The Physician of Traditional Medicine Returns from Murim - Chapter 142

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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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Chapter 142

6 PM.

Kang Joyun, who had been waiting only for this time, confirmed that the Archery Club friends were leaving and followed behind them.

Skipping training and resting while just watching the clock was quite an ordeal in itself.

“Kang Joyun.”

But it was nothing compared to dealing with an angry mother.

Mother, who had been waiting to take him to the academy, called Kang Joyun’s name quietly.

“You! You said you were sick and skipped training, didn’t you?”

“…”

It was true.

Kang Joyun attended one of the few middle schools in the Busan and Gyeongnam area that had an Archery Club.

On weekdays, when there were competitions, they trained until 9 o’clock, and during periods like now when there weren’t any, they trained until 6 o’clock.

And while some students rested in the evening, Kang Joyun would get in Mother’s waiting car and go to the academy to train from 7 PM to 10 PM.

But today, no, since three days ago.

He had not attended the training at school.

His shoulder and arm hurt so severely that he absolutely could not draw the bow.

“Um, Coach. I’m sorry but…”

Since Kang Joyun, who didn’t say nonsense, said he was in pain, Coach naturally allowed him to rest.

“Alright, attend class today. Go see a doctor after it’s over.”

Whenever there were competitions, he would skip classes and train with the Archery Club as usual.

Since he had long given up on studying, he couldn’t understand the classes at all, but he roughly nodded his head and imagined shooting arrows.

He couldn’t tell Mother.

Because it was obvious what kind of reaction would come out.

So he only rested from school training and just went to the academy.

“Kang Joyun, are you in your right mind? Do you know how much Mother and Father are sacrificing to try to make you succeed?”

“…I’m sorry.”

It seemed Coach had called Mother.

He had asked him to keep it secret.

He thought it would get better if he rested for a few days, and he was going to return to the Archery Club soon.

“You’re faking illness, aren’t you?”

“No. I’m really in pain!”

Grab!

Mother seized his arm.

“Ahhh!”

His shoulder hurt as if it would break off.

It was painful enough to bring tears to his eyes.

‘This is too much. Why is our mother acting like this.’

It might be insignificant compared to the overflowing talent nationwide.

But he was the best at both school and the academy.

Those friends’ parents told them not even to carry their bags.

“Huuuuung!”

In pain and feeling wronged, Kang Joyun finally burst into tears.

“Why are you crying where all the kids can see? Get in the car quickly!”

“I’m really in pain. Mother, how can the first thing you say after receiving a call that I’m sick be asking if I’m faking illness?”

“You have a track record!”

Even after getting in the car, he complained of pain, but Mother yelled loudly.

That was also true.

In kindergarten, he hated archery so much that he cried saying he was sick every day he had to go to the academy, and in 1st and 2nd grade of elementary school, he faked illness several times.

He had also been caught secretly going to PC cafes with friends after skipping training.

But after being on the youth national team, he had never done such a thing, and especially not since becoming a middle school student.

“That was so long ago!”

Screech!

As soon as Kang Joyun finished speaking, the car turned sharply and his body was thrown to the side.

“What are you doing?”

The cry “If you want to die, die alone, Mother!” rose up to his throat.

“You said you’re sick. We need to go to the hospital.”

What kind of whim was this.

Anyway, since she said she would take him to the hospital, he kept his mouth shut.

Kang Joyun entered the Orthopedic Clinic with the visible sign along with Mother.

“The bones are fine, but the ligaments are strained from overusing your arm. Take medicine and rest a bit. Apply warm compresses too.”

“How badly are the ligaments strained?”

“You’d need to go to a big hospital for an MRI. Should I write you a referral?”

“No, it’s fine.”

But the Orthopedic Clinic only provided muscle relaxants and anti-inflammatory painkillers.

And the mother and son fought again at the pharmacy.

“There’s nothing wrong with you.”

“The ligament is strained! You need to rest!”

“That’s just what they say when nothing shows up on tests!”

“You two, there are other patients here, so please keep it down in the pharmacy…”

“If you hate archery that much, just quit!”

Mother burst out yelling.

“I’ve wanted to quit for a long time anyway!”

Kang Joyun didn’t back down either.

“Ha!”

“The exit is this way.”

In the end, they practically got kicked out by the pharmacist and got in the car.

Though he was concerned about the eyes of his archery club friends and their parents, Mother was completely unrestrained in hospitals and pharmacies where she didn’t know anyone.

“What else can you do besides archery? Are you going to study? Are you going to learn a trade?”

Even after getting in the car, Mother’s sarcasm didn’t stop.

His anger was boiling over.

He only thought about what he could say to make Mother angriest.

“Mom forced her own dreams on me and made me like this! Why didn’t Mom work hard and win a gold medal herself? Mom never even made the national team.”

“…”

Only then did Mother shut her mouth.

“…Sob.”

Was she crying? Mother too?

Kang Joyun regretted it belatedly.

He didn’t need to say that much.

“We’re here. Go inside and rest.”

Those were the first words spoken after a long silence.

“Mom, my shoulder.”

“I’ll find a hospital that will examine you properly. Rest.”

Everything went as he wanted.

He could rest, and Mother even said she would take him to the hospital again.

But his heart remained anxious.

Perhaps because of that, even after taking painkillers, his shoulder kept throbbing.

* * *

“I see you came on Dr. Hwang Sanghun’s recommendation?”

“Yes. As they say, it’s just my luck… I came on his day off.”

The guardian crossed her legs and let out a deep sigh.

“Unfortunately, Dr. Hwang is on vacation this week. I’ll take good care of you today.”

I’ve been through all kinds of situations.

The time when I’d be troubled by this kind of attitude passed long ago.

Who would spit on a smiling face? I spoke with a bright smile.

“I see. My son says he’s in pain and can’t practice, so please help him return quickly.”

The patient, Kang Joyun, glared sharply at his mother.

Hmm… looks like they had a fight before coming.

I made eye contact with the son and asked.

“Since it’s your precious arm, I’ll treat it well. When did it start hurting?”

“It’s been hurting on and off for quite a while. About 10 months.”

“So when you draw the bow, does it hurt or not?”

“At first, it was fine if I just put on a pain patch. But this week it suddenly got much worse. I can’t put any strength into it, so it’s hard to even draw the bowstring, and it throbs even when I’m just sitting still.”

Kang Joyun continued speaking, ignoring his mother’s attempts to interrupt.

Usually when a mother and son come together, the son lacks urgency while the mother is frantic, but this is unusual.

“Does it get worse with specific movements? Do you have throbbing pain at night rather than during the day?”

“Ah, yes. It’s worse when I shoot arrows, and it throbs at night too.”

“But not enough to keep you from sleeping?”

“He sleeps well.”

The last comment came from the guardian.

Hmm, is she suspecting he’s faking it?

“From what I’m hearing, it sounds like overuse has caused some damage to the shoulder ligaments or arm tendons. Have you received any other tests or treatments?”

“We went to an orthopedic clinic the day before yesterday, and they said there’s nothing wrong with the bones, probably a ligament problem.”

“They gave him medicine to take. The nighttime throbbing is less when he takes it, but when he wakes up in the morning, it’s the same again.”

The guardian and Kang Joyun spoke alternately.

“So I asked around among acquaintances and heard this traditional Korean medicine clinic is good, so we came.”

“You came to the right place. Let’s start with an ultrasound.”

I immediately picked up the ultrasound probe.

It didn’t seem like he was faking it.

If that were the case, wouldn’t he complain of symptoms that wouldn’t show up on tests? Like a headache or something.

Ligament problems show up right away when you look.

“The back of your shoulder looks fine…”

“The front hurts.”

“Yes, I’ll examine it in order.”

As I scanned for problematic areas, I could see inflammation in the front part of the shoulder that Kang Joyun had pointed to as painful.

“It’s biceps tendinitis. This didn’t happen in just a day or two, did it? Have you been continuing to exercise in this condition?”

It was quite severe.

I took a screenshot and showed the inflamed area to Kang Joyun and his guardian.

“A healthy tendon looks smooth like this, but the surface looks a bit strange, right? This black area here is exudate. When inflammation is severe, blood pools like this.”

I turned on the Doppler to show them the dilated blood vessels as well.

“…Is this serious?”

Only then did Kang Joyun’s Mother frown.

“At least I don’t see any rupture. It doesn’t look like degenerative changes have occurred either. Let me have you raise your arm once.”

Kang Joyun raised his arm.

“Ah.”

“It hurts starting from there? About 90 degrees of abduction. It does go up though?”

“Yes, it goes up if I force it.”

“Let me press on your shoulder once.”

I started with the joints that looked fine on ultrasound and pressed several spots.

Right at the inflamed biceps tendon, the patient let out a scream.

“Ah!”

I displayed the biceps on the screen and explained to the guardian.

“There’s a groove in the humerus like this. The biceps brachii muscle splits into long and short heads that attach to the bone, and inflammation has developed in the long head tendon. If you rest and treat it for about 2-3 months, it should heal…”

“That long?”

As soon as she heard the prognosis, she was horrified.

“If he can’t rest that long because he’s an athlete, we’ll have to treat it with the understanding that it may heal more slowly. But at minimum, he needs to rest until the symptom of throbbing pain even at rest at night disappears. Right now the inflammatory response is too severe.”

“…”

“See, what did I tell you? I said it hurt!”

“If it was this serious, you should have said so earlier!”

And when Kang Joyun triumphantly grabbed his arm, she got angry instead.

Just moments before, she had been glaring at her son with a face that said it was definitely malingering, yet she was truly shameless.

“Please calm down. You can treat it properly from now on. As he’s an athlete, I’ll pay extra attention too, but please be especially careful with management on the patient and guardian’s side as well.”

“…I understand. Please take good care of him.”

The guardian spoke as if resigned.

“I’m really in so much pain. Please make it stop hurting quickly.”

The Child’s eyes welled up with tears.

I couldn’t tell if he was crying from pain or choking up from feeling hurt by his mother’s reaction.

“I’ll calm the pain as quickly as possible. Since acupuncture also has analgesic effects, it might calm down right after treatment, okay? But still, you must rest for at least 2 weeks! Got it?”

Kang Joyun seemed to want to rest even without being told, so I looked at his mother and spoke firmly.

The Son nodded, but Mother’s expression was not good at all.

“Kang Joyun will do physical therapy first.”

Even after sending the patient out, I emphasized once more.

“If you continue treatment consistently now, it can heal completely, but if you arbitrarily stop treatment just because the pain improved, it will become a problem again. Think of his athletic career and come for treatment until the end.”

“…I understand.”

“I’ll treat him properly with the right methods, so don’t worry. I’ll treat him until Dr. Hwang arrives, and when he comes, Dr. Hwang will also treat him well. Receive consistent treatment from whichever doctor you’re comfortable with.”

The guardian hesitated for a moment.

“No. Please just continue treating him yourself, Doctor.”

She said that and got up from her seat.

Even after going to the Waiting Room, I could hear her sighing heavily all the way to the Corridor.

I left her behind and went to the Treatment Room.

After seeing several follow-up patients, I looked for Kang Joyun when his physical therapy was finishing.

It would be fine to give him acupuncture right away, but there was something that bothered me.

I carefully brought up the topic.

“If there’s anything you couldn’t say because your mother was there, feel free to tell me. Is it a difficult environment to rest?”

Then, Kang Joyun desperately grabbed my hand.

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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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