Remember My Name

6 - Back to School

"Okay Love, Inhale..." Dr. Son instructed the little boy lying in the ER's hospital bed while she placed the cold steel of the stethoscope in his chest and in his back, listening to the murmurs inside the child's body. "..and Exhale.."

"Dr. Son, his name is Go Chin Hwa, 8 years old with asthma, his nebuliser hasn't been working. Dr. Kwon added steroids on his medication but he still cannot breathe properly."

"Can I see his X-rays?" An intern handed her the x-ray film and she lifted it in the near the light so she could see clearly. Her eyebrows formed a crease, and she asked the patient's parent, "Does he have other medical issues?"

"He had a febrile seizure when he was 3 months old, Dr. Son."

"How about his asthma, did it get better or worse as he aged?"

"Worse, doctor."

"Okay." Dr. Son offered a weak smile to the parent, the one that doctors use when they recognize the urgency of the situation but they don't want to create panic among the patient's family. She then turned to the parent and said in the calmest tone possible, "Mrs. Go, I think Chin Hwa has Cardiac Asthma. He needs to have surgery right now.. Because he's currently having a heart attack. But do not worry. We have the best surgeons in here so we will take care of your child."

Nurse Huang guided the parent to fill out some forms. The residents and interns in the room were amazed as to how she smoothly handled the situation, avoiding unnecessary panic that would've eaten the parent alive.

She was a purring kitten to the mother, but had transformed into a growling tiger when she looked at the residents, "Book an OR, stat! He's having a heart attack right now. Page Dr. Hyun and let's get this child into an OR!"

-

"Look at this," Dr. Hyun moved his hand to let Dr. Son and the other resident doctors assisting them see the patient's heart, "The coronary artery is attached to the pulmonary artery, and not the aorta."

They were now on the OR, operating on the child. Dr. Hyun led the surgery, and Dr. Son first assisted.

The residents' eyes widened at the sight of the beating heart, not looking as a normal one should be. "It presented as cardiac asthma, but it was really ALCAPA (Anomalous left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery)", Dr. Son said, still with a scalpel in her hand.

"Nice catch, Dr. Son." Dr. Hyun said.

"Thank you," She replied, "Turned out that the febrile seizure that he had back then was already a heart attack."

"Dr. Hyun, she literally just listened to the boy's chest, asked her mother a few questions, and looked at her x-ray. It was amazing, you should have seen it." one of the residents told Dr. Hyun.

"Ya.." She warned the doctors because she was getting shy of the compliments they were throwing at her way since earlier. The intern wouldn't stop talking about her diagnosis. He even jokingly called her, "god?"

"Silly." She replied but then decided to impart some knowledge to the young doctors, "When I listened to his chest, I head a holosystolic murmur, and there are cardiomegaly on his x-rays."

"Please don't take my job away from me, Dr. Son." Dr. Hyun joked, fuelling the fire some more.

She pouted, but smiled afterwards. No one can see what her reaction is, but Dr. Hyun knew what was hiding behind her surgical mask, just by looking at how her eyes formed into crescent-shaped perfection.

They finished the surgery, and the boy was wheeled back into his room for post-op care. Both doctors removed their surgical gowns and scrubbed their hands thoroughly for 5 minutes, making small talk. Before they could finish, the Chief's assistant entered the scrub room, "There you are, I have been looking everywhere for both of you," catching her breath, she continued, "Chief wants to talk to both of you."