The Physician of Traditional Medicine Returns from Murim - Chapter 72

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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 72

Hwang Sanghun was startled.

Suddenly reducing work days to 5 days a week? Was the revenue dropping significantly on days when he worked alone?

Fortunately, Hanyewon reassured him that it wasn’t the case at all, saying there would be no point in having a deputy director if he performed as well as the head director.

‘There’s nothing to do at home alone anyway.’

Except for the PT sessions that Hanyewon had arranged for him, he usually spent his days off reviewing treatments or studying.

It felt more comfortable to work while at the clinic and study during breaks.

Wouldn’t it just be more burdensome to suddenly reduce work days while maintaining the same salary?

‘Most importantly, it means one less day working together.’

Currently, out of 6 days a week, they worked together for 3 days and he worked alone for 3 days. If reduced to 5 days, there would be one less day working together.

‘I don’t want that.’

Fortunately, it was a proposal Hanyewon made out of consideration for him, and she readily accepted his opinion to maintain the current work conditions.

She also accepted his suggestion to introduce ultrasound.

It wouldn’t be easy to change the system, but she even made and put up posters, which made him feel very proud.

Moreover, Hanyewon said she would learn to use it too.

They decided to stay for 2 hours after work to study together.

‘I hope I can be helpful.’

Hwang Sanghun calmed his racing heart and waited for the clinic’s closing time.

* * *

“This is the normal state, and this is inflammation.”

Hwang Sanghun said.

“…? They look the same?”

“Everyone’s like that at first, but you get used to it as you keep looking.”

Hanyewon looked completely lost.

He too was confused about what he was looking at when he first used ultrasound, but after scanning 100, then 1,000 people, he developed an intuition for it.

“I got it! This is the anterior talofibular ligament?”

“No? This looks like an old injury. Bend it 10 degrees more.”

“Aaaah! I don’t understand ankles at all!”

Hanyewon clutched her head.

He thought she was good at everything, but there was something she didn’t know?

…Cute.

“Small joints are originally a bit difficult to distinguish. Knees and shoulders should be okay.”

“Then let’s do the ankle later and look at the shoulder!”

Hanyewon wiped off the gel from the ankle. She kept grumbling about how to see this thing.

“Shoulder? For the shoulder…”

You have to take off your top, right?

Of course, he just took it off in the hospital.

“Wait a moment.”

Hwang Sanghun turned around, unbuttoned a few buttons, and pulled down his shirt to expose only his shoulder.

“Oh, the PT is working! You’ve gained some muscle?”

“…Thank you.”

He blushed slightly.

Swoosh!

Hanyewon splattered cold gel on Hwang Sanghun’s shoulder.

Soon after, the ultrasound probe touched it.

“Ah, the shoulder blade is easier to recognize. Since this is the scapular spine, the top should be the supraspinatus.”

“Right. You found it well.”

“Uh…? But why is it like this? Is this torn? Your shoulder looks fine though?”

“Hmm?”

Hanyewon was confused.

Of course Hwang Sanghun’s shoulder was fine.

But on the screen, there appeared to be scratches that looked like partial tears.

“When air gets in, it looks unclear. In cases like this, you need to turn it slightly and try again.”

“…How do you distinguish it?”

“You get a feel for it as you do it?”

“Aaaah!”

Even the shoulder wasn’t that easy, as Hanyewon frowned for a long time trying to distinguish between muscles and ligaments.

“White is bone, and black is… black is fluid… I don’t know…”

The first day’s two hours ended in an instant.

Hanyewon thanked him for teaching her well, but he felt awkward thinking he hadn’t been much help.

But Hanyewon didn’t give up.

Whenever she had a little free time, she would ask staff members to let her scan their ankles.

Once she became somewhat capable of distinguishing, she also applied the device to familiar patients, saying she wanted to check their progress. Of course, since there was a possibility of misreading, she had Hwang Sanghun observe.

“This is where the gastrocnemius was torn. It’s improving, but the muscle fiber is still a bit different from the others.”

“Yes. It’s fine when walking, but it’s definitely not fully recovered. I should continue treatment properly until the end as you said, Director.”

He also scanned the calf.

“There’s calcium buildup in your shoulder. If the pain isn’t severe, you could wait for natural dissolution while just controlling inflammation, but if it were me, I’d try breaking it up with extracorporeal shock wave therapy.”

“Oh, let’s do that! Thank you for letting me know!”

As he continued, he became able to diagnose shoulder lesions as well.

“Your toe isn’t getting better? Let me see, it looks fine… Oh, there’s inflammation in the proximal joint too! Sometimes the actual location of inflammation differs from where it hurts. Let’s treat the proximal joint as well!”

At first, he had struggled with ankle issues being frustrating.

But through persistent observation, he soon became able to diagnose even finger and toe joints.

“Thanks, oppa! I’m so glad I got this installed. It’s become much easier to show patients and convince them of the need for treatment!”

She naturally absorbed ultrasound diagnosis into her system.

Except for the first few days, patient wait times weren’t long, and patients were pleased to see the needle going precisely into inflamed ligaments.

“Haha, you’re learning so quickly. Must be because you have good sense and dexterity.”

“Oh come on, it’s because oppa taught me the know-how so well.”

He had learned while getting scolded by seniors for a long time, so seeing her master it so quickly made him feel slightly disappointed.

* * *

“Clinic Director, what should I do? Nothing’s getting better at all!”

What he could teach was quickly exhausted.

But what he needed to learn was endless.

This patient who was sniffling, saying nothing was getting better at all, was named Lee Ajung.

She was the daughter-in-law of Grandmother Son Chunja, who liked Hwang Sanghun very much.

She had come complaining of lower back and hip pain, and it had been 2 weeks since treatment began.

He had thought she would improve if he treated the erector spinae muscles where tenderness occurred, but there was no improvement at all, which was troubling.

Every time she came feeling dejected about not getting better, it was becoming burdensome.

‘Is it because she’s too thin? I can’t tell her to build muscle. Should I try supportive therapy?’

Acupuncture treatment basically involved loosening tight areas or creating injuries to aid recovery. There were limits to making weak things strong.

Of course, complementary methods like thread embedding existed, but they required material costs, so he would have to charge more.

‘Or is it that the sacroiliac joint inflammation isn’t subsiding? Should I recommend long needle pharmacopuncture instead?’

Hwang Sanghun lacked confidence.

What if he recommended expensive non-covered treatment and still failed?

He would have no face to show either Lee Ajung or Grandmother Son Chunja who had introduced her to Hwang Sanghun.

“Yewon, I have a patient I’d like to consult about. Would that be okay?”

Hwang Sanghun eventually went to find Hanyewon again.

“Who is it?”

Hanyewon’s eyes lit up, telling him to ask anytime. She showed no sign of being bothered.

“It’s Ms. Lee Ajung.”

“Oh, it’s not a very old case. No triggering incident, pain for 5 weeks, you’ve been treating for 2 weeks?”

“Yeah.”

“She doesn’t overexert herself? What’s her job? Doesn’t exercise?”

“Just office work. She’s a very thin patient, and she said she recently started swimming… but it doesn’t seem like she goes often enough for it to be a problem.”

“Hmm.”

Hanyewon scrolled through the chart while thinking.

“Could it be a disc after all? Should I tell her treatment takes time and keep going steadily? Or should I recommend non-covered treatment, or strongly tell her to exercise properly?”

She shook her head at Hwang Sanghun’s words.

Hanyewon crossed her arms and stared at the screen before speaking.

“Where exactly does it hurt most? The coccyx or the ischium?”

“The coccyx. She said her tailbone hurts and pointed here. The erector spinae was most tender when pressed.”

“That could stiffen separately from sitting for long periods in office work… No numbness either? SLR (Straight Leg Raise test; physical examination to check for lumbar radiculopathy and disc issues) negative?”

“Yeah. All that was fine.”

“You’ve tried acupuncture on the lower back, tailbone, and ischium.”

Hwang Sanghun nodded.

Having treated consistently for 2 weeks, needles had gone into all potentially problematic areas.

“In my experience, this is a sacral fracture.”

“Huh? A fracture?”

But Hanyewon brought up something completely unexpected.

“You have experience seeing fracture patients too? But this person had an X-ray at an orthopedic clinic before coming to the oriental medicine clinic.”

“Ahem, I happened to have some experience! Hairline cracks sometimes don’t show up on X-rays. They’d be visible on CT, MRI, or ultrasound though. Thanks to oppa buying that expensive ultrasound, we can see the spine well too.”

“But there are no factors that would cause a fracture…”

“Maybe she can’t remember because the timing doesn’t match when the pain started? Try asking thoroughly about what happened even weeks ago, and let’s look with ultrasound.”

It wasn’t difficult.

Rather than recommending thread embedding when he didn’t even know what the problem was and might need support, suggesting an ultrasound examination was much easier.

The patient was also convinced.

Between physical therapy and acupuncture treatment, Hwang Sanghun called her to the examination room for an ultrasound examination.

Even if it wasn’t a fracture, he intended to look for any ligaments with particularly severe inflammation in the sacroiliac joint.

‘…?!’

But just as Hanyewon had said, a microfracture was visible.

How did she know this?

“There’s a slight crack? Have you never bumped into anything? Unless you’re very elderly with severe osteoporosis, it’s not easy for compression fractures to occur during daily activities.”

Hwang Sanghun tried not to show his surprise and spoke calmly.

Elderly patients occasionally develop spinal compression fractures even from the shock of sneezing. But a woman in her 40s getting a crack in her sacrum without trauma?

How on earth did Hanyewon know?

“A fracture?!”

Lee Ajung was also shocked.

“Yes. Since you said you hadn’t been injured, I didn’t really consider a fracture, but sometimes small cracks like this don’t show up on X-rays.”

“Ah…! Actually… I was injured.”

“Pardon?”

“Ahaha, you remember I came with my mother-in-law during the first visit, right? Actually, my colleague told me I drank too much at a company dinner and fell on my bottom. I couldn’t really say that in front of my mother-in-law. I’m sorry! Since it didn’t show up on the X-ray, I thought it wasn’t a fracture!”

Come to think of it, Son Chunja had accompanied her.

So she had glossed over the real circumstances of how she got hurt instead of telling the truth?

Without knowing that possibility, he had completely ruled out a fracture. If he had recommended thread lifting or pharmacopuncture treatment and a fracture was discovered later at another hospital… it would have been terrifying. He would have been called a quack.

“I see. That’s certainly possible. Please rest from all exercise including swimming for the time being, and stay on bed rest. Bones ultimately need to heal on their own, so let’s continue treatment focused on pain control. It will take longer than the prognosis period I initially mentioned.”

“Yes, yes, I’ll do that. Oh my goodness! I wondered why it hurt so much. How hard did I hit it? I should quit drinking!”

Lee Ajung bowed her head, feeling very embarrassed.

“Yewon, just like you said, there really was a fracture.”

And he showed Hanyewon the ultrasound image.

“Ah, right? Come to think of it, she said she had been injured, didn’t she?”

“Yeah. She couldn’t say it because her mother-in-law was there.”

“Haha, that happens sometimes. They forget, or deliberately hide things. What patients say isn’t always that objective.”

“I learned something new… I’m glad I asked you.”

“What are you talking about! It’s fortunate we brought in the ultrasound! Otherwise, we would have had to send her to another hospital for no reason! Having the machine is so great!”

The two praised each other.

If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have even thought to use the ultrasound, if it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t know what I was looking at even if I saw this – they exchanged compliments and laughed harmoniously.

Thus, the new system settled into Seongsoo Oriental Medicine Clinic.

* * *

“Oh my, Ms. Park Seon-yun. It’s been a while. How have you been?”

“Yes. Have you all been well too?”

“We’re always the same!”

“Please share this with everyone. I bought it while on a business trip. Oh… you’ve added more staff?”

“Yes, yes! We now provide treatment seven days a week!”

“Impressive as always. I hope you continue to prosper.”

I could hear Seol Yuhui and Park Seon-yun talking at the desk.

Park Seon-yun? It’s been a while.

Since our conversation at that fine dining restaurant, her visit frequency had dropped significantly, and recently she hadn’t come at all.

So she had been on a business trip?

“Director~ It’s Swiss chocolate!”

Shortly after, Seol Yuhui brought some out on a plate.

Seol Yuhui and Gong Nari, who was in the treatment room, ate the chocolate with great delight.

“Tell the patient thank you.”

Hwang Sanghun seemed a bit lukewarm about it. Does he not like chocolate? Hwang Sanghun did look like someone who would dislike sweet things.

After waiting for the physical therapy to end, I went to Park Seon-yun.

“How has your back been? We brought in a new ultrasound machine – shall I take a look for you?”

“No, it’s fine. Thanks to you, Director, my back is perfectly fine. My shoulder is a bit stiff though. Did you purchase the ultrasound machine recently?”

Park Seon-yun declined the examination but showed interest in the machine.

Ah, didn’t their conglomerate also have a medical equipment company? Since they’re a large corporation.

“I didn’t buy it. I hired an associate director and that friend brought it.”

“I see… Is there anything else you need? How about a blood testing machine?”

“Haha, maybe next time.”

No sales pitches, you rascal.

I’ll place an order if I need it!

“Mmm… Ah!”

A few months wouldn’t have changed Park Seon-yun’s sensitive skin.

She still flinched and trembled while receiving acupuncture.

“By the way, Director, did you hear anything from Seseon by any chance?”

“You mean Ms. Park Seseun? Not particularly.”

I tilted my head.

I had kept in touch with Park Seseun fairly often even after moving to Seoul.

She had settled at her target weight without yo-yoing, and we had become quite close through weekly consultations.

But it was just everyday talk, nothing special.

“She still hasn’t confessed to you, Director? I heard that when her friend took some of the pills you prescribed that she had, the friend suffered quite a bit.”

“What…?”

Why would her friend take those!

I grabbed the back of my neck.

Medicine is medicine, after all! At least ask before giving it to someone!

—————
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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