Chapter 115
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 115
Chapter Title: Halfway Through Chemotherapy
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Song Jong-man said he felt much better subjectively too.
The vital signs on the charts sent over from Sowon General Hospital clearly showed improvement as well.
I'd reviewed all the notable changes in his bloodwork, but there were no major issues.
This meant the dosage was neither too high nor too low—I could confidently judge that.
"I'll prescribe the same amount for another twenty days."
I didn't have a ton of personal experience controlling side effects from chemotherapy.
Honestly, ever since opening the clinic, my direct hands-on cases were basically just the patients Professor Lee Joo-hyuk had referred to me.
To make up for that, I'd pored over all sorts of papers and consulted with Korean medicine doctors at cancer-focused herbal hospitals and nursing homes. I'd paid extra close attention because they often used double the dosage from the classic formulas in ancient texts.
Twenty days passed from that day.
There were no updates from Song Jong-man or Professor Lee.
But one day, a forties cancer patient who shared a room with him at Sowon General Hospital stopped by, so I knew things were going well.
"Hello. You've brought your wife this time."
Song Jong-man came in two days before his meds ran out, right on schedule for his follow-up consultation.
I'd been worried since he'd just had his IV drip infusion not long ago.
"Thank you so much, Director. He's improved so much since starting treatment here. He eats well now, and he's even the one suggesting we go for walks."
Seeing his wife's joyful reaction put my mind at ease.
"Ah, that's great. Is the difficulty balancing while walking much better now?"
"Yes. There's still a bit, but he has way more stamina to push through. Haha! At this point, it feels like he's alive again."
The worry, anxiety, and gloom that had been plastered all over Song Jong-man's face were mostly gone now.
"During the rest periods off chemo, he felt great. He'd only get a little queasy waking up in the morning, but otherwise he was fine for daily life. I thought he could even be discharged."
"But Professor Lee wouldn't allow it?"
"...He chewed him out."
"How was it after the IV?"
"Right after, it was tough as expected, but..."
He paused, thumping his chest as if just thinking about it made him dizzy.
But when he blinked his eyes open, there was real vitality in his words.
"We're more than halfway done now."
Just reframing it like that gave him the strength to endure.
His dizziness and limb weakness had improved a lot, but the most encouraging part was how his nervous exhaustion had eased up.
"What about the profuse sweating?"
"Ah!"
"Still uncomfortable?"
"No, the opposite. It wasn't really painful, so I wasn't paying much attention, but the soaking sweat on my head and back is almost gone!"
"Signs of your energy returning are showing up all over. Like you said, we're past the halfway mark—let's hang in there just a bit longer."
Song Jong-man grinned and started to bow his head.
"Yes, thank you so sincer—Ack!"
"Don't get dizzy over nothing! You just sit still."
His wife grabbed his head to stop him.
"Thank you so much. I'll bow on his behalf. Please take good care of him going forward."
She shot up from her seat and bowed a full ninety degrees.
"It's thanks to the patient pushing himself and your family's support. Let's power through to the end of chemo together."
"Yes! We will!"
Song Jong-man bellowed back heartily.
After they left the consultation room, I fine-tuned the herb amounts slightly and wrote up a new prescription.
"Hear that? Just a little more and it's over. Tell the kid to book that Finland trip for next year!"
I overheard Song Jong-man bragging loudly in the waiting room.
Just the energy in his voice told the whole story.
He'd make it through treatment to the end and enjoy that trip safely.
"Hm~."
I took advantage of a brief lull with no treatments to catch up on my charting.
Running between rooms for acupuncture and cupping meant squeezing in paperwork during any gaps back in the consult room, but it wasn't really a break.
I had to organize the scattered notes from initial consult chats and log the progress updates from small talk during follow-ups.
"Hwayoung said her pelvic front pain got worse? No, that was Gayoung."
Tap tap tap tap tap.
I typed at breakneck speed.
Backlogged charts meant delayed billing, which pushed back the staff's quitting time.
"Oh my!"
I was so swamped I barely noticed the new patient in the waiting room.
I heard the door chime and the bell jingle when it opened, but I still had four more patients ahead.
"Oh my, what's going on?"
"Whoa...!"
But things got unusually rowdy outside.
What was it?
My senses picked up nothing special—just an utterly ordinary civilian. No aggressive aura, nothing on the brink of death.
I cracked the door open to check the patient out.
"Oh?"
He was a bit unusual.
Male patient with hair down to his shoulders.
Not a common style in Korea, sure.
...But enough to cause that much of a stir?
No way.
What, another celebrity I don't recognize?
I opened the door wider to see his face.
Then I noticed more.
Oversized cardigan over a T-shirt with some bizarre artwork.
He looked like the artsy type.
But what really stood out was...
"Sketchbook?"
The one clutched to his chest.
"Ah, hello? This is Seongsu Clinic... Have you been here before?"
Seol Yu-hee at the desk greeted him in total confusion.
"Kyaa, is it a confession?"
"Shh!"
Waiting room folks were bored anyway.
A few got more excited than the star of the show, stomping their feet in anticipation.
'...A real confession? Showing up out of the blue during business hours?'
He didn't seem like Seol Yu-hee's type.
But who knows—maybe after getting healthier, she'd been hitting shows and concerts?
No, but staging an event at a clinic was a bit much...!
Right then, the sketchbook flipped open.
Too curious, I stepped out fully and headed to the desk.
Hello, my name is Kim Tae-yoon.
"Ah, yes... Hello, Mr. Kim Tae-yoon."
Seol Yu-hee's eyes darted around wildly.
Her face screamed total bewilderment.
She grabbed at Seo In-ae's clothes beside her, pleading for help.
At the same time, Kim Tae-yoon flipped another page.
I've come because my voice is hoarse. Here's my ID.
...Ah?
"Ah, ah, aah! Yes! I'll check you in right away. Please wait a moment!"
Clearly embarrassed by the mix-up, Seol Yu-hee flushed beet red as she took his ID.
"What? What happened?"
"Turned down...?"
The waiting room patients, unable to see the sketchbook from their angle, whispered among themselves, but Kim Tae-yoon didn't utter a word.
Well, if he could talk, he probably wouldn't have brought the sketchbook in the first place.
Still, it was overkill. No wonder Seol Yu-hee, me, and the others mistook it for some event.
Why bring that when you have a perfectly good phone?
"Director, Bed 1 needs acupuncture."
I wanted to watch more, but patients awaited in the treatment room.
No time to dawdle, so I hurried off to place the needles.
After acupuncture and two more initial consults, it was finally Kim Tae-yoon's turn.
"Have a seat here."
He bowed politely to me, then sat in the chair I indicated.
He pulled out the same sketchbook and flipped through a few pages.
I'm a band's vocalist. My voice got hoarse from singing a lot.
He'd even prepared clinic-specific notes.
I nodded and jotted down his job and symptoms.
I saw my favorite YouTuber take Ryukakusan powder for a hoarse throat and tried it. It worked great at first.
Oh, Ryukakusan powder?
I knew that one.
Of course, to me it was more familiar as the Shanghan Lun formula Kanreisan.
But after lots of practice singing, it felt insufficient. I read online that powder is better than the candy version, and you shouldn't drink water after.
Hm? That tip?
I searched discreetly out of his view.
The Ryukakusan info said the powder works by directly contacting the throat mucosa during swallowing with saliva, so drinking water right after negates the effect.
"Not strictly true. The original Kanreisan is a decoction meant to be absorbed via the digestive system—."
I started to explain, but two-way talk wasn't possible with Kim Tae-yoon.
He flipped another page.
I also heard Fragrant Descending Adverse Qi Pill is better for hoarse voices from singing. Even some famous singers used it to fix vocal nodules.
I nodded.
"Both are good, but Fragrant Descending Adverse Qi Pill has more ingredients."
The sketchbook kept flipping.
So I wanted to get checked at a Korean medicine clinic to see which is better, and get a prescription if possible.
But I heard decoctions are made monthly? For Ryukakusan, I'd prefer powder; for Fragrant Descending Adverse Qi Pill, pills.
I found Seongsu Clinic on Instagram while searching—they have a decoction room and prescribe decoctions, pills, and powders as needed.
Huh? We advertised that on Instagram...?
Or maybe after hiring the herbalist, Chu Mi-young posted it?
We each had personal blogs, but Instagram was managed by Chu Mi-young for the clinic account.
She'd shared the login with the other directors, but Kim Chun-sik and I weren't big Insta users anyway.
Ah, An Ju-hee might be different—maybe she posted it herself.
"Yes, making it as pills or powder is no problem."
It was doable. I'd never prescribed Ryukakusan before, but I'd done Silver Apricot Powder for throat colds and ointments for skin issues. Pills were countless, obviously.
Just write the script, and An Ju-hee could whip it up in whatever form.
At my confirmation, Kim Tae-yoon flipped through several pages.
Thank you!
Simple thanks for all that effort.
He'd probably been rejected elsewhere and prepped rejection and acceptance versions.
"Ryukakusan's original form is the Kanreisan decoction, absorbed through the gut—so powder or not, it works. That said, it does act directly on the mucosa too, so if you want powder, we'll do powder."
Kim Tae-yoon nodded.
Powder it was—loose granules.
"Since we're compounding fresh instead of off-the-shelf, we can tailor it to you. I'll hear which fits your symptoms better and add any extras if needed."
Ryukakusan was technically a brand name, not a prescription.
A Japanese pharma powder originally with dragon bone, musk, and antler—hence the name—but now it's just Kanreisan plus semen raphani and Seneca snakeroot root used by Native Americans for sore throats.
Even though Japanese, it was officially imported and sold at some Korean pharmacies.
But he'd sought out a compounding clinic, so he must prefer Fragrant Descending Adverse Qi Pill or wanted a custom script.
As expected, Kim Tae-yoon nodded vigorously.
"Is this vocal cord nodules? Just from overuse? No voice at all?"
I probed deeper into his symptoms.
He placed a hand on his chest and glanced around.
Hadn't written symptoms in the sketchbook?
"It does come out."
As I offered my pen, Kim Tae-yoon finally spoke.
"Use this if it's hard to talk."
"...!"
He took the pen politely and began writing diligently.