Chapter 15 — The One Who Keeps The Venom Saves People

The sound of an ambulance siren rang out from afar, cutting through the tiring silence that was covering the corridor of Son Trach district hospital. Du jumped up from his chair, Khiem also stood up, both ran to the emergency gate where the flashing red and white lights were getting closer through the gradually fading rain.

The car stopped, the door opened, Tram got out first, her hand clutching the insulated foam box, her face haggard but her eyes still filled with determination.

"Fresh frozen plasma, twelve units." She said as soon as she saw Du running over, not having time to say hello first. "Sorry for arriving later than expected, the car was blocked by a fallen tree halfway."

"It's okay, I'm here on time." Du picked up the foam box and quickly checked the temperature displayed on the attached monitoring device - still within the safe threshold even though it had moved up a bit compared to the original ideal level. "Thank you, thank you very much indeed."

"I'm Tram, Department of Pharmacy, Provincial Hospital." She quickly introduced herself, shaking Du's hand with an emotional squeeze. "You must be the one who called last night?"

"Trinh Mien Du, Khe Lanh snake farm." Du replied, then without wasting another second, turned around and ran inside, carrying the foam box towards the emergency room where Thu was waiting.

"The plasma has arrived!" Du called out as she walked through the door, her voice for the first time that night carrying a bit of undisguised excitement.

Thu returned, breathed a sigh of relief, and immediately began checking and preparing the second transmission line. "The coagulation index that was re-done ten minutes ago has improved slightly, but has not yet returned to the normal range. Adding more plasma now is the right time."

The two of them coordinated smoothly without needing to exchange many words - Du checked and confirmed the dosage, Thu performed the technical operations. Both had gotten used to each other's working rhythm after many hours of fighting on the same front.

"Infuse the first unit, at a rate according to the baby's weight and hemodynamic status." Du said, eyes glued to the monitor screen.

The first unit of plasma began to flow into baby Nhi's body, the pale yellow liquid sparkling in the emergency room lights. Du stood next to her, her arms folded across her chest, her eyes not leaving each indicator on the screen. Her mind now had only one question - whether the combined force of everything they had done tonight would be enough to turn the situation around.

Twenty minutes passed. Blood pressure began to inch up, from seventy-five to eighty-two. Heart rate decreased slightly from one hundred thirty to one hundred fifteen.

"There is progress." Thu said, her voice unable to hide her excitement. "Blood pressure is improving."

Forty minutes passed and the second unit of plasma began to be infused. The purple streak on the skin around the bite does not seem to be spreading further, although there is still no sign of shrinking.

"Repeat the coagulation test." Du ordered, his voice tense despite trying to maintain a calm appearance.

Thu took blood, put it in a test tube, put it on a stand, and they both stood staring at the clock counting down twenty minutes, the longest time of the entire night even though in terms of numbers it was only equal to the previous waits.

In the hallway, Luc and Bong were still standing there, but this time they were no longer standing silently like the previous hours, but were whispering to each other, small sentences full of fragile hope, occasionally glancing at the glass window to try to read something from the expressions of the people inside.

Khiem stood in the corner of the room, with Tram who had just entered after telling the driver to wait outside. They both quietly observed, no one dared to speak out to break the intense concentration that covered the small room.

Nineteen minutes. Twenty minutes.

Du picked up the test tube, tilted it slightly under the desk lamp, eyes glued to the blood mass inside.

It solidified into a firm lump, no longer loose or fragmented like previous tests.

"It's winter." She spoke, her voice so soft it was almost a whisper, as if afraid that speaking loudly would ruin the miracle that had just happened. "The blood is clotting again."

Thu covered her face in her trembling hands, unable to hold back a sigh mixed with a sob. Khiem clapped his hands softly, then quickly stopped when he remembered he was in the emergency room.

But Du did not allow himself to relax completely. She looked down at Nhi, her little face still pale, and in her mind, a list of other risks had not yet been crossed off — acute kidney failure due to prolonged damage, secondary infection, and the possibility of recurrence of blood clotting disorders if the remaining venom in the body had not been fully neutralized.

"It's not done yet." She spoke, mainly as a reminder to herself rather than to anyone else in the room. "I need to monitor for at least six more hours to be sure."

Thu nodded, quickly wiped the remaining tears from the corners of her eyes, and returned to her professional work. "I'll do another kidney function test to see if there are any signs of damage due to prolonged anemia."

"That's right, do it now." Du nodded in agreement. "Also electrolytes, to make sure you don't miss the risk of recurring hypocalcemia."

Tram walked closer, standing next to Du, her voice was gentle but full of sympathy of someone who had just gone through a stressful night in her own way. "I have never directly witnessed a case like this. In the Pharmacy department, I only saw numbers on the screen, I couldn't see this." She turned her eyes towards the hospital bed. "Now I understand better the meaning of the plasma units I just sent."

"Without you, we wouldn't have been able to get blood clotting compensation in time." Du replied, turning to look at her with sincere grateful eyes. "You and Mr. Khang made a not easy decision, I understand that."

"Mr. Khang is equally worried." Tram smiled slightly. "It's just that sometimes we need a different perspective to see the path between seemingly rigid regulations."

Outside the glass door, Luc and Bong stood with their eyes glued to what was going on inside, and when they saw Thu come back with a less tense expression on their face, they quickly walked over, without waiting to be invited.

"Doctor, my child..." Luc asked, his voice trembling with both hope and fear.

"The baby's blood has clotted again." Thu said, trying to keep her professional tone even though the corner of her mouth couldn't hold back a smile. "This is a very positive sign, but we still need to monitor for a few more hours to make sure the baby gets through the most dangerous stage."

Bong hugged her husband, both of them stood there, tears mixed together, no longer able to distinguish who was comforting who. Through the glass window, they could see their daughter, although still lying still with a series of wires tangled around her body, her skin was no longer as pale as before, and her chest was rising and falling in a much more regular breathing rhythm than in the hours before.

"Thank you, doctor." Luc said, bowing deeply, not only to Thu but also to Du standing in the room. "Thank you everyone."

Du walked out of the emergency room for a moment, giving space for nurses to continue monitoring, standing next to Khiem and Tram in the hallway. The fatigue was now more obvious than ever, no longer masked by adrenaline like it had been hours ago, making her legs feel like they were about to collapse at any moment.

"Please sit down and rest for a bit." Khiem said, pulling a plastic chair closer. "I hardly rested for a minute all night."

Du sat down, leaned his head back, and closed his eyes. In that rare quiet moment, she thought of her grandfather, of the words he once told her on the banks of the Lam Tri River, and wondered if he was watching her right now, satisfied with the path she had chosen.

"Miss Du, you just saved a life." Tram said, sitting in the chair next to her, her voice gentle but sincere. "You should be proud of that."

"Not yet." Du opened his eyes and shook his head slightly. "The baby still has a long road to recovery ahead. Besides, it's not just me. It's Mr. Thanh, it's Khiem, it's Dr. Thu, it's me and Mr. Khang, it's Mr. Nguyen driving the canoe to get us across the river safely. There wasn't any link in that chain that was missing and everything was still successful."

Tram nodded, was silent for a moment, then spoke, sounding like she was thinking out loud. "Tonight made me think of something — if we had some kind of system that connects hospitals and snake farms in the area, knowing in advance who has what, who needs what, maybe we wouldn't have to race against time like this every time there's an emergency."

Du opened her eyes wide, looking at Tram, a light flashed in her head amid overwhelming fatigue. "You're right. Everything went smoothly tonight largely thanks to luck - luckily you came up with a short-term shipment, luckily Mr. Nguyen was free to transport us, luckily the fallen tree didn't block the road for longer. If there was a real network, systematically coordinated, we wouldn't have to rely on luck so much."

"What do you mean?" Khiem asked, curious.

"I mean, this might be the time to start thinking about it seriously." Du replied, sitting up straight, the fatigue seemed to temporarily recede from an idea that had just formed in her mind.