Surviving as a Rogue Hospital Director - Chapter 91

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 91.
After meeting with Kim Pan-soo, Eun Seo-young made her decision.
“I’ll have the surgery too. My grandfather is having it, so there’s no reason I can’t.”
The surgery was scheduled quickly,
and the day had already arrived.
Sung-hyuk, dressed in surgical garments, washed his hands in the operating room.
He pressed the foot switch on the floor and water flowed out.
When the purple Betadine Solution covered his hands, Sung-hyuk pressed the floor switch again.
— Whoooosh—
The drawback was that there was only one switch, so he couldn’t adjust the temperature. Sung-hyuk raised his hands above his head, cold water dripping from his elbows.
Only after putting on a surgical cap, Surgical Mask, Latex Gloves, and a sterile gown was he fully prepared.
“Professor, would it be all right if I assisted today?”
Professor Jung Da-eun, who had followed him to the operating room, asked. Recently, she had been trailing after Sung-hyuk wherever he went.
“Ah, Min-ho has been assisting.”
“I’ll speak to Min-ho about it.”
In truth, Sung-hyuk disliked having his assistant changed.
No matter how much of a professor she was, she was an unproven entity to him.
If Im Sung-hyuk and his assistant had different surgical styles, that was even more problematic. The key to surgical assistance was matching the lead surgeon’s approach.
In that regard, Min-ho was a seasoned assistant, and Sung-hyuk had chosen him.
“This is an important surgery, so I think it will be difficult this time.”
“Isn’t this Eun Seo-young’s surgery? That’s why I wanted to go in—I’ve done Thoracoscopy for examination before. I suspect there’s an adhesion in the axillary region.”
Of course, Sung-hyuk already knew this. There had been a Thoracoscopy among all the tests done at Eun Sung Hospital.
A camera had been inserted into the thoracic cavity to examine the interior of the body, but nothing particularly unusual had been found at the time.
Since Long QT Syndrome was a functional problem of the heart rather than a structural one, it couldn’t be helped.
Instead, Eun Seo-young would have scars from skin incisions. Everything from the epidermis to the muscle would be tangled.
So Sung-hyuk had planned to avoid the area with adhesions.
“Surely you didn’t do the Thoracoscopy yourself, Professor Jung?”
“Yes, I did it at Eun Sung Hospital. It should be fine if I go in, right? I’ll do the incision.” Da-eun said with a slight wink.
If the doctor who performed the examination did it herself, she could unfold the damaged skin well. She would incise at the same depth and the same speed.
It seemed like she was asking permission, but in reality, Jung Da-eun was helping Im Sung-hyuk.
“I understand. I’d appreciate it.”
“No, it’s an honor to watch Professor Im perform surgery right beside me.”
Jung Da-eun clapped her hands excitedly, and Sung-hyuk told her about what would happen after the patient left Korean University Hospital.
“Watch carefully today, and next time you can perform the surgery at Eun Sung Hospital.”
“Oh, does it work that way?”
Da-eun seemed a bit flustered by his words. She, who had purely wanted to learn, had forgotten that the patient from Eun Sung Hospital had been temporarily transferred to Korean University Hospital.
“Well, the patient is a VIP at Eun Sung Hospital. Since it’s a genetic disease, there will likely be many more patients in the future.”
“…It feels like I’m taking your patient away.”
Jung Da-eun spoke hesitantly. She seemed to be feeling apologetic.
“If we can save many lives, that’s enough for me. Now, shall we head in?”
Im Sung-hyuk led the way, and Jung Da-eun scurried after him. With her short stride, she quickened her pace, taking two steps for every one of his.
* * *
Sung-hyuk spoke abruptly to Min-ho, whom he encountered outside the operating room.
“Today, Professor Jung will be assisting.”
“What? Not me?”
“That’s how it’s going to be. Today, assist Professor Jung from the side.”
At Sung-hyuk’s sudden pronouncement, Min-ho’s face fell.
Even when cardiologist Kang Se-ra, now a professor, observed a surgery, and when he performed a collaborative surgery with neurosurgeon Shin So-jung, Min-ho had always stayed beside Im Sung-hyuk.
He had always held the spot next to Professor Sung-hyuk, only to lose it out of the blue!
“…Ha ha. We need to incise the adhesion area.”
Da-eun explained the details to the dejected Min-ho.
“Huh? The axillary region?”
“Yeah. That’s what Professor Jung did at Eun Sung.”
Sung-hyuk answered while putting on sterile gloves with the help of a surgical nurse.
While Sung-hyuk prepared for surgery, he and Min-ho had an easy conversation.
Once Min-ho understood the situation, he shrugged his shoulders knowingly. He too had learned while preparing for this surgery that Eun Seo-young had skin adhesions.
“I thought you were kicking me out, Professor.”
“Hang in there. I’m not actually kicking you out.”
When Sung-hyuk responded firmly to his complaint, Min-ho made a whimpering sound.
“Wow, I’m going to run away.”
“Go ahead. I’ll definitely hunt you down and bring you back.”
“Eek!”
As the two continued their playful banter, Jung Da-eun laughed along. Her mouth was hidden behind the Surgical Mask, but through her eyes curved in a half-moon of laughter, it was clear she was smiling.
Meanwhile, Eun Seo-young was being put under by anesthesiologist Cha Woo-jin. She closed her eyes and descended into the abyss.
Under General Anesthesia, all her muscles went slack, and the Ventilator repeatedly inflated and deflated her lungs, which had stopped moving.
Cha Woo-jin, seated at her head, confirmed that Eun Seo-young was alive and well by checking the graphs on the monitor.
“Anesthesia is ready. Vital Signs are stable. Beginning Left Lung Deflation.”
Cha Woo-jin deliberately shut down one of Eun Seo-young’s lungs. This allowed the lung to deflate and create space for the surgical site.
A healthy person could breathe on one lung, but the shorter the surgery, the better.
“The field of view looks good. Let’s proceed quickly.”
As the left lung flattened, the space behind it began to open up, and Sung-hyuk handed the Scalpel to Da-eun.
“Roger, beginning incision.”
Meanwhile, Im Sung-hyuk closely monitored Eun Seo-young’s Oxygen Saturation. Since breathing was the factor triggering her seizures, Sung-hyuk set a tight standard for normal range.
“We’ll set the SPO2 target at 97%.”
“…Roger!”
As a result, Cha Woo-jin had to work more intensely than usual.
— Slice, slice—
Each time Jung Da-eun drew the Scalpel across the skin, a ticklish sound reached their ears. Epidermis. Dermis, subcutaneous fat, and muscle below.
Each layer separated perfectly with a single touch.
‘She’s done this before; she’s not bad.’
Jung Da-eun’s technique was decent. If you divided it into pass and fail, it was a pass.
Sung-hyuk entrusted the skin incision entirely to Jung Da-eun.
A wire with a miniature camera and a Surgical Clip to sever the nerve traveled through Eun Seo-young’s axilla toward the heart region. More precisely, it was toward the spine passing behind the heart.
The Sympathetic Nerve that needed to be severed ran through the 2nd to 4th Thoracic Vertebrae.
The lung lay flat, having cleared the space, and between the line where the rib heads met the spine along the back.
A thin, white thread-like structure appeared in that space—the Sympathetic Nerve itself.
“Chain is visible.”
Min-ho, peering through the Thoracoscopy, was the first to spot the chain of Sympathetic Nerves.
At his words, Jung Da-eun responded with her opinion.
“It’s T2. We can block it here.”
Sung-hyuk delicately manipulated the instrument and grasped the Sympathetic Nerve. He felt the vibration of the metal Surgical Clip locking into place within Eun Seo-young’s body.
“You’re going to sever it completely, right?”
Before Sung-hyuk could give the instruction, Jung Da-eun moved first. She manipulated the instrument from behind, attempting to completely block the Sympathetic Nerve.
But then, Sung-hyuk detected a subtle change in Eun Seo-young’s condition.
“No, wait! Stop!”
Sung-hyuk urgently halted Da-eun. He had definitely turned off one lung at the start of the surgery, but Eun Seo-young’s thoracic movement was alarming.
‘Different from before. Something’s off.’
Even though the monitor displaying her Vital Signs showed no response yet.
Sung-hyuk detected that her breathing rhythm had become subtly irregular.
After freezing everyone in place, Sung-hyuk murmured softly.
“QT Interval is prolonging.”
The moment Sung-hyuk finished speaking, the monitor began alarming frantically.
— Beep—- beep— beep-beep-beep–!
“Torsades de Pointes suspected!”
Cha Woo-jin shared Eun Seo-young’s abnormal signal in a trembling voice.
Just as Sung-hyuk had said, the rhythm on the electrocardiogram showed a prolonged QT Interval, and the heart rate became erratic.
The patient was on the brink of seizure during surgery.
Cha Woo-jin and Jung Da-eun withdrew their hands and focused on the lead surgeon Sung-hyuk, while sweat poured down Min-ho’s back.
“Steady. Give Magnesium. Don’t slow the pace.”
“Y-yes, 1g going in now. Initiating Heart Rate Pacing.”
The professor-rank Cha Woo-jin acted quickly, and the medication entered Eun Seo-young’s veins rapidly.
— Beep-beep, beep-beep.
As time passed, her heart rhythm returned to normal.
“It’s stabilized. Proceeding.”
“Ugh.”
Min-ho groaned and leaned against the wall.
The patient on the operating table was none other than the youngest daughter of the Eun Sung Group.
If anything went wrong, there was no telling what could happen. She hadn’t even wanted surgery, but Professor Im had persuaded her.
Yet like any other patient he treated, Sung-hyuk’s eyes remained focused solely on the surgical site.
Sung-hyuk was so absorbed in the surgery that he had forgotten Eun Seo-young’s name.
Watching him read the situation with such terrifying acuity, Jung Da-eun felt admiration well up within her.
She too was a thoracic surgery professor, so even as she assisted, she was half-sizing up Im Sung-hyuk’s skill.
It was impressive how Professor Im Sung-hyuk genuinely cared for his patients. She had thought of the assignment at Korean University Hospital merely as a way to gather information.
‘Wow… I wondered how skilled he could be, but he really is as good as people say, isn’t he? Would I have been able to handle that situation just now?’
One misstep could have meant the patient seizing during surgery. Im Sung-hyuk, with his quick judgment and calm demeanor, seemed to fly through the operating room.
Da-eun glanced at Sung-hyuk’s expression. A faint memory from about ten years ago when she was a Resident, assisting her supervising professor, flickered through her mind.
“Let’s start with clipping again.”
“Yes! I’ll prepare.”
Sung-hyuk, as lead surgeon, directed the situation decisively, and Jung Da-eun offered no further opinions. She had made up her mind simply to follow Sung-hyuk’s judgment.

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