Chapter 126
The walls of William's office were papered with stuck up pieces of A4 paper, and Suhyuk was murmuring while looking at one of them.
"Embryonic stem cells have the ability to differentiate, but the differentiation is not done on their own, so they are classified as undifferentiated cells. So I'm going to be able to resolve the ethical issues…"
"Dr. Lee."
Suhyuk turned his head back at William's voice.
He was looking at the computer closely, and said,
"Sorry. Please wait a little more, I'll be done soon."
"I'm okay. Just take your time."
Suhyuk slowly looked around the table.
Among the piled-up A4 papers could seen an award carelessly placed down, which William received for his contributions to the field of stem cell research.
Suhyuk once again began reading carefully what was written on the paper.
As time passed, his eyes were becoming larger and larger.
It seemed as if what he had missed in the past was striking his head with a hammer.
"I'm done. Shall we go?"
Suhyuk, who had been thinking about something deeply, came to his senses, saying,
"You're great, William."
At his remarks, he examined various papers and other stuff in his office with a smile.
They were the results of his continuing research since he became a doctor. Moreover, it was still going on. Beaming widely, William escorted him out of the office.
"Let's go."
Leaving the office, Suhyuk was fixing his eyes at something in his office until the end.
As William said, the bar was not far from the hospital.
It took about 10 minutes of walking to get to from the hospital.
When they opened the door, a little bell rang crisply.
Inside the bar there was coming out the sound of smooth jazz, but there were not many customers, which made the atmosphere even more moody.
Sitting on the barstool, William asked Suhyuk, "Any favorite drink?"
Shaking his head, Suhyuk sat.
"Can I recommend one for you then?"
"Please, thank you."
William asked the bartender for two bottles of Red Dog.
With a pleasant smile, the lady bartender brought the beer right away.
On the surface of the bottle was a drawing of a red-faced bulldog.
It looked like it was a very strong drink, given the bulldog picture on the label.
Though he wanted to ask how strong it was, he did not, because it might be discourteous to William.
"Cheers!"
Clinking the glasses together, Suhyuk drank some.
The beer was cool and had a fantastic taste.
"How do you like it?"
"I love it."
"I'm glad to hear that. By the way, Dr. Lee."
"You can just casually call me Suhyuk."
With a smile, William opened up his mouth again,
"If you look at the Dongui Medical Encyclopedia…"
He began asking Suhyuk about the effects of herbs and some words he could not understand.
Suhyuk tried to explain to him as easily as possible.
William instantly understood them as he was smart.
"I'd like to learn about apuncture next time."
He felt William was unique because he had never seen anyone studying modern medicine showing such an interest in Oriental medicine like William.
Suddenly he recalled what Daman had said to Han over lunch,
"He's a freak! Freak!"
Well, he also looked like that to Suhyuk.
"Cheers!"
At William's raising the glass, Suhyuk also raised his and smiled.
The two drank the beer in one a gulp.
"William."
"Go ahead!"
'Will he accept my proposal?'
Suhyuk had been agonizing over it since the moment he visited his office.
Finally he opened his mouth cautiously,
"I happened to look at your research work in the office."
William just drank beer, asking him not to bother being cautious.
"You have suggested various conditions for the differentiation of undifferentiated cells, but in my opinion…"
Listening to Suhyuk's explanation, William's expression began to change every minute.
Sometimes he opened his eyes larger, with a strange look.
When Suhyuk was done, William cast an incredulous eye at him.
"Have you always been a researcher on stem cells?"
Suhyuk shook his head, saying, "Actually I found a hint in your office."
William was spreading the puzzle pieces about stem cells, which were the A4 papers covering the walls of his office.
Though the papers were strange to him, Suhyuk pondered over the contents of the papers deeply and finally could complete the puzzles.
If he had not seen them in William's office, he could not have seen them for the rest of his life.
Or he might have spent a considerable amount of time and research in understanding stem cells himself.
William made a bitter smile, saying,
"My mother once received a limp. When I was a child, I was almost run over by a car, but she was injured heavily in order to save me. Multiple fractures as well as nerve damage. She still has a limp. From that time I was determined to be a doctor, and have been studying stem cells up to now."
Suhyuk nodded his head.
William wet his lips again with beer, and said, looking at Suhyuk,
"Suhyuk, would you like to conduct research on stem cells with me?"
***
It was around 1am when Suhyuk returned to the apartment.
He spent quite a lot of time talking with William, and they mostly talked about stem cells.
Suhyuk cautiously opened the door so as not to wake up the professor.
Then he heard Prof. Han's voice, "You're back!"
The lights inside the living room were on.
Han, who was watching TV, drinking beer, smiled at him.
"Why didn't you spend more time with him?"
Suhyuk said with a smile, "Well, that was more than enough. Let me buy some snacks."
He felt sorry for Han because he had been drinking beer without any snacks.
"You don't have to. I'm done now."
Like Han said, he was putting several empty beer cans into a bag.
"Won't you take a shower?"
"Oh, I will."
Suhyuk headed to go shower immediately.
While he was closing his eyes in the bathroom, he felt as if he was hearing William's voice.
"Won't you conduct research on stem cells with me?"
Suhyuk smiled at that. He thought his decision to come to the United States was right.
He found a hint on stem cells after running into a person unexpectedly.
After taking a shower, he went out to the living room, but Han was already asleep in his room.
Turning off the lights, he closed the door quietly, and went back to his room.
He lay on the bed, which was soft. Looking out the window, he fell into sleep in no time.
'Yea, it's really fortunate I came here.'
Suhyuk's smile did not disappear until he fell asleep.
The sun rose the next morning without fail again.
Taking a shower, Suhyuk ate cereal with milk for his breakfast.
Han and Suhyuk went out, but Suhyuk looked at Han with a curious look.
Han was going somewhere else instead of walking to the main gate of the apartment.
"Where are you going, sir...?"
Han turned to Suhyuk, and waved a car key he took out from his pocket.
"Rental car."
He was offered a rental car by the hospital to use on a long term basis.
Of course, it was for free.
"What are you doing? Get in!"
Suhyuk got into the passenger's seat.
As it was a semi-large sedan, it was spacious inside.
Suhyuk felt clearly how the hospital was treating Prof. Han.
Not only his annual salary but also the apartment and a car.
"Let's go."
Han was driving the car skillfully along the roads.
Though there was some traffic along the way, it looked like they would arrive at the hospital in time.
Getting out of the car in the parking garage in the basement, they got on the elevator.
"What should I do, sir?"
Han said with a smile, "Just do what I instruct you to."
Suhyuk did not know what kind of instruction he would give.
Arriving at the general surgery building, Han was welcomed by the medical staff.
Greeting them by waving his hand, Han went to the conference room.
There were four doctors sitting there.
Given their age, it seemed their years of practice as doctors were not long.
Han stood before the podium, and Suhyuk took his seat among them.
Some more doctors joined later, who began talking amongst themselves about Han.
"I hear Han saved more than one hundred patients here."
"The number of surgeries he has performed so far is countless…"
Suhyuk felt greatly satisfied, hearing them whispering like that.
Then Han checked his wrist watch. 10am sharp.
The beam projector was turned on, and the screen became bright.
"I'm going to start lecturing on severe trauma."
Han slowly looked at the doctors, walking slowly on the platform.
"Do you know what causes heavy trauma?"
Phillip, seated in the back, giggled.
Here and there they came up with answers of their own.
"Usually there are many patients involved in heavy falls, have gunshot wounds, etc."
Han nodded his head lightly.
"We have to first stabilize the breathing and blood pressure of such patients, right?"
"Yes."
"The main cause of death in severe trauma patients is head injury, lung collapse, hemorrhagic shock..."
The doctors began taking notes in their notebooks so as not to miss any single word Han spoke.
Fixing his eyes on Han, Suhyuk slowly and continuously nodded his head.
Everything he said was right.
Explaining through a projector screen, Han suddenly turned his head to a doctor, asking,
"One question. A person whose belly was full of ascites due to other illnesses was involved in a traffic accident. When I checked the shot images, I became suspicious of spleen and liver damage. What should I do first?"
Nobody answered. They were murmuring to themselves because they were not confident in what to answer.
Then Han looked at Phillip, who Daman praised a lot, saying he's a promising doctor.
"Phillip, what would you do in such a situation?"
He opened his mouth without any hesitation.
"Well, I would remove the ascites first and reduce the pressure in the abdominal cavity before surgery."
Han nodded his head at his reply. It was not wrong, but a standard reply as written in the textbook.
"Any other answers?"
Han was trying to draw a reply from the doctors by meeting his eye at theirs one by one, but they would not answer.
Then Han's eyes moved toward Suhyuk.
"How about you, Dr. Lee?"
He then opened his mouth.
And Phillip too looked at him. Other doctors also focused their attention on him simultaneously.
Chapter 127
"I would start surgery with the incision of the patient's stomach."
What Suhyuk meant was that he would not care about the patient's ascites.
Han nodded his head.
"If the liver and spleen of a patient are damaged, they are an emergency patient. As the time lags, bleeding becomes worse and a heart arrest is accompanied. Before that happens, doctors should cope flexibly with the situation by starting with the incision..."
Phillip knitted his brows. Does Han take sides with Suhyuk because they're both Asians?
He instantly turned his head to the window.
Han's lecture was extended by one more hour.
The medical faculty gathered there said goodbye to Han before leaving the room.
Suhyuk approached Han who was sorting out his lecture material.
"How was it?" asked Han.
"It was great, sir," said Suhyuk with a smile.
"That's good to hear. Let's go out to eat."
The two went to the cafeteria in the hospital, where Suhyuk was surprised once more.
Almost half of the foods there were different from those served yesterday.
He felt that the hospital management was taking care of the doctors very well.
After eating for about 30 minutes, Han asked Suhyuk, rising from the seat,
"Do you want coffee?"
Though Suhyuk did not have coffee usually, it was okay for him to have it anytime if he could have coffee with Han during a break.
Prof. Han looked tired everyday back in Korea, but he was much more relaxed here, which Suhyuk liked.
They bought coffee at the cafe in the lobby and went out of the building.
They sat on a bench.
Taking a sip of coffee, Han suddenly said, "You want to see the patients soon, right?"
At his remarks, Suhyuk made an awkward smile and nodded his head.
However, there were many other doctors who could see the patients even if he were not available.
When Suhyuk was thinking of that, Han rose from the seat.
"Shall we go back?"
Arriving at the general surgery department, Han met Daman.
"Can I make the rounds of your patients?"
Daman nodded his head, thinking Han's suggestion was more than welcome.
Han did not come here just to teach the doctors at Hopkins'.
During his one year of stay here, he was also supposed to work as a doctor.
"Thanks."
Han and Suhyuk began visiting the patient's rooms.
Whenever Suhyuk looked at patients, his eyes were glittering.
Suhyuk actively checked their condition, while Han was looking on in the back.
They cast strange eyes at Suhyuk because he was an Asian.
But Suhyuk did not show any emotional reaction despite that.
'I'm a doctor, nothing more, nothing less.'
Even though they made the rounds for three hours, they could only see half of the patients here.
When Han was walking through the hallway in a leisurely way, he heard a bell ringing in his middle pocket. It was a call from Daman.
"It's me, Dr. Han."
"Can I ask you a favor? I was going to see a patient just taken into the emergency room, but I'm afraid I have to take care of a patient I've been treating, who got worse just now. Can you see the emergency patient instead of me? Let me contact them about this."
"What kind of patient is he?"
"He's complaining about vomiting and abdominal pain."
"Got it."
"Let me send over Phillip too, so teach him something, please."
After the call, Han and Suhyuk visited the surgery desk, where Phillip was waiting for them.
"Let's go."
Nodding his head, Phillip followed him. Walking ahead, he pressed the buttons on the elevator.
Phillip held the elevator until Han and Suhyuk got on.
"Thanks."
When they stepped out of the elevator while Phillip was pressing the open button, he looked at their appearance from behind with a frown.
They soon arrived at the emergency room in no time at all.
Some sort of moaning was heard from the room. Phillip, passing by the patients in beds, stopped before one patient. The white patient, who looked to be in his 50s, was lying in bed with a frown.
Then an intern approached Phillip.
"The patient's pulse and blood pressure are normal."
Nodding his head, Phillip asked the patient, "My name is Phillip. May I have your name?"
"Jason. I have so much pain in my stomach..."
Phillip said, checking his stomach, "What did you have for dinner yesterday?"
"Spaghetti only…"
Jason knitted his brows all the more, and he felt a pressure and ache at Phillip's touching.
"It may be food poisoning or appendicitis..."
Then Han said suddenly, "I don't think so. Wait a moment..."
Han, looking at Phillip quietly from behind, approached the patient and touched his forehead.
"It seems you don't have fever. Are you feeling very much uncomfortable?"
The patient nodded, with a frown, and looked at Phillip.
It seemed as if the patient was asking if this Asian man was a doctor.
At that moment Phillip told Han, "Can I treat this patient, sir?"
With a smile, Han nodded and stepped back.
Then Suhyuk approached the patient first. He already put on surgical gloves from the cart nearby.
"These are disinfected and sterilized gloves. Can I touch your stomach for a moment?"
When Suhyuk gently pressed the right side of his stomach, the patient made a moan.
At the same time Suhyuk could think of one disease, because he felt something like a lump at his fingertip.
"This one…"
Phillip cut in his own remarks, with a frown,
"I'm sorry, Jason. I think you need a blood test first for an accurate diagnosis."
"Rather than that I think he needs a CT shot first."
Left untreated like this, the patient's pain will grow more.
Phillip made a curious look when Suhyuk said that.
"Looks like he's got intussusceptions."
"How could you prove it?"
"Well, from his lower stomach…"
"Why don't you have the patient go through a blood test and CT simultaneously?" said Han.
Han looked at both Phillip and Suhyuk. Who could be right?
The shot was done immediately, and the three were monitoring the screen.
They noticed some sort of dark area under the right side of the patient's stomach.
It looked like a target with multi-layered circles.
Phillip made a frown, which disappeared instantly.
"You're right, intussusceptions."
Suhyuk cautiously opened his mouth so as not to offend Phillip's feelings.
"Fortunately I could recall the name of the illness."
Phillip said, while looking at the monitor, "I think the patient does not have to be admitted."
That kind of symptom could go away while the patient fasted for a couple of days.
But Suhyuk thought differently.
Looking at Phillip, he hesitated a bit at first, but then opened his mouth,
"I think he needs to have this intussusceptions cured right away. As you see, it won't naturally go back to normal as there are many layers of intussusceptions."
Phillip nodded his head slowly, saying, "Let me reserve an operating room for him."
He left the imaging room, and murmured, "What a terrific guy..."
***
In the operating room the medical staff were moving busily.
Phillip, who was monitoring the patient under anesthesia, turned his head to Suhyuk and said,
"Looks like we have to incise his belly."
"Don't you think it's going to be a big burden on the patient? What do you think about laparoscopic surgery?"
Suhyuk completely ignored Phillip's opinion. Han agreed with Suhyuk.
Phillip could not refute because he was a guest doctor here.
When the patient went into deep sleep, the medial staff gathered at the operating bed.
And they alternately looked at Han and the monitor installed on the side.
It was a good opportunity for them to learn from the guest doctor's surgical skill.
"Let's wait for ten minutes like this."
Suhyuk nodded his head at Han's words.
When the patient falls asleep under anesthesia, the body loosens. The same is true for the large and small intestine.
It could be possible that the intussusceptions could go back to normal naturally.
When Suhyuk was making a bitter smile, 10 minutes passed already.
They took another CT of the patient's belly right away and looked at the images.
"We need to incize it."
As Han said, the intussusceptions were still there.
Approaching the patient, Han said, putting on the surgical gloves,
"Scalpel."
A black nurse handed him a sharp scalpel.
"I'm going to incise the side of the belly only, so that the laparoscope can enter."
As soon as the scalpel touched it, there was a line of blood on it.
"I'm putting in gas."
At Han's words, the nurse gave him a thin and long hose.
He was going to blow in some carbon dioxide gas through the hose to protect the organs and secure some space for surgery.
As soon as the carbon dioxide gas was put in the belly, the visceral peritoneum widened.
Even with the naked eye, the patient's belly bulging up was clearly seen.
Taking out the hose, Han said, "Give me the laparoscope now."
An intern gave it to him.
Han turned his head, while putting in the laparoscope.
He could see the images of the red large and small intestines.
The large intestine, which should have been stretched in a straight line, was swollen as if it had eaten up the small intestine.
Han looked at Phillip, saying "Can you make some room to allow for the use of forceps?"
Han wanted to teach him how to do that, at Daman's request.
Han did not know how many times Phillip had done this before, but the more experience he had, the more it would help him later.
Nodding his head, Phillip took the scalpel to the patient's belly.
Red blood spilled down the bulging belly, and Phillip moved the scalpel twice.
"Thanks," said Han.
Phillip made the incision exactly as big as was needed for forceps to enter.
Then he hesitated a moment.
As he was in his first year of residency, he had never done it before.
Though he entered the operating room with Daman many times, had touched the heart of a patient, and even done the incision of the liver, he had never done any laparoscopic surgery before.
If he made any mistakes, he would have to take all the responsibility, and his present label as a promising doctor would disappear in a moment.
Though it would hurt his pride, he felt it would be better to reject Han's suggestion.
Though he would not not completely feel that way, because he was a resident while Han a professor.
And the medical staff here would not blame him for that.
When Phillip shook his head, Han looked at Suhyuk.
"Do you want to try?"
Handed a forceps, Suhyuk put it in the patient's belly slowly, carefully watching the monitor.
When it was put in deeply, Suhyuk took it out again.
It was less than 20 seconds that Suhyuk did that for.
"All done. Thanks for the work, everybody.
The medical staff watching him blinked their eyes.