The Physician of Traditional Medicine Returns from Murim - Chapter 232

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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 232

“Ah, I got it. I didn’t know it would get this bad either.”

Lee Gwanhaeng grumbled as if he found it very bothersome.

At such a poor attitude, Choi Eunhee’s voice became even more forceful.

“It’s really fortunate that it’s not too late. If we hadn’t seen this today, it could have been a real disaster! I’ve even seen patients whose skin became necrotic from improperly treated second-degree burns that got infected. This is extremely dangerous!”

Choi Eunhee pointed at the carelessly applied patches and bandages as she warned him.

Since it wasn’t much different from what I was going to say, I quietly nodded my head.

“Ah, Director Choi Eunhee, you used to treat burns too, didn’t you?”

As Choi Eunhee got heated, student Park Jun spoke up as if something had just occurred to him.

He had remembered that she had previously become an issue for treating frostbite and burns.

Although she had treated many intractable patients, treating the frostbite of a famous explorer who had even been recommended for amputation had become quite a hot topic.

Even those who weren’t as interested in Director Choi Eunhee’s activities as I was would likely remember – Korean medicine doctors or Korean medicine students.

“Ah… I used to do such things in the past.”

Choi Eunhee frowned.

Park Jun, who had brought it up thinking he was promoting her, flinched and took a step back.

“You treat burns here too? With acupuncture?”

But Lee Gwanhaeng, who heard those words, was very pleased.

“Director, can you do that? I saw it on TV. You put them here, right?”

Then he thrust his knee forward as if asking her to treat it.

Perhaps because of the patient’s insolent attitude, Choi Eunhee’s frown deepened even more.

Burn treatment wasn’t something that only Choi Eunhee could do.

Many Oriental Medicine Clinics don’t advertise burn treatment considering various factors like risk versus treatment effectiveness, but the principle isn’t complicated.

Ultimately, it involves performing acupuncture around the injured area to supply blood flow and oxygen to damaged tissues while controlling inflammatory responses.

To explain it more in terms of Korean medicine, one could say it involves clearing heat and detoxifying – that is, reducing accumulated excessive heat and expelling toxins, or improving qi and blood circulation… but even saying that, there’s no special secret technique.

After all, heat energy is visibly stagnated in the burned area, and fundamentally it’s about promoting the process of cellular recovery.

“Why don’t you show us your skills?”

Still, since Choi Eunhee had bothered to get involved, and the juniors were also curious.

I was willing to yield the patient to her.

“Getting acupuncture treatment once here won’t produce dramatic effects. Acupuncture treatment for burns really needs to be done consistently.”

But Choi Eunhee hardened her face coldly and answered.

It seemed her displeasure wasn’t only due to the patient’s rude attitude.

“Still…”

“I’ll do the dressing for you, so either go to a burn specialty hospital later, or if you don’t want to go, order Mediform and change it when blisters form. If you don’t want to do that either, go to the Public Health Center and ask them to change the dressing.”

“Ah, why? Still, wouldn’t it be good to get acupuncture at least once? It would heal faster, even by a day!”

Lee Gwanhaeng insisted he wanted to receive treatment since he was already here.

Whether it was because he didn’t know how to treat it properly, or because he didn’t want to spend money, this patient had only been applying bandages and patches until now.

He wanted to receive maximum treatment with this opportunity.

“There’s only risk of infection for no reason. Wait for natural recovery.”

“Ah, just do it once! It’s not even difficult!”

But Choi Eunhee refused sharply.

Lee Gwanhaeng’s grumbling became even worse.

“Ah…”

The students who had thought this would be an opportunity to see burn treatment were also slightly disappointed.

“Now, now, if you really want to receive treatment, I’ll do it for you. Just don’t expect dramatic effects like Director Choi said.”

“Ah, really? You can do it too, Director?”

Choi Eunhee showed no sign of budging.

Since this was originally the patient assigned to me, it would be better for me to handle it.

I let the patient’s rude comment go in one ear and out the other and picked up the acupuncture needles.

“…Hanyewon is going to do it?”

“Yes. Since he’s my patient, I’ll treat him. Sorry for causing you unnecessary trouble.”

Even though she had intervened first, since I had tried to yield the patient and ended up making her look stern in front of people, I apologized as a matter of courtesy.

But even after receiving the apology, Choi Eunhee remained uncomfortable.

“The moment you insert the needles, Hanyewon, you’ll be responsible.”

She glanced at Lee Gwanhaeng sideways, then spoke to me as if warning me.

“Of course that’s how it should be. Would I ask Director Choi to take responsibility then? I’m not Director Choi’s son or anything.”

At the barbed joke, Choi Eunhee chuckled.

The juniors also roughly knew about Cho Haneul’s situation, so only the President and Vice President of the volunteer club flinched for no reason.

“Haha, don’t worry, students. Even if you make mistakes, the Professor will take responsibility. It’s rare to get a chance to see burn treatment, isn’t it?”

I reassured them and had Lee Gwanhaeng lie down on the bed.

It was an obvious statement that Choi Eunhee didn’t need to confirm.

Since students can’t take responsibility themselves, it’s legally mandated that professors accompany them, and licensed medical practitioners must decide whether to treat and take responsibility for the results on their own.

Deciding whether to treat directly or transfer to a higher-level hospital is also the role of primary care.

While a Vice Director has some range that the Clinic Director can cover for them, private practitioners naturally have to bear legal responsibility when problems arise.

“I was worrying for nothing.”

At my nonchalant attitude, Choi Eunhee returned to her position.

She soon stopped paying attention to this side and focused on the patients coming to her.

“Excuse me, would it be okay if I took some photos?”

A student who was assisting with treatment asked for permission from me and Lee Gwanhaeng.

The President and Vice President had come over here since they were overseeing everything, but active treatment was still ongoing at the other beds.

Since the students handling treatment assistance and reception were all working at their respective positions, it was difficult to observe freely.

“I don’t mind.”

“If the patient is okay with it, I don’t mind either. It’s nothing that impressive.”

The student turned on the video, and I immediately began the treatment.

First were the disinfection tools I had prepared earlier before Choi Eunhee interrupted.

“After you got injured, did you rinse it with running water?”

“I did hold it under cold water.”

I couldn’t see any foreign matter, but the fact that he had applied a pain relief patch bothered me.

“It stings a little.”

I disinfected the burn area almost like wiping it clean using sterile gauze, saline solution, and povidone.

“Ah, well. It’s bearable.”

True to a patient who had endured this burn without treatment until now, there was no whining.

I immediately inserted needles into the disinfected area.

“For the parts that reached second-degree burns, I’ll only place needles around the edges.”

“Uh-huh.”

“No matter how well I treat it, scars might remain.”

“Yeah. At my age, am I going to appear on TV or something? I don’t care about that.”

I didn’t treat the deep burn area directly, where bandages had been layered on. Instead, I placed needles around it as if surrounding it, then drew out the heat.

And for the areas where only the epidermis was slightly burned and reddened, I placed needles densely.

“Ohhh…”

Both the students and the patient looked at the burn area as if finding it very fascinating.

“Please lie still like this for a moment. Don’t touch it.”

“Got it.”

“Student, I’ll remove the needles and do the dressing later. Just call me.”

“Yes, Doctor. Thank you!”

The student assisting with treatment bowed while turning off the camera.

For regular patients, the assisting student would remove the needles after I treated them, but for this patient, wet dressing was needed after needle removal.

It wasn’t particularly difficult work, but they seemed scared due to lack of experience.

And really, just in case there were problems like Choi Eunhee mentioned, it was better for me to handle all processes—disinfection, needling, needle removal, and dressing—alone.

“Wow, that’s impressive.”

As the treatment ended quickly, the President bowed slightly then left to organize the reception desk.

The Vice President, Park Jun, gave me a thumbs up.

I had worried about causing trouble by having a confrontation with Choi Eunhee, but fortunately they didn’t seem to mind much.

“I’ll see the next patient.”

After treating two more routine patients that followed.

“Sir, I’ll remove the needles now.”

I finished Lee Gwanhaeng’s dressing properly as well.

When I told him the follow-up care should be done as Clinic Director Choi Eunhee had said, he replied that he would continue treatment at the Public Health Center.

“There’s a Korean Medicine Doctor at the Public Health Center too, but will he do this for me?”

“I’m not sure…”

“Send me that video from earlier too. So I can tell him to leave it like this.”

“Sending it to you isn’t difficult, but I don’t know if that doctor will provide the treatment.”

This was a patient who got burned from folk remedies and didn’t properly handle the aftermath.

It was also true that if it festered and worsened regardless of treatment, one could unfairly take the blame.

Since it was also the public health doctor’s choice not to take risks, I answered as conservatively as possible.

In any case, Lee Gwanhaeng seemed much better and was satisfied with the treatment.

“Everyone worked hard today.”

“Phew, I’m glad it ended safely without any incidents.”

After finishing with all the patients who came until evening, the club members gathered to exchange greetings.

Very fortunately, the most unusual patient this time was Lee Gwanhaeng.

Other than that, there were just grandmothers and grandfathers throwing tantrums asking to be moved up in line?

Last year, they said a patient who came complaining of facial numbness was staggering, so they urgently called 119 suspecting a stroke, so Lee Gwanhaeng’s case wasn’t even troublesome by comparison.

“Get home safely~!”

“Doctor Han, are you going straight down to Busan? Are you stopping by Seoul? We’re going to an after-party, why don’t you join us?”

“Please tell us some stories from your experiences.”

As I was about to get in my car, Park Jun and Lee Minseok approached and held me back.

“Ah, an after-party? Where are you having it? Somewhere around here?”

“We’ll probably eat near school after going to Seoul.”

Hmm.

Hmmm.

Going to Seoul would take at least another hour and a half, right?

“Thank you, but I’ll pass. I’m planning to look around downtown Yeoju. I even booked a hotel since I’m staying overnight.”

“Oh no. That’s disappointing. I thought we could at least have a meal together… We’re leaving after barely talking since we were only focused on seeing patients.”

“Haha, we can meet again next time.”

Since I was already here, it would be nice to join the group and have dinner together.

But since they decided to have their meal in Seoul, I didn’t feel like going there and coming back again.

I promised Lee Minseok, who seemed disappointed, that I’d contact him soon, then turned on my phone.

‘Ah, what should I eat.’

Actually, I’d been thinking about it since driving up this morning, but I still hadn’t made a decision.

‘Buckwheat noodles in Cheonseolli? Or anchovy noodles near City Hall?’

When I searched, wouldn’t you know it – both restaurants were open on Saturdays but closed on Sundays?

If I didn’t eat today, I wouldn’t be able to have it tomorrow.

Since my schedule was finished, I couldn’t postpone the decision any longer.

I leaned against my car and seriously pondered while looking at photos on my phone.

“Miss Yewon.”

“….”

Hmm, if I came to Yeoju, should it be Cheonseolli buckwheat noodles after all?

Whenever my coworkers occasionally came to play in this area, they always recommended eating buckwheat noodles.

But what I’m craving right now is anchovy noodles. It’s a food with some memories for me.

Ah! Even for someone like me, eating dinner twice would be a bit much, right?

“Director Han Yewon.”

“Ah, yes?”

I was deeply contemplating the dinner menu when I suddenly looked up.

I could still sense people around but thought they would leave one by one.

Choi Eunhee was talking to me.

“How about having dinner with me?”

“Ah, I just decided on anchovy noodles, so if that’s okay with you, let’s go together.”

As expected, today I should eat anchovy noodles.

I’ll bring Hwangseoyeong sometime soon to have buckwheat noodles together.

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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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