A Toothpick in the Feast
During Chuseok, the most common reason a dog ends up at the animal hospital is an upset stomach. Vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain — it is almost always some form of gastrointestinal trouble, and the cause is invariably the same: holiday food.
A quiet house erupts into bustle and noise, transforming into a treasure vault of rich, greasy dishes and sweet fruit. That is a holiday for you. On days like these, even guardians who swear they will never, ever give their dogs and cats human food find that resolve crumbling. Warning the visiting relatives does not help either. The elders, in their own way, and the children, in theirs, find the dogs and cats performing cute little tricks in front of them simply too adorable not to offer something. And when those dogs and cats start drooling over the savory, oily spread, well — of course someone gives in.
Dogs tend to be the primary targets. Cats are often wary of anyone who is not their owner, and they are picky eaters besides. So the pets who come in as emergencies over the Chuseok holiday are, for the most part, dogs. A dog that wants to eat, and people who want to give that dog something — anything. Between the two of them, working in perfect concert, the animal hospital finds itself in the middle of an unexpected boom.
The diagnosis that accounts for most of that boom is an upset stomach. If it is simple overeating — a bit of vomiting, some diarrhea, a stretch of indigestion — a digestive aid and a day of fasting usually does the trick. If they have stuffed themselves the way the Rascal Trio did, you starve them for a day or two and hang an IV. The problem is that Chuseok food is so often greasy. Pancreatitis is not uncommon, and sometimes a dog eats something it absolutely should not have, and then things get serious.
Choco was one of those cases.
Lee Jun went into the treatment room and looked at the X-ray up on the monitor.
"The stomach's packed full of food."
"Yes. They said they left the ancestral-rite dishes out on the veranda, and they saw Choco coming out of there."
"Did they figure out what he ate?"
"Looks like he got into the little meat patties, or maybe the shrimp jeon. The guardian said that when she saw him, Choco had a piece of shrimp pancake in his mouth."
"The seasonings they use in the batter worry me a bit, but at least it wasn't grapes or anything like that. An IV and supportive care should do it. Oh — it's not pancreatitis, is it?"
"No. Dr. Yoo is treating him now."
"Good."
Lee Jun nodded, still looking at the X-ray. They would already have started treatment for the overeating. So why had Cha Da-jeong asked him to look at the film? He studied the image of Choco's packed stomach, puzzled. She's saying she suspects something else... He did not know what, exactly, but Cha Da-jeong seemed to think Choco might have swallowed a foreign body.
Lee Jun glanced at her expression, then turned back to the X-ray and stared at it, almost glaring. Of course, there was a more precise way to look. He could check with an endoscope. But an endoscopic exam required the patient to stay still, which meant putting him under. Lee Jun could always explain the situation to Choco and ask him not to move. But I'm the one who gets sedated for my own endoscopies. Doing one on these guys wide awake just doesn't sit right. And his stomach's completely full besides.
If it were a true emergency, seconds counting, that would be different. Choco's condition was not an emergency. In that case, it was better to avoid endoscopy if at all possible. And if foreign-body ingestion was suspected, you had to be even more careful. If the food had only just been eaten, the object could be mixed in with it, and you might miss it even with the scope. There was another reason Lee Jun did not want to do an endoscopy. Performing a gastroscopy on a full stomach ran the risk of the food refluxing — and aspiration pneumonia. I need to scrape every last bit of information I can get from this image first.
He focused on the photograph.
"Hmm. Dr. Cha, what was it you thought looked strange here? Was it this?"
Lee Jun pointed at a rib.
"Yes. The contrast is different from the other ribs. Depending on the positioning, bones can overlap, but..."
"That's true. But you wouldn't have taken the shot that way."
Trusting Cha Da-jeong's skill completely, Lee Jun went back to the image. And like her, he felt something off. This might be... A past case surfaced in his memory, and he asked her:
"Dr. Cha. Where's Choco now? The inpatient ward?"
"Yes."
At her answer, Lee Jun headed out. Cha Da-jeong called after him as he walked quickly away.
"Director, where are you— are you going to Choco?"
"Yeah. There's something I want to check..."
As Cha Da-jeong had said, he went to the inpatient ward — and his face went slack with disbelief. Choco, you little guy. That must've been really tasty.
Conversation was leaking out of the ward, and Choco's voice was among it.
"Hehe. It was so, so tasty."
"How tasty was it-nyaong? Tastier than cookies-nyaong?"
"Tastier than the soft meat?"
"Hehe, yes. Way, way tastier. Heehee. I want to eat it again."
"I-I want to try it too-ayo. There's such a yummy smell coming from Choco's mouth, there is-ayo."
"Oooh, I'm so jealous. Here I am, starving..."
"Jealous of what? Look at the state of him. He's going to starve just like the rest of us."
When Juhongi voiced her envy, Kkotnimi snorted a puff of air through his nose. Listening from outside, Lee Jun let out a small laugh of his own and went in.
The moment he entered, every animal in the ward looked at him at once. Choco sprang up and beamed.
"Hehehe! It's Meongmeong Teacher!"
Wag-wag-wag. His stubby little tail whipped back and forth so fast it looked like a bell ringing. Choco showed not the slightest sign of being in pain, and Lee Jun was relieved, at least for now. He doesn't look like he's hurting much. That's a relief. Looking at him, Lee Jun figured it was safe to relax a little. They would still have to keep an eye on him for a while, of course.
Having checked Choco's condition, Lee Jun opened his mouth.
"Choco..."
That was when Hoesaegi, his eyes gleaming, spoke up.
"Hyung-nim-ong, Choco ate something super tasty-ong. I want to eat it too-ong."
"Me too-ayo. I'm jealous of Choco, I am."
"Well. I'll admit that savory smell is making me a little jealous."
Gkamnyangi said it with an envious look. The rascals, with their own crimes still fresh, did not say a word — but the way they kept gulping gave them away. They were thinking the same thing as the other three. Gamja, who had been seriously ill this time around, just sat quietly.
I can't ignore what these guys are saying... Lee Jun addressed the animals, all of them watching him with bright, shining eyes.
"I'm going to find out what Choco ate. If he ate something he wasn't supposed to, it could be really bad."
"Th-that's right-ong. Hyung-nim-ong, ask him-ong."
Having told Lee Jun to ask, Hoesaegi immediately trotted in a quick, rolling little gait around to Choco's left side. Lee Jun looked at him with a fond, impressed expression. He could feel that Hoesaegi was worried Choco might have eaten something poisonous. And there was another reason Lee Jun found him so admirable. He never, ever forgets that Choco's right ear is deaf. These guys are better than I am. I forget it myself sometimes.
While Lee Jun was thinking that, Hoesaegi leaned in toward Choco's left ear.
"Choco-ong. Did you eat something scary-ong?"
Choco immediately shook his head back and forth.
"N-no. I don't eat the things the hyungs and Teacher told me not to eat. I didn't eat the things that look like this, and I didn't eat the hard tasty-looking things either. And oh, right — I didn't eat the thing Mongi hyung ate that made him go owie. And also..."
Choco went on, rattling off every forbidden food he knew — the xylitol gum, the bones, the grapes, and the rest. Listening, the three of them looked thoroughly satisfied.
"What a relief-ong. Choco remembered everything we told him-ong."
"Hmph. I see. So all my hard work paid off."
"Me too-ayo! Heehee, Hyung-nim-ayo. Choco is so smart, he is. He knows everything we told him-ayo!"
Lee Jun was impressed too. Choco had remembered every last thing the three of them had performed so dramatically in that video. He made a mental note to set aside a day to tell them about the dangerous things hiding in people's food. Then they would remember that too, and they would not eat it from then on. I'll pick a day for that later. Right now I need to find out if Choco ate the skewered jeon.
Sanjeok — those skewers of meat and vegetables, each piece a different color and flavor, threaded onto a toothpick and pan-fried in oil. Picking them off one by one was half the fun. He needed to know if Choco had eaten that. The ones who were good with their front paws could pick the food right off the toothpick. The ones who were not often swallowed the whole thing, toothpick and all. Whether Choco had picked them off neatly or swallowed them whole — only Choco knew.
"Choco, did you eat something that looks like this?"
"Like what?"
"Meat and vegetables all lined up... stuck on something like this. Um, hold on."
Lee Jun went out to the kitchen, got a toothpick from Ju Mi-seon, speared a few of whatever side dishes were in sight, and came back. He held it up for Choco to see.
"Something that looks like this. Did you eat it?"
"Hehe. I did. It was so, so tasty."
"Did you eat this part too?"
Lee Jun pointed at the toothpick. Choco answered with a sunny, untroubled expression.
"Yes. It's savory."
He had eaten it because it was savory — was there a problem? Choco's tilted head seemed to be saying exactly that.
"Aigoo, you little...!"
Lee Jun went back out and spoke to Cha Da-jeong. He could not quite bring himself to say that Choco had eaten it, so he put it this way:
"I think Choco ate a toothpick. The way he was smacking his lips looking at this makes it pretty certain."
"Ugh. I knew it."
Cha Da-jeong looked at the toothpick in Lee Jun's hand, sighed, and asked:
"Director, are you going to pull it out with the endoscope?"
"I'll check first. If the toothpick is lodged in the esophagus or the stomach, we'll have to open him up. I'm hoping it's wrapped in food."
With that, Lee Jun took Choco to the endoscopy room.
"I'd have preferred not to, but there's no choice. We'll just have to be as careful as possible..."
Just as he had said, Lee Jun proceeded with the endoscopy, taking every precaution against aspiration pneumonia. Fortunately, as he had hoped, the toothpick was wrapped in food, and he was able to pull it out with the scope right away. Even more fortunately, the procedure itself went off without a hitch.
"Well. I guess the overeating actually helped us this time."
"That too, but the way you extracted it so cleanly without even grazing the esophagus is even more impressive, Director."
Yoo Mu-hwan, assisting beside him, was full of admiration.
"Whatever the case, I'm just glad Choco's okay. Hah. This kind of thing always happens the moment you think you've seen the last of it. Still, Choco was lucky. Dr. Cha caught it right away."
When the guardian saw the toothpick Lee Jun had removed, she was stunned.
"Oh my. He really did eat it, just like you said, Doctor. You told me it didn't show up on the X-ray, so I thought, surely he wouldn't have eaten something like this?"
"It's a good thing you brought him in right away."
"But Doctor, even a little one like our Choco can swallow something this big. If I hadn't seen you pull it out with the endoscope, I still wouldn't believe it."
"That's why you have to be careful."
"Hah. I will be."
"You should. Dogs who've eaten something like this once tend to eat it again."
"Yes, I'll keep that in mind. But... Choco's okay otherwise, right?"
"We'll need to watch him for a few days. Hmm. Choco needs to fast today, so a generous IV would be good. If it's all right with you, would you like to pick him up this evening?"
"Oh — today?"
"Yes. Take him home, and if anything seems off, bring him right back."
"No. I don't have the confidence to look after him well at home. Even if I don't give him anything, we have a lot of relatives visiting... and we have to go tend the ancestral graves, so I don't think I could take proper care of Choco. Doctor, please look after him until the Chuseok holiday is over."
And so Choco, too, would be spending Chuseok at Mongmong Animal Hospital. Choco was absolutely delighted by the news.
"Hehehe. I get to play with the hyungs."
The guardian smiled as she said goodbye to Choco and turned to leave.
"Our Choco really seems to love it here. I think I can leave with my mind completely at ease. Oh, I heard Kakkong-i is coming a little later too..."
"Yes. Apparently they're heading down to the countryside."
"That's perfect. He'll have so many friends he knows."
Choco's guardian left with a bright expression.
One after another, the animals who would be staying at Mongmong Animal Hospital over the holiday began to arrive. Kakkong-i, of course, and Mongi, and Jamong as well.
Jamong beamed at his guardian as she opened the door to leave. From outside the hospital, she waved back at him.
"Some people say they worry when they board their dogs at a hotel, but our Jamong loves it here so much. It's wonderful."
If Jamong had whimpered and looked sad, her steps home would have been heavy. But she knew he would be just fine at Mongmong Animal Hospital, and her heart was light. He's going to have even more fun here than he does at home.
Just as she guessed, Jamong swished his long tail and followed Jang Sora up to the hospital's second floor. Heehee. They said the hyungs are all gathered together. He was going to go have so much fun.
Jamong went into the room that would serve as the holiday boarding suite.
"Hehe. Hyungs, hello!"
Kakkong-i and Mongi were there, of course — and Hoesaegi, Sapsaree, Gkamnyangi, Mongsil, Haeng-un-i, and even the Rascal Trio, fully recovered from the aftermath of their overeating, all clustered together. But the atmosphere was a little strange. Jamong tilted his head.
"Hyungs, what are you doing?"
That was when Kakkong-i walked over and said, in a very small voice:
"That one's cryin', see."
That one? What does that mean? Even as the thought crossed his mind, Jamong followed the direction of Kakkong-i's stubby little front paw.
There, a dog he had never seen before sat with his head hung low.