I Became a Plague Doctor in a Romance Fantasy Novel

Chapter 35. Heart Pounding (1)

Chapter 35. Heart Pounding (1)

Imperial Palace Infirmary.

Violet was idling alone. Asterix had left for the academy, and the other healers were either playing around today or arriving late.

In any case, they were not present.

When Asterix was in the infirmary, he handled even the few tasks that arose. He was the type who couldn’t stand boredom.

Now that Asterix was gone, at least one person had to arrive on time and keep their post. That person was Violet.

Knock, knock, knock.

After a strong knock, the first prince of the empire, Manfred, opened the door to the infirmary.

“Sorry to bother you in the midst of your busi-”

Manfred looked around the infirmary, seeing Violet sitting alone. The empty desks and seats. Violet scratched her head awkwardly.

“Not busy?”

“Pardon?”

“Where is everyone?”

“Um, it seems they all have busy matters to attend to. The academic world is quite active these days, isn’t it? There’s a frenzy over a new theory being announced.”

Although the prince doesn’t pay the royal healers’ salaries, there’s nothing good about getting on his bad side. Violet tried to gloss over it as much as possible.

“Hmm, I see. You’re working hard.”

Fortunately, Manfred wasn’t the type to dig into his subordinates’ faults. Violet let out a very quiet sigh of relief.

“The medical community is in an uproar these days. Violet, you recently went on a business trip to the academy, didn’t you?”

“Yes. I heard Mr. Asterix has completely turned the academic world upside down.”

The prince nodded.

“I was going to talk about that.”

“Oh, yes. Please go ahead.”

“Did you see the paper this time? The one Asterix wrote. It’s about epidemic dysentery. The high-ranking officials of the empire are paying attention to it.”

Violet had also seen the paper.

Well, honestly, she wondered if it was really that great. Solving the problem was certainly impressive, but what else was there besides Asterix’s personal ability?

“Like you, Your Highness?”

“I’m included too.”

“Oh, I recently met Professor Asterix as well. I read the paper too.”

“What did you think?”

“It’s still experimental. Even if it’s correct, it’s too early to draw conclusions.”

“Some say that this medical discovery will change the paradigm of the academic world and even the way the country operates.”

If Asterix’s paper is true. If epidemics and diseases can be solved differently than common beliefs, and if they are manageable problems. The government’s approach to them must also change.

“Well, I don’t know about that.”

“Why, is there something wrong?”

“No, I just don’t know.”

Violet didn’t know.

She thought it was too early to judge. Experimental verification was still lacking. In fact, Violet hadn’t even gotten a microscope yet.

That was the reaction of some officials after reading Asterix’s paper on this epidemic dysentery.

Really, if a disaster like epidemic dysentery could be solved just by mixing alcohol with water and distributing it. What have we been doing all this time?

“Please explain the contents of the paper. Violet, aren’t you an expert on this subject too?”

“Ah, yes.”

Violet rummaged through the desk drawer and pulled out the journal. Where was it mentioned?

“The core of this paper is this: The cause of the disease is particles, and epidemic dysentery is transmitted through water.”

I pressed my temples. Prince Manfred’s letter. Ah, the lecture doesn’t seem easy.

A troublesome task has arisen. Giving a lecture in front of the prince, it’s going to be tough. Even other government officials will be listening to the lecture…

Opportunities to influence policy don’t come every day, so it’s not meaningless. But I also have to do blood research and there are patients too.

Anyway.

Let’s finish what we’re doing now and think about it.

“Istina. Can you get a pressure gauge?”

“I don’t know. It might be in the lab.”

“Later, go to the lab storage and bring one if you can. I need to measure blood pressure.”

“Okay, I’ll look for it.”

The components of a blood pressure monitor are as follows: a stethoscope, a balloon cuff to wrap around the arm, and a pressure gauge.

Without equipment, you can measure blood pressure using just a pressure gauge and a stethoscope in the classical way. But this method requires some practice.

We already have a stethoscope, so we just need a pressure gauge this time. The balloon cuff to wrap around the arm can be roughly made.

Istina came back after searching the lab for a long time. About an hour or two later.

There was a pressure gauge. A very antique pressure gauge made of wood, ivory, and mercury.

Should I wear a mask? I thought that mercury might be leaking.

Somewhere, there was also a rubber tube, and I found something like an inflatable band. It was part of a device that blows air to dust off.

I think this world had the technology level of the 18th century. Oh, if you consider magical items and artifacts, there might even be 20th-century items.

Anyway, I don’t know what this was. The origin of the parts doesn’t matter much.

What matters is that after half a day’s work, I was able to make a simple blood pressure monitor. Now, I just have to try it out, but where should I try it?

“By the way, how do you use this?”

“First, sit down. Wrap this around your arm.”

It’s a bit complicated to explain.

Istina sat down and wrapped the band around her arm.

“You know what pressure is, right?”

“I know.”

“So, blood moves through the blood vessels at a relatively constant speed and pressure. We want to know at what pressure the blood is moving.”

“Yes.”

“The heart beats, right? When the heart beats, it squeezes the blood and the highest blood pressure is recorded. This is systolic and diastolic blood pressure.”

She seemed to be slowly understanding.

“Uh, yes.”

“Now, I’m going to place the stethoscope over the brachial artery and listen to the sound of the blood vessels.”

I put the stethoscope in my ears.

“Normally, there’s no sound, and if you press the blood vessel with pressure higher than the blood pressure, the blood doesn’t move, and there’s no sound either.”

“Ah-ha?”

“Now, I’m going to press the band around your arm with the air pump. Uh… let’s see. The normal systolic blood pressure is around 120, so it’s good to raise it to about 150. If the patient is suspected of having hypertension, 180.”

I raised the pressure of the balloon band around my arm to 150.

It’s an easy part to miss, but when the pressure of the band is between the systolic and diastolic blood pressure, the blood vessel moves and presses the band, causing the pressure inside the balloon band to pulse subtly.

In fact, if you just observe that well enough…

“I don’t really understand what you’re saying.”

“You can’t hear the sound right now. If you slowly release the air from the band around your arm like this, there’s a point where you can hear the sound of blood flowing again.”

I focused on the sound from the stethoscope. Hmm, I think I can hear something. Is there a problem with the equipment?

“Yes.”

“That’s the systolic blood pressure. If you keep lowering it, the blood pressure in the blood vessel becomes greater than the pressure of the air band, so the blood flow is not obstructed, right? But you still can’t hear the sound. That’s the diastolic blood pressure.”

The blood pressure measured from Istina’s brachial artery right now is about 130/90. Was there something to be nervous about?

Istina frowned.

“I don’t understand at all!”

Should I explain it in more detail?

I took out paper and pen.

“It’s not difficult at all.”

“Yes.”

“Look. When the pressure inside the balloon band around the arm is between the diastolic and systolic blood pressure of the artery, you listen to the noise caused by the turbulence. There’s also the sound that occurs at the moment when the blood pressure equals the pressure inside the balloon band.”

“It’s difficult.”

Graph. It’s a bit of a difficult concept, but wouldn’t it be easier to understand if we represent it with a graph?

The pen moved across the paper.

“Look. Let’s represent blood pressure as a wave function over time. The x-axis is time, and the y-axis is pressure. Blood pressure can be represented as a wave function moving between the systolic blood pressure (high point) and the diastolic blood pressure (low point). If we start reducing the pressure inside the cuff on your arm from 150 at a constant rate, we can draw that as a straight line graph, right?”

A blank stare was the only response.

“Uh…”

Should I just not explain it? At this point, it doesn’t seem like a matter of detailed explanation.

Has Istina ever even heard of pressure, laminar flow, or turbulence?

But I can’t teach Istina the entire high school curriculum. How should I explain it?

“Then think of it simply, Istina. The sound is made between the highest and lowest blood pressure. This is just a process to check where the sound is coming from and where it ends.”

“I’ll just memorize the process.”

That’s one way to do it. I nodded. Isn’t it meaningful that she tried?

“Still, wouldn’t it get better as you write your thesis? As you draw graphs related to your topic, you might understand it better.”

“I guess so…”

The mathematical and physical concepts that form the background are important, but clinically, you don’t use them directly, right? Understanding is just the foundation for presenting research.

Next to Istina was a preserved cadaver heart in a glass jar.

The heart seemed heavier than alcohol. It was closer to the bottom of the jar than the top.

“Well, I’ll give it a try!”

Istina reignited her determination.

That’s right, that’s my graduate student. Is there anything a graduate student can’t do in this world?

“Mr. Lee. Try putting an elephant in the fridge.”

“Pardon?”