Chapter 74
Chapter 74
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 74
Chapter Title: Mongsil's Emergency
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Where the man stood, red water dripped steadily to the ground.
Blood mixed with rainwater, streaming down.
"Give him to me."
Lee Jun scooped up the puppy cradled in the terrified man's arms and dashed straight to the treatment room.
Hiss! Wheeze!
The puppy threw its head back, howling in agony, its entire body stiffening like a rock.
Its body was rigid from the pain.
But its hind legs couldn't bear any weight at all.
Though wrapped in a cloth bundle with its legs hidden, Lee Jun could feel it vividly as he ran while holding the pup.
Just as the man had said, the legs were broken.
But Lee Jun paid no attention to the legs.
No, he couldn't afford to.
Blood dripped onto the floor, and the hind legs dangled limply, but what sharpened Lee Jun's senses was the sound of the barking.
The puppy was still crying out in pain, but it wasn't making the same sound as before.
Its voice was so hoarse it sounded like it had screamed itself raw.
On top of that, its breathing was growing increasingly labored.
Lee Jun shouted.
"Respiratory crackles, Pneumothorax!"
"Gasp!"
As soon as Lee Jun called out pneumothorax, Go Gi-jin, who had been following close behind, let out a strangled cry and bolted forward like a shot.
Bang!
He flung open the treatment room door and yanked the yellow cord hanging from the ceiling.
Lee Jun arrived right after and laid the puppy on the treatment table. Go Gi-jin immediately pressed the mask attached to the yellow cord over the puppy's nose.
Jang So-ra was quick too.
She had grabbed the endotracheal intubation equipment and rushed over, then swiftly unwrapped the cloth bundle enveloping the puppy's body.
The drenched Pomeranian, weighing just over 3 kilos, soaked in blood and rainwater, was a pitiful sight.
Its hind legs were mangled and blood-soaked, with the broken femur bones piercing through the skin.
It was a scene that could make anyone gasp.
But Lee Jun didn't flinch and proceeded straight to intubation.
Even in the frantic chaos, Jang So-ra focused on her task.
She poured sterile saline over the wound to flush out debris.
As the blood and debris washed away, the injury was exposed in stark clarity.
Blood still oozed, but Jang So-ra didn't budge. She meticulously disinfected the gaping wound with a 50cc syringe filled with saline.
Every minute, every second counted.
In the meantime, Lee Jun finished checking vitals and even drew blood.
"Respiratory crackles, respiratory rate over 90 per minute, BP normal, mucous membrane color normal."
As soon as Jang So-ra finished disinfecting, she grabbed the blood tube Lee Jun had prepared and ran off. The two of them stabilized the legs.
Thanks to Lee Jun completing the blood test and administering painkillers, the puppy's expression had eased a bit.
That didn't mean the two relaxed, though.
Lee Jun aligned the fractured femur, and Go Gi-jin wrapped the area with Somi bandages.
The bleeding hadn't fully stopped, but they had no time to worry about that.
The moment the bandages were done, they headed to the X-ray room in perfect sync.
Jang So-ra had already prepared and was waiting, so the exam went quickly.
Once the scan finished, Lee Jun scanned the monitor with sharp eyes.
The left 3rd to 5th ribs were fractured.
"Pulmonary contusion, pneumothorax, hematoma. Diaphragm rupture. The broken ribs pierced the lung."
Lung hemorrhage, pneumothorax, hematoma. And even a diaphragmatic rupture. Go Gi-jin, peering at the monitor beside him, asked.
"The heart's okay, right?"
"Fortunately, yes. Hmm, but these legs are the issue..."
Lee Jun thought for a moment, then continued.
"Right femur with a plate, left tibia just cast and monitor."
Having decided on surgery for the right femur and bandaging for the left tibia, Lee Jun stood up.
"Alright, let's prep quickly. I'll explain the situation to the owner, so Go, check vitals on this one..."
Lee Jun trailed off mid-sentence.
He remembered the hyperbaric oxygen chamber they'd bought recently.
The hyperbaric oxygen therapy machine delivered oxygen directly into the body not just through breathing but through the skin too. It stabilized oxygen saturation fast.
It helped damaged tissues recover quicker too, but right now, stabilizing respiration came first.
"Rest this one in the hyperbaric oxygen chamber and monitor vitals. Manager Jang, prep for surgery. Thoracic surgery first, then straight to fracture repair."
"Got it."
"Understood."
The two dispersed to their tasks, and Lee Jun approached the man.
As Lee Jun emerged from the treatment room, the man waiting right by the door asked.
"I-is our Mongsil... okay?"
The man's voice grew quieter as he spoke.
"He's on painkillers and in the oxygen chamber. He's a bit more stable now."
"Whew..."
The man sighed in relief. Watching him, Lee Jun took a deep breath.
Telling an owner bad news always weighed heavy on the heart.
But with surgery looming, Lee Jun had no time to hesitate.
"Owner, let me explain Mongsil's condition. And the surgery process too."
And he needed surgical consent.
Lee Jun led the owner to the consultation room, pulled up the monitor, and explained.
"S-so our Mongsil... whew."
The owner sighed deeply again at the X-ray on the screen.
But only for a moment. He soon signed the surgical consent form Lee Jun handed him.
He wanted Mongsil in surgery as soon as possible, knowing the pup was fighting for life while he hesitated.
"Our Mongsil will pull through, right?"
Desperation filled the owner's eyes. Meeting them squarely, Lee Jun replied.
"I'll do everything I can."
The Coca incident still lingered in Lee Jun's mind.
'I'll save him. No matter what.'
That resolve reached the owner.
He grabbed Lee Jun's hand tightly.
"Please save him. I beg you."
Lee Jun gripped the trembling owner's hand firmly.
"Understood."
His voice carried unwavering determination.
***
Click.
Under the shadowless lamp flooding the surgery table with light, Lee Jun spoke.
"Let's begin."
Surgery started.
Lee Jun took the scalpel and swiftly incised the wound, opening space between the ribs.
"Wire."
Clink.
Go Gi-jin handed it over before Lee Jun finished speaking.
His skill from syncing with Lee Jun in school surgery days was still sharp.
Lee Jun's lip twitched up briefly, then vanished. Frowning, he said.
"C-arm."
Go Gi-jin positioned the fluoroscopy equipment over the site, and Lee Jun's eyes sharpened.
Lee Jun extended his hand sideways, and Go Gi-jin placed forceps in his palm.
No words between them, but their movements flowed naturally—Lee Jun reaching, Go Gi-jin placing.
Lee Jun used the forceps to extract a rice-grain-sized bone fragment.
Bleeding occurred instantly, but Go Gi-jin stanched it quickly.
With movements swift for his size, Go Gi-jin exclaimed in admiration.
"How'd you even spot that?"
Not expecting an answer, Lee Jun continued.
He checked internal organs via C-arm intermittently.
With visibility secured, his hands moved more freely.
The scissors in Lee Jun's hand were a new hemostatic type that sealed vessels on cut—among their recent purchases.
Impossible before, but now he didn't fuss over every small vessel, so his hands were unrestrained.
Suturing torn chest muscles and thoracic wall, installing a chest tube for leaking exudate—Lee Jun's hands never stopped except to glance at the fluoroscopy monitor.
He repaired the diaphragmatic rupture just as fluidly.
He returned the portion of small intestine sucked into the chest cavity through the torn abdominal wall.
Finishing the diaphragmatic defect swiftly, Lee Jun moved to the legs.
"You handle this part now, Gi-jin. Check vitals first, then come down."
"Got it."
Lee Jun cleanly incised the skin on the right hind leg with the scalpel.
The expensive hemostatic tools controlled bleeding fast again.
Lee Jun visually confirmed the fractured femur fragments, then double-checked with fluoroscopy.
He performed blunt dissection to expose the femur.
"Retractor."
Jang So-ra, prepped nearby, handed it over. Go Gi-jin took it and widened the bluntly dissected fracture site.
Their hands meshed perfectly once more.
Inserting the intramedullary pin into the proximal femur fragment, Lee Jun made full use of the fluoroscopy.
No need for separate X-rays each time he measured pin spacing.
He inserted another pin into the distal fragment's marrow canal, then reduced the femur to its original alignment.
"Plate."
Go Gi-jin positioned the plate over the fracture, and Lee Jun secured it firmly.
"Drill."
"Here."
Lee Jun drilled holes for tibial screws, measured bone thickness per hole to select screw lengths.
Then inserted and fixed the screws.
"Whew."
The sound leaked from Go Gi-jin, assisting beside Lee Jun.
Four hours since entering the OR.
A thoracic surgery alone would've been grueling.
Even sturdy Go Gi-jin was on trembling legs, but Lee Jun's expression and eyes burned as fiercely as at the start.
As Lee Jun closed the fascia and subcutaneous layers to finish, outside the OR, Mongsil's owner was drying up from tension.
'F-four hours already...'
But the in-surgery light showed no sign of turning off.
What was happening in there?
"O-our Mongsil..."
Would he come out alive?
The owner's chest wouldn't stop quaking.
Then it happened.
The cats who had been waiting beside the owner trotted toward the OR.
The owner's gaze, heavy with sighs and frustration, naturally followed.
The cats' tails swished lightly.
Even an owner who only raised dogs could tell—the tails swayed cheerfully.
A spark lit in the owner's wavering eyes between despair and hope.
"C-could it be...?"
Right then, the OR door opened, and Lee Jun emerged.
"O-our Mongsil, how is he...?"
Before the question finished, Lee Jun answered.
"Surgery went well."
The owner's face crumpled completely.
"H-huh... huhu..."
Sigh or sob, he couldn't tell, but he said to Lee Jun.
"Th-thank you. Truly, thank you."
"Mongsil endured a lot. He handled the long anesthesia well."
"Whew..."
"He's in recovery. Want to see him?"
"Y-yes, yes. Of course. I have to see our Mongsil."
The owner replied in a trembling voice.
Moments later, seeing Mongsil breathing evenly in the ICU, the owner let out a long sigh.
"Thank goodness. Really, thank goodness."
Plop. A thick tear dropped from the owner's smiling eyes.
He said to Lee Jun beside him.
"Thank you so much."
"As I said earlier, it's because Mongsil didn't give up and held on. Four hours under anesthesia isn't easy for a little one like this."
The owner slowly shook his head at Lee Jun's words.
"Even so, without you, Doctor, our Mongsil would've crossed the rainbow bridge by now. Thank you truly."
Lee Jun smiled softly in reply, then continued.
"You'll need to keep him hospitalized for a while."
"Yes, of course. But at night here..."
In the rush, he'd come to the first animal hospital he saw, but knowing it wasn't 24-hour, the owner trailed off.
"We need to watch Mongsil closely for now."
"Th-then, Doctor, when will you go home..."
The owner faltered again.
"Go and I can alternate night shifts."
"Still, we shouldn't tire you out because of us."
"Mongsil survived—what's that matter?"
Lee Jun replied, looking at the owner.
He'd arrived pale as a ghost. During surgery, his anxiety must've ravaged him—his face was ashen and haggard.
"So, owner, go home and gather what Mongsil needs."
"Ah, yes. I'll be right back."
"No, come tomorrow. It's not good if you're there when he wakes."
"Why?"
Waking in pain, in a strange place, shivering—how wonderful to see a beloved owner then.
But if that owner left after a visit? What pet wouldn't get excited?
"He might bark happily and burst his stitches."
Lee Jun installed an app on the owner's phone to view Mongsil remotely, then sent him off.
"Whew, really Haenguni, huh?"
Go Gi-jin said, watching the owner leave.
"Yeah, really."
"That's why I wondered why brother was buying all that equipment. Bought well, truly."
Lee Jun nodded at Go Gi-jin's words, thinking.
'I need to expand the hospital more.'
Then, cats hugged Lee Jun's legs.
[Brother, good work meow.]
[Good job.]
Encouraged by the cats, Lee Jun scooped them up. He rubbed his face against theirs.
The warmth soothed his heart.
Mongsil's owner would feel this too.
Lee Jun's lips curved up gently.
Seeing him, the cats smiled too.
[Can we go see our Mongsil?]
[Tell him not to move meow.]
Gray, worried about Mongsil with the injured leg like his, asked Lee Jun.
"Yeah. But don't get too close since he's hurting."
At his words, the cats scampered to the hospitalization room.