Chapter 25: With This…… [2]
Chapter 25: With This…… [2]
“I absolutely can’t wash with this anymore!”
Even the day after returning from seeing the potential of rubber gloves, arguments were still breaking out in front of each ward.
It could not be helped.
Chloride of lime really was vicious.
Every time I stuck my hands into it, I felt like I was going to die too.
“You have to wash. You know that, don’t you? How much things have changed.”
“Ugh....”
Just a month ago, complaints and grievances had still carried quite a bit of force.
But now?
That was no longer remotely possible.
“That’s right, wash your hands!”
The nurses’ attitudes had changed the most of all.
Doctors and medical students did not have their patients only here, so they kept going from place to place.
Because of that, their observation of the patients themselves was bound to be worse than that of the nurses.
The nurses, on the other hand, stayed there watching the patients the whole time, and in this period even a full three-shift system had not yet completely taken root, so they were literally fixed in place, which meant they could fully feel every change in the patients.
“Ah, the baby....”
“Wash your hands! That’s how the patient lives!”
Had I not said it before?
Unlike last month, this month people’s survival rates were improving so dramatically that there was no need to compile statistics to feel it.
And because it was happening across the entire ward, the nurses were the first to push even harder.
Though it was a little much that even the hands of the one shouting were red.
“Haa....”
Even so, it was satisfying to watch my annoying classmate Colin let out a long sigh and plunge his hands into that damned liquid.
Hahaha. Other people’s suffering is my joy....
No, that made me sound too much like a psychopath.
Let’s just say I was glad he was joining in saving patients.
“Ughhhh.”
Colin glared at me through pain he could not get used to—pain he never would get used to.
So what was he going to do about it?
“All right, is everyone here?”
Even Blundell, who had once been lukewarm about handwashing—hm?
Now he too had become a man with red hands.
Should I not distribute soap?
To think there had been such an easy way to tell at a glance whether someone had washed their hands or not.
Even in the twenty-first century, were there not still bastards who did not wash their hands?
Patients did not know, of course, but in hospitals there were people who patrolled like undercover inspectors.
They were the so-called infection control staff, people who went around in plain clothes checking whether that bastard washed his hands or not.
Even after theory and experience had already proven the usefulness of handwashing, the handwashing rate still always hovered around ninety percent.
Hey? They even had disinfectant there!
It was an era when you only had to wash with soap and running water before and after rounds, and for everything else, disinfectant was enough.
And even then, there were still bastards who did not wash their hands.
They ought to drag them all here and put them through this once.
Then they would say thank you and wash.
Ah... I want to go back and eat grilled pork belly and pork kimchi stew....
Just as my imagination started veering in a strange direction, Blundell’s voice rang out.
“All right, who wants to come up and try?”
Ah, so that was it.
My instincts must have sensed danger.
Blundell was looking at me.
Well, it was about time for my turn.
Up to now, I had never stepped forward. Not even once.
“I’ll do it.”
So I stepped up.
A pelvic exam or so—I was confident I could do that better than Blundell.
I had never done one directly in obstetrics and gynecology, but I had seen plenty over others’ shoulders, and my understanding of anatomy was beyond comparison.
“Good.”
Leaving behind Blundell’s expression that said let’s see you try, and Colin’s smug expression, I examined the patient.
Joseph and Alfred, true to being my close friends, were cheering me on.
There was not the slightest sign that they were worried.
The rest of them might have mistaken me for some fool because our group kept avoiding dissection and running around doing strange things, but at least those two knew very well how capable I was.
“Hmm.... I think it will be fully open soon. About the length of a finger.”
Anyway, I carried out the palpation with the gentleness and precision that a doctor absolutely had to possess.
Those who knew nothing might not see it, but someone who knew would.
Oh, so he actually knows something?
Unexpectedly, Blundell was looking at me with a rather impressed expression.
Well, it made sense. I had identified it at once without hesitation and even stated the measurement accurately.
As the saying went, an awl always showed through the bag.
If even an awl could inspire a saying like that, then what was I here...?
“Well done. You always kept hanging back, so I thought you lacked confidence, but you did it right away. I like that.”
At this point, I was probably more like the Ruyi Jingu Bang.
While I was thinking that, Blundell patted my shoulder a couple of times and moved on to another patient.
I did not feel particularly happy about it.
To begin with, there was no reason to be pleased by praise from someone like Blundell, and besides, my head was now full of the thought that the germs on his hand had been transferred to my shoulder.
It can’t be helped... this can’t be helped.
It was far better than having someone touch a patient right after an autopsy.
Fortunately, the human body was designed to endure a fair amount of contamination.
Even so, it really would be better to wash hands between patients as well, but everyone’s hands were already red as it was, and if I said something like that, I had no idea what kind of backlash I would get.
Even if soap were used, it would probably be the same.
This was an era when running water itself was rare.
Thank goodness. Whew.
Anyway, when I checked again about two days later, there were no patients in that room who had developed puerperal fever.
No, I ought to call it infection rather than puerperal fever.
This era had no such concept, but I could not let myself get swept up in that too, could I?
“Ah, Pyeong-ah.”
As I was letting out a sigh of relief like that, Alfred approached.
Because we lived in the same house, discussed medicine every day, talked about condoms, and then even drifted into nearly trivial matters, we had grown quite close.
Part of it was because he was a decent guy.
It was not just my first impression. He really was.
For one thing, the fact that he knew how to repay kindness... was something special, was it not?
“Oh, yes, Senior.”
“Father says the gloves are done, so we should go, right?”
“Ah, really? Then of course we should. Where’s Joseph?”
“He already went to the carriage. You’re always in the library, so you’re hard to find.”
“Ah, I see.”
I had not come to study.
No, I had come to study, but....
It would be more accurate to say I had not come to acquire knowledge.
If I want to improve things step by step, I first need to know how far this era has actually come.
I was not only reading medical books.
I was reading in every direction... in other words, anything that seemed even remotely related to medicine.
The problem was that nearly every field was related to medicine.
Had I not just learned that this time?
Even condoms....
This damned field of medicine was related even to condoms.
Damn it.
So just now, I had been reading physics.
It was Newton’s book.
Isaac Newton.
I had only just realized that the man was from the seventeenth century.
Well, I must have known it in high school, so it would be more accurate to say I had realized it again, but still.
If a man like that had been born and died nearly two hundred years ago, why was the world still like this?
“Let’s go together, then.”
“Good.”
For a number of reasons, my head hurt.
Damn it.
I hate physics....
And why are you all like this...?
“Hmm. Hm?”
I climbed into the carriage while grumbling, but something had changed.
The carriage...
Had been upgraded.
“This...?”
“Ah. Father has been in an extremely good mood lately. He says this is one hundred percent going to work. Ah, but he asked one thing.”
“Yes, yes.”
“He asked that this be kept secret. Even now he’s still continuing to buy up rubber... and if rumors spread for no reason, the price will go up.”
“Ah... yes.”
I was a little dumbfounded.
Even if the old man did not know, did Senior not know?
Other than the people in this carriage, I had absolutely no friends?
No, more than that, there were hardly any people who would even return my greeting....
“Right, Joseph, you too.”
Because of me, Joseph had ended up an outcast too.
Of course, Joseph was tall and handsome, so he was popular with the nurses, but among the medical students, he was not much different from me.
At least, that was what I wanted to believe.
Damn it.
Clatter—
Before my embarrassing inner thoughts could show on my face, the carriage started moving smoothly.
The horse was the same as before, but because the carriage wheels had changed, the ride was far better.
There were some who looked at us with displeasure, of course.
Colin.
Apparently on his way to the Anatomy Room, he glared at us—or rather, mostly at me—with cotton stuffed into his nose.
What kind of surgeon is a coward who can’t even do dissection?
The curses were so blatant I could read their meaning just from his lips.
Bastard.
Just wait a little longer.
I’ll show you a whole new world of dissection.
Once I had the gloves, I could show you truly incredible things.
Of course, if I was too good, I might get branded a witch from the mysterious East and burned to death, so I would have to hold back a little.
“All right, we’re here. Even if you’ve gotten used to it, be careful no matter what.”
Just like last time, the coachman spoke while displaying his gun as openly as possible.
Judging from his face alone, he did not seem like someone who would be easy to rob, but one never knew.
Take the people supplying corpses to our medical college, for example....
I wanted to use some word other than supplying, but I still had not found a suitable one.
Anyway, looking at those fellows, it did seem like the coachman needed a gun too.
Creak.
We stepped inside the rubber factory.
This time as well, the old man had laid some dark object on the table.
It was definitely different from before.
It no longer looked like some kind of sea squirt. It was clearly a glove now.
It looked rather large and likely loose, but still, if you wore that, at least there would be no unfortunate accidents involving knives.
“Well then, look. Would this do?”
The old man chuckled and handed me the glove.
I slipped my hand into it and touched whatever was nearby.
Only the shape had changed, but this time no one pulled their arm away.
Hmm... I still can’t feel much. It is thinner than before, but... it’s not at the level I used to use. Still... I should be able to dissect just fine with this.
Not just dissection—even some simple surgeries seemed possible with it.
Of course, that assumed the patient was anesthetized and stayed still.
At any rate, at this point in time, gloves like this could be called the greatest weapon possible.
“Thank you. With this... I can definitely dissect.”
“I made four more while I was at it. Take them.”
“Four more?”
Even including Joseph and Alfred, three would be enough, so why had he made five?
The old man looked at my baffled face and sighed.
“I made ones for Professor Blundell and Professor Robert too. Even if they don’t use them, shouldn’t I at least give them one each?”
“Ah... yes, yes. That hadn’t occurred to me.”
In my head, those two were not professors but savages, so I had forgotten.
Besides, my mind was full of other thoughts right now.
Starting tomorrow... I’ll show them what a true master of dissection is.
I was going to crush them all, that was what I meant.