Do not be arrogant.

Illness can devour a person without them noticing, until it is too late to do anything.

When they realize it, there may be no hope left.


What they think and what they do next may depend on their will.


The life and the time that are left.

How they use those limited things.


...That is up to them.




My mother left me with her best smile, the last thing she could do, and extinguished her life in front of me.


The only memory I have of my mother is that smile I saw at the end.

Her remaining time, and the fact that there was nothing she could do.


She knew she could not leave anything behind.

So, maybe she deliberately left me with


That smile.


The smile my mother left me with.

That smile brought me and Mayumi together.


Because of that smile, I met Mayumi, an irreplaceable woman.

Yes, a person I can never forget in my life.

A person who can share the precious moments of my life with me.

I met a woman named Iwamisita Mayumi.



Pancreatic cancer.

The words written at the beginning of that blue notebook.

And the words "pregnancy" and "fetus".

What do they mean?


I turn the page.


Test results...


A copy of the blood test data was attached to the notebook.

The patient's name was not written.

There was nothing special about the test results.

I turn to the next page.


Another test result a month later.


There was a slight change in some items, but it might be just a matter of observation.

There was a note that said she was nine weeks pregnant.

She seemed to be pregnant. Maybe that explained the blood test results.


Professor Tsuneo spoke to me quietly.

"What do you think? The condition of this patient. Tanabe-kun, how do you analyze it?"


I thought for a moment.


"She is nine weeks pregnant, and that might account for some fluctuations in the values, but I don't see anything that would suggest a prediction."


"Is that so... Well, I guess that's a general answer based on the findings."


What was Professor Tsuneo trying to say?


And why did Mayumi write down the progress of this patient in another notebook?

Did this patient have some special case?


I flip through a few pages at random.


I stopped at the data written on the opened page.

The tumor marker values were elevated. The amylase and elastase values were abnormally high.


Professor Tsuneo asked casually.


"What do you think is the disease condition from these test results?"


"...M-maybe pancreatic cancer. There is no contrast imaging."


"Hmm, yes, that's what you should suspect first."

"Who is this patient?"


Doctors have a duty of confidentiality.

They cannot disclose the patient's privacy, that is, their condition, to any third party.


But Professor Tsuneo opened his stubborn mouth.


"That is Iwamisita-kun's diagnostic report."


I couldn't believe my ears...


Mayumi's...? The test results in this notebook were Mayumi's?

Then... Mayumi had this disease? Pancreatic cancer, the same disease as my mother's.


"She died around... yes, three months ago. She suddenly felt sick during surgery. She was fine at the time, but we had her take a test just in case."


The test revealed that there was a small life growing in Mayumi's belly.

But ironically, there was also a disease growing inside her.


Professor Tsuneo went to the window again and opened it slightly to light a cigarette.

He smoked while leaning his back against the wall, watching the smoke escape through the gap in the window.


"I can't say this now, but Tanabe-kun. She was great. I gave her hard tasks on purpose when she was a fellow. I was a bad boss. Well, how should I put it. To be honest, I didn't like her pride. I was jealous of her."


The demon Tsuneo was jealous?


"But she solved those problems patiently, one by one. I had to admit her vitality. And she made me realize something. The most important thing as a doctor... Yes, the meaning of being a doctor that I had almost forgotten."


The white smoke from his mouth escaped through the gap in the window.


"I remembered when I saw Mayumi-kun back then. The feelings I had when I was young..."


He put out his cigarette in his portable ashtray and continued talking while looking outside.


"Iwamisita-kun was your assistant this time."

"Professor Tsuneo, are you dissatisfied with me?"

"No, not really..."


"Are you ready?"

He asked the anesthesiologist for confirmation.

"Yes, vital signs are 110/72 with sinus rhythm. Stable."


"Let's begin."


A 32-year-old woman who was rushed in last night with chest compression fracture and pelvic trauma fracture.

She was treated as soon as she arrived.

The emergency surgery went smoothly. The patient stabilized.

She was observed in the ICU.


But early in the morning, her condition changed drastically.

And there was a small life inside her.


At the initial treatment, it was judged that the impact on the fetus was low.

There was no abnormality in the internal organs or anything else according to the MRI contrast examination.


Still, she deteriorated.

VF, the alarm sounded loudly from the heart monitor.


I, the doctor on duty, rushed over.

"VF, prepare for defibrillation!"

The defibrillator was set and a voice said "Clear" as the pads were applied to the patient's chest.


But the heart line did not show normal values.

We changed the module and tried again. But there was no response.


We took a chest echo. We spread the gel that was dropped on the chest and slid the probe.


The image showed internal bleeding...


"That's impossible. There was no organ damage in the first test..."

My hand with the stethoscope touched her chest.


"Professor Tsuneo!" Iwamisita -kun, who noticed the commotion, came running.

"It's a rupture of the hepatic vein. It's a phenomenon caused by bleeding compressing the heart. Open her chest, prepare for thoracotomy!"

"Yes."

The nurses around us started moving frantically.


The patient's chest was painted with reddish-brown disinfectant and draped.

"A 10 is fine, scalpel."

"Yes."


The scalpel pushed into the skin.

"Open the infusion all the way. The blood pressure will drop at once."


When the scalpel reached a certain position, blood that had accumulated there flowed out.

"Blood pressure dropped to 70."


"Alright, first aid. Clamp the bleeding vein first. Satinsky."

"Yes." The forceps were handed over and carefully clamped the affected area, making a clicking sound and locking the ratchet.


"Heart rate, blood pressure recovered."

"Pack with gauze. It's just a temporary measure, let's move her to the operating room right away!"

The patient was immediately moved to the operating room.


Iwamisita-kun stayed as an assistant for that surgery.

Professor Tsuneo said he felt a little irritated when she became an assistant.


"I had great confidence in my skills at that time. That was my status. No, I could do anything, any case, no matter what. I was a doctor who only had confidence in myself."


"That's why I didn't feel good when I saw her. Because it was like seeing myself. Of course, I knew she looked up to me. I was proud of her as a mentor."


The wrinkles on his face deepened. And he continued.


"To be honest, I was scared to see her. I knew she would soon surpass me. A little girl like her would erase my glory that I had built up until then."


The surgery began.


We removed the gauze that had been stuffed in for emergency treatment, one by one.

"Iwamisita-kun, be careful, the gauze may be adhered."

"Yes."

She answered lightly.


"I thought when I saw her technique. Experience is everything for a surgeon. Her skill was more delicate and accurate than any other surgeon. I thought this surgery would end when we sutured the damaged blood vessel, but she already anticipated the next step."


"Doctor, fetal heart rate is dropping."


Considering this situation, it would be appropriate to choose maternal priority in case of worst case scenario. She did not object to that either.


And then the next moment

"Doctor, maternal heart rate is also dropping."

"What? No way."

I looked closely at the area we had just treated.


But there was no bleeding or anything.

Then what else could it be?


Iwamishita carefully stared at the MRI image again.

"Maybe..." she whispered.


“Mr. Jyomi, please look at this.”



******

The copyright of this novel belongs to "Etuha Sakakihara さかき原枝都は".

Copying or resembling this novel is prohibited.


Click here for the original Japanese text

emergency doctor

https://kakuyomu.jp/works/1177354054883893123

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