Paging, Mr. Doctor!

17
"Paging, Mr. Medic," 1965


The days needed for the full service as an enlisted army soldier were more than a year away, which had been termed as the 'waning days' up to the discharge. "Why don't you go down to the Anyang Armory Company," said Major Sergeant Bong of the personnel section, handing Dano the notification of deployment for an independent army unit stationed on the outskirts of Seoul as an on-the-spot medical assistant. "It will be easy and enjoyable," the sergeant said, "to kill the boredom of your last days in the army, getting some pastimes." Dano was of half a mind to begin a new shift, in fact, but he had to accept the offer because it was considered a kind of goodwill from a senior cadre. "I will go, sir!"

A train travel up from Kapyong down to Seoul, not as a green private of a certain army unit, who had been controlled by the chain of command, but as a senior corporal at the final stage of a compulsory service, who became his own man to a great degree, rendered him emotional, giving him a choking sensation in his throat. He was able to sit on where he liked, and also able to search back alleys in the perimeter of Cheongnyangni Railroad Station and run into "a woman in red."

In the wide expanse of fields on both sides of a farmland road leading to the company, rice paddies were busy ripening. Farmers were randomly seen idly picking weeds among them. It was getting dark when he negotiated through the farm roads to the ammo company and reported to the company chief.

Dano was taken aback by the ice-cold stares of the company troops when Company Commander Captain Han Shim introduced Corporal Dano to his soldiers. They looked so evidently hostile. Some riflemen at the rear end of the crowd on the camp ground were heard muttering to each other to the effect that there was no reasonable ground for any medic to stay. With the crowd having been dispersed, Dano approached a first sergeant who was lingering, looking like talking to him. "Excuse me," Dano spoke first, "What is it that you guys don't like me so much?"

"We don't dislike you, but we detested your predecessor sergeant," he said.
"Why is that?" Dano demanded to know.
"He did nothing, nothing at all." he blurted his complaint.
"What do you mean by that, doing nothing at all?" Dano asked.
"It means just that. It means nothing else. He did virtually nothing at all during his term of service here, idling away all his hours of duty at the civilian places," the sergeant said.

At the transition meeting of the shift of duty outside the company compound, over a pint of beer, his ex-medic First Sergeant Kang from Chungchong Province expressed to Dano, with sonorous and slow accent, full of regrets and embarrassments. He ascribed, however, his negligence of duty to the shortage of medical support from the original company. He then was curious to know about Dano's package contents. "The first-aid kit is all there is to it, and some essential items what have to be in there,"Dano replied.

"That said it all," he elatedly said, shifting in his seat, as if trying to say that there had been no resources left to improve the condition.

"Don't you think that the deep hostility toward us medics is the problem, Sergeant Kang?" Dano said, "They say you did nothing, which is what you are not supposed to make excuses for your negligence of duty. You had to do something, sir!" Dano said.

"I know, I know," he fumbled something to say further, but he stopped short. "I am very sorry, Corporal Dano. I sincerely hope you will make up for my past infractions," he got up and held out his hand for a formal farewell..

Dano, who made an initial survey of the armory men in physical distress on the next day of his deployment, discovered that patients suffering from various categories of diseases had been abandoned for a long time. Of all the damned diseases, hoobalzzi whanzza, or the fusariosis patients topped the list.

Back neck Fusariosis patients, to be exact. Dano had discovered a lot of hoobalzzi patients among his boot camp troops at Nonsan a few years ago. He had surmised then that the fungi on the beddings, particularly in the dirty blankets and pillows were to blame, attacking the skins, particularly the necks of the soldiers. Having watched the sick soldiers then, now he had to take care of them.

Dano had to make a list of sick ammo men based on the triage and selection method. Of all the listed men in trouble, he had to select seven and make a convoy of them. When he reported the immediate personal convoy to the old man he balked at the idea. "You have to go through the channel of the decision-making process from the company to the regiment command," he declared.

“The condition of the patients is severe, sir" Corp. Dano said, "They need immediate care, sir! I'll convoy the men to Soodo Army Hospital myself, sir!"

"It's impossible. I understand that the army patients must be transported by ambulance," Captain Han gave Dano an annoying look.

"A city bus will do at times, sir!" Dano did not budge. The captain was finally convinced, saying "O.K. You may go ahead."

Dano and his company hit the road for Anyang early in the next morning at daybreak. The pedestrian travel to Anyang from the company compound and from there the bus trip on board Inter-city Bus No. 104 to Samchong-dong, Seoul City, took about one and a half hours.

There was a row at the entrance of the army hospital, though, over the army regulations or something whether to accept the convoy of the army patients by an enlisted medic. Dano excused the remoteness and isolation of an independent unit, and first of all things, the need for the immediate treatment of the diseases, for the omission of the inevitable procedures.

A receptionist disappeared into the hospital building and the next thing he knew, an officer and some soldiers materialized from the building to see what was going on. "You are Dano, aren't you?" a soldier shouted from the crowd, dashing toward him. "You are Changsoo!" Dano exclaimed with surprise, moving in the direction of a classmate of Andong Normal,"

Changsoo introduced Dano to a medical officer, saying "Meet Surgeon Lieutenant Kim who I work for. This is my classmate Dano, sir! A maverick, sir!" Dano saluted the army surgeon. "Very nice to meet you, sir!"

"What's so nice for you, medic?" Lt. Kim said, beaming.
"Because I know things will be going very smoothly here, sir!" Dano answered. Lt. Kim nodded approvingly. In the meantime, Changsoo did all the reception paper work for his school friend from afar, and showed Dano and his ailing foot soldiers inside the army hospital building. Surprisingly, Changsoo was not the only schoolmate. Five more medics, tipped by Changsoo, in freshly starched and ironed khaki military uniform and shiny shoes, mobbed around Dano in no time, greeting simply and touting their army hospital insignias.

A little while later at the waiting room, one patient after another was called into the treating room, with Dano watching the whole process for his later practice. The doctor made it sure that the patients could be treated from the hubalzzi disease with ease. The surgeon demonstrated a sophisticated dressing for the treatment of the infective part, or, the mass of pus in the neck.

Dano was astonished at the width and depth with which the skin lesion was developing. A whole length of the lieutenant's index finger was penetrating into the bottom of the lesion and a surprising part was that the young patients did not freak out or scream when the surgeon was draining out the pus golem.

They were so determined. After the pus draining was done, the disinfection powder was sprayed and the dressing part got sealed with antiseptic bandages. Finally, a penicillin type shot was performed on the poor buttocks, during which time the military surgeon casually recommended hostacillins which could be had at a civilian pharmacy to Dano if and when he would "handle" the hubalzzi patients at his Anyang Ammunition Camp.

After the whole process of treatment was done, and when they were parting, in memory of the unexpected encounter, the Samaritan medics collected a bagful of medicines, aids for dressing and small-sized medical appliances for Dano, a small bit each in amount, though. The kind-hearted surgeon went to great lengths to promise future welcomes for later visits for Dano and to reveal some procedural instructions for the treatment of the cervical plague. Medic Dano's escortees were buoyed both at what they were treated at a nice military medical facility on the highest level with good words of perfect healing from the doctors and in the manner with which their company medic was warmly received with an armful of presents from his friendly medics and medical doctors.

It was a triumphant return. The ammo camp troops sensed the feat of the medic and his party, looking at the expressions of glee on the faces of the returnees from the Soodo Army Hospital. Corporal Dano went to the company commander's office but the captain was not there. The ailing KGIs, who had been treated in no other place than the highest-ranking army hospital located in the capital of the country, on a rare occasion and with sincere care, were busy bragging about "our doc." He was so well connected to each and every department of the high army hospital that he was provided with various medical supplies, that they were and would be treated to their disease without much noise of red tapes. He was really different and would make difference in the future. In an instant, the atmosphere of die-hard hostility in the company barracks rooms shifted to that of warm amicability.

The following morning was the day of sea change. Inflated rumors indicating Dano's feats might have made rounds through the camp the previous night. which Dano thought was O.K. An unexpected episode after episode occurred. When he was standing in line for his morning chow, holding his tray in his hand, an ammo private approached him and took it for him. An HQ man took the trouble of arranging a cozy spot near the barracks room fireplace, which had not been in operation, for Dano to hit the sack.

But you had to get things done, which was what counted. The sick privates were transported to the army hospital and effectively treated. The medics and medical doctors of the army hospital in the capital city were as kind as ever. All the KGIs treated for the hubalzzi were amazed at the speed and completeness with which the ailment was cured. The atmosphere of the whole camp town turned bright.

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Routine messages containing parental cares and brotherly concerns were relayed late to Dano owing mostly to technicalities of the army postal service, touring places and shifting hands. His brother and sister said in their late letters that grandma Mrs. Euiseong Kim had made a grudging move to her oldest son's, which might have rendered her poor mother free of her nagging torments.

Dano was missing Spear Handle. After chores were done of dressing for treating scars and changing bandages, when Dano was left alone, with fresh air coming through the open window of the barracks, he was missing Spear Handle. The image of her always smiling and comforting her weeping sixth graders popped without warning.

Now and then some incidents on barracks humor proportions occurred to the enlisted men of low ranks. The predator in an army cop might have sensed the perfect target prey in sight, who appeared beleaguered. The poor private was given leave of absence, after having been treated for some disease with uncanny attributes, for the purchase of a unit of hostacillin for the last phase injection at a local drug store. (*It could be had at a pharmacy without prescription then.)

An MP vehicle on the routine patrol spotted a vulnerable prey on a leisurely stroll and approached him for a spot check. The ammo man fumbled for excuses, and failed to produce an apt document for his leave. Then the army cop put him on board the baikcha, or the "white car", and gave him a "free tour" of the local county capital for an indefinite span of time.

Private Ultari, abandoned at dusk on a deserted roadside after an unexplained ride, was pissed off enormously, tossing his medicine box into the air. Taken to task by the squadron chief for his failing to keep punctuality for the evening roll call, and getting nagged for the throwaway by Company Medic Dano, the poor soldier burst out crying. It was an unlucky day for him, after all.

It was a windy summer's day. More than one, all at once, it evoked a sentimental journey to the past, to the people, and to everything. At an instant the chilly noisy air whistled by rattling the barracks window, the company speaker system boomed out a message "paging Mr. Medical Soldier!", which sounded urgent. Dano, who had his dressing job done on several ammo men in the healing stage, got up from his seat on the floor, came out racing to the HQ office. A young man stranger in civilian clothes was waiting for him. "Come with me, Mr. Doctor!" he said with a quivering voice.

In hindsight, the bizarre encounter could not have taken place, and Dano should not have responded to the call. He should have stayed at the barracks room. He did not have to shift place. ((I am sorry, sir. I am not a doctor!) If and when a nearby civilian citizen had asked for a medical help, Dano should have refused to meet him in the first place.

Why? Because he was not a doctor who had been trained to do a serious medical job. In short, he should have realized the professional limits that he was a mere stretcher guy who had been trained to be a member of auxiliary personnel for the army doctors. But, alas, the ignorant and proud Dano did not say no to the caller, hitting the road for the house of a person alleged to be in trouble who was waiting for his medical aid, with the first-aid pack on his shoulder. Oh, boy!

He got to the place after 10 or so minutes' walk, a small tin-roofed house with the architectural mode of the hangul digut (ㄷ). Getting into the entrance, the escort informed to the room of Dano's arrival. The sarangbang (the room for the men) door opened. The apprehensive-looking folks got up to greet him. Entering, Dano found a frail-looking young man lying in the middle of the room surrounded by the man families and relatives, looking aimlessly at the ceiling.

"How and where" was what Dano wanted to know about. An old man sat down and pulled open the covering under which his groin was bared. But the surprising part was that his testicles were not those of an adult man but those of an ox. Dano's astonishing eyes were asking him about the cause of the weirdry by which the human testicles were swollen to the size as large as those of a bull.

The old man who looked to be the patriarch of the family introduced himself and "briefed" the situation for the visiting "doctor." The young patient was newly married so much so that the male members of the family, including his older brothers and uncles, reached a consensus that he needed a sort of stamina complementation with reptiley nutrition. In due process, he was made to drink duly cooked snake soup, which turned out what it looked like: a disaster.

You would have to take another path, turn around, or detour if the path had been an ill-chosen one. There might be just one way or the other for the human beings to correct their original mistakes or misjudgments. So Dano had to say to the head of the distressed family to the effect that he was not the one up to the task. Go see the doctor, please.

Even if he had turned and run, there shouldn't have been a person who would dare call him a coward. Dano nevertheless opted to keep going without hesitation. He opted to ignore any unexpected results or side effects of his action. Such uncertainties did not occur in his mind at all.

Ignorance was surely a bliss. His "medical" assessment was that the venom of the snake was clogging his penile gland or something, so anybody in the room would mind going to get an antidote injection?

While the errand man was pedaling his way to an Anyang pharmacy, Dano got his syringe sterilized in boiling water and prepared himself for the treatment. To look back, there was a last resort left for him to turn the situation around. It was a very dangerous attempt so he had to stop the treatment because he would be likely to kill a person. It was illegal, too.

He nevertheless went ahead with his own treatment process. In 30 minutes or so, the errand man arrived with the antidote bottle which Dano gave the patient lying on the room floor a shot in his buttocks. Reaction was slow to appear.

Suspenseful tension gripped the whole room. In one and a half hours, thick liquid of a small amount came out of the penis, and in two hours drop by drop of yellow liquid was oozing out of the poor organ. The patient, who had been suffering from shortness of breath, was beginning to breathe in normal cadence. In due passage of time, drops turned into the form of urinal shot, and the swollen testicles started restoring the original size. At an early night, Medic Corporal Dano returned to the ammo camp, with the remarks of reassurance shared. "Your son will have been all right until tomorrow morning."