Dark-Haired British Doctor Chapter 403

Episode 403 Ophthalmology [5]

Theodore nodded and said that it was a necessary sacrifice, and then began to explain in earnest.

Strangely, he kept looking at me.

“It’s all thanks to the poet Piyeong.”

I wondered what was thanks to me.

If I say thanks, it should naturally be a good thing, but that's not how I felt.

Should I say something… … uneasy?

So I asked first.

In the past, this would have been unimaginable, but now… … .

I don't think anyone would dare say anything if I asked.

Rather, you can see that they are just people who answer right away with an 'eeek'.

“Why…? Is it because of me?”

“Aren’t you leading the way in experiments for the advancement of humanity? The idea that they’re all going to die anyway… is really… helpful to us as well.”

"ah……."

They say that ominous feelings never go wrong.

This time it was the same.

Who would have thought that even human experiments were my fault?

'Are they crazy?'

Haven't they done unspeakable things to ordinary people in the name of treatment?

To break it… … .

Yeah, that was the only way I could come up with to persuade him, and now I'm getting this?

My whole body was trembling with a sense of betrayal, but unfortunately, there was no one on my side.

Even my disciple Joseph, who had his first surgery thanks to me, was the same.

“Haha, thanks to you. I heard that the crime rate in London is decreasing too.”

“Well… what can I do about those guys? I don’t think they want to die such a horrible death!”

“That’s right. I used to be a vigilante, and I’ve heard that there are definitely fewer criminals now than back then.”

“As expected…… a poet of the Piyeong era…….”

Even the Liston I made from scratch was saying things like that.

I decided to just keep quiet because I thought it would only make me look funny if I tried to refute him.

As the saying goes, it's been a long time since we gave up on the evaluation of later generations.

‘A diary… … The only thing I can trust is a diary. No, no. I have to write something else. If I keep doing this, I feel like I’ll end up being recorded as one of the greatest villains of all time… … .’

Well, I had thought that it would be forgotten, as the 19th century was a time of many incidents and accidents, and as we entered the 20th century, there were World Wars I and II.

but…….

Not anymore.

No matter how much I think about it, I don't think that will happen.

You've already done too much.

Even I am now on top of a running tiger, so it is difficult for me to stop.

'Let's write an autobiography.'

Now that it's come to this, I think we need to do something about it.

Luckily, I know a few people who are very good at writing.

Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas and Brontë.

Among them, the Brontë sisters are receiving my sponsorship, so I don't think they would refuse my request.

Oh my goodness, the guy who wrote Wuthering Heights is writing my autobiography?

This is… … a great reversal.

I listened to the story that followed, making up my mind to visit my sister for the first time in a long while the next morning as soon as the sun rose.

“Anyway, thanks to the poet Pi Young-shi, the path to human experimentation was opened… Also, following his example, many young doctors jumped into the field… Above all, thanks to anesthesia, we can now cut open human flesh without fear.”

"ah."

I always thought that anesthesia just ended the patient's suffering, but I never thought of it that way.

This is not an attempt to make something up, it is true.

As I began to think that perhaps it wasn't a coincidence that the Germans became Nazis, Theodore continued.

“Thanks to you, I can now see straight through my eyes… and thanks to the ophthalmoscope we made, I can now diagnose retinal detachment. Of course, I had to do surgery… but actually, since this is my first time, there was a lot of trial and error.”

My heart started pounding at the word trial and error.

It may seem like it's a given since it's your first time, but…

I said that the reason these kids keep talking about trial and error is because something really big has happened.

Aren't they the kind of people who just let things go?

Those guys said that it was a necessary sacrifice even if a person died, so they said it all.

“First of all… some of the more timid friends just let the patient rest. Is that okay? Of course, they would all go blind.”

“I guess so.”

I'm also against resting.

Well… … It’s true that these are times when doing nothing is the best, but I thought I’d do something anyway.

How could a 21st century doctor with pride just tell someone to rest?

This is the path to becoming a quack who tells someone to rest in the afternoon when they said their back hurt in the afternoon.

“So, first of all, I tried making holes in the eyes.”

"huh?"

Today, I learned for the first time that the words priority and hole in the eye can go together.

I would have probably been quite shocked if I had first heard this back in the 19th century, but now that I am such a strong person, I could just nod and let it go.

Not only me, but Liston, Joseph and Blundell also had faces that seemed to suggest that it could be done.

“Oh, it wasn’t just something that happened. I thought it might be caused by some kind of pressure. But then, the vitreous humor started flowing out of the eye and the eyeball got smaller. The patient lost his sight.”

“He was going to go blind anyway… but he didn’t die?”

“I had a bit of a fever, but it went away. I survived.”

“Then what…….”

Liston nodded and looked at me.

It was a face asking for agreement, but I had decided not to show any favor to this person as much as possible, so I nodded along.

I also had thoughts like, what should I do?

The patient in front of me is not… … .

'I learned something too.'

In fact, I did it because I thought that if you just gouge out your eyes and leave them alone, that's what happens.

It certainly seems like the ones who advance the times are the crazy ones.

If you haven't tried it, you wouldn't know, right?

If I could move forward without doing it, that would be best, but… … .

Well, I honestly feel now that that is too complacent.

Because humans are animals that are satisfied only after dipping their bodies in poop or soybean paste.

“Fortunately, retinal detachment is not such a rare disease. After looking into it, I found out that another opportunity came soon.”

“Opportunity… That’s what you call an opportunity.”

“But why.”

“No, I thought it was a truly precious attitude.”

Joseph, who had now decided to pursue a career in ophthalmology, began to look at Theodore with the same admiration he had used to give to Liston, who was cutting off limbs in the square.

I wanted to say that it shouldn't be done, but in a way, it wasn't wrong, so I did it anyway.

surely…….

Shouldn't a surgeon know how to value a case?

“Yes, good, young man. Anyway, I looked more carefully in the next case. So I looked inside the eyeball… It looks like the part that fell off is tattered.”

“Of course. The retina is very thin.”

This time, I answered back.

It wasn't something you could find out by dissecting it.

This is because everything in our body that has the name membrane is thin.

Even the retina is famous for being a tissue thinner than paper.

What… … So, even if I don’t do anything, it’ll just tear and rip and have holes all by itself.

“So I thought, why don’t we just fill the eyeball with something like water and press it?”

"oh."

This seemed like a revolution.

I thought it was definitely a great idea.

Honestly, the easiest and most effective way to stop bleeding is to press hard on the bleeding area.

As a skilled surgeon and professor of surgery at Taehwa Medical Center, one of the best hospitals in South Korea, I thought this might be effective.

“But when I did that, the patient started to feel terrible pain.”

“It must hurt. But if you want to be able to see… I think that’s something you have to endure.”

“I thought the same thing and looked into my eyes while adding more. Then, there came a point where it just stuck.”

“Oh! Then, isn’t that the way to treat it?”

“Ah…… that’s it.”

If you reattach the retina that has fallen off, isn't that a cure?

So I looked at him with sparkling eyes, and surprisingly, he was scratching his head.

He didn't seem like the kind of person who would make great strides for humanity, that's what he was saying.

“I don’t know why, but… my eyes turned green.”

“Does this mean I have glaucoma?”

“Yes. So the patient went blind.”

“Ah…… So it looks like that won’t work?”

“Yes. It hurts so much. It’s the first time I’ve seen a patient scream like that.”

“More than when you cut off a limb?”

“Oh, yes. I also had it cut without anesthesia when I was little, but this hurt more than that time.”

It was indeed worth it.

glaucoma…….

Just as a cataract is a condition in which the pupil turns white, glaucoma is a condition in which the pupil turns green, and it occurs when intraocular pressure rises.

'Well, if you put something in your eyeball, the intraocular pressure will go up.'

I've heard that the eye pain and headache that occur when intraocular pressure rises can be quite severe.

The ophthalmologist said that it was glaucoma and that they were using narcotic painkillers without even having surgery…

'I'm glad I didn't try it.'

I hadn't thought about this treatment, but I sighed in relief because I thought I would have tried this treatment if I had seen a patient with retinal detachment without being told about it.

Then Theodore stopped scratching his head and looked vaguely pleased.

“I see that the poet Pi Young-si also thought about that treatment. I am honored. I am glad that I could be of help…….”

“You got caught.”

“Haha. It’s a really nice day. Anyway…… This also ended in failure, but I didn’t give up.”

19th century doctors often wish they had been a little more tolerant.

Why do crazy people not give in to the fact that people keep dying?

Oh, I'm not talking to Theodore.

But this person keeps changing the treatment here and there, right?

-Hmm. The patient was too weak.

Instead, ordinary doctors just change the patient and kill him.

It's not that the treatment is wrong, that is, it's not that my thinking is wrong, but rather that the patient thinks he or she is wrong.

“So… this time, I tried to sew the torn retina myself. No, I should say I tried to sew it.”

“Ah… If you pierce it with a needle, it’ll tear even more.”

“Yes! How did you know? Have you tried it?”

“No…… It’s originally too thin to be like that…….”

“Haha, as expected, he is a poet. Yes, that’s right. The patient is dead.”

This guy too… … .

It's a little better, but in the end, he's still a 19th century person, and he smiles brightly while talking about someone dying.

Anyway, we tried several other treatments, but they all ended in failure.

Theodore, who had returned to the starting point, spoke to me with a serious face.

“So… I wonder if the poet Pyeong-si can come up with a plan. I came here to ask for help. The patient is already prepared, so if you think of something, just do it.”

"hmm……."

I felt like this was something that would take some time for me too.

The good news is that the failure stories I've heard from this guy so far might be of some help.