Chapter 34: Let’s Use It in Surgery! [2]
Chapter 34: Let’s Use It in Surgery! [2]
“U-ugh, ugh.”
The patient—the very patient who had clearly been somewhat persuaded just a moment ago—was trembling in terror.
Which was only natural.
Just look at that blade. It gleamed so sharply that I almost regretted polishing it.
He truly looked like a Roman gladiator or some famed knight.
Even I, who had no chance of being struck by that blade, found it a little frightening. So the patient, who was about to be struck by it…
“Aaaah!”
“Pyeong.”
Of course he wanted to run.
But it was no use.
Leaving me aside, the men holding the patient down now were all veteran assistants, were they not?
I had heard that plenty of people tried to flee right before surgery, and they were clearly prepared for it.
They held him so tightly that it made me wonder whether one person could really bind another that firmly.
The only thing the patient could do was scream like he was doing now.
“Yes!”
That was not to say it looked good.
Pain was not only physical, after all.
I did not know for certain, but there were probably quite a few people with severed limbs who suffered from PTSD.
There was no reason for this patient to go through similar suffering.
So I first opened the gas canister and held it to the patient’s face.
“Ughhh.”
The patient, pinned down tightly and not even understanding what was happening, inhaled the gas.
At first, he let out groans full of pain, but only for a moment.
“Uuuh?”
Little by little, he started to calm down.
The problem was that this was not going only into the patient.
I was fully prepared, so I had covered my nose and mouth with my sleeve, but the others had not prepared in advance.
“Ah.”
That was entirely my mistake.
“Senior, Senior!”
The senior holding the patient’s head in place took the fatal blow in particular.
“Hahahaha!”
As a result, quite a few people burst into giggles and ran down from the square, including people who might have become sponsors and people from the hospital.
This is a disaster.
Even saying it damaged our image would not begin to cover it.
But what could I do?
The ones who ran off had already run off.
We still had to perform the operation.
So I ran to the head of the unconscious patient in place of the senior.
“Pyeong. You assist.”
That was despite Robert Liston trying to stop me.
Since he was holding a blade, I would have liked to obey him if possible, but…
No. I can’t do that.
I had seen it before, after all.
I had seen how this man cut off a leg.
It was not that I was scared.
I had seen plenty of cutting in my time.
If not limbs, then internal organs, bowel surgeries—I had cut those myself.
But not like this.
If I’m not careful, I’ll get cut instead.
The moment I heard the sharp flash of the blade, the bone started slicing apart with a crunch.
I had nearly fainted at the time, so I did not remember it exactly, but I did not think it had even taken a few seconds.
Which meant that if I made even one mistake and pulled my hand back too slowly, all my fingers would be cut off.
In truth, now that the patient was anesthetized, there was no real reason to hurry that much, but habit was a frightening thing.
“I’ll watch the anesthesia for now. I proposed this, so I should take responsibility.”
Just look at him.
Standing there with a blade in hand.
Anyone could see he looked ready to swing it down with all his might.
If I held the leg and pulled back too late, I would be dead on the spot.
Gulp.
Even those seasoned assistants could not hide their tension, so what business did I have stepping in?
Besides, what I had just said was not empty talk.
They said Respiratory Arrest could happen. Respiratory Depression was definitely possible. Even if not that… there could be cardiovascular side effects too.
I did not know much about laughing gas.
For one thing, it had been illegal in South Korea, and even if it had been legal, there was no one who would have invited me to those exciting parties.
I would have liked to say I was too busy to go around attending parties, but…
Really, I just never made friends because I was too busy studying.
No, no. That’s not the point.
My thoughts had wandered off for a second, but the point was that I had to be prepared for any possible side effects of Nitrous Oxide.
Even propofol, wonderful as it was, caused Respiratory Depression, and people still died from it in local clinics.
Here?
Here, people probably died at the drop of a hat.
“Really? Fine, then. If so. There’s no time… Right, then, here I go!”
“W-wait!”
Fortunately for me, Robert Liston was in a great hurry to amputate.
Which made perfect sense.
At a glance, the patient seemed stable, but one never knew.
Today was a truly historic day, and the pressure of having to do better than anyone else was surely bearing down on the doctor’s shoulders.
I decided to take advantage of that pressure just a little more.
“What is it?”
“Y-your hands. I brought this.”
I held out the Chloride of Lime I had poured into a basin.
“Ugh.”
He turned his head away at the foul smell, but to my surprise, Robert Liston put his hands into it.
He did not make any sincere effort like scrubbing them clean.
Still, I had anticipated even that possibility.
Yes, that’s it. He won’t want to allow exceptions on the world’s first attempt.
Along with my hopes, the reactions of the people in the square were not bad either.
Were human beings not naturally weak to empty ceremony and appearances?
The suspicious-looking gas had started leaking out, and the moment the patient fell into what looked like a fainting sleep, everyone had gone quiet.
Of course, there had been a burst of laughter when that senior ran off laughing, but that was only for a moment.
Then, when they saw hands being dipped into a strange liquid, the nineteenth-century spectators—living in a bizarre society where science, religion, and superstition were all mixed together—watched in breathless silence.
And that reaction seemed to look favorable to Robert, the representative surgeon of an era when Showmanship was necessary even for survival.
“All of you, wash too!”
“Yes, yes.”
Disciples did what they were told, did they not?
That was the kind of existence a teacher had in this era, and Robert was a man whose face and build worked even on people who were not his disciples.
So everyone there plunged their hands in without delay.
I wished they would scrub a bit harder and clean beneath their nails too, but for now I kept quiet.
Even this much was a huge leap forward, was it not?
These barbarians used to cut off the legs of fully conscious people without even washing their hands or instruments. But now they had anesthesia, they washed their hands, and they cleaned their tools too.
Whoosh.
Anyway, Robert Liston, with the added pressure bearing down on him, swung the blade.
Perhaps because of that, the blade was even faster than usual.
It felt as if a silver beam of light had flashed past.
Slice.
At the same time, flesh peeled away in a rush, and by the time I came to my senses, he was already sawing through.
Thud.
No, the leg had already been cut off.
Wow….
No matter how many times I saw it, it was astonishing.
In terms of amputation alone, would he not rank at the very top even in twenty-first-century orthopedic surgery?
Of course, the problem was that he still paid absolutely no attention to anatomical considerations…
“Waaaaah!”
“Waaah!”
“Robert Liston!”
As I was thinking that, the square began to erupt.
I wondered what all the noise was about and looked around, only to see everyone wearing flushed, excited faces.
“This is a miracle!”
“Oh, thank You, Lord!”
It was not only the crowd in the square.
If anything, the reactions of those who had participated in the operation were even more dramatic.
Robert Liston in particular threw aside the blade he had been holding—threw that cherished blade of his straight onto the ground—and looked up at the sky.
“God… Lord….”
He was practically praying.
The sight of him looked a bit like a priest offering a living sacrifice, and it was slightly terrifying.
Ah, this is no time for that.
To me, anesthesia was as natural as breathing.
But to these people, would it not truly feel like a miracle from God?
What did a surgery without screams mean to them? I could hardly begin to imagine it.
Anyway, I closed my eyes and knelt too.
If they accuse me of being a witch or something, I’m dead.
My face was yellow enough already, so what good would standing out do me?
If anyone started saying I had used some wicked magic, it really would mean death.
London in this era looked scientific on the surface, yet it was also a place where the most unscientific things happened all the time, so I had to be careful.
“Thank You, Lord!”
So I prayed at the top of my lungs.
Naturally, Robert Liston, standing at the center, heard me.
Then he came over and said, “Pyeong, get up.”
With one hand, he pulled me to my feet.
Wow….
He had not even seemed to exert any force, yet I was standing.
Was this weightlessness?
While I was marveling at the power of the human body, Robert Liston smiled warmly at my expression.
It seemed he had misunderstood me in some spiritual way, but I did not bother correcting it.
“Everyone! Look at this young man!”
In the square, which now resembled a church revival meeting, Robert Liston raised my hand high into the air.
Only then did everyone’s eyes turn toward me.
Their expressions seemed to say, What is with that yellow fellow?
Black hair, yellow face, black eyes.
Among these people, there were surely some who looked at my face and thought of a child of Satan.
“This is Pyeong, a faithful servant of the Lord and a Christian. Today, it was this young man’s idea that made the greatest contribution to anesthesia!”
Oh.
It seemed Robert Liston had thought the same thing.
That was probably why he had deliberately said that, and for a man who looked like that, he really did have a surprisingly delicate side.
Naturally, what he said afterward moved me too.
Wow, he’s really lifting me up?
I had thought I would already be grateful enough if he simply kept me around as a pouch full of ideas.
“Waaaaah!”
“Pyeong!”
“Pyeong!”
Now my name began echoing through the square.
Was this really the kind of thing that deserved such a reaction?
I had only taken the gas they used for partying and put it to use here….
“Haha. It is all by the Lord’s grace.”
Of course, I did not say anything like that.
Speaking words that differed from what I thought—
wasn’t that my special skill?
Maybe because I had practiced so much whenever I sucked up to professors, my tongue worked on its own even in front of this many people.
“And besides, if Robert Liston had not conducted the experiment, none of this would have happened. Thank you very much, and congratulations, Professor!”
Hey now.
Wasn’t I rubbing my palms together a little too shamelessly?
“Hahaha. Thank you for saying so.”
Of course, anyone who had lived in the world for a while would know that there was no such thing as moderation when it came to flattery.
Especially for people like professors, who had reached a position where they no longer needed to watch anyone else’s mood, they gradually lost all sense and took every word at face value.
Well, naturally, only the good words.
No matter how rightly you put it, they would never listen to the bad words.
Anyway, Robert Liston—who had really done nothing except pull out a perfectly healthy tooth—looked as proud as if he had won the Nobel Prize in Medicine.
“No, if it weren’t Robert Liston, then who else could possibly accomplish something this enterprising!”
“Hahahahaha!”
“This is all thanks to your great fortune, Professor!”
“Kya-ha-ha!”
I did not stop there and laid it on even thicker, and though we never actually said it aloud, by the end of that day we had practically become sworn brothers.
“If you ever face difficulty, call for me. I’ll help you.”
“Yes, Professor!”
“When it’s just the two of us, call me Hyung. I’m still in my thirties.”
“Huh?”
“Hm?”
It nearly turned awkward for a moment, but anyway…
Acquired the Greatest Blade in London, Robert Liston.