Late this afternoon I took Stef from a walk-in clinic to the Civic, as the physician suspected he was suffering appendicitis. He’d been in some GI pain since Sunday night and hasn’t been having a great week, as yesterday was his birthday, he wasn’t looking all that cheery… The midterm he had today I’m sure didn’t help.

I got him to the Civic hospital and they noted immediately that his temperature and blood pressure were high (150/85, “you’re the toastiest guy I’ve seen today”) We waited in chairs for a while (I really have no notion of time anymore) and then eventually took him back to be seen by the doctor. At this point he’s been sighing and jittery with pain, but he’s in a decent mood and encourages me to take a photo of his killer wardrobe. He’s also getting feverish.

Doctor saw him, concurred with the walk-in physician of appendicitis, but of course wanted to run more tests. He called for a surgical consult and Stef was put on a gurney, given an IV got to wait in the hall.

Not too long after, the surgeon (and I think 2 students) came by, ordered a CT scan. He said he needed to have a better idea as to what’s going on because typical appendicitis cases go from zero-to-appendectomy in about 2 days… Stef was up to 4, so this wasn’t a typical problem; concerns of an abscess were mentioned.

Eventually he was taken up to CT, where they took two … scans and then a third but with an iodine injection.

Back down to the ER and we waited, he’s now in rather intense pain… the porter asked him how long it’d been since he’d had any pain meds – the answer was simple: none yet.

Surgeon came back, said it is appendicitis and that it’s perforated, which means they’re going to treat it with antibiotics and eventually remove his appendix. How long is eventually? Weeks or months. If things don’t get better in the next 12 hours, they’ll have to perform a Laparotomy, which is a fairly involved and major surgery, as opposed to the typical appendectomy performed by laparoscopy.

Mom & Dad arrive minutes later, and I left with Dad a little while after that.

I think Stef is most upset by the fact that this isn’t over yet. Surgery and he’d like be back in buisness by the end of the weekend, but they’re suspecting he’ll be in hospital for up to a week! Incidentally there’s no internet, and you’re not supposed to use your cellphone but there’s apparently no or limited service anyway. He’s also worrying about losing his school term, although I think it’s a bit early to worry about that yet.

I’m off to his apartment to pick up some stuff for him, hopefully I’ll get to relieve my mom of her post as she’s had a long day (which at least started well with her receiving an award from work.)

Good timing for me not to have a full time job anymore… You can call me, but if I’m in the hospital – both cells will be off, leaving a message at my 6580 number will page me though. I’ll try to Plaze if I go there, but that can be difficult.