Sense-Chapter 29: Transcendental Diagnosis(4)

Inside the recording area.

Sitting in front of a monitor displaying a real-time brainwave graph, Son Jae-geol pushed his chair to see what Dowook was working so hard on.

“What are you writing so diligently?”

“Don’t talk to me. I’m busy.”

Rejected out of the blue, Son Jae-geol laughed.

“Is this payback for ignoring you this morning? What are you going to do for your patient’s stimulation test? Jeong Woo-seok’s test is over, so I’m going out now.”

Dowook turned his head then. Lim So Yool, who could be seen through the glass, was sleeping peacefully for a change.

“Pass on the stimulation test. I think it’s better to let her sleep.”

Looking at the brainwave graph, Son Jae-geol pointed at one portion.

“I thought it was just a myth. If you look at the brain waves of geniuses, they say that their theta waves are more active. Look at your patient’s. It means she’s thinking a lot, right?”

“Just take care of your own patient.”

“Our patient is like paradise. Comfortable alfalfa heaven. Can’t you feel his peace of mind?”

“Peace?”

Dowook’s gaze turned to the monitor Son Jae-geol was monitoring.

“Doesn’t he have some big problem? Isn’t that why there’s this big deal while doing his check-up?”

“He has a very mature outlook as he received the news. I would have cried my eyes out by now.”

“What’s the diagnosis?”

“The cerebral cortex problem is onset in his sense of hearing, and in the MRI….”

As he listened to Son Jae-geol’s diagnosis while looking at Leong Woo-seok’s brain waves, the pen in Dowook’s hand moved on its own.

Subconsciously writing, Dowook paused and looked down at the chart. Because he had been using Lim So Yool’s sense, he even made useless calculations.

“Stop. Stop talking. I ruined everything I’ve finished because of you.”

Son Jae-geol looked dumbfounded at Dowook, who had turned a page on his chart and started writing something new while grumbling.

“Why are you getting angry when you’re the one who asked? Jeong Woo-seok is going to the neurological exam room so don’t go there.”

“I won’t you b*stard!”

After Son Jae-geol left, Dowook struggled with the formula for half an hour, only stopping and raising his head when the brainwave monitor’s timer beeped to show the test was finished.

‘Please prove the aftereffects to be 0%.’

The sensory system, motor system, and even cerebellar functional intensive examination.

The feast of numbers filled the paper even made him feel fortunate that he couldn’t understand it properly.

“Oh, right. The secret meeting.”

Dowook took out his phone and dialed Chief Ha Sang Joong’s number.

-Yeah, Dowook.

“How are things going?”

-It’s getting long. The center managers want to cooperate with Director Lim So Yool quietly but the section chiefs have a different opinion. The departments with a surplus are particularly tenacious. I guess since there’s nothing for them to lose.

As Chief Ha began to lament, Dowook immediately blocked him.

“So when is the plotting going to finish?”

-What do you mean plotting? It’s a legitimate conference for hospital development!

Dowook pulled his phone away from his ear at the loud piercing voice sounding from it.

-Just keep working hard for 3 more hours. Director Lim isn't giving you a hard time, is she?

She was actually the one more excited to do the tests.

“You compromised with Prof. Choi, right?”

-……s-sure!

“Why do you suddenly sound embarrassed?”

-What do you mean? I’ll take responsibility. You can go home after you’re done with those tests. Just trust in this Ha Sang Joong.

It was a statement that made a shiver run down his spine.

Ending the call, Dowook put his phone back in his pocket and left the recording area.

As he approached the bed, he could see her chest heave up and down evenly.

‘It seems she fell into a deep sleep. Well, she was probably tired.’

Knowing what it was like to work with no sleep, Dowook was more surprised at how clear-minded and active she had been so far.

Wanting to let her sleep, he turned around, but Lim So Yool’s phone, which was right beside her, rang.

The name ‘Ok Sang-ah’ showed up on the screen and the ringtone hadn’t even finished one cycle when Lim So Yool opened her eyes.

Sitting up right away, she placed her phone to her ear.

“Yes. Secretary Ok. Lunch? The tests aren't…”

Lim So Yool turned to him as he stood next to her. Her eyes looked very clear considering she had just woken from a deep sleep.

Silently asking how long was left, Dowook raised three fingers in answer.

“……I’ll take care of my lunch. Please organize the data that I printed out yesterday. Yes, Mayo Clinic and John Hopkins first.”

Lim So Yool, who wiped away the remaining gel with a wet wipe after removing the electrodes, got up from the bed.

Dowook held out the chart he had worked hard on in the recording area in her direction.

“Could you please check this before we get started on the next test?”

“What is this?”

“Calculations about the after-effects. I used the information from the first round of tests.”

Lim So Yool’s eyes were sparkling.

Clinic rest area

Dowook, who had been eating a sandwich he'd bought from the cafe, looked at Lim So Yool then took a sip of his coffee.

She had been staring at the paper for a while.

The results were almost all in the normal range.

Even when he borrowed the sense of a neurologist, he didn't feel anything seriously wrong.

Dowook placed the glass of mocha shake in the hand she had been patting beside her as she didn't take her eyes off the paper.

After spending the past 2 hours with her, he had an idea of how her secretary usually took care of her.

As soon as she got the glass, she took a long sip and made a happy expression then she cringed before she turned to him.

“Just now……”

“Yes?”

“Nothing.”

Completely reading the whole paper, Lim So Yool finally put it down.

“It was a fantastic analysis.”

“Fortunately, you find it satisfactory.”

“Whenever I see Dr. Park's diagnosis I keep getting surprised.”

It was only possible with Lim So Yool’s sense. Feeling a stab of guilt at her compliment, Dowook confessed.

“I was only able to do it because you were beside me.”

“Me?”

“You give me a lot of inspiration, shall we say? I’ve never tried to organize my medical opinions this way before. Actually, I don’t know most of the formulas written there exactly. Since I learned them so long ago. I guess you could say I go with my guts.”

Unexpectedly, Lim So Yool nodded as if she understood when he gave the explanation he’d prepared just in case.

“I had a similar friend in Seville University. They didn’t know algebra, but they interpreted vector space better than I did. I was very jealous. Dr. Park is close to numbers, too.”

“Pr…..probably.”

He wasn’t sure what concepts would pop out if he asked about her alma mater where math geniuses gathered.

Dowook carefully examined her appearance. Anyway, the evasion seemed successful.

Lim So Yool was about to close the chart when she discovered a sheet of paper filled with calculations and stopped.

“What's this?”

“Something I did by mistake a while ago. Because Jae-geol kept talking about the pianist patient.”

“He’s got all the progressive indicators of the disease. He seemed like a good person.”

“Illnesses don’t really discriminate when they arrive.”

Lim So Yool saw the end of the calculations and suddenly became reticent. She wasn’t even looking in his direction.

‘Is it starting again?’

Grabbing a pen from the table, she started to continue the calculations at the bottom of the page.

Not knowing when it would finish, Dowook drank his coffee with peace of mind. If the schedule for the use of examination rooms got tangled again, he could just use the neurology professor’s sense again.

Scribble, scribble

Whatever the calculation was, the formula was very fancy. He was about to turn a blind eye to the dizzying numbers when Lim So Yool raised her head and looked at him.

“Do you think there are other types of variables related to this symptom?”

“If you’re talking about a similar disease, there are quite a few similar cases on the brain tumor side.”

“Here, can you record the variables in this column?”

A request to calculate together.

Lim So Yool’s expression was very serious and focused. While wondering what to say, he remembered earlier when she was grateful for understanding the dart function.

He wondered how many times she hit a wall when communicating that she was thankful for him merely understanding.

‘This is gonna be a headache, but….’

Dowook took out his pen from his pocket and fully accepted Lim So Yool’s sense.

“Gladly.”

Scribble, scribble

For a while, the rest area was filled with only the sound of writing.

Son Jae-geol, who was passing by with a lot of Jeong Woo-seok’s medical documents in his arms, saw Dowook.

“Dowook.”

At his friend's call, he turned to look over

“Huh? Why?”

“I’m going to start filing the test results in the computer record chart, what do you want to do with yours? Are you going to do it yourself?”

Dowook looked at Lim So Yool, who was deeply focused on calculations he had no idea about. Even with the professor’s sense, the time might not be enough if they continued like this.

“I’ll leave after we’re done, so can you do it?”

“Ok. I got a call from my chief earlier, and he said to help you no matter what. I don’t know where he is when the clinic is this messy.”

Of course, he was at the secret conference but since the cause was right there, he didn’t ask for more details.

“It's fine.”

Putting down the pen, Lim So Yool raised her head. Then she spoke with a look of great satisfaction.

“The prediction model is complete.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes, haha.”

Dowook pointed to the next examination room to her as she let out a laugh of satisfaction.

“Now, I have to urge you a little so we can finish the tests today. You said you have to go out?”

“You don't have to worry about that. I only plan to go to one place today.”

“One place?”

“Neurosurgery department.”

“Wh-where?”

* * *

Lee Won Seok, a professor in charge of the neuro clinic, sat in his office with a serious look on his face.

Checking on celebrity patients and appearing on TV at the vice president’s sudden request was okay.

However, he couldn’t help getting worried at the worst possible diagnosis.

“He will soon come in.”

At the voice of his student standing outside the door, Prof. Lee looked at his desk full of charts once more. By all appearances, there was no correct way of doing this.

It was just full of despair.

A moment later, a cameraman first came into the room.

Jeong Woo-seok, who was guided by a nurse, followed him in. to hear the final results, the people for the broadcasting station as well as the medical staff were seen hovering outside the hall.

“Um……”

Perhaps because of the weight of what he was about to say, the short time before Jeong Woo-seok sat down felt a hundred times longer for Prof Lee.

That was how Jeong Woo-seok sat down.

“It's nice to see you, professor.”

“Welcome.”

Having completed the greeting first, Jeong Woo-seok’s sunglasses looked toward Prof. Lee.

Prof. Lee posted the MRI images on the monitor, then he swallowed a sigh as he spoke about the results.

“I’ll be straightforward. In order to preserve your hearing, we would need to operate on the brain, but that would lead to numerous side effects. I think giving up on your hearing is better than ending up with secondary effects such as epileptic seizures and general paralysis.”

After receiving the shocking diagnosis, Jeong Woo-seok quietly put his hands on his knees. Everyone waited for his reply causing the whole room and hallway to become solemn.

“I’ve been creating music all this time even though I didn’t know what the color of the keys are. Don’t you think I can press the keys without hearing it, doctor?”

“I apologize for not being able to give you any comforting news.”

Jeong Woo-seok smiled calmly at Prof. Lee who spoke as if he was sighing.

“I’ve lived my whole life blind, so I can tell a person’s feeling just by hearing their voice. The doctors I’ve met moving from examination rooms, the producers as well all seemed to feel sorry for my situation. I have been comforted by the piano for 54 years, and that’s enough for me. I’m not sad, so what reason is there for everyone to be so sad? Relax, doctor, Mr. PD.”

The words of the pianist who consoled others instead of being comforted made some members of the broadcast staff watching outside the office teary.

Prof. Lee also couldn’t look at Jeong Woo-seok’s hidden eyes at this moment.

“Do you think my ears will be alright until my retirement concert?”

“That's……”

Accurately predicting the time limit of hearing loss due to brain abnormalities was a problem for Prof. Lee who had been a neurologist for a long time. He had never seen a clinical aspect like this before.

He looked through the charts on his desk to see if he could roughly calculate it when some writings caught his eyes.

[Correlation coefficient of hearing loss R=2.17, ∑4x(∂-7∀)?3.32…….]

[……approximate hearing loss 719.68h]

719.68 hours.

He didn’t know who wrote it, but the results were almost the same as the one he’d predicted.

“30 days at most. In the meantime, there might be hearing problems.”

“That’s good news. I won’t have to cancel the recital.”

[difficulty in hearing approximation 4.67h tinnitus approximation 10.04h…….]

Prof. Lee tilted his head to the side as he continued to read the words written below.

Based on the neuro examination results, the content, which was written in detail until the period when hearing abnormalities might appear, was highly structured. Did this kind of analysis exist in the medical world?

Then Prof. Lee’s eyes fixated on the English words at the bottom of the paper.

It was easy to translate for the professor as he routinely read foreign papers.

“……expected surgery?”

Proof method of attempting to remove some abnormalities of the cerebral cortex assuming a benign tumor, the probability of the predictive surgery.

The diagnosis, which intersected surgeries from completely different fields just because they were similar, was a shocking point of view for Prof. Lee.

Even though it seemed extreme, it was shocking because it was a surgical possibility.

“Jae-geol. Is Jae-geol outside?”

“Yes, professor.”

“Why's the chart like this? Why is something like this in it?”

Son Jae-geol quickly ran over to the side of the desk and looked through the paper Prof. Lee had pushed out.

“Uh, this is Dowook’s patient chart that I saw earlier….ugh, I’m sorry. The results of the examination must have been mixed in here while I was organizing. I’ll clean it up.”

“Don't touch it!”

Son Jae-geol flinched at the sudden shout. Prof. Lee quickly asked.

“Dowook is Park Dowook? Neurosurgery?”

“Yes.”

Prof. Lee, who was about to give a dead-end diagnosis, felt as if he had found a map leading to a solution to treat the problem.

Hope to make a new suggestion to the old pianist who was about to lose his hearing. It may be difficult, but the analysis on the paper showed a chance of success.

Prof. Lee simply couldn’t sit still.

There was a map, but the compass was also needed to set the direction.

“Sir, please wait a moment. Jae-geol, you make a call to the neurosurgery department right now.”