Chapter 127

Episode 127: Academy Return (1)

As always…

When I return from a business trip, the work piles up.

I was sitting at my desk in the research lab.

There’s so much to do. First, I’ll present the findings on aspirin at the symposium. We need to prove its pain-relieving effects if we’re going to sell or distribute it.

People didn’t stop getting sick just because I was in Vinia. Naturally, outpatient treatments piled up, and depending on what Amy did, there might be a backlog of inpatients too.

Let’s get through the work quickly and move on to promoting and researching aspirin. The first thing that caught my eye… was a mountain of letters on my desk. I thought about it.

“Oh, Professor is back. Good day.”

“Yeah.”

Amy had come to work in the lab.

What were you doing while Istina and I were gone? I glanced at Amy for a moment.

“Amy, what’s all this?”

“I organized as much as I could. Only the letters that require your direct attention are left. I put the rest in the corner.”

“I see…”

“There were quite a few.”

I casually flipped through the letters. There must be dozens. It seems like I received over ten per day during the few days I was away from the lab.

“Amy, sit down.”

“Yes.”

Amy sat in front of my desk. I started talking without taking my eyes off the letters.

“Did anything unusual happen while I was gone?”

“No, everything was fine.”

“Did patient appointments pile up?”

“Not really. But a few new inpatients came in. That’s what I wanted to tell you about.”

New inpatients? Honestly, it might have been better not to accept any inpatients while the professor was away. But Amy continued speaking.

“I couldn’t handle very urgent cases due to my lack of skill. There’s one pneumonia patient, someone with stretched ligaments, and another with an arm wound that needed care.”

I looked at Amy.

Sometimes among doctors, there’s talk that even a short time working with Doctors Without Borders can significantly improve one’s skills due to the relatively free environment where techniques can be practiced thoroughly. Though, from the patient’s perspective, that might sound a bit scary.

How did Amy handle it?

“How did you treat them?”

“For the broken arm patient, I asked another professor to help apply a splint.”

“Good job. What about the others?”

“For the infected wound, I cleaned it with boiled water and alcohol, then bandaged it.”

“Good job. Alcohol isn’t ideal directly on wounds, but overall, you did well.”

“The boiling water hurt the patient a bit.”

I couldn’t help but look up at that. What do you mean?

“Huh…?”

I furrowed my brow. Did you pour boiling water without letting it cool? It must have hurt… If you only poured it, perhaps no burns occurred.

“Did blisters form around the patient’s wound?”

“No.”

Teach one thing, and they learn another. Still, it’s good that Amy thought to sterilize with boiling water, even if she didn’t think to cool it. No serious burns occurred, which is fortunate.

“You should let the water cool before pouring it on the wound, idiot. Do you want to give the patient a burn too?”

“Ah, sorry.”

I sighed.

“You should apologize to the patient, not me.”

“Yes, I won’t do that again.”

“What about medication?”

“I gave the experimental penicillin. I explained it was a new drug.”

Well, at least she handled it properly.

“How about the pneumonia patient?”

“I gave the same experimental penicillin, but we don’t know the effect yet.”

Surprisingly, everything was handled normally. I thought at least a couple of people might have died.

“Thanks for your hard work while I was gone.”

“Yes, it was quite challenging.”

I immediately headed to the ward.

Amy followed me.

She said three inpatients came in while I was away. Since I can’t fully trust Amy’s skills, I need to check personally.

The first patient appeared to be an Academy student.

“Good day. May I ask the patient’s name…?”

“Logan.”

This patient had a stretched ligament in the leg.

If I could take an X-ray, I could verify whether it’s a minor fracture, a ligament sprain, or another condition. Unfortunately, we lack the equipment.

Amy quietly stood behind me.

“Logan, you’re here because of leg pain, right? How did you get injured?”

“I tripped while walking, just like that.”

“Why did you trip?”

“No particular reason.”

It’s reassuring when the problem is clear. Unclear cases give me a headache. For example, a patient who visited for toothache actually had myocardial infarction.

True, noticing something odd when someone comes for toothache-related issues is correct.

In any case, this patient is similar. If he tripped while walking, conditions like vasovagal syncope, cerebellar stroke, or Parkinson’s disease could be considered.

Though, realistically, it’s more likely there was a stone on the road. How does a perfectly healthy young person…

“Do you drink alcohol regularly?”

“No, never.”

“Is the splint uncomfortable?”

“No, it’s fine.”

After some consideration, I decided to let it go. He’s not the age where cerebellar stroke is likely.

***

Actually, the important case wasn’t this one.

The one I’m most concerned about immediately is the patient with the wound that boiling water was poured on. As expected, this patient didn’t look happy.

The second patient, an apparently younger female Academy student.

“Let me see the wound on your arm.”

“Hey, last time you poured boiling water!”

“Oh dear, sorry. It was necessary for disinfection, I guess.”

I examined the patient’s wound. Of course, there’s no way Amy stitched it properly. The stitches were crooked like a child’s handiwork.

I scratched my head.

“I’ll need to re-stitch the wound. This… our student was a bit careless with the stitching.”

“Do I really need that?”

“It will heal better this way.”

The unevenness might not prevent healing, but avoiding improper healing is better. Soon after, the ward nurses brought sterilized needles and silk thread.

I wiped my hands with alcohol.

“May I ask the patient’s name?”

“Natalie.”

I paused my work.

Natalie. A familiar name.

“Oh, you seem familiar… You’re Teacher Natalie, right? How did this happen?”

“I cut myself with a knife while trying to cook.”

Natalie. If I remember correctly, she was the patient with ADHD I met before. I recall making some medicine for her.

Of course, people with such conditions tend to experience personal accidents more often than average individuals. I thought briefly.

“Was the knife clean?”

“Probably?”

Should I treat for tetanus?

Better not to leave room for doubt. Anyway, after administering local anesthesia, I began the task of re-stitching the poorly closed wound.

“Do you feel any sensation in the wound area?”

“No.”

After cutting the sutures already inside the wound, I checked the internal condition.

As expected, there were completely unwashed foreign materials and dried blood inside.

Because hot water was used, the patient reacted strongly, preventing thorough cleaning. I took out sterilized saline solution, and Natalie gasped.

“Is this boiling water again?”

“No, it’s cooled.”

“I hate boiling water.”

“Okay.”

It must have been pretty painful.

After washing the patient’s wound, I removed any possible dried blood and foreign objects. Re-stitching didn’t take long.

“Have you run out of medicine?”

“Uh, yes.”

“Take some before discharge.”

Although Amy’s sewing skills still need improvement, there doesn’t seem to be any issue with diagnosis. There was no infection in the wound.

That’s good.

***

The third patient.

An adult male patient. A complicated case. While many pneumonias can be treated with penicillin, some cannot.

I thought for a moment.

In modern times, almost everyone has used antibiotics, so many bacteria easily resist basic drugs like penicillin.

Judging by this patient’s case, there’s a fairly good chance the pneumonia will respond to penicillin.

“Are there any uncomfortable places?”

“No.”

“Cough for me.”

Hack, hack. The deep cough characteristic of pneumonia patients was present. After brief consideration:

“If there’s no other pain, we’ll observe for one more day with oral penicillin. If symptoms worsen, we’ll change the medication.”

“Okay.”

***

We left my ward.

Amy tilted her head.

“Do you understand what needs improvement?”

“Yes.”

“What is it?”

“Um, wait. For the first patient, I should have asked if the splint was comfortable. For the second patient, my sewing skills were lacking, and for the third patient, things went pretty well.”

It’s much more beneficial for you to figure it out yourself rather than me telling you. You were there when these patients arrived, after all.

The process of studying and improving is key.

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