My Experience of Sepsis 나의 패혈증 경험

나의 패혈증 경험

My Experience of Sepsis

나는 충남 서산군 안면면 중장리 장등개 태생이었다.

그때 안면도에서 홍성 중고등학교를 다닐 수 있으면 부모가 부유하고 부모가 자녀 교육에 투철해야 했다.

나는 얀중 국민학교 졸업반 50명 중 일등으로 졸업했다.

졸업식 날 “이상원은 품행이 방정하고 학력이 우수해서” 상장을 주시면서 상품으로서 삽과 한글 국어사전을 하나 받았다.

  그날 졸업식에 오신  졸업생들의 부모님들과 동네 이장님과 구장님들이 졸업식 교실 한쪽에 앉아 계셨다.

내가 상장을 받고 어르신들을 쳐다보니 아버님도 나를 보시더니  웃으시는 것을 봤다.

그중 나하고 다른 학생 둘이서 홍성중고등학교에 입학하고 졸업했다.

그  당시 나는 홍성읍 한 가정집에서 한 달에 쌀 5말을 주고 먹고자고 하는 하숙을 하고 고등학교에 다녔다.

내가 홍성고등학교 1년 재학 중, 17세경, 지금부터 70여 년 전 나의 뒷목에 호발주가 생겨 손으로 짜고 조명래 고약을 부쳤다.

그다음 날 열이 나고 몹시 아파서 1마일 정도 혼자 기어서 홍성도립병원 의사한테 갔다.

입을 벌여 보라고 해서 입을 벌이고 청진기로 가슴 진찰을 하고 무슨 병이란 말도 없고 아스피린을 가라서 주어 먹었다.

갱신이 혼자 걸어서 하숙집으로 돌아왔다.

물론 전화도 없으니 부모님에게 연락도 못 했다. 걸어 이틀 정도 가면 안면도에 나의 집이 있었다. 하숙집 아주마가 어떻게 아프냐고 가까이 와서 묻지도 않고 입맛이 없어 먹지도 못하고 물 한 모금 떠다 주는 사람도 없었다.

그러나 계속 열이 나고 아팠다. 한 이십 리 되는 곳에 사시는  나의 외외할아버지께서 오셔서 나를 데리고 가서 외갓집에서 치료를 받았다.

외 할아버지 댁 근처 한의사한테 나를 데리고 갔다. 어떻게 나의 외할아버지께 내가 아프다고 연락이 됐는지 지금도 궁금 하다. 지금도 그 하숙집 아주머니께 돈을 한주목 드리고 싶다…

그 한의사는 맥박을 짚고 병명이 무엇인지  설명도 없이  펜이실링 주사를 한 대 주고 한약을 다려 먹으라고 주었다.

그 10여 일 동안 주사를 맞고 조금 좋아 펜이 펜이 실린 주사는 주지 않고 한약을 하루 한첩 대려서 먹으라고 해서 일어서지도 못하고 누워 거의 3개월  동안 먹었다.

앓고 누워 있는 17세 사춘기 아이 내 앞에서 외갓댁 동네 사람들이 나를 보러 왔다. 사춘기인 내 앞에서 죽게 생겼구먼…. 그런 말을 듣고 참 마음 아팠다.

왜 나의 어머님은 내가 그렇게 앓고 있는데 한 번도 오시지 않았을까…

나와 6년 국민학교를 같이 다니고 홍성 중고등학교를 같이 다니던 죽마 지우가 한 번도 병문안도 안 오고 고등 선생님도 친척도 하나 편지도 방문도 없었다. 그러니 아버진 매 2주에 한  번 가셨다. 나 혼자 앓았다. 죽고 싶지 않았다.

그 동네에서 서울 의대 다니는 3년생이 방학에 와서 나를 방문했다. “결핵에 걸린 것 같다”고 진찰도 하지 않고 말했다. 외할머님과 이모님이 나를  돌보아 주었다.

내가 의사가 된 후 외 할머님과 이모님을 뵈러 가서 고맛다고 쌀 열 가마를 사 드렸더니 이모님이 다락에서 모아둔 참깨 한 되를 주셨다.

않지도 못 하고 서지도 못 하고 누워 3개월 동안 앓았다

하루는 아버지께서 안면도에서 오시더니 동내 사람을 시켜 나를 지게다 지이 삼십리 정도 떨어진 광천읍에 있는 양의사 한테 데리고 갔다.

양의사한테 갔더니  바른 쪽 고관절 부위에 고름이 잡혀 있다고 진단을 하더니 전신 마취 수술하고 고름을 한 사발 빼내고 사라났다.

그 후 1주일 동안 항생제 주사를 맞고 나니 고름도 나오지 않고 걸을 수 있었다.

 그 병원(의사가 한 명 있는)에 입원하고 수술하고 퇴원하는 일주일 동안  간호하는 처녀만이 나를 치료했다. 퇴원하는 날 의사가 어떠냐고 묻지도 않았다. 하였든 그 다음은 안면도 집으로 왔다.

 나는 연세 의대를 다니고 한국·미국 소아과 전문의가 되고 , 나이 90에 이 글을 쓰고 있다.

“부모도 반의사가 되어야 한다. “First , Do No Harm”  알았으면 …..

내가 전형적인 패닉 증에 걸렸다 사라졌다.

My experience with sepsis

I was born in Jangdeunggae, Jungjang-ri, Anmyeon-myeon, Seosan-gun, Chungcheongnam-do.
At that time, if you could attend Hongseong Middle and High School in Anmyeondo, your parents had to be wealthy and devoted to your child’s education.
I graduated first out of 50 students in my graduating class at Anjung Elementary School.
On the day of my graduation, I was awarded a certificate for “Lee Sang-won’s good conduct and excellent academic achievements,” and I received a shovel and a Korean dictionary as prizes.

The parents of the graduating students who came to the graduation ceremony that day, as well as the village head and district head, sat on one side of the graduation classroom. When I received the award and looked at the guests, I saw my father smiling at me.
Among them, other students and I entered Hongseong Middle and High School and graduated.

At that time, I went to high school while living in a boarding house in Hongseong-eup, where they gave me five mal of rice a month to eat and sleep.

When I was a first-year student at Hongseong High School, when I was 17 years old, about 70 years ago, I developed a boil on the back of my neck, so I squeezed it with my hands and applied Lee-myung-Rae ointment.

The next day, I had a fever and was in so much pain that I crawled about a mile by myself to see a doctor at Hongseong Provincial Hospital.

He examined my mouth, and he examined my chest with a stethoscope, and without saying what was wrong, he gave me some aspirin to take.

I walked back to my boarding house by myself.
Of course, I didn’t have a phone, so I couldn’t contact my parents. It takes two days to get to my house on foot. The lady, boarding house who did help me didn’t come near me to ask why I was sick, and I didn’t have an appetite so I couldn’t eat, and no one even brought me a sip of water.
However, I still had a fever and was in pain in my whole body. My maternal grandfather, who lived about 8y miles away, came and took me to my maternal grandparents’ house to receive treatment. He took me to a Korean medicine doctor near my maternal grandfather’s house. I still wonder how he contacted my maternal grandfather that I was sick. I still want to give some money to that boarding house lady…

The doctor took my pulse, gave me a Penicillin injection without explaining what my illness was, and told me to take some herbal medicine.

After that, I got the injections for about 10 days and felt a little better, but he stopped giving me the Penisiling injection and told me to take one dose of herbal medicine a day. I couldn’t even get up and had to lie down and take it for almost 3 months.

A 17-year-old teenager who was sick and in puberty, people from my maternal hometown came to see me in front of me. “He is going to die in front of me.”… It was heartbreaking.

Why didn’t my mother come to see me even once while I was so sick…

My friend, who went to elementary school with me for 6 years and went to Hongseong middle and high school with me, never came to visit me, and my high school teacher, relatives, and they didn’t send a letter or visit. So my father visited me once every two weeks. I suffered alone. I didn’t want to die.

A third-year student from that neighborhood who was attending Seoul Medical School came to visit me during the vacation. “He said I seemed to have tuberculosis without even examining me. My grandmother and aunt took care of me.

After I became a doctor, I went to see my grandmother and aunt and bought ten sacks of rice, saying it was delicious. My aunt gave me a bushel of sesame seeds that she had collected in the attic.

I couldn’t even stand or move, so I lay down and suffered for three months.

One day, my father came from Anmyeondo and had someone from the neighborhood carry me on his back and take me to a Western doctor in Gwangcheon-eup, about thirty miles away.

He diagnosed that I had pus in my hip joint on the right side. He performed surgery under general anesthesia, drained a bowl of pus, and it disappeared.

After a week of antibiotic injections, I was able to walk without any pus.

I was admitted to that hospital (where there was only one doctor), had surgery, and was discharged. For a week, only the nurse took care of me. The day I was discharged, the doctor didn’t even ask how I was. Anyway, I came home to Anmyeondo.

I went to Yonsei University College of Medicine and became a Korean-American pediatrician, and I’m writing this article.

“Parents should also be the half-doctors”. “First, Do No Harm” … ..

I was caught in a typical case of sepsis.

update 1/19/2025

Copyright drleepediatrics.com 3/9/2026