Chapter 56 – The Gentleman Who Studied in America (4)

“Yun-seok! Hang dobutamine! Quickly!”

The condition of patient Kim Pil-sung was gradually worsening. Kim Ji-hyuk also began to hurry, as if he was in a rush.

“Got it!”

As a result of administering epinephrine and dobutamine in that way, his blood pressure seemed to stabilize to some extent, but then it began to drop again.

“Wh-what should we do, Ji-hyuk! I don’t think this will be enough at all.”

Despite the emergency measures, Kim Pil-sung’s heartbeat did not return.

Kim Yun-seok’s voice, with a face full of fear, was urgent.

“Kim Pil-sung’s kidneys are not normal either! If his respiratory failure is this severe, his acidosis must be severe too. You know what happens if acidosis is severe, right?”

“Y-yes. He must have lost consciousness due to severe acidosis.”

“Right! First, let’s administer sodium bicarbonate.”

“Got it.”

Kim Yun-seok hurriedly administered the acidosis medication intravenously.

However, the patient was not going to recover easily just because of that.

Despite the efforts of the two, the patient’s condition grew worse. There was no way to restore the dropping blood pressure.

“Yun-seok! It seems we have to use the defibrillator! Quickly!”

“The defibrillator?”

“Yes. A defibrillator came in just a few days ago, didn’t it?”

“A-Alright!”

There was only one defibrillator in the National Medical Center.

The cardiac defibrillator was first developed in 1947, and it was only in 1951 that a portable defibrillator in the modern sense was developed. Just in time, one defibrillator had been provided to the National Medical Center through American aid.

A defibrillator that brought a revolution to modern emergency medicine.

However, it was a crude machine that was clearly different from the defibrillator Ji-hyuk knew.

“Was contact made with Professor Chung Ki-ryeo?”

Kim Ji-hyuk asked the nurse who had brought the defibrillator along with Kim Yun-seok.

“No contact can be made! He went to Daegu yesterday for outreach medical treatment!”

“Sigh… He said he would come up today…”

In this era without pagers or cell phones, there was no way to contact him once he was in transit. They could only hope he would arrive at the hospital as quickly as possible.

“There is no way to contact him. What should we do?”

“It cannot be helped. Give the defibrillator to me, and since cardiac arrest might occur, I will administer atropine!”

“Understood.”

At Kim Ji-hyuk’s instruction, the nurse administered atropine to the patient’s arm.

And Ji-hyuk and Yun-seok immediately started defibrillation.

“Yun-seok! Charge to 150 Joules!”

It was a defibrillator of a shape that was incomparably crude and simple compared to 2024. However, the patient’s condition was too serious to just blame the machine.

Kim Ji-hyuk immediately turned on the switch and operated the defibrillator.

“No response!”

Kim Yun-seok shook his head.

“Let’s raise it a bit more. Charge to 200 Joules!”

“Okay!”

“What is the patient’s condition?”

“It is useless! I think we need to raise it more.”

Kim Yun-seok’s face had turned almost ash-colored.

Charge to 250 Joules!

However, the blood pressure graph only wriggled for a moment, and there was no sign of Kim Pil-sung’s blood pressure rising.

‘Darn it, this won’t do. I have to perform CPR directly!’

“Sigh, this won’t work. I must perform CPR. Yun-seok! Hold the bed tightly!”

Now, in a situation where they had no choice but to use the last resort, Kim Ji-hyuk threw off his gown, climbed onto the bed, and started cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

“One, two!”

“One, two!”

“One, two!”

‘Mr. Kim Pil-sung! Just a little, please hold on just a little more!’

Before long, Kim Ji-hyuk’s face was flushed red.

Did Kim Ji-hyuk’s CPR have an effect?

After repeating CPR dozens of times.

“Ji-hyuk! The patient Kim Pil-sung’s blood pressure is rising little by little!”

Kim Pil-sung’s heart began to show a reaction little by little.

“Pant, pant, one, two!”

“Mr. Kim Pil-sung! Cheer up. You cannot go like this! Shouldn’t you wear that jacket and walk the streets coolly!”

In that way, Kim Yun-seok assisted Kim Ji-hyuk’s CPR with all his might.

“Now, we are almost there! Please hold on a little more!”

Kim Ji-hyuk also pressed Kim Pil-sung’s chest with all his might.

Drip, drip, drip—

Sweat drops like heavy rain poured down from Kim Ji-hyuk.

“Huff, huff, one, two!”

His vision was even blurred by the sweat pouring like rain.

“Huff, huff! One, two, three!”

Ji-hyuk continued CPR while catching his rough breath.

“Ji-hyuk! Let’s switch. I’ll do it.”

“A-Alright!”

Ji-hyuk and Yun-seok switched places. Now, Yun-seok put strength into his entire body and pressed Kim Pil-sung’s chest.

Yun-seok’s face was flushed red as if it would explode.

After about 20 minutes of doing their best in that way, Kim Pil-sung’s heart finally began to respond.

Beep, beep, beep, beep—

The heart rate monitor, which had not budged, began to show a response. This meant the blood pressure was rising again. Only now had the possibility of resuscitation arisen.

“Yun-seok! The systolic blood pressure rose to 80 mmHg!”

Kim Ji-hyuk, who checked Kim Pil-sung’s blood pressure, raised his voice.

Beep, beep, beep, beep—

The blood pressure was finally wriggling. It seemed they had finally escaped the worst-case scenario.

“Ji-hyuk! Administer the vasopressor one more time!”

Once Kim Pil-sung’s blood pressure revived, Yun-seok seemed to have gained confidence.

“Okay! Understood.”

Kim Ji-hyuk, who received Kim Yun-seok’s instruction, administered the vasopressor to the patient.

Ji-hyuk and Yun-seok fought for about 30 minutes.

Finally, their efforts bore fruit.

Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep…

“It worked! Mr. Kim Pil-sung’s blood pressure is back!”

Kim Yun-seok wiped the sweat flowing down his forehead with his sleeve with a look of joy.

“Is it done?”

“Yes! It’s back. I think it has risen to normal values now!”

Thud—

At Kim Yun-seok’s words, Kim Ji-hyuk’s legs seemed to lose strength, and he collapsed onto the floor.

Pant, pant—

Ji-hyuk exhaled rough breaths. White steam was rising from his sweat-soaked body.

However.

Was it too early to be relieved?

“Wh-what is this?”

What Kim Ji-hyuk found as he sat on the floor.

The bedsheet of patient Kim Pil-sung was stained red.

‘Could it be hematuria (bloody urine)? But why hematuria?’

“It… it looks like hematuria.”

It was not only Kim Ji-hyuk who was surprised. Kim Yun-seok, who checked the hematuria, stammered.

Not only had the heart rapidly worsened, but there was also sudden hematuria.

It was at that very moment.

“What is that? Please pull it out quickly!”

“Dr. Kim Ji-hyuk, that looks like a coffee bottle.”

Ji-hyuk, who discovered something in the nightstand next to the bed, shouted, and the nurse bent down to pull out a bottle placed under the nightstand.

“A coffee bottle?”

“Yes. The coffee is almost empty. Did he drink all of this?”

“…”

‘He drank all of this? A person whose kidneys are not good?’

Sigh—

It seemed Kim Pil-sung had obtained coffee secretly from the medical staff and consumed it in large quantities.

“Yun-seok, I think we need to move the patient to the ICU quickly. Hurry!”

“Got it!”

The cause of the sudden hematuria was drinking a large amount of coffee.

Ji-hyuk and Yun-seok moved the patient Kim Pil-sung to the ICU.

* * *

A few hours later, ICU.

“Mr. Kim Pil-sung! Can you recognize me?”

“Sigh, yes. Are you not Professor Chung?”

Kim Pil-sung, who seemed to have regained some stability, recognized Professor Chung Ki-ryeo.

Fortunately, Professor Chung Ki-ryeo, who had gone down to Daegu, returned to Seoul not too late and was able to see the patient.

“Yes. It is Chung Ki-ryeo.”

“Did I lose consciousness?”

Kim Pil-sung moved his dry lips.

“Yes. You could have met with disaster if it were not for them.”

Professor Chung Ki-ryeo nodded slowly.

“I see. It was in an instant. Suddenly, everything went dark before my eyes… I have no memory after that.”

“Yes, it was really a close call. If it were not for the doctors here.”

Professor Chung Ki-ryeo pointed to Yun-seok and Ji-hyuk.

“Thank you! Thank you so much.”

“Why on earth did you drink coffee…”

“Stay quiet, Yun-seok.”

When the angry Yun-seok scolded Kim Pil-sung, Kim Ji-hyuk quietly pulled his sleeve.

“That’s right. It would have been a disaster without Dr. Yun-seok and Dr. Ji-hyuk, so of course you should be grateful!”

“I am sorry for causing concern…”

“No. We have taken emergency measures for now, so please close your eyes. Once you regain some energy, let’s talk again.”

Professor Chung Ki-ryeo pulled the slipped blanket up to Kim Pil-sung’s neck.

“I… I understand.”

After reassuring the patient in that way, Professor Chung Ki-ryeo, Ji-hyuk, and Yun-seok came out of the ward.

A moment later, Professor Chung Ki-ryeo’s office.

“Did the patient Kim Pil-sung drink all of this coffee?”

Professor Chung Ki-ryeo placed the almost empty coffee bottle on his desk.

“It seems so. It is my fault, Professor.”

Kim Yun-seok dropped his head powerlessly. Since he was the doctor in charge, he seemed to think all responsibility lay with him.

“It’s not like he had a grudge against coffee… He drank a lot.”

Tsk, tsk—

Professor Chung Ki-ryeo clicked his tongue and played with the empty coffee bottle.

“I am sorry. Without making excuses, this is all due to my carelessness, Professor!”

“I am not saying this to blame you. How can a doctor monitor a patient’s every move 24 hours a day? It cannot be helped if a patient acts arbitrarily like this. It is not Dr. Yun-seok’s responsibility, so there is no need for that.”

“No. I clearly anticipated it to some extent, but I think I dealt with it complacently. I will take all responsibility.”

“Hahaha, how? How are you going to take responsibility?”

Professor Chung Ki-ryeo asked with a gentle smile.

“Th-that…”

“It is fine. The dangerous crisis has passed, and we just need to pay attention so that this never happens again. When the body weakens, the mind also wavers! Elderly patients also become children. So it is fine if you are careful in the future. If you always think of patients as spoiled children, you will understand.”

“Even so, Kim Pil-sung almost died because of me.”

Kim Yun-seok whimpered.

“He didn’t die. So that’s all that matters.”

“I am sorry!”

Kim Yun-seok was still unable to shake off the heavy responsibility.

“Professor! But it is a bit strange. Can the condition worsen to this extent just because Kim Pil-sung drank coffee a bit excessively?”

Kim Ji-hyuk, who had been quiet, asked Professor Chung Ki-ryeo.

A cardiac attack that almost led to arrest, and even hematuria. It was Kim Ji-hyuk’s rational guess that all of these phenomena would certainly not occur simply due to coffee overdose.

“Yes. Dr. Kim Ji-hyuk’s words make sense. Since there is something suspicious, it seems we should do a more detailed examination.”

Professor Chung Ki-ryeo nodded in agreement.

“Understood.”

“Well, well! I heard you did CPR for almost an hour? At that rate, you must have consumed all the calories you had for the day! Isn’t everyone hungry? Shall we go eat? That way, we can also treat patients.”

“Yes.”

“I… need to go to the ICU…”

“I said there is no need to blame yourself? It’s a battle of stamina anyway. The doctor has to be fine to treat the patient, right?”

When Kim Yun-seok expressed reluctance, Professor Chung Ki-ryeo pulled his arm.

‘It’s not simply due to coffee overdose! There is definitely something! Something…’

Kim Ji-hyuk bit his lips and narrowed his eyes.