Doctor Goes Back to Joseon

Chapter 28: Fever [2]

‘His body is trembling.’

Clinically speaking, it could be said as having chills, which was a sign as well as result of a high fever.

In either case, it was not good at all.

“Trembling?”

“Yes, he is.”

“Ok. Let’s see.”

“Yes, sir.”

Just a few minutes ago, he had finished a whole chicken. Did he suddenly shake his body?

It was way too sudden.

Ganghyuk did not forget to bring the home visitation bag while Dolseok followed his master with a stern face as well.

“He is in his room.” Okseok stopped in front of Seungmun’s room.

‘Chattering!’ There was a teeth-chattering sound coming from inside.

‘What is this?’ Ganghyuk listened to the sound, trying to find what had happened.

“His teeth were chattering. Is it serious?”

Ganghyuk’s face became dark. Although Seungmun wasn’t his real father, his look and characteristics exactly resembled his father, and so did the love for him.

‘No.’

Ganghyuk took off his shoes and stepped in, seeing which, Sunshin asked anxiously, “He must be very much sick, right?”

“I have to examine him first.”

“Yes! If you see him, he will get better for sure.” Sunshin said as he looked down at his leg, which was already good enough to walk with. After removing the stitches, he did not feel any inconvenience at all.

He felt that Ganghyuk’s medical skills were most likely the best, although he was not sure about the latter’s personality. He thought of someone who had had the same injury and ended up becoming lame.

If it were not for Ganghyuk, he would have been in the same shoe.

“Father, I am here.”

“Yes.” Seungmun’s voice sounded bad as Ganghyuk opened the door and went inside. The former could be seen trembling in his quilt; it was a hot summer night, yet he seemed to be very cold.

“I will do an examination.”

“Yes, yes.”

Ganghyuk opened his home visitation bag; it was the first time for Seungmun to see the bag, even though he had heard of it many times. It had a lot of strange tools, which looked very different from what he had learned up till then.

“They are as strange as I have heard.”

“Yes, but the effects are verified. Let’s check if you have a fever.”

Ganghyuk inserted the clinical thermometer in Seungmun’s ear. The latter frowned because of the strange feeling, but he did not avoid it. If Ganghyuk were not good, there was no reason why governor Kim Yungil and Changgweon would praise him so much.

‘Beep’

The battery was always fully charged because the bag replenished every day. Hence, Ganghyuk could observe the body temperature of Seungmun quickly.

‘39.8 degrees? It is too high.’ It was no wonder he was trembling like that. It was not the kind of fever an old man could endure.

“It is cold.”

“I can understand.”

Seungmun let Ganghyuk do what he had to do; the latter did not intend to give an injection or use some other intrusive treatment anyway.

‘Yes, the lungs are still fine.’

That was a major good news; pneumonia could be very dangerous for such an old man after all. But, there was nothing to make him sick like this.

‘Throat, ears, and even stomach… they do not have any problems.’ He just could not find the cause of this high grade fever.

“What do you see?” Seungmun trembled out of pain. Ganghyuk only groaned lightly in response; he could not see what was the underlying issue here.

‘Let me first give him medicine.’

If it were the hospital in that world, he might have observed him a bit more, or actually gotten him tested. But, there were no tests available here, neither blood tests nor x-ray. He could not take a risk and make an incorrect diagnosis.

“Take these medicines with water. It will help you.”

“All of these?”

“Yes, father.”

“Ok.”

Seungmun swallowed the four tablets that Ganghyuk gave him. Those were antibiotics and anti-inflammatory medications, which might together be too strong for him.

‘As I have given him antacid along with these, he should be fine.’

Anyway, Ganghyuk lived with him in the same house, so he could quickly discover any side-effects that might appear.

“I will see if the medicine works.”

“Yes… Ugh… Okseok!”

“Yes, sir?”

“Heat the room. I am too cold.”

It was a very absurd order because it was a summer night. Okseok and Dolseok couldn’t help but look at each other; but that was only for a moment.

“Yes, sir. I will.”

It was fortunate that they had plenty of wood for the fire at home, as they had cooked chickens that night. A few slaves came and heated Seungmun’s room following the order of Dolseok and Okseok.

The room got warm in no time. Ganghyuk did not have fever, and hence, did not feel cold; so, the heat was unbearable for him.

‘Ugh… It is too hot!’ But, he was not immature enough to complain about that to Seungmun.

“How do you feel now?”

“Much better. I don’t know if it is because of the medicine or because they heated the room.”

“Let’s wait and see what happens.”

“Okay.”

Fortunately, he did start feeling better after some time. No matter what the reason was, people in these times were very susceptible to medicinal effects.

“I feel much better. I think I can finally sleep now.”

“Yes, father. Good night!”

“En… You did a good job.”

With that, Ganghyuk came out of the room with his bag.

‘He will have the fever tomorrow again.’ Even though the medicine was very efficacious, it couldn’t cure the infection in one administration.

Sunshin, who had been waiting out there for some time, asked him with concern. “How is he?” It seemed that he had built a good relationship with Seungmun.

“The fever has subsided for now.”

“Wow! You are an excellent doctor.”

“I don’t know yet.”

“Then, I will go to bed as well. If there is anything required to be done, please let me know.”

“Yes, I will.”

After those few words, Sunshin returned to the guest room; seeing that, Dolseok and Okseok, who were waiting for him, ran forward. They were covered in soot because they had participated in heating up the room as well.

“How is the great master, sir?”

“Okseok, you must take care of him tonight.”

“Of course!”

“If he gets fever again, come to me right away, regardless of the hour.”

“Yes, sir.”

…

Ganghyuk entered his room with a painful face. The home visitation bag looked quite shabby as well.

‘I thought I would be good with just the bag.’

But, there were too many restrictions with having just a bag. He could not invent CT scanning technology right there after all.

‘I am nothing without tools.’

On a second thought, even the medicines were limited here: Antibiotics, anti-inflammatory, painkillers, and antacids… Excluding Viagra, there were only basic medicines that he had with him. He did not know when he would encounter a disease that he could not cure with these.

It was the era when people did not understand the concept of hygiene after all.

‘It is useless to worry I guess.’ It was a problem that could not be solved. Ganghyuk could only try to sleep with an uncomfortable mind.

…

“Ganghyuk, your medicine was really good!”

When Ganghyuk woke up and saw Seungmun in the morning, the latter seemed quite healthy. It was unbelievable considering the fact that he had such a high grade fever last night. He even went for a walk in the yard before having breakfast.

“Are you really good?”

“Yes, it is all thanks to your treatment. I really met one excellent doctor here.”

It was somewhat strange. How could a medicine work like this? His body temperature was nearly 40 degrees, and it was all fine now?

“Okay… Can I examine you once more just like last night?”

“Yeah, sure!” Seungmun had no problem with Ganghyuk’s examination.

Ganghyuk did the full examination, but found nothing abnormal, just like when the latter was suffering from the fever.

‘It is good.’

But, something was not clear. ‘Anyway, I will give him some more medicine.’

He asked Okseok and found that Seungmun had had a good sleep last night. Furthermore, there was nothing wrong with his urine color.

“You have recovered indeed. But, I think it is good to have some more medicine.”

“Okay.”

“Did you have any bad symptoms when you had the medicine?”

“No, nothing.”

“I see.”

Although the fever was gone, nobody knew what had happened. If Seungmun had a fever and he was not there, what would happen?

He had lost his real father like that, and he did not want to have the same incident again.

“Dolseok, we will have the clinic closed today. We will not work tomorrow, either.”

“Yes, yes. The great master is sick, so we must obviously stay here.”

“Just make sure you get the medicine delivered to the Governor.” He could not leave the governor unsatisfied after all.

It was said that he will be promoted soon. According to the rumors doing rounds in the marketplace, he would soon enter the central politics.

‘There would be no harm in having a connection in the central government.’ It was especially true in Joseon, which was a centralized state.

The reason why Seungmun could receive gifts from local government officials was that he had a lot of students who were working for the central government.

He felt that it was a kind of cheating to take advantage of his problem. But, what else he could do other than that? That was the only weapon that Ganghyuk had.

‘Is he really fine though? I wonder.’

Seungmun looked good; he ate and read as usual; he had conversations with Sushin. The only difference was that he did not drink anymore.

The next day was same. As he looked good for two days, everybody became relaxed: Dolseok, Okseok and Sunshin…even the patient himself. But, Ganghyuk was still suspicious about his health.

‘I cannot be relaxed.’

He was uneasy, but he did not have any method to identify the illness. All he could do was wait.

But, nothing abnormal happened even on the next day; so, Ganghyuk felt a bit relaxed as well.

‘Is he really OK though?’

Everyone around had already stopped worrying, which made even Ganghyuk feel the same.

…

Dolseok was very happy at that time. He did not have anything to do in the house anymore, as there were many new servants.

And when the clinic was closed, he was almost like a nobleman himself.

“Sir, would you like to go to the marketplace?” He was actually thinking of having a drink. It was natural as he now had money, all thanks to Ganghyuk.

“En?”

“Great master will be fine, sir.”

“No. I will stay for today. If he is fine tomorrow, I will buy you drinks.”

“Really? I have money, sir.”

“But I have more.”

“Yes, that’s indeed true.” Dolseok nodded his head while remembering what Ganghyuk had accumulated till now. Perhaps, he was the only person who could make such kind of money in such a short time…at least in Suwon.

“Sir, sir!” But at this moment, Okseok was seen running towards the two. He had the same expression that he had shown three days ago.

“What is it?”

“He is trembling again.”

“What? I see… I will take a look immediately.” Ganghyuk immediately ran to Seungmun while carrying the bag. Nobody criticized him for running while mentioning the ‘importance of face of a nobleman’.

It was not the time for that kind of stuff.

…

“Ouch…!” Seungmun was trembling while covering his body with a quilt as Ganghyuk entered the room to examine him.

‘Fever… 40 degrees.”

But, his lungs and throat were Ok. Suddenly, he saw the mosquito bites on Seungmun’s body again.

‘Mosquitoes… High fever in three days… It must be malaria.”

His liver seemed to be a little swollen. It was only a little swollen, so he could notice it only when he checked it while expecting it.

‘Okay, I know the cause at least.’ But, the problem was the treatment, as there was no antimalarial drug in the bag.