rapidly. Although she had held on superhumanly, all her remaining energy seemed to have been depleted.

Grandmother Mi-seon was completely exhausted.

It had become a situation where she could no longer hold out.

‘W-what should we do about this!’

In this life-or-death situation, if left like this, Grandmother Mi-seon would not be able to survive any longer.

They had to somehow stop the patient’s bleeding and administer a continuous blood transfusion just to make her survive.

It was a situation where they had to make blood out of nothing.

“Senior Shin Jeong-eun! We must get blood, blood!”

“Phew, as I said earlier, I brought all the blood kept in the hospital.”

Shin Jeong-eun had a troubled look on her face.

“Then we should at least draw blood from the people in the hospital! We can’t just stand by and watch, can we?”

At that, Kim Yun-seok stomped his feet in frustration.

“Yun-seok, calm down! The people in this hospital are all patients. It’s not an issue that can be resolved so easily!”

“There’s no choice. Whether it’s doctors, nurses, or anyone, we have to draw blood from whoever is available!”

Kim Yun-seok raised his voice in excitement.

“Dr. Kim Yun-seok! More than ninety percent of the patients here are suffering from excessive bleeding! Where is the blood to draw that you are being so unreasonable!”

“It’s because I’m so frustrated!”

Kim Yun-seok flushed, looking frustrated.

“Kim Yun-seok! Calm down. Because Senior Shin Jeong-eun is right.”

“Even so, we can’t just sit here with our hands tied, can we?”

“So listen to me. They say even if the sky falls, there is a way out. Listen to me carefully from now on! Because this patient is up to you.”

Kim Ji-hyuk took off his surgical gloves, grabbed Kim Yun-seok by the shoulders, and stepped out of the operating room for a moment.

“The hospital administration will also try to save the grandmother at all costs. So go out right now and check. Even if it’s hard for the patients, there must be soldiers or staff members who are able to donate blood. Secure as much as you can possibly get.”

“U-understood.”

Kim Yun-seok, having calmed down, nodded his head.

“And there is one more place you need to visit.”

“A place to visit? Where is it?”

“Go to Beomeosa.”

“Beomeosa? Are you talking about the temple? Why do you want me to go to a temple?”

“Right now, the US military is temporarily using Beomeosa as a field hospital.”

“Right! They are!”

It seemed Yun-seok finally remembered.

“They probably have secured more blood than our hospital does. So go to Beomeosa right now. Bring the students with you if necessary!”

“You’re right!”

A bright expression instantly returned to Kim Yun-seok’s face.

“Furthermore, since it is a field hospital run by the US military, they will also have equipment for blood transfusions. You must draw all the blood that can be drawn from there as well.”

“Can I do it?”

‘Grandfather, please! This unfortunate era! Neither I, you, nor the dying Grandmother Mi-seon would be living such miserable lives if it weren’t for the war. We are one nation, one family that must share and overcome the pain of the times together!’

“Please! Yun-seok! Let’s save Grandmother Mi-seon together!”

“Understood. I will get it somehow!”

With that, Kim Yun-seok departed for Beomeosa along with the students.

At the same time, the observation room.

“It seems we are short of blood. What should we do?”

Surgeon General Yun Chi-wang bit his lip in worry.

“What else? This is a surgery ordered by the commander of the Eighth US Army. We must save her by any means. Surgeon General, take responsibility and secure the blood. The hospital will spare no support!”

Director Gustafsson showed a determined look.

“Yes. Understood!”

With that, Surgeon General Yun Chi-wang also hurried out of the observation room.

‘Dr. Kim Ji-hyuk, you must save this patient at all costs!’

Director Gustafsson stared down at the operating room with a firm expression.

* * *

A moment later, the operating room.

“Dr. Kim Ji-hyuk! Blood has been secured. I think Dr. Kim Yun-seok made it happen!”

“How much?”

“It is not enough. We secured five packs. In the hospital’s current state, this is probably the best we can do!”

Shin Jeong-eun bit her lip with regret.

‘The best method I can use right now? There is no choice. I have to temporarily block the aorta with an EDT! And then just wait for Yun-seok to secure and bring back blood!’

“Senior Shin Jeong-eun! I am going to perform an aortic occlusion!”

“An aortic occlusion?”

“Yes. I don’t think we have a choice right now. If we temporarily block the aorta to stop the bleeding as much as possible, and wait for Yun-seok to transport the blood back, we might be able to pull through somehow!”

“Have you ever done it?”

‘Yes! I have done it. Please trust me.’

“I’ve learned it.”

“You’ve learned it? Hmm, we must hope you learned it very well, right? Under the circumstances?”

“Yes. I will try.”

“Alright. I will do my best to help too. Let’s do our absolute best. I will keep a tight grip on the patient’s vitals.”

“Yes. I will do my best.”

Kim Ji-hyuk thus made his decision, and Shin Jeong-eun also clenched her fists to encourage him.

The patient’s condition was such that cardiac arrest was imminent due to severe abdominal bleeding.

The plan Kim Ji-hyuk drew in his mind was this.

By temporarily occluding the aorta to block the arteries running from the heart to the abdomen and legs, they could increase blood flow to the brain and heart, thereby buying time.

However, the blood they had secured so far was severely lacking. It was an urgent situation where Kim Yun-seok absolutely had to secure more blood for the surgery to succeed.

It was a gamble, but considering the patient’s critical state, this was the absolute best Kim Ji-hyuk could do.

‘Can we really pull off this difficult surgery?’

Kim Ji-hyuk looked over the students, who were just blinking their eyes in ignorance, and spoke.

“War is different from sports. You live, or you die! There are only these two options. A draw does not exist. If I could have chosen a draw, I wouldn’t have chosen this method. I desperately need your help. Let’s all gather our strength and save this patient. No, let’s save South Korea. This person is not just a simple patient, she is South Korea.”

“Yes! We can do it.”

“Me too!”

The students clenched their teeth at Kim Ji-hyuk’s passionate speech.

Thus, the medical team’s struggle to save the patient began once again.

“Nurse Erika! I am performing aortic occlusion! Scalpel, please!”

“Yes.”

Kim Ji-hyuk took a deep breath and began the full-scale surgery.

“Hemostat!”

“Yes, Doctor.”

He immediately opened the chest via an emergency thoracotomy, pushed the lung aside, grabbed the aorta extending below the heart, and blocked the blood flow.

The time taken to temporarily open the chest, find the aorta, and occlude it with a clamp was only five minutes.

*Woah—*

The students and Shin Jeong-eun wore astonished expressions.

The scene they had only seen in textbooks was simply fascinating and wondrous to them.

‘Wonderful! Dr. Kim Ji-hyuk!’

Shin Jeong-eun could not close her gaping mouth.

“Senior Shin Jeong-eun, what is the patient’s cardiac status?”

“Phew, for now, she is stable as blood enters, but it is not a stage where we can relax. We will continue to be short on blood!”

Her face had brightened momentarily, but it quickly stiffened again.

‘Still, the fact that blood is circulating means her condition is improving!! Though it is a sliver of hope, the situation has clearly gotten better!’

“Good! Then from now on, we clamp the torn blood vessels! Curved mosquito!”

“Mosquito!”

Curator Erika placed a mosquito clamp on his hand.

‘If only we had curved mosquito forceps!’

Unfortunately, the mosquito clamp Nurse Erika handed him was not a high-strength stainless steel mosquito clamp, but a blunt instrument that would be completely unusable in the 2000s.

“Forceps.”

“Forceps!”

The forceps were no different.

However, now was not a situation where he could lament such things.

Kim Ji-hyuk took the mosquito clamp and began to clamp the aorta.

And.

‘I caught it!’

As Kim Ji-hyuk put his hands into the opened abdomen, the damaged blood vessel was finally caught at his fingertips.

“IVC injury (inferior vena cava injury)!”

“Inferior vena cava injury?? Have you finally found the source of the bleeding?”

Shin Jeong-eun blinked in surprise.

“Yes. This was the cause of the bleeding. Nurse, gauze!”

“Yes. Here it is.”

Kim Ji-hyuk took the gauze and pressed it firmly against the blood vessel.

“More gauze! Please give me plenty of gauze!”

Seeing hope, Kim Ji-hyuk raised his voice.

“Yes, yes!”

At that, even Shin Jeong-eun joined in this time and packed gauze on the opposite side.

“Clamp!”

“Yes.”

“Nurse Ena! Spread it wider, wider, wider! Students! Come over here and help Nurse Ena.”

In the urgent situation, Kim Ji-hyuk’s voice came out cracked.

“Yes, Doctor!”

Running around busily, Shin Jeong-eun and the students swapped places to start blocking the flowing blood.

“Forceps!”

“Forceps!”

“Nurse Erika! Gauze change.”

The pile of gauze was already drenched in blood.

“Yes. Understood!”

Nurse Erika took out the blood-red gauze and put new gauze into the surgical site.

“From now on, I will secure the blood vessels! If we pass this hurdle, we can catch our breath! Suture!”

“Yes.”

Nurse Ena threaded the needle and handed it to him.

“Nurse! We are not suturing torn flesh right now! Please give me vascular suture thread!”

“There is no such thing. In our hospital, there is only this thread.”

“……!”

An absurd situation. South Korea in the 1950s, which had become a ruin.

There was no such thing as vascular suture thread in the hospitals here.

“Ah, understood. Give me that then!”

“Yes, Doctor!”

Kim Ji-hyuk took the needle and thread from the nurse again and began the suturing immediately.

‘Dazzling! His brilliant fingertips. Like fingers sliding over piano keys, Kim Ji-hyuk’s hands are fast and precise.’

Shin Jeong-eun watched Kim Ji-hyuk’s surgery scene with a dazed expression.

‘By no means is this an easy surgery! Originally, suturing veins is far more difficult than suturing the aorta. The aorta has a distinct shape making it easy to find, and its walls are thick, so it does not require delicate tension control, making suturing relatively comfortable. But right now, it is the inferior vena cava!’

Shin Jeong-eun focused on the surgical technique, narrowing her eyes.

‘For veins, it is not only extremely difficult to distinguish where the rupture occurred. The sections above and below the ruptured vessel must be clamped and sutured, a situation where he had to rely entirely on the sensation of his fingertips. A person with ordinary experience and maturity would easily get lost!’

‘Yet, that fellow is pulling it off! Isn’t he accessing the inferior vena cava directly and suturing it swiftly? I have never actually seen it. It is an astonishing skill that I only saw in textbooks and am seeing for the first time in my life. No, it is a skill close to divine that is only described in a few lines of text even in textbooks! Kim Ji-hyuk! This guy is a genius! One who will lead the medical community of our country!’

“Senior Shin Jeong-eun! Now is not the time to zone out! Press down hard ten centimeters above and below the suture site! If even a single drop of blood leaks, everything will be in vain!”

Like that, the students, along with Shin Jeong-eun, pressed down hard to compress the blood vessel.

“Cut!”

“Cut!”

“It’s long! Cut it shorter!”

“Cut!”

The suturing continued.

“I secured it!”

Kim Ji-hyuk sutured the blood vessel uniformly without a single error. Finally, the stream of blood pouring from the inferior vena cava stopped.

It was the result of perfectly suturing an important blood vessel.

However, not everything was over yet.

“Everyone! Don’t lose focus! The mesenteric artery still remains!”

Kim Ji-hyuk raised the tone of his voice.