Doctor Goes Back to Joseon

Chapter 102: Eye [2]

“Heo”

Heo Jun nodded his head with surprise.

It was not an ordinary treatment.

But Ganghyuk looked placid.

At least others thought so.

‘Ah, I am terribly anxious.’

He had never had eye operation.

It was poker face that kept him in this terrible situation.

If the doctor in charge of operation showed anxiety, it would make the others more afraid.

“Yeoni, do you have the hooks that I gave you?”

“Yes.”

“Give them to me. I will put them on the lids. Make them open.”

“Ah, you open the eye forcefully.”

If you want an eye operation, the eye should be exposed.

Yeoni nodded her head as if she understood what he would do.

Ganghyuk placed the hooks as if he had known everything about the operation.

But in his mind, he was thinking what to do next busily.

‘When I was a medical student… I need to remember… They had two assistants.’

At that time, he did not understand ophthalmologists.

At a small operation for eye and why do they have two or three assistants.

Surgeons open the chest or the stomach with an assisting intern.

But Ganghyuk felt differently when he came to see somebody else’s eyes.

‘If I let them open, the corneas would be gone.’

Corneas are not durable.

If they were not protected with tears or if they are not protected by the eyelids, they would be damaged forever.

Ophthalmologists prescribe eyepatches to patients who cannot close their eyelids properly because of facioplegia.

If they were forced open like now, they would be damaged. It was for sure.

‘I make this operation to keep his eyesight. So, they should not be damaged.’

Ganghyuk gave the hooks to Yeoni and looked at Heo Jun.

Heo Jun and his fellows were his students. He made efforts to teach them in the Naeeuiwon.

He thought that he might be a dumb if he did not use them.

“Dr. Heo.”

“Yes, I am listening.”

“Could you help me?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Then wear a mask and gloves. Wear the cloth, too.”

Ganghyuk pointed a cloth from the backpack that Dolseok carried.

It was a Joseon style operation cloth that Ganghyuk had designed. It could not be worn because of too short sleeves.

In Joseon, Noblemen had to wear a cloth with long sleeves even in summer.

However, Heo Jun did not complain about the cloth and changed the cloth quietly.

“Wow.”

It seemed that to work in the Naeeuiwon gave him much stress.

His abdomen muscles were completely gone.

Heo Jun smiled with embarrassment.

“Heo, being a public servant is not easy.”

“But you must be paid well. Haha”

“Yes, this belly is from that high salary.”

Heo Jun pointed his belly that the operation cloth could not cover.

He seemed to be proud of this belly.

Yes, it was not Korea in the 21st century but Joseon in the 16th century.

There were so many people who were starved to death… It was a luck to entertain the rich life to make a belly.

“What should I do?”

Heo Jun came to Ganghyuk with a full setting.

He sat down in the opposite side of Ganghyuk. It was a good place as the first assistant.

“Spray water so that the eyeballs don’t get dry.”

“Yes, it is not difficult.”

Heo Jun answered looking at the syringe that Ganghyuk gave him.

Heo Jun made hemorrhoids operation in the Naeeuiwon.

Therefore, it was nothing.

“If it bleeds, please wipe it with this.”

Ganghyuk gave a cotton bud to Heo Jun.

It was unfamiliar to Heo Jun because he had not used it in hemorrhoids operation.

Heo Jun asked as Ganghyuk had already expected.

“Do I wipe blood with this rather than gauze?”

“If we should use gauze in eye operation because of the amount of blood, it might be a big accident.”

Ganghyuk smiled remembering when he was a medical student.

The professor made a fuss when he saw two drops of blood.

‘The minor departments (excluding internal medicine, surgery, gynecology, and pediatrics) don’t have the guts.’

Surgeons who do not move at all if not the table death think the professors in other departments are chickens.

“Aha, I see.”

With Ganghyuk’s smile, Heo Jun smiled, too.

“I will start now.”

“Yes, Scholar Baik.”

He started the operation in a comfortable mood.

It helped Ganghyuk great deal, as he was not afraid of the eye operation any more.

His brain became clear.

He could remember the textbook that he had read when he was a medical student.

‘It is not perfect, though.’

He could supplement his memory with his knowledge on anatomy.

The operation is not fixed as machine assembly.

‘I need to cut the cornea.’

Ganghyuk started to cut the cornea with the scalpel.

He was very cautious.

‘It must be 2 to 3 mm deep. If it goes deeper than that, it would make a big accident.’

He did not want to destroy somebody’s corneas.

A fortunate thing was that Heo Jun and Yeoni were very good assistants.

Yeoni opened the eyelids without movement and Heo Jun wiped the blood as quickly as possible.

When he thought that he might block the eyesight of Ganghyuk if he put the cotton bud, he sprayed water rather than using the cotton bud.

‘Good. Good.’

Ganghyuk could make a good start.

He could finish cutting successfully.

It was neither too deep nor too shallow.

He made the perfect circle along side of the circumference of the cornea.

“Good. Now I need to open this section.”

“Eo?… We cannot see the gap.”

As Heo Jun mentioned, the cut between the cornea and the white was too small.

Ganghyuk gave them an answer after a few moments’ thought.

His experience as a surgeon gave him a hint.

“Give me the suture devices.”

“Are you closing it? You just opened it.”

“No, a suture device is not only for closing the wound.”

“Oh, is that so?”

It might be true to all other jobs but it is really important for a surgeon to have imagination.

If not, he would not make magic like this.

-Pok

Ganghyuk passed the section with the thread.

“Let’s see.”

He pulled the thread carefully.

Then there became a small gap.

He used the thread like hooks,

“Ah, you made it”

“Yes, it is very useful to make a small gap larger.”

“Now, what will you do next?”

“I have to cut. It opened the gate only. Wow, it is a metaphor although I made it.”

“Ah, yes.”

Ganghyuk picked up a scalpel.

Heo Jun and Yeoni did not show any response to Ganghyuk’s self-praise but Dongpa moaned.

“Heung.”

His moaning did not stop with that.

Makbong beside him kicked him.

Makbong was busy with blowing air but he did not forget to punish Dongpa.

Ganghyuk picked up the scalpel and looked at the gap.

‘If I make a mistake here, the iris or lens can be damaged. Then it will be an accident.’

He needed to stab it in the right direction at the right depth.

‘It is a difficult job.’

Ganghyuk made a deep breath.

He must stab it anyway.

‘I need to trust my senses.’

If he made a good move, he should move an empty space.

Then he must stop it.

That place is the space with water, which gives pain to the patient.

-Poooook

Ganghyuk did not put the scalpel without pause as usual.

Instead, he stabbed it gently with low speed.

It might damage the neighboring tissues more than stabbing at once.

But he could not help it.

He must protect the more important structure.

-Tong

He felt that the resistance that he felt at the end of the scalpel was released.

“Heop”

Ganghyuk stopped his hand with a shout of concentration.

When he took out the knife, he could see the water flowing from the wound he had made.

“Good. Eo?”

“Why? The water is coming. Eo?”

Heo Jun had the same question.

A strange red tissue blocked the hole from which the water is flowing out.

“What is that?”

It was Yeoju who asked this question.

The picture was colorful thanks to the paints that Gwanghae had given to her as presents.

“It is…”

Ganghyuk pointed in the air.

‘What is this? Did I make a mistake?’

He got cold sweats.

It was said that the first trial should be made under the supervision of a teacher.

But at the next moment, he had the second thought.

‘No, I made it successfully.’

What he felt with his hand must be true.

Especially, Ganghyuk had good senses as a surgeon.

Sometimes we needed to trust our senses rather than what we see.

The water was hydatoid.

Then what is the red tissue?

Ganghyuk showed a bright facial expression after some thought.

“Ah, this is an iris.”

“Iris?”

“Yes, it must be an iris.”

“What is that?”

With the innocent question of Heo Jun, he realized that he was in Joseon.

The famous doctor at that time asked him what an iris was.

Ganghyuk answered hiding his smile.

“It is the organ to adjust amount of the light going to the pupil. This makes us adjust to the light when we move from a lightened place to the dark place or vice versa.”

Precisely speaking, it was not only an iris that did the function.

But he did not mention visual cells.

Ganghyuk did not remember all correctly and Heo Jun understood his explanation to some extent.

“Ah, it changes in size and makes our eyes adjusted, right?”

“Yes, it will not make a big problem even though I cut it a little.”

His eyes will be dazzling when he goes to a very bright place.

But it is a lot better than losing eye sight.

Ganghyuk cut the part of the iris coming out.

Then a hole is finished.

Ganghyuk smiled looking at the water flowing out from the hole.

‘Now I have three more to do. It is not that difficult.’

The first trial is always the most difficult.

From the second one, he could do it as if he were a skillful ophthalmologist.

Heo Jun was moved by his skills.

“Scholar Baik, you are amazing.”

“Haha, let’s see what the patient feels.”

Ganghyuk looked at the patient lying down on the futon with 4 holes in his eyes.

Makbong asked Ganghyuk with a tired face.

“Is it all done?”

“Yes.”

“Then what should I do? Should I wait till he is awake?”

“No. You don’t need to wait. Wake him up. I saw his eyelid was moving. The effect of blowfish toxin is finished.”

“Ah, I see. Then I will wake him up.”

Makbong rolled up his sleeves with a glad face.

Then the patient woke up after several seconds with a shriek.