Chapter 104: Let Me See the Back Too [2] Kanghyeok slowly headed back into the treatment room they had been using earlier.
The patient who had said his back hurt was fast asleep on the mat.
They had spent quite a while doing the eye surgery, and he had also been given painkillers, so it was only natural.
"Hmm."
Resting his chin in his hand, Kanghyeok examined the sleeping patient.
He was not merely lying still. He was tossing and turning from time to time.
Even so, there was not the slightest sign of pain on the patient's face.
"Mm. Since the medicine is working this well... it may not even be necessary to operate."
"Ah, is that so?"
Heo Jun murmured that with a somehow disappointed expression.
It was probably because he thought he might miss seeing back surgery.
If he had known what kind of method was used in lumbar disc surgery, he might not have looked like that.
Maybe for other parts, but... if lumbar disc surgery can be avoided, it's better not to do it.
Why go splitting open the bones of the lower back and poking around the nerves?
And not just any nerves, but the spinal nerves, one of the most important nerve systems in the body.
"Hey. Wake up."
Kanghyeok tapped the shoulder of the patient, who was still asleep long after he and Heo Jun had entered the room.
"Mmm..."
Only after Kanghyeok's heavy hand struck him several more times did the patient finally begin to open his eyes.
It seemed that after suffering from pain for the past several months, he had fallen into blissful sleep thanks to the painkiller he had received this time.
Even though he had been forced awake, his face looked very good.
"Ah... sir. I... I'm sorry. I fell asleep here."
"No, no. It's because I came too late."
Kanghyeok looked outside through the open doorway.
When he had first seen this patient, it had only just passed noon.
Now the sun was already sinking low.
He had spent nearly half a day on a single eye surgery.
"The medicine the physician gave me earlier is miraculous. After taking two pills, it didn't hurt anymore..."
The patient pointed to the extra medicine Kanghyeok had left just in case.
They were not especially remarkable medicines, really.
Just an anti-inflammatory painkiller and a muscle relaxant.
They were not even injections, so they were not the sort of medicines from which one could expect extremely dramatic effects.
And yet he had improved this much after taking them.
To Kanghyeok, that only made him feel grateful.
"Really? Even so, you still need to be careful. Your illness isn't simple muscle pain."
"You said that earlier too, but..."
The patient scratched the back of his head with a face that clearly did not understand. That was only natural.
Pain caused by a disc problem was not especially easy to understand.
"Mm. Lie down again for now."
"Yes, sir."
"First, lie on your stomach."
"Ah, yes."
The patient obediently followed Kanghyeok's words.
The gap in status between them was enormous to begin with, and he had also just received miraculous medicine.
Anyone would naturally behave that way.
Kanghyeok slowly laid the patient down on the mat, then looked at Heo Jun.
A disc problem would surely be rather difficult for Heo Jun to understand as well.
Fortunately, he had encountered carpal tunnel syndrome not long ago.
This was the sort of illness that could be said to be roughly similar to that, so it seemed it would be easier for him to understand.
"Teacher Heo. Do you remember when I treated His Highness Gwanghae-gun's wrist before?"
"Of course. I've been looking at the illustration that Painter Jeong drew back then until it's practically worn out."
Heo Jun pointed at Yeoju, who was once again preparing to draw in the corner.
Heo Jun was one of the people who knew both that Yeoju was a woman and that she was Jeong Yeo-rip's niece.
Yet whether in public or in private, he never showed it.
He merely called her "Painter Jeong."
Feeling grateful for Heo Jun's consideration, Kanghyeok continued.
"The back pain this patient complains of is not much different. The bone here itself is unchanged, but a structure inside has swollen or protruded, making the space narrow."
"Ah. Then the things that originally pass through inside would be getting compressed."
As expected of Heo Jun.
He immediately grasped the essence of the disc problem.
Kanghyeok nodded with a pleased expression.
"That's right. As expected, you're the kind of person who understands ten things when taught one."
"You flatter me. It's all because the teacher is excellent."
"My teaching methods are indeed outstanding. Ha ha. My lecture evaluations were quite decent too."
"Ah, yes."
At Kanghyeok's chronic habit of praising himself, Heo Jun merely nodded along.
It was a little irritating at the moment.
Still, once this moment passed, it would settle down on its own.
Just as he expected, Kanghyeok soon resumed his explanation.
"However, the structure being compressed now is rather important."
"What kind of structure is it?"
By now, both Heo Jun and Yeoju had gained a fair grasp of nerves, blood vessels, and muscles.
That made things far easier from the standpoint of the one explaining.
He no longer had to explain everything one by one as he had before.
Though it's useless no matter how much I teach that brat Makbong.
When you watched him, he looked like he was listening.
But the moment you asked him a question, it turned out he had not listened at all.
Kanghyeok had even looked into his ears once, wondering whether his ear canals were actually blocked.
In fact, they were wider and straighter than most people's, enough that he could check the eardrum with just a penlight.
And he had no problem hearing in everyday life either.
He isn't stupid, though.
He did become particularly awkward when standing in front of high-ranking people.
Other than that, he was actually rather slick and clever.
You could tell just by watching how he moved his body.
Makbong's intelligence was by no means below that of other people.
He's just not interested.
Compared to him, the Heo Jun sitting before him was truly an excellent student.
Even now, he was listening with such a reverent attitude that Kanghyeok felt he ought to correct his own posture.
"Mm. You can feel these bones here, right?"
"Yes. The spine."
"That's right. This spine is a form of bone with a canal in the middle. And that canal continues all the way down like this."
Kanghyeok ran his hand along the patient from the cervical spine down to the tailbone.
His expression and the movement of his hands made it seem as though he were performing a dissection.
In truth, Kanghyeok felt something similar himself.
Even if he did not want to, the structure of the human body rose in his mind in three dimensions, and there was nothing he could do about it.
It was the sort of thing that could only be called an occupational habit.
"I see. The many ligaments, blood vessels, and nerves that pass through the wrist were protected by nothing more than some fairly thick ligaments... but the structures in here are firmly protected by bone, so they must be extremely important."
As expected, Heo Jun's insight was no ordinary thing.
Kanghyeok spoke in admiration.
"Exactly. Remarkable, truly remarkable. Nerves pass through here. Not just any nerves... but a whole bundle of nerves going to our arms and legs."
"Then if that is damaged, would one lose the use of one's limbs?"
"Yes."
As Kanghyeok nodded, countless patients he had seen at the university hospital passed through his mind.
Most had come in after falling from somewhere or crashing hard into something.
Unless some kind of miracle occurred, they would never move the way they used to again.
That was how important the spinal nerves were.
"Mm... then this patient must be in serious trouble if those nerves are being compressed. Is it really all right not to operate?"
Heo Jun's face darkened immediately.
At his intense reaction, Kanghyeok waved his hands.
With the other hand, he even patted Heo Jun's shoulder.
"It isn't that severe yet. The spinal nerves are very thick. For now... with the medicine I prescribe and some exercise, it can improve... No, wait."
Kanghyeok abruptly clamped his mouth shut in the middle of speaking.
This too was one of the sights Heo Jun had grown used to, so he did not bother interrupting.
It was not as if he had seen this happen only once or twice before Kanghyeok suddenly came up with a brilliant idea or remembered a piece of knowledge.
I don't really know much about discs either, since that's more orthopedics or neurosurgery. All I know is that it doesn't seem bad enough for surgery yet...
Kanghyeok glanced at the patient lying prone.
For now, he only had occasional pain and tingling in the leg.
Even that seemed to appear only when he overexerted himself.
The reason he had come to the clinic this time was also because he had recently overstrained himself doing heavy work at someone else's house.
Which meant it would be fine to try non-surgical treatment.
The problem was that the non-surgical methods Kanghyeok knew were not all that special.
His gaze slowly shifted toward Heo Jun.
Haven't those manual adjustment therapies that are popular these days come out of Eastern medicine? Even if not exactly that... it might not be bad to entrust this to him once. As long as I explain the anatomical structure properly, he won't put him into some bizarre position.
Given the intelligence Heo Jun had shown so far, there was a real chance he might be better than Kanghyeok at developing a new treatment method.
Especially if that treatment was not surgical.
Having made up his mind, Kanghyeok spoke to Heo Jun.
"I'll teach you the principles behind the exercises, so what do you think about taking charge of this patient's treatment?"
"What? Me?"
"Yes. The point is to keep too much force from loading onto the back... that is, onto the area I'm touching right now."
"I'm not well-versed in the structure of this area."
"I can teach you. And he'll take my medicine as well."
"Mm..."
With an uneasy expression, Heo Jun looked at the patient lying face down.
In principle, it was not desirable to discuss a patient this way with the patient right in front of them.
Especially not in a situation like this, where they were practically passing the treatment back and forth.
"Hmm..."
But in Heo Jun's eyes, Kanghyeok was not the sort of man who would simply dump a patient onto someone else.
If he was handing the patient over like this, then it must mean the patient's condition was that mild.
Once he reached that point in his thoughts, he did not hesitate much longer.
"Understood. I'll try it. I think I understand the rough idea."
"Really? Good, then. Since this patient lives nearby, it should be fine to call him in every day. He'll need to pick up medicine as well."
"Yes. I'll try to treat him gradually."
"Excellent. Ha ha."
And just like that, the patient's fate was decided.
Heo Jun, the greatest renowned physician in all Eight Provinces of Joseon, would take charge as his attending physician.
And Baek Kanghyeok, the greatest surgeon in the Republic of Korea, would assist.
It was treatment that only a Joseon prince ought to receive, truly beyond the wildest dreams of a poor commoner.
"Then... for today, take your medicine and go. The rest of your treatment will be handled by Teacher Heo here. He serves as Cheomjeong at the Royal Medical Bureau, so consider it an honor."
"Yes, yes, sir. Thank you."
The patient hurriedly got to his feet and headed for the door.
Or rather, he was about to.
More precisely, he tried to go out, then fell backward.
Because someone outside suddenly flung the door open and rushed in.
"Young Master!"
It was Makbong.
His face was drenched in sweat, so it seemed something had happened.
"What is it?"
"That... one of the patients we brought earlier is a little strange."
"Ah, critical?"
"Yes. Yeoni and Dolseok are watching him, but..."
The fact that those two were watching him was not much different from saying that two medical students were standing there observing.
Kanghyeok hurriedly rose.
"Let's go. Teacher Heo, come as well. Painter, you come too."
"Yes, yes."
Makbong quickly led the group down the path behind Bojewon.
As he hurried his steps, Kanghyeok asked about the patient's condition.
"So what exactly is going on?"
"Well..."
Makbong rolled his eyes around.
He looked exactly like someone who knew absolutely nothing.
That was only natural, since he knew even less than Dolseok or Yeoni.
"No, never mind. That was my fault. Let's just hurry."
"Yes, Young Master."
"Ah, is it that room?"
"Uh... yes. What are they doing?"
"Mm..."
Kanghyeok's head tilted sideways as well.
The silhouette inside the room looked rather strange.
Someone seemed to be panting while on top of someone else.
No way... come on, that can't be it.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Read 226 more chapters ahead on NovelDex!
https://noveldex.io/series/doctor-goes-back-to-joseon
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━