Chapter 114

Im Gyungsu wore a bright look on his face.

For Suhyuk came back from the vacation he took from the previous weekend to the Monday.

His eyes turned to Park Sungjae from Suhyuk.

Park was sullen as if he was a puppy with its tail down.

“Lee Suhyuk.”

“Yes, sir.”

Im shook his head from side to side, complaining,

“Teach him how to collect blood properly. He made as many as nine holes on a patient’s arm.”

“I’m sorry, sir.”

Im disappeared, with Park lowering his head.

With a smile, Suhyuk said, “Looks like the blood vessel was not visible.”

“Yes…”

“Let’s go.”

Park followed him to an empty patient’s room where Suhyuk offered him cotton for disinfection and a syringe. Suhyuk perched on the bed, saying, “I think I saw you collecting blood several times.”

Park nodded his head, adding, “So far I have collected blood from patients whose blood vessels were clearly visible.”

That was true. Not only at the clinical practice but also at the emergency room, Park saw patients with visible blood vessels, and even at the neurosurgery department.

In that respect he was just lucky.

But this time he was not, making a big mistake of piercing the same spot several times as he could not locate the patients’ delicate blood vessels.

The patient got irritated as much as he could, and Park got a good scolding from Im.

“Now I’m a patient. Please do it…”

When Suhyuk showed his arm, Park’s eyes became wide.

“How can I ….”

“I’m a patient.”

Suhyuk’s blood vessels were thick and bulging as if he was an athletic man.

Park could collect blood from him seeing his blood vessels, but felt burdensome about it.

When he was hesitating, Suhyuk opened his mouth,

“Because you are hesitating like that, you will make a mistake. When a doctor acts like that, the patient gets tired, and you too.”

Suhyuk, who was clenching his fist for blood collection, now opened his hand.

Now Park held out his hand and rolled up his white sleeves.

Suhyuk made a bitter smile because he saw several needle marks on Park’s forearm that he left while practicing on his own.

Changing his mind, Suhyuk fastened an engorgement bandage around his arm.

When he doubled his fist several times, the blood vessels became more visible than before.

He pierced a syringe into his arm without any hesitation.

The blood was flowing back into the chamber of the syringe, with the red blood slightly visible.

That meant blood was being collected correctly.

When he was done, Suhyuk released the engorgement bandage.

It is more difficult to find the blood vessels on the back of one’s hand than that of one’s arm.

“Just close your eyes, and try to find the blood vessels by the feel.”

Park nodded his head, and began touching Suhyuk’s forearm.

“You have to feel it by only the fingertip.”

“Looks like it’s here.”

Suhyuk smiled bitterly, saying, “No, that’s a bone.”

Park once again tried to locate the blood vessels by feel.

“Now open your eyes.”

He was correctly locating the delicate blood vessels this time.

“Was the patient you failed to collect blood from plump?”

Park said, scratching his head, “Yes, very fatty…”

Suhyuk smiled, nodding his head.

Unless experienced, any intern would find it difficult to collect blood from such patients.

Unlike an experienced doctor or nurse, Park was only an intern who could make such a mistake.

“You had better find a spot located one third of the way up on the back of a child’s hand or plump hands where the blood vessels are not visible, while a.s.suming the blood vessels are there.

Suhyuk stopped talking for a moment, and then continued,

“Sometimes the blood vessels are just not visible at all.”

“What should I do in such a case?”

“Experience is important, above all. Plus your own imagination. Trying to visualize the blood vessels in your head and find it…”

Suhyuk gave him a lot of additional advice.

Park was all eyes and ears when he explained.

The point was do it without any hesitation.

Standing up from the bed, Suhyuk patted him on the shoulder and went out.

Left alone in the patient’s room, Park came to look at the syringe containing Suhyuk’s blood.

And he thought of Suhyuk, while holding it tighter gradually.

There has never been any other doctor who went to the trouble of explaining something to him so kindly like Suhyuk. Even to the point of collecting his own blood.

“Thanks, Dr. Lee.”

Then Park headed directly to the pathology laboratory.

***

It was now lunch time.

Finis.h.i.+ng his work early, Suhyuk was standing before the elevator.

Then he heard a voice.

“Uh? He’s the man who appeared on TV.”

Suhyuk turned his head to the side.

He wondered if she was 6 years old.

A little girl in a patient’s gown was pointing to him with her fingers.

Suhyuk smiled at her, “Hi!”

The child joined her two hands by her navel and greeted him by giving a bow.

Suhyuk approached her, asking, “What is your name?”

“Han Arum. Han, A, Rum.”

“Oh, what a beautiful name it is.”

‘By the way, where is her guardian?’ Suddenly he thought of that, as this was not the pediatrics department.

“Where are your parents?”

“They’re out for work.”

“Work?”

“Yes, my mom will visit me in the evening.”

Maybe there might be some reason for that.

Suhyuk held out his hand to her, and the girl held it without any hesitation as he was familiar to her thanks to his appearance on TV.

She was a girl with clear pupil and pretty dimples.

“You came here from that building, right?”

She nodded her head, smiling innocently.

Suhyuk shook his head, surprised at the fact that she came as far as here.

“Let’s go.”

Suhyuk walked in step with the girl’s strides, and soon got on the elevator.

Growling.

Suhyuk looked down at her stomach. Arum was rubbing it.

“You haven’t eaten, right?”

“Well, I was not hungry a moment ago…”

“You have to eat a lot, so you can become strong and tall.”

“If I eat a lot and become strong, I don’t have to come to the hospital, right?”

The child looked up at Suhyuk with s.h.i.+ning eyes.

“Of course.”

Then the elevator door opened, and they went out of it.

There was a bridge connecting the hospital buildings.

As the weather was fine, there were some people on the bridge chatting and enjoying the landscape out there.

Around about the middle of the bridge, Arum stopped and turned her head to the side.

A boy holding his mother’s hand was pa.s.sing by, while enjoying a hamburger.

“You said your mother was coming in the evening. Is n.o.body in your room?”

“No…”

She could not take her eyes off the hamburger.

Rumbling…

Suhyuk, smiling, said, “Shall we go out for a hamburger?”

She opened her eyes wide, asking, “Really?”

“Of course.”

Suhyuk led her outside, and Arum followed him, overjoyed.

***

They arrived at a hamburger store in the lobby.

A hamburger set for children was placed on the table she sat at.

Arum tried to eat the burger in one gulp, stamping her feet in joy.

“Drink some c.o.ke, too.”

She drank it with through a straw, and was humming now.

Suhyuk began eating his own hamburger.

Soon she was done with her hamburger and french fries.

“Let’s go now.”

Suhyuk checked the time on the large clock on the wall in the lobby.

It was 12:40pm.

Though he was getting back to work a bit later than usual, he still had free time.

Then came out an announcement.

“6-year-old girl. We’re looking for Han Arum. 6-year-old girl, Han Arum…”

Suhyuk turned his head to her.

“Oh, it’s my name.”

When she was making a curious look, Suhyuk murmured,

“Ooops, I’m afraid I’ll get scolded.”

Suhyuk lifted her up and walked fast.

Some old men talked to each other, looking at his appearance from behind,

“Looks like her father is a doctor.”

“Maybe her bill is free.”

Certainly, Suhyuk’s appearance gave the impression that he was her father.

***

“h.e.l.lo!”

“Long time no see, Dr. Lee.”

The nurses of the pediatrics department recognized him and said h.e.l.lo.

On such occasions Suhyuk bowed his head slightly.

Then a nurse came up to him.

“Han Arum!”

When she came up, Arum hid behind Suhyuk’s back, and showed only her face.

Letting out a sigh of relief, the nurse opened her mouth, with her hand on her forehead,

“I was looking for you so hard…”

After she greeted her, she held out her hand.

But Arum would not move a bit, hiding behind his back.

“You make me worried all the time.”

Suhyuk smiled a bit.

“Let’s go now.”

Only then did she move.

“Looks like she is a naughty girl.”

At Suhyuk’s words, the nurse answered in a miserable tone,

“Yes, she is. Even today and yesterday, she pulled out her IV line and played hide-and-seek with me.”

Arum was touching the back of her hand at that moment.

“It hurts, sir.”

Soon they arrived in her room, and she got on the bed.

He noticed the name of her identified illness that was labelled on the bed.

Encephaloma, or brain tumor.

He suddenly turned his head to the girl.

Her pupils were so clear.