Chapter 82
“…Huh?
I couldn't believe my own ears.
What did he just say? The Giants?
“Let's move him to that treatment room first. We'll run an EKG and basic labs right away.”
In the ER, people get brought in for every imaginable reason.
Suppressing a bitter laugh, I followed the old man’s stretcher toward the treatment room.
I carefully moved the old man onto the treatment bed.
While I attached the EKG electrodes and wrapped the blood pressure cuff, the old man was still
“Ugh…”
letting out only a faint groan with his eyes closed.
His vitals were still stable.
Why had he collapsed, anyway?
“Sir, are you awake now? Do you know where you are?”
I started with the basic questions to check his level of consciousness.
The old man slowly opened his eyes.
His pupils were a little unfocused, but he seemed to recognize me.
“Th… this is… a hospital…?”
“Yes, that’s right. This is the hospital ER. Do you happen to remember today’s date, or roughly what time it is right now?”
“I don’t know the date, but it should be about time for the baseball game to end….”
“What’s your name and age?”
His basic orientation was intact.
“I heard you suddenly collapsed at home earlier. Before that, did you have any chest pain, shortness of breath, or sudden dizziness?”
“Nothing like that… I just… I just….”
The old man’s face twisted in pain again.
He couldn’t continue, as if remembering something horrible.
I had a feeling that reaction might have something to do with those Giants bastards.
“Sir, about baseball…”
When I carefully broached the subject, the old man’s eyes wavered.
“What happened to the Giants today?”
At my blunt question, the old man went pale.
“I… I… ugh… doctor… I can’t… I can’t bring myself to say it….”
I looked at the nurse who was holding the IV line beside him.
“Nurse Jung.”
“Yes, doctor.”
“Do you happen to know how today’s baseball game ended?”
“Ah, doctor, today…”
She let out a deep sigh.
“It was an away game at Jamsil. We were winning 4–1 up through the top of the ninth.”
So far, this was promising.
“In the bottom of the ninth, with two outs and the bases loaded, we gave up a walk-off grand slam and lost 5–4….”
…Kraaagh!
I screamed internally.
Good Lord. Now I completely understood why the old man had collapsed.
I looked at the old man lying in the bed with a mix of awe and pity.
“My brain… ah… oh my… my head….”
The old man clutched his forehead, truly in agony.
With a bitter smile, I patted the old man’s shoulder.
What this patient needed right now wasn’t an EKG or bloodwork, but some warm comfort—and maybe the empty hope that the Giants would win the championship next year.
“Oh, my poor heart…”
“It’s just an exhibition game. The regular season hasn’t even started yet. It was just a practice game. Today’s loss means nothing. The real thing hasn’t even begun yet, okay?”
Right.
It had only just passed March, so baseball exhibition games were just getting underway.
At my words, the old man’s groaning stopped for a moment.
“Oh dear… but the opening day’s at the end of this month….”
“Don’t get too worked up. You’ll really be in trouble once the regular season starts if you keep this up.”
The old man still held his head, but his groans had grown much quieter.
Good, the immediate fire was out for now.
Now it was time to do my real job as a doctor.
“Sir, have you ever suddenly lost consciousness or collapsed like this before?”
I began the full interview in earnest.
The causes of syncope are incredibly varied.
It could be a heart problem, a brain problem, or it could really just be temporary low blood pressure or increased vagal tone.
There was clear circumstantial evidence that he’d collapsed because of baseball, but if I took that at face value, I might miss a truly deadly condition.
“No… this is the first time in my life….”
“Have you ever been told you have high blood pressure, diabetes, or heart trouble?”
“I’ve been on blood pressure meds for about ten years. No diabetes. As for my heart, it sometimes feels a bit tight, but I’ve never been told there’s a problem.”
History of hypertension.
One risk factor checked off, at least.
Marking it in my mental checklist, I asked the next question.
“Right before you collapsed, did you suddenly have chest pain, chest tightness, or palpitations? Or did you feel dizzy, like the room was spinning or your vision was going black?”
I asked carefully to check for warning signs of a heart or brain problem.
“I just… I was watching the game, and then I saw th-that scene, and everything went white in front of me… and I just… blacked out….”
The old man made a pained expression, as though reliving that horrible memory once more.
Those were classic triggers and symptoms of vasovagal syncope.
But it was still too early to relax.
“After you collapsed, did you come to right away? Or how long were you unconscious?”
“When I opened my eyes, my son and daughter-in-law were slapping my cheeks… maybe a minute had passed….”
“Did you hit anything or get hurt when you fell? Your head or anywhere else…?”
I asked, scanning his body again.
Fortunately, there didn’t seem to be any signs of trauma.
“I fell toward the sofa when I went down…”
While taking the history, I double-checked his heart sounds with a stethoscope and examined his pupillary response with a penlight.
Everything was within normal limits.
The EKG was clean too.
Sinus rhythm, normal heart rate, no evidence of any arrhythmia.
All that was left was the blood test results.
But all the evidence so far strongly pointed to one diagnosis.
[Vasovagal syncope triggered by the Giants’ performance]
That diagnosis is ridiculously fucking long.
Still, just in case, I had to check the bloodwork all the way through before sending him off.
Tonight was certainly spectacular.
“Sir, about you collapsing just now.”
I began explaining in the gentlest, easiest-to-understand way possible.
“Medically speaking, the most likely diagnosis is vasovagal syncope.”
“Vago… what now?”
“Simply put, when a person gets too shocked, under extreme stress, or sees blood or something like that, the autonomic nervous system—basically the system that automatically regulates our body without us thinking about it—briefly malfunctions.”
I continued explaining with gestures.
“The heart suddenly slows down and the blood vessels widen, so blood pressure drops sharply. Then the brain gets a brief shortage of blood, right? That’s why you lose consciousness and collapse. Fortunately, it usually recovers on its own within a few minutes and isn’t especially dangerous. Young people sometimes faint when donating blood, or even just from seeing an injection.”
The old man nodded along to my explanation, but he still looked unconvinced.
“But I’ve never had anything like this in my whole life….”
“Yes, that’s right. It usually happens when you’re young, or only when there’s a specific trigger. Looks like your trigger today was a bit too strong.”
Ahem.
“Sir, once we get all the test results back and everything looks fine, you won’t need to be admitted—you can go straight home. As for baseball from now on… uh… even if you do watch it, I think you should be a little careful. Especially in situations like today, when the lead gets blown and all that.”
The moment I finished speaking, the old man’s eyes changed.
“What? What did you say?! Are you telling me not to watch baseball?”
“No, sir, please calm down. That’s not what I meant….”
“That’s my only joy! An old man having a drink and watching baseball is my one and only pleasure, and you’re telling me not to do it? Doctor, that’s a bit too much!”
“No, I like the Giants too! I’m a die-hard fan, a die-hard fan!”
Desperately dragging out my inner Busan citizen DNA, I added another lie.
To be precise, I’m not actually a die-hard fan.
More like a fifth-year fan.
“What I mean is not that you should never watch it at all. In specific situations like this, for your health, it’d be better to turn off the TV for a bit or maybe take some deep breaths.”
I picked up the memo pad and pen beside me.
Then, with a very serious expression, I started writing up [Baseball Viewing Guidelines].
“I’ll write you a prescription.”
I carefully wrote each character, one by one.
[※ High-Risk Baseball Viewing Avoidance Therapy ※]
- When our team’s closer comes in during the bottom of the ninth with a one-run lead (especially dangerous if he has long hair)
- Two outs, bases loaded, full count (dangerous whether our team is batting or fielding)
- When they attempt a sloppy squeeze bunt with runners on first and third
- When the opposing team’s cleanup hitter steps into the batter’s box smiling
“Alright, sir. From now on, whenever you’re watching baseball and you feel one of these situations coming, just turn off the TV and go to sleep, or switch channels and watch some trashy melodrama instead. Okay?”
I handed the patient the memo I’d written.
The old man took it and read through it for a long while.
Then he let out a snort of laughter.
“Hoho, Doctor, you’re quite the expert. How do you know my heart so well?”
Thus, under the common denominator of baseball, we formed a strange bond.
Just then, the blood test results came back.
As expected, all values were within normal range.
Cardiac enzyme levels were clean, and there was no sign of electrolyte imbalance or anemia.
He was a perfectly healthy (?) old man.
I called the family member in and explained in detail once more about the patient’s condition, the test results, and vasovagal syncope.
I told them that similar episodes could happen again, so they shouldn’t panic, and that if they laid the patient down comfortably and elevated his legs, he would recover quickly.
And most importantly,
“Your father has a tendency to watch baseball a little too passionately, so the family should… keep a close eye on him.”
I didn’t forget to give that roundabout warning either.
After the education was done, the old man left the ER with his son’s support, looking much more at ease than before.
‘May you be peaceful this season.’
I tidied up the treatment room and returned to the station.
After sitting down and leaving my final notes in the EMR, I suddenly got curious.
“By the way, did everyone watch today’s game?”
At my question, the nurses and a few doctors at the station all looked at me in unison, as if by agreement.
Then they smiled at me without saying a word.
Right.
This was Busan, after all. We were comrades who shared the same suffering.
Just then, a new recruit who had been quietly organizing medication in the corner suddenly jumped in with a bright smile.
“Oh, I watched it! I’m from Seoul, so I’m a Bears fan…”
Before she could even finish.
Senior Nurse Jung’s hand shot out at lightning speed and covered her mouth.
Mmph.