Feelings

Chapter 12

Lim went back to work part-time a couple weeks later and so far, everything was going smoothly for her. Lim and Melendez had also slowly been making the transition from friends to boyfriend and girlfriend, though they had both been keeping things quiet at work. They still called each other by their last names, they didn't make out in supply closets or do it on abandoned gurneys, and they kept everything pretty low key. They had gone on their first official date the day after Valentine's Day because Lim hated Valentine's Day, claiming it was nothing but a Hallmark greeting card holiday (funny, because Lim was always watching the schmaltzy Hallmark movies every Christmas season, though she would deny it to anyone who confronted her about it). Overall, everything was going pretty well.

The only thing that Melendez (and many other doctors at St. Bonaventure) noticed that was off was that Lim was avoiding the ER like the plague. Whenever Andrews would ask for someone to volunteer for one of the surgeons to be on call and cover the ER, Lim was almost always the first person to volunteer. Now, not so much. One morning, about two weeks, after Lim had returned to work, she was getting ready to start her day when Andrews came up to her and said, "Dr. Lim, I need you to cover the ER this morning."

Lim froze a little at the mention of the ER, "I thought Dr. Cooperberg was covering the ER today?"

"He called in sick, so I need another trauma surgeon to take his place. Dr. Darlington will be down as soon as he's out of surgery," explained Andrews, "Dr. Reznick and Dr. Browne will be your residents today."

Lim knew that there was no getting out of this, so she slowly made her way to the ER. When she approached the area, she swallowed thickly but entered anyways, where Claire and Morgan were waiting for her, "Where's Dr. Cooperberg?" asked Claire.

"He's out sick. I'm covering until Darlington is out of surgery," said Lim.

The two residents nodded, "Well, room one has a fall down the stairs, room two has a patient coughing and struggling to breathe, room three has a cut from a kitchen knife who needs stitches," informed Morgan.

There was no way Lim was going anywhere near the coughing patient. She had gone in head on the last time and look what happened, "Dr. Reznick, take room one, Dr. Browne, take room two, I'll take the patient with the cut," directed Lim.

The women went to the various areas and Lim got the supplies to stitch the wound. In the next room over, she could hear Claire asking the patient about her condition, though she tried to focus on the task at hand. Thankfully, she zoned enough on the wound and did a perfect stitch as always. She bandaged the wound and gave the patient his discharge instructions before checking in on Morgan, who had treated her patient for bruised ribs, so Lim signed his discharge papers as well. There was only one patient still currently being treated. Morgan went to assist Claire, both of them noticing that their supervisor was hesitating to come into the area. Lim finally appeared and asked, "What have you done so far?"

"I've administered supplemental oxygen, it hasn't improved her O2 stats," informed Claire.

"Any prior lung disease?" asked Lim.

"I have cystic fibrosis," the patient informed.

"Have you been out of the country in the last two months?" asked Lim, just to be on the safe side, "Asia, maybe?"

The patient shook her head, "No, I've never been outside of the United States."

Dr. Lim listened to her breath sounds and said, "She has decreased breath sounds with the right lung. We could be looking at a pneumothorax. Get her up to radiation for a chest x-ray and a CT scan to see if her right lung is collapsed," ordered Lim to a few of the nurses.