Chapter 56: Academic Conference (1)

Lee Hyun-jong wanted to go straight to the presentation venue right away.

However, the autumn academic conference was always held on the weekend two weeks before Chuseok, as a rule.

This meant that even someone as exceptional as Lee Hyun-jong had to wait.

"Finally, finally!"

Thanks to this, Lee Hyun-jong's face was brimming with excitement as he boarded the bus in front of the hospital lobby at dawn.

He looked as excited as a third or fourth-grade elementary school student going on a field trip.

"Director, please maintain some dignity."

Unable to bear it, Shin Hyun-tae grabbed Lee Hyun-jong's arm and made him sit down.

"What? You don't understand. How much effort I put into this conference."

"I know, I know. Because of you, Su-hyuk really suffered a lot..."

Shin Hyun-tae said this while looking back at the bus.

In smaller departments, they might rent one bus to go to the conference.

But for the Internal Medicine department of Taehwa Medical Center, they needed as many as three large buses.

Even with some on duty during the conference and others going separately, it was still like this.

"Poor guy... to end up with someone like Lee Hyun-jong..."

Whenever he closed his eyes, Su-hyuk's face came to mind.

It was understandable, given that he was constantly called to the director's office to memorize his presentation.

One surprising point was that Su-hyuk could recite the script, which Lee Hyun-jong kept modifying on the spot, with ease.

'Genius is a genius.'

And that genius, at his own request, was not on the same bus as Lee Hyun-jong but on the last bus.

'Ah, damn...'

Su-hyuk thought there would be no more landmines here.

[You didn't think of Jo Tae-jin, did you?]

'He's going to talk the whole way... I didn't sleep last night because I was on duty.'

It just so happened that Jo Tae-jin, who arrived late, saw Su-hyuk getting on the third bus.

Now that Jo Tae-jin was openly calling Su-hyuk, he didn't hesitate to follow him up.

Despite the department head's announcement that all professors should take the first bus.

"Hey, Su-hyuk. Eat this. It's a half-boiled egg, it's delicious."

"Ah, yes, Professor."

Moreover, Su-hyuk had become a kind of pariah among the residents.

With the director, the department head, and now Jo Tae-jin all vying for his attention, it was only natural.

He wasn't being ostracized, but no one wanted to sit next to him.

So Su-hyuk's seat was empty.

And it naturally became Jo Tae-jin's.

"Wow, you can even peel an egg well. What can't you do?"

"Ah... No, this is..."

Jo Tae-jin, while praising Su-hyuk, started rummaging through his bag.

A call was coming in, and the ringtone was from the hospital.

"Damn, they know I'm going to the conference and still call."

Although he grumbled, he still hurried to answer the call.

As a professor in a university hospital, especially in the Hematology-Oncology department where there are many urgent patients, it was inevitable.

It was a kind of destiny, a calling.

"This is Jo Tae-jin from Hematology."

"Professor, this is Kim In-soo, a third-year resident."

"Ah, In-soo? What's up? It's our conference. Why are you at the hospital?"

Kim In-soo was currently a third-year chief resident.

He was more capable and diligent than other residents of the same year, and Jo Tae-jin quite liked him.

That's why his voice softened.

"I'm on duty until today and will come down tomorrow. I don't have a presentation this time."

"Ah... So you're taking a break in your third year."

"Yes, I'm sorry."

"No, it's fine. But why?"

"A patient who needs follow-up is coming to the emergency room. Kim Sung-won, a 42-year-old male with myelofibrosis, is here with abdominal pain. I thought you should know. He's an acquaintance of yours, right?"

"Ah..."

Kim Sung-won was a patient Jo Tae-jin couldn't forget.

He had come to the outpatient clinic just a few days ago.

Not just a patient, but a high school classmate.

They weren't very close in school, but after meeting as a patient and a doctor, they occasionally had lunch together.

It was quite a unique connection, as they hadn't been in touch for over 20 years until they met in this way.

Myelofibrosis was not an easy disease.

"An acquaintance, yes. But he came with abdominal pain?"

"Yes."

"Hmm..."

Myelofibrosis can refer to several diseases depending on the extent, but in Kim Sung-won's case, it was primary myelofibrosis.

The prognosis was very poor, and Kim Sung-won's expected remaining lifespan was only about 5 years.

'Has something else gone wrong?'

Jo Tae-jin, worried about his friend, asked Kim In-soo.

"Have you done any tests?"

"The blood test results are in, and we're planning to do an abdominal CT scan."

"Oh, good. Think of it. Get a radiology read as soon as the images are taken."

"But I found out that the radiology conference is going on for the next three days, so the professors aren't in the hospital."

"Radiology? The Abdominal Radiology Conference?"

"Yes."

"Oh."

Autumn was the problem.

With all the conferences that had been on summer break resuming, sometimes schedules overlapped like this.

'Should I go down and see?'

He had some regrets, but the bus had already left the hospital.

Moreover, Jo Tae-jin had a presentation near the end of the conference, so he couldn't leave.

"For now, just take the images. Send them to me. Got it?"

"Yes."

"If there's a clear diagnosis, proceed accordingly."

"Yes, Professor. I'll do that."

"Okay, thanks."

Jo Tae-jin nodded and hung up.

Meanwhile, Su-hyuk was having a conversation with Baruda based on the call between Jo Tae-jin and Kim In-soo.

'Primary myelofibrosis?'

[The official name is chronic primary myelofibrosis.]

'I know the patient, Kim Sung-won.'

[He was datafied.]

Su-hyuk had just returned to the Hematology-Oncology department after rotating through other departments.

He should have gone to another professor, but according to rumors, Jo Tae-jin had caused a scene at a faculty meeting, so he was following Jo Tae-jin again.

He had naturally entered Jo Tae-jin's outpatient clinic, and with his ability to datafy information rather than just memorize it, he had the data on Kim Sung-won.

'He's young, so I suspected there might be something else.'

[Yes. It's a rare disease that usually appears after age 50, but the patient is young.]

'But there wasn't anything else. What treatment was he getting?'

Primary myelofibrosis is a disease with no cure.

It's not that treatment isn't needed, but there is no treatment.

Treatment is symptom-based.

In other words, it's a disease where you manage the patient until the end.

"Su-hyuk, do you remember the patient Kim Sung-won?"

Just as Baruda was about to answer Su-hyuk's question, Jo Tae-jin spoke up.

Naturally, Baruda closed his mouth, and Su-hyuk focused on the conversation with Jo Tae-jin.

"Yes, he came to your outpatient clinic last week."

"Did he have abdominal pain then?"

"He said he occasionally had it, but it wasn't serious."

"But he's in the emergency room today. Hmm."

Jo Tae-jin wondered if he had missed something.

At the same time, Su-hyuk and Baruda began a deep discussion on a similar topic.

'Is abdominal pain possible in myelofibrosis?'

[It is possible. Enlarged spleen can cause pressure.]

'Ah, right, the spleen can enlarge.'

Myelofibrosis is a disease where the bone marrow becomes fibrotic and cannot produce proper blood.

As a result, extramedullary hematopoiesis increases, and one of the organs responsible for this is the spleen.

Of course, this doesn't cure the disease and often causes symptoms.

Abdominal distension and abdominal pain are common, and occasionally, it can lead to fatal complications like splenic infarction.

'But this person had his spleen removed, right?'

[According to the records, he had a splenectomy a year ago. So the abdominal pain is not due to the spleen.]

'What then?'

[The patient has a history of long-term steroid use for anemia.]

'Steroids...'

It's a drug that can be seen as a magic bullet.

It is used as a crucial drug in many diseases.

Even in myelofibrosis, where there is no cure, it is used to treat anemia.

However, side effects can be a problem.

Especially with long-term use.

"Is there an infection?"

It seemed Jo Tae-jin had a similar thought.

Mentioning infection, one of the complications of steroids.

Su-hyuk, whose thoughts were also heading in that direction, nodded vigorously.

"Yes, it could be suspected."

"When will the test results be ready? I'm curious. Oh."

Just as Jo Tae-jin started to grumble, his phone rang.

Muttering that Kim In-soo couldn't be a gentleman, he answered the call.

"Hey, how did it go?"

"I've sent a video and the blood test results."

"CT scan, right?"

"Yes."

"What do you think?"

"There's a narrowing lesion in the ileum, and masses are observed in the mesentery. Tuberculosis is suspected. The radiology on-call also said the same."

"I can't tell just by hearing it."

Su-hyuk and Baruda felt the same.

Of course, Kim In-soo didn't intend to keep talking about it.

There was no need to talk when the images were already taken.

"Please look at the images and get back to me. We'll prescribe something for the patient's symptoms in the meantime."

"Ah... Okay. Try to make sure the patient isn't in too much pain."

"Yes, Professor."

After hanging up, Jo Tae-jin immediately took out his laptop from his backpack.

It wasn't surprising.

These days, no one goes to a conference without a laptop.

"Let's see."

Jo Tae-jin downloaded and played the video Kim In-soo had sent.

As expected, he had taken a video of scrolling through the CT images.

Thanks to this, Jo Tae-jin, Su-hyuk, and Baruda could examine the images as if they were in the hospital.

"Ah... I see."

Jo Tae-jin nodded, pointing to the patient's ileum, where the small intestine connects to the large intestine.

The intestines in that area were all narrowed.

There were masses around them.

"It's tuberculosis."

It was a lesion that anyone could suspect tuberculosis from.

Su-hyuk also thought so.

Just as he was about to nod, Baruda interjected.

[It's not tuberculosis. Consider the patient's medical history more carefully.]