Chapter 9
Acute appendicitis. People often say they suffer from appendix pain, but the correct expression is appendicitis. Acute appendicitis is accompanied by strong pain in the right lower abdomen.
With a grave expression Suhyuk took his hand off her belly.
"Oww!"
She screamed more sharply. This was because the pain is worse when depressed rather than when pressed. It"s a reflexive pain that patients with appendicitis feel.
"When did you get sick?"
All the hints from her reactions ascertain that it is appendicitis.
"I was sick every day. Sir, I"m sick."
Based on her words alone, he could not tell how long her condition continued for.
With her condition like this continuing for 24 hours there was a 20% chance that it could lead to perforations, and the chance would be 70% after 48 hours.
How long has she endured this pain? If the appendix bursts, perforation could lead to peritonitis. It was only natural that other complications would occur after, putting the patients life at risk. Immediate surgery was needed.
"Why did they leave her condition untreated like this?"
If anybody comes to the hospital saying that they have a slight pain in the stomach, doctors easily come to suspect if it is appendicitis.
He had the same experience.
"Please be patient a little longer."
Suhyuk yelled, "Come and see her here! "
But they just looked back and then they were busy doing their own work. So Suhyuk approached a doctor watching the condition of a patient who did not seemed to be in an emergency situation.
"That patient seems to have acute appendicitis. I think she should need an immediate surgery."
The doctor"s eye moved along Suhyuk"s fingers.
When she came into his eyes, the doctor burst into a silly laughter and said, "I did not see you before. Are you her guardian?"
"That"s not the point. She has acute... " replied Suhyuk.
"Did she say she had acute appendicitis? How did she get to know the medical term? She"s just making a big fuss. She comes here every day, complaining about her pain and then would lie in bed. In a short time her guardian will come here, and if you are not her relative, I would like you to leave this place. This is not a children"s playground."
Suhyuk knitted his brow a bit. It"s possible that doctors might not have even looked at her for her repeated feigned illness.
"Please examine her. She"s really serious," Suhyuk said.
"Hey dude, I"m really busy. Hey nurse, take this student out of the emergency room."
The nurses were quick to respond. With a soft word, they led him to the emergency room door.
"Hey student, you should not do this here. You don"t go to school? You"ll be late if you don"t hurry."
Suhyuk shook off their hands roughly and tugged at the doctor"s gown, saying,
"Examining the patient won"t be that difficult. Come and check her!"
The doctor, dragged with an awkward smile, soon stiffened his face.
"Hey student, you would be in big trouble if you"re doing this here. Let me repeat. Just go back home!"
Suhyuk stiffened his face at the doctor"s shrieking voice.
It is the doctor who must constantly check the condition of the patients who complain about their pain. If the patient is sick, the doctor has to check and offer treatment. That was the same case for her who had cognitive disorder.
The doctor should not take off his eyes from those who lack discernment of their illness even if they lie. The doctor is supposed to behave like that. At least that"s the image of a doctor Suhyuk thinks of. But what about this doctor?
"I"m a newspaper delivery boy," said Suhyuk.
The doctor, who had a bearded smile, looked him up and down, bursting into a silly laugh. His clothes were too filthy.
"Yes, I knew it. So what?" asked the doctor.
"Well, there was a big headline in today"s newspaper that a doctor who had left an emergency patient untouched was arrested..."
The doctor knitted his brows suddenly at Suhyuk"s apparent threatening remarks.
"Do you really want a scolding?"
"Before you scold me, just examine her!"
Suhyuk stared at him. Was it provocative in his eyes? The doctor grabbed his hands roughly.
"You son of a b*tch!"
"What"s going on here?"
Suhyuk and the doctor"s heads turned back to the side at the same time. It was because a man neatly dressed up was walking straight towards them. He usually had a gentle appearance, but his face was stiff at the moment, and he had a good reason for that. Two people were bickering at each other in front of his mother who was mentally unfit. She must have been very surprised.
"Did you just arrive?"
The doctor"s face, who was staying with Suhyuk, quickly became bright.
"What"s the matter?"
"Not a big deal. This boy just made a big fuss about nothing."
"Hey, she needs surgery now!"
At Suhyuk"s shouting, the man turned his head to her lying in bed. He looked the doctor in the face.
"What"s wrong?"
Scratching his head, the doctor opened his mouth,
"She"s complaining about her feigned illness again, hahaha."
"Are you saying it after you"ve confirmed her condition?"
The doctor then turned his gaze on her.
"She is doing it every day."
The man was just speechless.
Obviously, she was a patient. She was breaking out in a cold sweat and making a low groaning noise. Unlike her feigned illness in the past, she was quite different now. The doctor, who hurriedly approached her, began to move briskly. And then he looked at Suhyuk with glaring eyes as if he couldn"t believe him.
How could a boy discern her condition?
"Mother, are you okay?"
The man, who grabbed her hands softly, asked. However, her gaze was only fixed on Suhyuk as if she could not recognize her son.
"Sir, I"m sick. Candy, please candy!"
"Quick, get ready for operation, nurse!"
The doctor urgently called the nurse. And when the doctor was about to disappear with her, the man grabbed the doctor"s wrist.
And he said quietly, "Shouldn"t you be doing your job properly if I"m giving you my money, huh?!"
His mother with dementia had long become like a pampered child, who needed constant care from someone. Despite that, she somehow got out of the house and always came to the emergency room of this hospital.
Could it be that she missed her husband so much, who died here because of an accident? Because she missed him so much?
Her son paid the doctor a lot of money. He gave the doctor the money with the request that, if she came to this place, she should be well taken care of until he came to pick her up. It was far from a small sum, but he did not care about it at all because he had money to burn.
Nevertheless, the doctor made his mother"s condition bad enough to require an emergency surgery. The man took his mouth to the doctor"s ear and said coldly,
"If something bad happens to my mom, I cannot guarantee what will happen to you."
Transactions between doctors and guardians in the emergency room. There were enough to get them tangled up in a police report, especially when it involved money.
The doctor nodded his head mindlessly and disappeared with the nurses in a flash, pus.h.i.+ng the bed she was lying on.
Soon Suhyuk and the man were left alone in the emergency room. Suhyuk, who gave a sigh of relief, turned away to leave.
"Hey student!"
When he was about to head toward the door, the man"s voice calling him stopped Suhyuk.