Emergency Instinct - Chapter 65
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
At the nurse’s call, Ji-an put her phone in her pocket and stood up from her seat.
The condition was not good.
The girl who came with the paramedics was heaving her chest excessively with each breath she took.
Nasal flaring breathing with her nostrils fluttering.
Whistle-like wheezing mixed in at the end of her inhalations, and her voice cracked between hoarse coughs.
“Mom… ma… breath…!”
The girl, pale as a sheet, gasped while looking for her mother.
The mother holding the girl’s hand beside her was moving her lips but no sound came out. Instead, she moved her fingers in trembling sign language to comfort the girl.
She’s hearing impaired.
Getting information might not be easy.
“Put oxygen on first.”
At Ji-an’s instruction, the nurse immediately placed an oxygen mask on the girl’s face. The girl took two or three deep breaths and squeezed her eyes shut.
She quickly examined the girl’s body.
The area around her lips looked slightly swollen, and red spots were spreading on her neck. Her appearance of clutching her chest while gasping for breath looked particularly difficult.
Simple asthma exacerbation? Foreign body aspiration?
Possibilities came to mind one by one.
The most suspicious was an allergic reaction.
Ji-an went closer to check the girl’s voice.
“Does your throat feel stuffy right now? Is it itchy?”
The girl tried to speak, but coughing burst out first.
Ji-an turned her gaze to the mother.
The mother seemed to be asking ‘What did you say?’ with her lips.
Helpless anxiety and fear were clearly revealed in her eyes.
She needed to find the cause immediately.
What she ate, what she came in contact with, when it started.
Ji-an opened her phone’s memo app to attempt communication. However, the nervous mother was trembling and couldn’t write properly.
Communication didn’t seem easy.
Just then, something came to Ji-an’s mind.
Although she had never used it before, Hanyeong Hospital had a medical interpretation service.
Ji-an quickly spoke to the nurse.
“Check our hospital’s interpretation service. See if there’s anyone who can connect for sign language right now.”
“Sign language would be difficult right now.”
“Just in case, try applying for emergency service.”
It wasn’t late at night. If luck followed, she might be able to connect with someone right away.
Soon, the nurse ran to the station and came running back with a tablet with an excited face. Ji-an’s expression also brightened with joy.
“Doctor! We’re connected.”
The screen flickered and a sign language interpreter appeared in a small window.
Ji-an tried to stay calm and quickly asked the key question.
“Interpreter. I need to know the girl’s condition now. Please ask when the symptoms started?”
The mother answered quickly in sign language, and the interpreter immediately translated.
-15 minutes after dinner. She suddenly started coughing and couldn’t breathe.
“What food did she eat? Was there anything she ate for the first time today?”
The mother’s hands moved faster.
The interpreter hesitated for a moment then said.
-They ate out. Fried rice and tempura. Shrimp… she ate tempura with shrimp in it. The girl tried shrimp tempura for the first time today.
The puzzle fit perfectly.
Difficulty breathing, skin rash, lip swelling.
It was highly likely to be typical crustacean anaphylaxis.
Ji-an immediately confirmed the order.
“Good. We’re going with anaphylaxis protocol.”
The nurse prepared the syringe, and Ji-an quickly explained.
“This is an allergic reaction right now. I’ll give the most important medicine first. Your breathing will feel better right away.”
The mother, who received the message through the interpreter, moved her hands busily.
-Isn’t the injection dangerous? Is the girl okay?
“Right now this medicine is the safest and most necessary treatment. It’s more dangerous if we’re late.”
The injection went in, and Ji-an immediately continued to the next step.
“Please start the IV right away.”
Ji-an watched the girl’s chest movement and placed the stethoscope.
Wheezing was heard in both lungs, but the monitor readings gradually went up. Her breathing also became a little easier.
For now, breathing was stabilized.
However, anaphylaxis wasn’t over just because it improved once.
“The response to treatment is good right now. But the abnormal reaction could recur. Tonight we need to observe in the emergency room while watching the medication go in.”
The mother, who had been relieved, teared up again and asked worriedly in sign language.
-Then, what should I do now? I can’t hear sounds, so I don’t know what or how I should do things from now on.
“Mother. You’re already doing well.”
Ji-an’s heart also became heavy at her earnest gaze, and she spoke slowly to give courage. Then she quickly gestured to the nurse.
“Please turn up the alarm loud on this bed. And bring a chair for the caretaker in a position where she can see the screen.”
Next, Ji-an opened the memo app for the girl’s mother and wrote very large to show her.
[Please smile at the girl so she won’t be anxious. If you see any abnormal symptoms, immediately press the call button on the right.]
-Thank you. Doctor. Thank you so much.
The mother, who seemed relieved, nodded and wiped her tears while repeatedly making the sign language for thank you.
Ji-an also responded with the sign language for thank you, following the hand gestures that quickly became familiar.
She turned around with a proud face and headed to the station.
The interpretation service always had many regrets. But today, heavenly luck seemed to follow. The connection was fast and she worked well with the interpreter.
Ji-an sat down, satisfied with the smooth conclusion.
Allergy clinic referral.
Epinephrine prescription and usage education upon discharge.
Sign language interpreter advance reservation.
Her fingers recording the chart were unusually light.
***
While Ji-an was happily recording the chart.
One man was letting out a deep sigh.
“Ha-“
Tae-jun was standing in front of the emergency room holding his phone.
Watching Ji-an see a patient and sit back at the station, he had hope for a moment. Wondering if his phone would ring again.
However, it was quiet.
Ji-an seemed to have completely forgotten that they were in the middle of exchanging text messages.
Unlike him who was increasingly obsessed with her, she seemed to only be obsessed with patients.
Please be a little obsessed with me too.
He withdrew his gaze and turned around.
His insides burning, he walked right up to the emergency room and repeatedly turned around at the door.
He was in love, but why was it so difficult even to see her face?
It was frustrating. But what could he do? He had no choice but to look forward to tomorrow.
With difficulty putting aside his regret, he got in his car and left the hospital parking lot.
The fine raindrops falling on the car window tickled around his heart.
She would never know, even in her dreams.
That he had been holding onto documents until dawn last night to free up his evening with her.
The bigger problem was that Ji-an had declared ‘no dating’ inside the hospital from now on. Along with ‘no physical contact’.
After the somewhat, no, quite intense kiss in the treatment room, she would run away whenever he came close.
She said she didn’t want to sin anymore inside the sacred hospital.
It seemed like they both enjoyed it. Why was it always his lot to feel like he was being punished?
Ji-an’s days were mostly tied up at the hospital.
It was hard enough to grab a meal outside, but she asked him to be careful even with his gaze, let alone holding hands. It was truly maddening.
However, when she spoke with earnest eyes, Tae-jun ultimately had no choice but to back down.
When on earth would she become completely his?
Would such a day ever come?
Still, she was amazing. Hong Ji-an.
Watching the woman he loved love her work was, in fact, a joyful thing.
As he recalled her bustling back and forth around the station, Tae-jun forgot his disappointment and his heart began to beat quietly again.
She was becoming more and more wonderful, driving him crazy.
Until now, his daily life had been thoroughly controlled by his own will.
According to plan, predictably, in the direction he wanted.
But Ji-an alone was completely beyond control, from one to ten.
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————