Emergency Instinct - Chapter 73

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The nurse who received the call shouted with a sigh.

The first to react was Min-su, the chief on duty tonight. His shout hit the intern squarely.

“Hey! You bastard! Didn’t I tell you to watch your mouth in the ER?”

“S-sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry, just do better! Come on! Follow me!”

Following Min-su who was spitting out growling curses, Ji-an also got up helplessly.

But before that, another patient came in.

“Male in his late 50s! Collapsed at home. Had vomiting and decreased consciousness. High blood pressure, and one side seems to have weakened strength!”

Ah, it’s all ruined. What did I even buy underwear for.

Her plan to go to his restaurant tonight and taste delicious charcoal-grilled beef seemed to have completely flown away.

When Tae-jun’s disappointed face flashed by, Ji-an’s heart also crumbled.

But there was no time to feel regret. Ji-an immediately ran while shouting.

“I’ll see this patient!”

The condition of the patient lying on the bed was not good.

Drooping jaw, irregular breathing, vomit spread around his mouth.

“Airway first. Please prepare suction.”

Ji-an’s eyes changed instantly, and when the nurse applied suction, a brief sticky sound echoed.

The airway was finally cleared. Ji-an lifted the jaw to secure the airway while quickly checking the pupils. One side seemed subtly larger.

“Attach monitors. Two large lines. Basic blood work, electrolytes, coagulation. Blood sugar immediately too.”

Instructions flowed from her mouth rapidly like a rhythm rather than orders.

“Doctor, blood sugar is in normal range.”

The patient’s chest heaved.

Shallow, anxious movement where air wasn’t going in deeply.

A boiling sound came from his throat.

Ji-an concentrated while alternately looking at the patient’s face and the monitor.

“If consciousness drops further, airway protection won’t work. Prepare for intubation.”

While equipment was being laid out and medications confirmed, Ji-an briefly held the patient’s wrist.

Then the sound of someone running hurriedly from behind was heard.

“It’s my husband! My husband!”

It was the caretaker.

Seeing her husband lying down, she hesitated and swallowed her tears.

Her eyes were already swollen from how much she had cried.

The nurse tried to send her out, but Ji-an shook her head slightly.

“Honey… honey, I’m here.”

The wife’s heartbreaking voice flowed out as she held her husband’s hand beside him.

“I’m sorry. I should have, I should have come home early. Leaving you alone. Sob.”

Ji-an glanced at the caretaker while preparing for intubation.

In the ER, this kind of self-blame flows out every day.

I should have done better. If only I had known earlier…

The heart that regrets what was missed often pulled people down to the floor even more sadly.

Ji-an was the same. There were days when she lived holding onto only regret while looking at her collapsed mother.

That’s why she knew better. What was needed now wasn’t guilt.

The belief that one can live and the will that one can do it. That very desperation would save the patient and save the caretaker.

“Caretaker, it’s not too late yet. Pull yourself together. From now on is more important. Did your husband usually take medication? Blood pressure medicine or aspirin?”

The caretaker wiped her tears and nodded vigorously.

“Yes. Blood pressure medicine. Every morning, I, I give it to him every morning.”

“Do you happen to know the name of the medicine?”

“Amlodipine.”

The medication name burst out immediately from the caretaker’s mouth.

“You did well. That’s enough now.”

Having learned the medication name, Ji-an quickly gave orders. The possibility of brain hemorrhage was high.

“CT first, prepare to slowly control blood pressure with IV. Set up nicardipine drip. Call Neurosurgery!”

“Medication going in.”

The patient’s jaw relaxed, and Ji-an steadied her breathing as she inserted the laryngoscope.

The vocal cords were visible. Ji-an inserted the tube in the correct position and confirmed.

After safely sending the patient to the CT room, only then did Ji-an let out a sigh of relief.

“You did well. Thanks to you, caretaker, we responded quickly, and once the test results come out, the neurosurgery doctor will explain.”

Ji-an gave courage rather than guilt to the anxious caretaker outside the examination room and turned around.

Then, as if waiting, another shout rang out.

“Doctor! Quickly to the inner TA.”

Running without a moment to breathe, Min-su was alone looking after two patients in distress.

Ji-an immediately joined in.

The patient was conscious but the fracture condition from the accident looked serious.

“Is Orthopedics not here yet?”

“All the residents went into surgery. They say it’ll take at least 30 more minutes.”

“Let’s check the condition first.”

“The right leg trauma is the most severe.”

Ji-an changed gloves and carefully lifted the blanket covering the patient’s leg.

Bright red blood was beaded on the laceration. And the shin area was twisted upward with the skin stretched taut.

“Possible open fracture. Cover with gauze for now, don’t try to wash it out, sterile dressing.”

Ji-an checked the patient’s foot while lowering her voice.

“Can you move your toes? Like holding my hand, just your toes…”

“Ahhhhh!”

Suddenly the patient screamed and thrashed about.

“Patient, calm down! Hold him!”

His whole body was drenched in sweat, and a chaotic war began.

However, this was only the beginning.

When Ji-an finally sat down at the station as if collapsing, it was already dawn.

4:44 AM.

Time is really scary too.

“Haah…”

Ji-an, who checked the time to record charts, let out a sigh automatically.

She had left Tae-jun a message saying she was sorry, but there was no reply yet.

He must be very disappointed. He had every right to be.

If she felt this regretful, how much more so would Tae-jun who had only waited for today.

Every time she had an appointment with him, it seemed like more emergency situations would break out.

Ji-an, who hurriedly finished recording charts, picked up the phone she had been glancing at.

Should I suggest eating breakfast together?

While hesitating for a moment, Kyung-seok’s voice was heard from behind, having returned from vacation.

“Doctor Hong Ji-an! What are you thinking about so deeply?”

“Senior? When did you come?”

Ji-an turned around in surprise and asked.

“Last night.”

“Is your vacation already over?”

“That’s what I’m saying. Why does time go by so fast?”

Kyung-seok muttered with a voice full of regret and plopped down next to Ji-an.

“So, how did it go?”

Ji-an asked in a small voice with sparkling eyes.

These days Kyung-seok is passionately courting his first love.

Hadn’t he taken his first week-long vacation ever, saying he was going to visit Haenam where she had moved? This time, it seemed like something good might happen.

“She became even more like a fortress.”

“…Damn.”

Kyung-seok forced a calm smile.

The person making him suffer like this was none other than Lee Mi-so.

Ji-an still vividly remembered the day Kyung-seok confessed that his first love was Mi-so and asked for her help.

Even back then, since she was in the middle of divorce proceedings, he had to be so careful about mentioning her name.

Currently, Mi-so had successfully reached an amicable divorce agreement with her ex-husband Kang Chi-han.

The decisive factor was the fact that Kang Chi-han had tried to kidnap their daughter despite having a restraining order. The moment that fact became public, his political career would be over. In the end, he had no choice but to give up custody rights and property division while signing the divorce papers.

Having gained her freedom, she recently moved down to Haenam with her daughter, where her relatives lived.

She said she wanted to start fresh in a new place.

She came to thank them in person, and her face looked much brighter than when Ji-an first saw her, which put Ji-an’s mind at ease.

The problem was Kyung-seok.

As far as Ji-an knew, Kyung-seok had already been rejected more than ten times. Yet he said, ‘Even if I get rejected a hundred times, I’ll win her over,’ showing no signs of giving up.

‘I want to heal that pain with my love. I’m confident I can be a good father to Su-jin too.’

He said his heart wouldn’t stop. That he couldn’t bear it for even a moment.

Love really can’t be hidden, it seems.

However, Mi-so’s heart still wouldn’t open easily.

Her wounds were deep, and with the divorce and a child too.

It couldn’t be easy to suddenly accept someone.

“Senior. Cheer up!”

Ji-an cheered on his love today as well.

“Thanks. But you, do you still have a lot of work left? Tell me if there’s anything I can help with.”

“No. I’m all done. I should be getting off work now.”

“Then hurry up. Your man’s neck is probably getting sore from waiting.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Don’t tell me you didn’t know? I saw him waiting outside when I came in.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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