The Quack Lady - Chapter 68

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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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Episode 68

“This time at a Korean hospital, they botched the spinal anesthesia and the patient became paralyzed from the waist down.”

“That’s not all. Last time at some plastic surgery clinic, they messed up the anesthesia and the patient never woke up.”

Anesthesia.

Unlike casual talk, the field of anesthesia is extremely profound and tricky.

It was the part I worried about most while preparing for the cesarean section.

‘Is this amount enough to inject?’

I practiced day and night, but I couldn’t get the feel for it.

Most importantly…

‘Since I have to insert the needle directly into the spine, one mistake could leave them disabled for life.’

Perhaps because of the thoughts that came to mind, my hands kept trembling.

“Rtemeia…?”

Tenoa, who was standing across from me, called out to me carefully.

I gripped my trembling hands.

‘…I have to do this.’

Regrets washed over me – I should have practiced a little more, I should have learned a little more.

‘Get it together! I need to focus!’

I steadied my mind and slowly moved the needle near the spine.

Then I very carefully injected the pre-prepared amount between the vertebrae.

“You’ll feel some pressure.”

“Hup!”

The Duchess, who was curled up like a shrimp with her back bent, gasped as the needle went in.

After injecting with all my concentration, I finally let out a sigh of relief.

“We’ll wait a moment for the anesthesia to take effect.”

According to my calculations, waiting 3-5 minutes should be enough for the spinal anesthesia to work.

I crossed my arms, worried about contamination, and waited for the anesthetic to spread.

Soon Tenoa approached me and asked slowly.

“But really, we can’t put the mother to sleep?”

After learning about anesthesia from me, he had made a rather plausible suggestion about whether we could remove the baby while the mother was asleep.

I kept my gaze fixed on the Duchess and said calmly.

“No. Then the baby would fall asleep too. It could cause problems with the baby’s breathing.”

Unless it was an emergency situation, general anesthesia wasn’t an option.

For me, the baby’s life was just as precious as the mother’s.

Most importantly, since this wasn’t a modern operating room with everything available, it wasn’t a choice I could make.

Anyway, while we were waiting for the anesthesia to spread…

“…Rtemeia. Will I be able to see the baby today?”

The Duchess, with only her lower body anesthetized, asked weakly.

I said to her.

“Yes. The baby seems eager to see Mother quickly.”

At those words, the Duchess smiled softly.

“Please… take care of everything.”

“Don’t worry.”

I reassured her.

One minute felt like an hour.

While waiting, Tenoa and I went over the overall process of the surgery.

“When I make the incision straight to the uterus, you need to push the bladder downward to secure the view.”

“Okay.”

“Then, after we take out the baby, we cut the umbilical cord and clean up, then we have to suture immediately, so you need to control bleeding well so you don’t block the view. Got it?”

“Okay.”

Nothing came to mind except the thought that I had to help deliver the baby safely.

I was only thinking about making this surgery successful when…

Suddenly, noisy sounds came from outside.

‘What’s that?’

Tenoa and I looked at each other.

However, before long, as if they had been waiting, it became quiet outside again.

‘Right, now isn’t the time to worry about other things.’

I stepped back onto the platform and said.

“Then, I’ll begin the emergency cesarean section.”

…It was the Empire’s first cesarean section surgery.

* * *

Robein, the Holy Knight Commander, bit his lip as he urgently rode his horse.

‘They’re suddenly proceeding with surgery.’

He couldn’t shake the thought that their plan had been discovered.

He rode his horse at full speed and arrived in front of the Marquis’s Mansion.

“I come bearing the command of God’s messenger! Open the gates at once!”

Despite his shouts, the gates remained firmly closed.

But there was no time.

He quickly struck down the soldiers guarding the gate.

Then he immediately crossed the central entrance of the Marquis’s Mansion and reached the surgery room where Rtemeia was.

“Open the door at once! Blasphemy is taking place!”

At the Holy Knight’s shouts, the maids guarding the door turned pale and bowed their heads.

“N-no! The Duchess is giving birth inside right now!”

“That’s right! We were ordered not to let anyone in!”

The maids, though trembling, spoke to the Holy Knight.

The Holy Knight looked down at the maids and shouted.

“News has come that the Duchess is in danger! Open the door immediately!”

At his firm voice, the maids kept glancing at each other nervously.

It was then.

“What’s all this commotion about?”

The Duke, who appeared leading a group of knights, was breathing heavily.

“Duke, I am Robein, commander of the Pairenon Knight Order of the Order’s Holy Knights.”

“…”

“We’ve received information that someone is putting a blade to the Duchess’s body inside, and we wish to check the interior. Please grant us permission.”

Even at his words, the Duke didn’t move a muscle.

No, to be precise, he gazed at him with calm, settled eyes as if he already knew.

“Duke. If you don’t open the door for us, we’ll have no choice but to open it and enter on our own.”

Robein spoke politely. Even so, when the Duke said nothing, just as Robein was about to gesture to the knights behind him…

“Stop!”

“…!”

At his shout, the Holy Knights all looked at the Duke in unison.

Soon he commanded the knights behind him.

“Escort them to the Duke’s office.”

“Duke!”

“We’ll discuss the details there. It won’t be a losing deal for the Knight Commander either.”

Soon, as if he had decided something, he turned around.

* * *

Perhaps because of the sounds that could be heard every so often, the Duchess asked in a drowsy voice.

“What’s happening…?”

“There seems to have been some commotion for a moment. Don’t worry.”

I comforted and reassured her, then picked up the scalpel.

‘I can do this. I have to do this.’

However, contrary to my mind, my hands trembled.

As the sharply honed blade filled my vision, my mind went blank.

What was in front of me wasn’t a pig.

It was a person.

‘This is driving me crazy…’

No matter how much I tried to calm my heart, it wouldn’t settle easily.

To cut open a person’s belly with only memories from my past life…

‘Is that really possible?’

I was trying to push away my thoughts and slowly bringing the blade to the patient’s abdomen when it happened.

“This is all… because of you!”

A voice suddenly filled my head, making my stomach feel cold.

The moment I recalled that fact, my hands shook as if an earthquake had struck.

If I moved my hand just a little here, where I had been stabbed…

“Rtemeia!”

At that moment, Tenoa’s shout made me snap my head up and look at him.

Even though only his eyes were visible due to the mask, I could tell.

‘He’s worried.’

Then, I looked around.

The midwife who would receive the baby, the maids who would help the mother’s recovery, the maids waiting to clean up after the birth.

These were people who relied on me and joined me in making the bold decision of surgery.

“Don’t worry. If we just do it like we practiced, there won’t be any problems.”

Tenoa grasped my trembling hands firmly.

At that moment, strangely, tears welled up in my eyes.

I quickly tilted my head up.

This was a place that had been thoroughly disinfected.

I couldn’t dirty it with my tears.

‘Right, I’m not alone.’

I steeled my resolve again.

The past is just the past.

My blade will save a life.

“Then I’ll begin.”

I gathered my resolve and concentrated all my nerves to make a horizontal incision in the skin.

‘It’s definitely not easy.’

Human skin was different, making all that practice seem meaningless.

After the scraping sensation and the feeling of muscle being cut passed, I could finally see the uterus.

“Hold this firmly here.”

I asked Tenoa to hold the incision open so the baby could come out easily.

Then I cut through the uterus in one swift motion.

“Quickly! Wipe away the blood here!”

I had expected it, but there really was a lot of blood.

After quickly checking and cleaning the bleeding areas, I put my hand into the uterus.

Then I desperately searched for the child’s head and bottom.

‘Find it calmly. I can do this.’

I had to carefully take it out so the baby’s body wouldn’t be damaged.

Then, I felt a very small round bone.

‘It’s the head!’

It was definitely the skull. I quickly slipped my hand in and carefully lifted out the child, cradling its head.

“Give me the scissors! Quickly!”

Ignoring the surprised gazes, I quickly used forceps* to secure the umbilical cord.

A medical instrument that looks like scissors with grooves.

Snap-

With the crisp sound of the forceps, the umbilical cord was severed.

With this, the connection between child and mother was cut.

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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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