Say Hello to Black Jack 10

Say Hello to Black Jack, Volume 2, Chapter 10 (pp. 45~64)


<45>
=Why...?

=If you operate on Mr. Miyamura,
=There's a chance you could save his life...

=Why...
=Won't you perform the surgery...!?


<46>
#10: The Last Drop

=There's a dying person—

=Right in front of you!!


<47>
[x2]HUFF—
=I'm sorry...

=I've performed thousands of surgeries throughout my life.
=Of course, I was never able to save all of those patients.


<48>
=To give an extreme argument,
=It means I've killed numerous patients with these two hands.

=That's much too extreme...
=You've also saved 100 times that number of people...

=I killed them.
=Those who refuse to be conscious of that are unfit to practice medicine.


<49>
=I killed a patient just two weeks ago.

=A 72-year old grandpa,
=He passed away 2 days after his surgery.

=Nothing went especially wrong with the operation.
=The direct cause of death was waste from the blood vessels clogging in his brain.

=But he died.//And he was my patient.


<50>
=We had stopped the pulsation of the heart, and were using a Heart-Lung Machine.

=The machine takes over for the heart and lungs...
=It fills the blood with oxygen, and sends it back into the body.
(Heart-Lung Machine)

=However, a Heart-Lung Machine is still a machine... It isn't the real thing.
=The blood flow differs from that created under natural circumstances.

=The blood flow peeled off the fossilized waste layers on the inside of the blood vessels.

=Like when you send water gushing through an old water pipe.

=The waste circulated through his body,
=And settled in his brain.


<51>
=That's how...
=That grandpa died...
PLIP..

=I still came here to sing that night...

=I don't see it as disrespecting the deceased.
=I've performed thousands of surgeries up until now...

=250 a year...//That's 5 days a week.
=You can't dwell in the past when there's so much work ahead of you.


<52>
=I tried to sing...
=The usual song, the usual way...

=What's wrong Saburo—
=The song's already started—


<53>
=I simply couldn't...
=Sing anymore...


<54>
=I'd never noticed it myself, but...

PLIP...

=A drop for every failed surgery...
=Another failure, another drop...
PLIP...

=Something kept on filling up the vessel of my soul.

=And that day...
=That something began to overflow...


<55>
=I'd kept on working by suppressing my impulse to cry out in fear...

=I'd believed, the more people I saved...
=The more I could atone for those who died at my hands...

=I'm sorry...
=There's nothing I can do for you...


<56>
=The following day—
=Mr. Miyamura was carried off to the surgical ward.
[x3]RUCK

=I...
=Didn't have the courage to look at him.
[x5]RUCK


<57>
[x6]RUCK

=He's gone...
=And now you're no longer in charge of Mr. Miyamura.

=Don't dwell on it.
=We've got lots of work to do.
PAT

Out of time...


<58>
=There's nothing more...
=I can do for Mr. Miyamura...!!

[sign left]North Ward 4th floor//First Internal Department//Rooms 1401-1467
[sign right]Surgical Ward 4th floor//Second Surgical Department (Cardiac Surgery Department)//Rooms 3401-3455


<59>
=Your operation's going to be on the 2nd of next month.
=It's 8:00 in the morning, so don't forget.

=R-
=Right...

=Well, it's not a really complicated operation.
=The surgeon will be Professor Fujii, so you've got nothing to worry about.

THUMP

=Uh...
=Uhh...

=I-Is my heart... Really going to last that long?

TICK..


<60>
=Of course it's gonna last!! We told you already!!

=If you're dissatisfied, feel free to look elsewhere.
=If you have anyplace to go, that is.


<61>
=Th-//Thank you...
=Very much...

=Don't be so hard on yourself... Saito...
=You did everything you could as a doctor...

=Just go get some sleep...
=I'll finish up these files for you...

CLACK..


<62>
=Hey, Dekune-kun...
=Was Mr. Miyamura looking at me...?

=...Huh?

=Just now... When he was being transferred...
=Was Mr. Miyamura staring at me...?

=What are you talking about!?
=He just glanced at you like,//"Thanks for trying so hard to help!"


<63>
=So he was staring at me...

=Why shouldn't he!?
=He wants to keep on living...//And we did nothing to help him!! We deserve it!!

=Mr. Miyamura hates me...
=We're still linked by that one emotion...


<64>
THUMP

=Mr. Miyamura...
=There's nothing more I can do for you... As a doctor...

=Which means,
=I'll just have to involve myself as a human being...!!