Feelings

Chapter 33

She normally thrived on working the graveyard shift in the emergency room. While it was usually somewhat peaceful more often than not, it seemed some of the most exciting and unique cases always came into St. Bonaventure's emergency room during the wee hours of the night. But instead of wanting to jump right into the action, all Lim wanted to do was collapse from exhaustion. The fatigue that had been plaguing her all last week had not improved and had actually increased tremendously. She had tried to do laundry and other household chores, but she had ended up napping most of the day; that is, if she wasn't in the bathroom for one reason or another. She wanted so desperately to take the day off, but she had already burned through enough time between the virus, the PTSD, and the pneumonia, so she decided she was going to power through tonight. She ran into Morgan in the locker room, though neither surgeon said anything to each other other than Lim mentioning she had to use the restroom again. When Morgan reported to the ER, Shaun was pacing around the room, while Claire was leaning against the nurses' station. "Where's Dr. Lim?" asked Claire in curiosity.

"She had to use the bathroom, and then she'll be in," answered Morgan.

"Okay, let's get this shift over with," said Lim irritably as she entered the emergency room, pulling on her lab coat.

Claire couldn't help but smirk a little to herself and went to hand Lim a cup of coffee. "Sounds like you need a cup of coffee to wake yourself up, Dr. Lim."

Lim's stomach churned from the odor, so she gestured to take it away and shook her head. "No thank you, Dr. Browne."

"I'll take it," said Morgan as she snatched the beverage out of Claire's hands.

"So what do we have?" asked Lim, and she yawned.

"Nothing significant so far. It's dead in here," said Claire.

Lim sighed. "Not that I wish harm on anybody, but I was hoping we'd be busier so it would keep me awake."

"That's what the coffee is for," mentioned Shaun casually. "Even though I don't like coffee."

Lim's stomach would give a flip every time someone would mention the word coffee. She didn't know why, but for the past week, the smell of it just made her feel queasy. Luckily, Lim got her wish when a patient suffering a stroke and another patient suffering some sort of overdose were brought in by ambulance. Morgan and Shaun went to treat the woman suffering a stroke while Claire and Lim worked on the OD victim, which kept all four physicians busy for a while. When they all got the chance to take a break, the three residents didn't fail to notice that Lim wasn't eating much again. Claire knew she would probably get scolded for her question, but she still asked, "Are you all right, Dr. Lim?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," answered Lim. "Just haven't been really hungry, like I have some sort of stomach bug or something."

Claire and Morgan glanced at each other. "As long as you're okay. Dr. Browne and I have just noticed you've been acting a little...differently all week," commented Morgan.

Lim scowled. "What do you mean?"

Claire hesitated before she said, "Dr. Lim, you've been avoiding the coffee machine in the break room all week. When we got out of surgery the other day, you were in the bathroom for ten minutes because you were vomiting. You've been taking little cat naps in the break room; I know because Dr. Park caught you the other day, but he didn't want to wake you, and you've been eating either Snickers Bars, pineapple, Oreos, or chocolate pudding for three days straight," she listed. "Have you had any other symptoms, Dr. Lim?"