episode_0045

Episode 45. An Unknown Plague (1)

****

The ride back to the Academy wasn’t that long. Maybe it was because the carriage was moving in a hurry, thinking that we had to get back before the sun set.

The next morning, in the lab.

As always, Istina was reading a book in a corner of the study. I was sitting at my desk, flipping through some letters.

It’s fortunate that there are no hospitalized patients right now.

Thanks to that, I was able to sit down for a bit. Did I get a letter from Violet? I opened the letter with my eyes squinted.

– The prince praised you. He said you studied hard with the professor and worked hard to advance your studies. I express my deepest gratitude.

– I will send the lecture fee to you right away. Probably by royal check.

It seems the prince has no eye for people.

You’re praising that punk for his hard work? If you actually saw him work, you wouldn’t be saying such things. Anyway, that’s not important right now.

Are you saying that you get paid for your lectures?

If you think about it, it was natural. Since I went to the palace to give a presentation, of course I should be paid for the lecture.

I raised my head and looked at Istina.

“Istina. Your lecture fee will be paid soon.”

“Really? I didn’t know money would come out.”

“You take all the lecture fees.”

“Really? Thank you.”

Since Istina itself was almost free to begin with, shouldn’t I take the lecture fee I received this time and use it to supplement my living expenses?

I didn’t really need it. I had a lot of money from doing nothing at the palace.

“I don’t think I spoke properly.”

“Huh?”

Istina lowered her head.

“Oh, thank you very much. You didn’t have to list me as the lead author of the paper on infectious dysentery, and you didn’t have to give me the lecture.”

I nodded roughly.

Istina has had a hard time.

You can’t always harass them and make them work harder, right? Sometimes, you have to give them something to make them work harder.

“Right… …. Go out quickly and spread the word. It would be great if you could be a graduate student under me.”

“ I’m going around, but it seems like no one cares.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

Istina nodded vigorously.

Hmm. I thought about it for a while.

“There’s nothing I can do. Let’s prepare well for the blood circulation paper I wrote last time. I hope it goes smoothly to the academic journal this time too.”

“The response was good, but won’t it work out well?”

I nodded.

Of course, the reaction after the announcement was explosive, but if it fails to be published like this, it’s obvious that someone else will come up with similar content, right?

****

This is the clinic. As the weather gets better, it seems like more and more students are coming in with injuries. Why is the weather getting better when spring is almost over?

Because it’s a cold place here.

This neighborhood is most comfortable in midsummer. It’s not really windy. In the winter, it’s slippery and you get hurt, and in the summer, it’s active and you get hurt.

A patient walked into the examination room.

I searched my memory and medical records at the same time, and I thought I had seen him somewhere. He was one of my previous patients. Who was he?

Oh, that’s him.

Lylas. I remember him as a boy who kept talking nonsense about how his heart ached whenever he thought of her, and then was diagnosed with reflux esophagitis and passed away.

“Hello, Mr. Lylas. You took medicine for reflux esophagitis last time for chest pain, right?”

“Oh my, how did you know?”

It’s written down in the medical records. It’s obvious that it’s written down, so I don’t know why everyone is surprised.

“Are you feeling better?”

“Yes. Thanks to the professor, I overcame my fear of anxiety and confessed my love and received an answer!”

It won’t have that effect. It’s just a medicine that reduces heartburn a little. It’s a gastric acid secretion inhibitor.

“Oh my, congratulations.”

Anyway, isn’t this outcome-oriented medicine? As long as the patient is happy, that’s all that matters. I don’t understand why they think that way, or their thought process.

“So. Why did you come today?”

“The medicine is running out.”

Diagnosis of reflux esophagitis is by esophagoscopy. However, in most cases, proton pump inhibitors are prescribed without esophagoscopy.

It is a disease that can be diagnosed just by looking at the symptoms, and there is no need to use a complicated procedure called endoscopy. Endoscopy is not possible here anyway. This is the important thing.

“Patient, are you still feeling nauseous and have chest pain? I wonder if you need to take medicine.”

“Sometimes, I feel a little sick. And, I’m a little worried about the cold going around in the dorms these days.”

Should I give him some sugar pills too?

I thought about it for a while. There’s no particular illness, but it’s not like I came here for no reason. I can’t just send him away empty-handed.

I placed a pre-made medicine bottle on the desk. It was a clear glass bottle filled with yellow pills.

“Take one pill a day. It will help a little with colds.”

“Thank you.”

This time it was just vitamin C. I wonder if it would be somewhat effective in preventing colds?

Treatment finished. Get out quickly.

****

The next one to come in was Lisellote.

Last time, he came to me with a disease such as dizziness and benign paroxysmal positional vertigo. His situation was similar to that of Lylas.

Liselotte doesn’t have a serious illness either. Healthy people don’t pretend to be sick. They don’t even come to the hospital.

Those people are also sick somewhere. There are cases where neither the doctor nor the patient knows what is sick, but it is certain that something is sick.

“Did you have a nice trip?”

“Yes.”

“Why are you here?”

“I have a cold. I feel a little dizzy.”

Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, headaches, dizziness. These are all things that recur frequently. They interfere with daily life to a great extent, and there is no clear solution. Fortunately, it is not a fatal disease.

“Let’s take a look. Oh, try it.”

“Ah!”

“Ah. Don’t yell.”

I placed the depressor on Liselotte’s tongue and looked at both tonsils. They seemed a little swollen, but I’m not sure.

Bam. I threw away the wooden depressor. I think I have a cold, but I’m not sure. There’s a reason why ENT doctors use endoscopes. It’s not my specialty.

“Try coughing.”

“Coolook. Coolook.”

I definitely think I can hear the sound of phlegm boiling. Should I auscultate this?

Upper respiratory infections are viral, lower respiratory infections are bacterial. Most are.

There is no specific treatment for viral infections.

You could try antiviral medication, but that’s often not helpful. What about trying anti-inflammatory painkillers or antihistamines?

“Professor. But, I took the medicine you gave me last time and it tasted a bit sweet. Is that normal?”

I’m talking about sugar placebo pills.

I gave it to you in case you felt dizzy in the morning due to low blood sugar, so I’m glad it worked.

“Yes. It worked, right?”

“I was there! I definitely didn’t feel dizzy. At least until I caught a cold this time.”

Could a cold make you dizzy?

It’s possible. There are various causes. For example, feeling dizzy due to general deterioration of condition. Feeling dizzy due to heat. If we look at it from a more direct perspective.

Because the nose and ears are connected through the Eustachian tube, there are cases where mucus or water builds up and affects the ears.

Because the balance organ is in the ear.

“That’s difficult. First, I’ll prescribe you the medicine I gave you last time, a painkiller, and a cold medicine.”

“Oh, yes.”

“Three pills. Take them in the morning and evening. If that doesn’t work, come back.”

It was a bit of a shame.

“It’s a shame there’s no clear solution.”

“It might work, right?”

“I don’t know yet. Go out, receive the blessing magic, and go back.”

Liselotte nodded. I waited for Liselotte to leave the examination room.

****

The third patient. He was an older man I hadn’t seen in a long time. He was definitely not an academy student.

How did you end up here?

“What is the patient’s name?”

“This is David. I’m here because my joints hurt these days. Sometimes, I can’t work because of the pain.”

It’s a serious matter.

However, it is questionable whether there is a cure.

“How much does it hurt?”

“Just a little uncomfortable in the morning. My hands and knees hurt, but I don’t know what the problem is.”

My hands, knees, and other joints hurt in the morning.

Just from the symptoms, it seems like osteoarthritis? I checked the patient’s hand. I honestly don’t know if there are any other serious diseases.

I held the patient’s hand and pressed on the finger joints. Judging from the absence of pain and swelling, it did not seem to be gout.

“How old are you?”

“59.”

“I think it’s osteoarthritis.”

“Oh my, my wife keeps telling me to quit drinking. Will things get better if I quit drinking?”

“How much alcohol do you drink?”

“Beer. Two glasses a day.”

Two beers. Fourteen in a week?

How much is two glasses of beer a day? Isn’t that almost nothing? I think the beer in this world is usually around 1% alcohol. It’s probably less than half the alcohol content of the beer I drank in my previous life.

I scratched my head a little. It was funny to ask her to drink, but I couldn’t lie. I felt sorry for that lady.

“No, what… … . Just eat it.”

“Is that so?”

The old man looked at me with a puzzled expression. Doesn’t that mean you don’t drink even one glass a day by normal standards? My medical opinion is that it doesn’t matter how much you drink.

◦Can you reduce the work by “?”

“A little bit.”

“Cut down your work a bit, and do some hot or cold compresses. I’ll give you some painkillers, so take them if you really can’t stand it. Go outside and get some healing magic.”

The old man nodded.

****

Imentia, a port city in the south of the empire.

“Oh, there are already people bleeding… … . How many people are there already? Isn’t this an epidemic?”