The day started like any other for Sana. She had just finished her rounds in the ICU and was on her way to grab a quick snack when she got paged to the ER. With a sigh, she turned on her heel and headed down the busy corridors of Seoul Memorial Hospital, wondering what kind of chaos awaited her this time.
As she entered the ER, she spotted Dr. Yoo Jeongyeon, the head of the emergency department, who looked up from her clipboard and gave her a quick nod. "Minatozaki, you're up. We've got a patient with a broken ankle, fell off a ladder while doing some home repairs."
Sana grabbed the chart, quickly scanning through the details. "Mr. Kim Minseok, 45 years old. No prior medical history of note." She muttered to herself. "Alright, I'm on it."
She pushed through the curtain and saw Mr. Kim lying on the bed, his ankle propped up with an ice pack. He winced as he tried to adjust his position.
"Hello, Mr. Kim," Sana greeted with a bright smile, trying to ease the tension. "I'm Dr. Minatozaki. I hear you had a bit of an accident while being Mr. Handyman?"
Mr. Kim chuckled weakly, clearly in some discomfort. "Yeah, thought I could handle the ladder on my own. Guess not. Just my luck, huh?"
"Again?" a middle aged woman butted in to their conversation "this is your 7th accident within just 2 months! Doctor, please tell me this is just a minor one."
"Oh honey, this is nothing. You don't have to worry about me, it's just my ankle.'' he reassured his wife.
"Wait, what? 7th?" Sana who seems surprised asked.
"Yeah! First, it was his arm, then he fell on his butt while watering the plants. He even slipped and got his arms burned by the hot pot of soup." Mrs. Kim said as she stated the unfortunate accidents her husband went through.
"Okay, let me check your ankle first." Sana moved closer to examine his ankle, gently pressing around the swollen area. "You've got quite the bruise forming here, but we'll get some X-rays done to check the extent of the injury. How's the pain on a scale of 1 to 10?"
"About a 6, maybe a 7 when I move it," Mr. Kim replied, gritting his teeth.
"We'll get that pain under control," Sana reassured him. "But just out of curiosity, when was your last full medical check-up?"
Mr. Kim raised an eyebrow. "Uh, probably a couple of years ago. I don't really go to the doctor unless something's wrong."
Mrs. Kim looked so worried towards her husband "Could it be that he's anemic? That's why these keep happening?" She then hit her husband in the arms "I told you! You should drink those supplements I gave you!"
Sana nodded, making a mental note. "Okay, well, I'll take care of your ankle first, but it might be worth doing a quick blood test and a chest X-ray, just to make sure we're not missing anything else. Sometimes falls can be a sign of an underlying issue."
Mr. Kim shrugged. "I don't think that would be necessary, I just need my ankle to be fixed."
"Are you kidding me? Unnecessary? I told you already, this is the 7th! You know what doc. Let's do whatever you think can help him."
---
A few hours later, after running tests, Sana was reviewing the results. Something didn't sit right. The ankle was definitely fractured, but the blood tests and chest X-ray showed abnormalities that had nothing to do with the fall.
Her stomach twisted as she stared at the scans, realizing the implications. The chest X-ray showed nodules-massive ones-and the blood tests hinted at something far more serious than a broken ankle. She immediately paged Dr. Jeongyeon for a second opinion.
Jeongyeon arrived quickly, her eyes scanning the charts. She frowned, her expression growing more serious with each passing second.
"This doesn't look good," Jeongyeon said quietly. "We need to talk to him. This is likely late-stage cancer."
Sana swallowed hard. She had been through difficult cases before, but delivering news like this was never easy, especially to a patient who came in for something as simple as a broken bone.
"I'll do it," Sana said, steeling herself.
Jeongyeon nodded. "I'll be there if you need backup. Just take it slow."
---
Sana returned to Mr. Kim's room, her usual bright demeanor more subdued. Mr. Kim noticed right away.
"You look like you've seen a ghost, Seonhee went home to get some clean clothes cause according to her, I stink!" he joked, though his eyes were wary.
Sana pulled up a chair beside his bed. "Mr. Kim, we got the results of your tests back. Your ankle is fractured, but... we found something else."
Mr. Kim's brow furrowed. "Something else? What do you mean?"
Sana took a deep breath. "The blood work and chest X-rays revealed that you have nodules in your lungs. It's likely cancer, and from what we can see, it's advanced. We're going to need more tests to confirm, but right now, it looks like it's late-stage."
For a moment, there was silence in the room. Mr. Kim blinked, as if trying to process the words, but they didn't seem to make sense. "Wait... cancer? But I came in for my ankle."
Sana nodded sympathetically. "I know this is a lot to take in, but sometimes symptoms like fatigue or sudden falls can be signs of something bigger going on inside the body."
Mr. Kim stared at the ceiling, his voice shaky. "I-I had no idea. I've been feeling tired for a while, but I just thought it was stress. Work's been busy, you know?"
Sana reached out, gently placing her hand on his arm. "We're going to do everything we can to figure out the best course of action. I know this wasn't what you were expecting to hear today."
Mr. Kim was quiet for a long moment, his expression unreadable. Finally, he let out a shaky laugh. "I just wanted to fix my roof... now you're telling me I have cancer. Life's funny like that, huh?"
Sana smiled softly, even though her heart ached for him. "Life does have a way of surprising us. But you're not alone in this, Mr. Kim. We're here to help you through it and your wife, Mrs. Kim."
"Can you not tell my wife? Can you just tell her I sprained my ankle? She once had a stroke after hearing her brother's death, I don't want that to happen to her again."
"But...Mr. Kim-"
"Please?" He said with his watery eyes "I can't see her suffer. Please Doctor."
---
Later that night, after the long, emotional day, Sana sat down in the doctors' lounge, her mind racing. Dahyun walked in, clearly picking up on Sana's mood.
"Rough day?" Dahyun asked, sitting beside her.
Sana nodded, her eyes staring off into space. "You ever have one of those days where a simple case turns into something... life-changing?"
Dahyun glanced at her, sensing the gravity of her words. "What happened?"
Sana sighed. "Patient came in with a broken ankle. Turns out, he has late-stage cancer. And he had no idea."
Dahyun winced. "That's tough. Did you have to break the news?"
"Yeah," Sana said quietly. "It's moments like this that make me question everything. Like, how do you even handle telling someone that their life just changed forever?"
Dahyun offered a small, empathetic smile. "We handle it by being there for them, like you were today. It doesn't make it easier, but it's what we signed up for, right?"
Sana leaned her head back against the couch, closing her eyes. "Yeah... I guess it is."
As the weight of the day settled in, Sana realized that being a doctor wasn't just about fixing physical problems-it was about being there for patients when their entire world shifted beneath them, even when there were no easy answers.
And that, she realized, was what made this job both heartbreaking and worth it.
