Chapter 42
One minute passed.
Jihoon ran out, grabbed the wrist of an intern passing nearby, and dragged him toward the bed.
The intern had been saying he was busy.
The moment he saw the pool of blood beneath the bed, his face turned white.
"She's unconscious! This pregnant patient is unconscious!"
At the shout, Han Seongyeon shot to her feet.
The instant she pulled open the curtain, she saw blood pouring beneath the sheet, enough to stain even the color of the floor tiles.
This was not a normal amount of bleeding.
"...!"
Every trace of Han Seongyeon's earlier confidence disappeared.
Her hands began to shake.
"Blood pressure! What's her blood pressure?!"
Min Jiwon hurriedly wrapped the cuff around Eunchae's arm.
"We can't get a reading! I can barely palpate a pulse!"
"Oxygen saturation?"
"It's dropping! Eighty-eight, eighty-seven..."
Only then did Han Seongyeon snatch the envelope that had been carelessly left beside the bed.
She did not even have time to open it.
One sheet attached to the outside caught her eye.
The final line had been underlined in red.
[Complete placenta previa. No vaginal examination if bleeding occurs. Immediate operating-room preparation required.]
Her mind went blank.
She had never personally operated on an obstetric hemorrhage of this scale.
"O-Operating room! Open the OR!"
Her voice cracked.
Her hands shook so badly she nearly dropped the envelope twice.
"Call anesthesia. Prepare as much emergency O-negative blood as possible..."
She stopped mid-sentence.
For one instant, she was no longer confident she could handle this operation herself.
"...Call Professor Kim. Right now!"
"The OB-GYN department head? At this hour, he'll probably be at home..."
"Call him now!"
A nurse grabbed the phone and ran.
Meanwhile, Eunchae's bed was pushed toward the operating room.
Jihoon tried to follow but another nurse stopped him.
Eunchae remained unconscious.
She could not make a sound.
An intern shouted,
"Doctor, Professor Kim Dohyeon wants to speak to the fellow."
"This is first-year fellow Han Seongyeon. We have an emergency..."
"Do you know what time it is?"
Professor Kim Dohyeon's irritated, half-asleep voice came through the phone first.
"I'm sorry, Professor. Thirty-four weeks, complete placenta previa. The patient has lost consciousness and there's massive bleeding..."
"What? She's unconscious?"
His tone changed instantly.
"You knew she had placenta previa? Did you do a vaginal exam?"
"No, no vaginal exam..."
"Then why did you leave her until she lost consciousness?!"
On the other end of the phone, she could hear him hurriedly putting on clothes.
"Was she transferred in? Do you have a referral letter?"
"Yes. It says complete placenta previa, no vaginal examination, immediate operating-room preparation..."
"You bastard! Were you trying to kill someone?!"
The shout slammed into her ear.
"Do you understand you nearly killed a patient? If the mother dies, the baby can die too. Both of them! Do you understand?!"
"I'm sorry."
"Apologize later. Open the operating room. Did you call anesthesia?"
"They're being paged now."
"Then what are you waiting for? Move! I'll be there in ten minutes."
The call ended abruptly.
Han Seongyeon stared at the receiver in her hand.
Her ear rang.
Fortunately, a capable emergency-room nurse had already contacted the operating room.
The OR was ready.
Less than ten minutes later, Kim Dohyeon burst through the operating-room doors.
The buttons on his shirt were mismatched.
He barely finished scrubbing before pulling on gloves and immediately started shouting.
"Where is she? Give me the status!"
"Thirty-four weeks, complete placenta previa, unconscious..."
"I heard that over the phone! Vital signs!"
"No measurable blood pressure. Oxygen saturation dropped as low as eighty-four."
"What were you doing until she got this bad?!"
Kim Dohyeon shouted as his gaze moved over the patient's abdomen.
Han Seongyeon could not answer.
"Where's the transfer letter? Bring it."
She handed him the envelope.
Kim Dohyeon scanned the line underlined in red.
His fist tightened around the paper hard enough to nearly crumple it.
"You didn't read this?"
"..."
"It says it right here in huge letters with a red line underneath!"
"..."
"Answer me! Your pride got hurt, so you didn't read it? You ignored it because it came from a private clinic?!"
"..."
"Stop wasting time and move your hands. Scalpel."
Kim Dohyeon's hands began moving.
The instant the abdomen was opened, orders flew one after another.
"Hold here! No, not there! Press! Harder!"
Han Seongyeon followed his commands in a daze.
The moment Kim Dohyeon confirmed that the placenta completely covered the lower uterine segment, his movements became precise and fast.
"Suction! What are you doing? Can't you see the blood?"
"S-Sorry."
"Stop saying sorry and move your hands!"
Kim Dohyeon's voice never settled throughout the operation.
Orders and scolding came one after another.
Han Seongyeon barely managed to keep moving her hands through the shouting.
Half the time, she was no longer even sure what she was doing.
The surgery took nearly an hour and a half.
The blood loss far exceeded expectations.
More transfusions had to be ordered repeatedly.
The anesthesiologist called out the blood pressure several times.
Every time, Han Seongyeon could feel her fingertips trembling.
The baby's cry came out strong.
Thirty-four weeks.
2.3 kilograms.
Normal Apgar score.
Eunchae also survived the crisis.
Kim Dohyeon removed his gloves and said only one thing.
"If you're going to do something like this again, get out of this hospital."
