Wesley's Appendix by EastYorkDisneyfan
Disclaimer: These characters are created by Gene Roddenberry and owned by Paramount pictures.
This story takes place sometime in the third season of Star Trek the Next Generation. Captain Picard has gotten to know Wesley pretty well since the time they spent in a shuttle craft together in "Samaritan Snare," after that and the incident in "Q Who", where Q introduced them to the Borg. Captain Picard began paying more attention to Wesley in the absence of his mother. Their relationship developed into a sort of father son relationship.
Star Trek: The Next Generation -
Chapter One: A Pain In the Night
It's a special relationship that is harbored between mother and son. When that mother winds up being a single mother raising a young boy it can be especially challenging. That wasn't the case for Chief Medical Officer Beverly Crusher. Somehow, in the passing of her late husband Jack she'd forged an unbreakable bond with her now teenage son that spanned more than time and space could measure. A year of her son's life had escaped her as she took over at Starfleet Medical, but as she sat in her smaller accommodations in her office aboard the Enterprise, she felt at peace knowing he was just a few floors away.
It had now been a month since Doctor Crusher had returned and Wesley was glad to have his mom back on board the Enterprise. Of course it had been nice to enjoy the freedom of eating whatever he wanted when he wanted and to not be restricted by curfew once inside his quarters, but he still missed her. It was an odd feeling being separated from the only family that he had by such a space.
Wesley lay in his bed in the quarters that he and his mother now shared again. The chronometer next to his bedside lit up the numbers atomically, as a constant reminder that he should be asleep. In Earth time it would be considered a weekend, but he would have second duty in the morning on Alpha shift. If he didn't get to sleep soon he would be dead on his feet. Wesley's shift on the bridge that morning would be staring at 1100 hours and he would usually get up at about 0930 hours.
"Sleep!' his tired mind screamed.
If only his stomach would cooperate.
He tossed in the bed, shifting from one side to the next, crunching his knees almost up to his chin, lying on his stomach, curled up tightly in a ball, nothing seem to ease the dull throbbing ache that permeated his abdomen. To make matters worse it would seem that the condenser in the room was also malfunctioning, because in one moment he was sweating profusely in the room, and the next he was freezing cold.
As a dull stab of pain shot across his belly he sat up in the bed quickly.
"Oh...God...what was that?" he groaned grabbing his stomach trying to hold himself as still as possible as the wave of pain rushed through him.
He tried to get up but barely made it to his knees before the crippling pain took hold of him again, and he lay against his bed panting.
As the pain let up for a brief moment he managed to call out loud...
"Computer...what is the location of Dr. Crusher..." the last part came out as more of a grunt as he tried to get to a standing position.
"Sorry. Please repeat."
"Locate Dr. Crusher!" he screamed. The computer was use to the younger family members on board asking for the location of family members without using names or ranks. He could have just as easily said "where's my mom," but it just seemed silly.
"Dr. Beverly Crusher is in sickbay"
Wesley glanced at the chronometer again; it was more than three hours before he needed to be up for his shift. He would have to get something for this pain if he had any hopes of getting to sleep. With a loud groan he heaved himself up to search for clothes. The sudden movement brought about a surge of nausea as he scrambled to the bathroom to purge his stomach contents. Each time he heaved it felt like someone was trying to gut his stomach with a 'Bat'leth. After what seemed liked hours the vomiting ceased and the dry heaves went away. They were now replaced with a fire which stretched across his belly and back. He rinsed out his mouth in the sink and stumbled back to his closet to get some sweat pants, a t-shirt and his running shoes.
Wesley decided that he needed to see his mom about the pain as it felt like it was getting worse. He left the quarters that he shared with his mom. It was one of the few of the officer's quarters that had two rooms in it as most of them were single adults. The thing that Wesley really liked about it was that he also had his own entrance to the main hallway so that if he was working late he didn't have to disturb his mom when he came in.
He made his way to sickbay trying to suck up as much of the pain as he could take. He tried to walk straight but to the rest of the world it was obvious he was doubled over in pain.
Dr. Crusher heard the doors open and was surprised but delighted to see her son traipse through the door.
"Hey! You're up early...what are you..." she did not get to finish her sentence before she noticed his posture and the look of sheer agony on his face.
"Whoa, what's wrong Wes?" she asked reaching to steady him.
Wesley looked at her and said "Mom my stomach hurts ...really bad..., and it woke me up."
Doctor Crusher reached up and placed the back of her hand on his forehead and said "You do feel pretty warm, do you want some help getting up on the exam table?"
Wesley said no as he got up on it with little more than a grimace. The CMO then asked him to lie down on it. Wesley tried his best to lay flat but each time he did the pain flared even more.
"I can't ..."
"Just lie whichever way is comfortable Wes." She was really starting to worry now. He had lain down, on his left side clutching his stomach, his shirt pulled up, his eyes closed as if trying to find his "safe place" from the pain.
The fact that he was willing to let her examine him amazed her. Most times he was extremely reluctant and would often hide his illnesses to avoid her "doctoring" him. He was breathing quickly through his mouth. She knew he must be really hurting.
"Wes, take your hand and show me where it hurts." His clenched fists released long enough for him to point to an area between his belly button and hip. Doctor Crusher pushed on it.
"Does it hurt when I press here?"
"No." She slowly released the pressure and got the response she expected. Wesley gasped quickly and clutched his abdomen tighter.
"It hurts when I stop pressing...?"
"Yes." he practically screamed as she picked up the tricorder scanning him from head to feet.
"Body temperature 38.3 degrees, BP and heart rate are elevated...any nausea or vomiting?" Wesley nodded as she centered the device over the lower right quadrant of his hip. Pulling his pants down a bit she could feel the heat emanating from the area.
"I'm afraid it's a little more than a belly-ache son. You have got a hot appendix, and it's gonna have to come out."
She ran a soothing hand through his hair gently stroking it.
Wesley groaned and shook his head.
"I've got duty in three hours..."
"I'm afraid they will have to do without the amazingly talented acting Ensign Crusher, at least for a few days."
He opened his eyes nearly pleading with his mother. "A few days, will you tell the captain that?"
"Of course Wes, you need to have surgery, I happen to out rank our captain when it comes to the health of our crew." She leaned down and pretended to whisper."I have kind of "took a liking to" this particular crew member. I think I need to keep him around, so we need to get that appendix out now."
Beverly summoned Nurse Ogawa to prepare the OR for emergency surgery.
Wesley Then asked "Mom?"
"Yes Wes?" she answered as calmly as she could, she did not want to stress Wesley out about the potential dangers of surgery, and he needed to be calm and so did she. She stared at the readings on her tricorder. Wesley reached up and touched her hand forcing a connection to her, breaking the practiced clinical detachment as she stared into her son's worried eyes.
"Will you perform the surgery on me? I know it's probably against the rules but I'd feel more comfortable with you doing it..." Beverly stared at him and she smiled and nodded as she helped him off of the bed and helped him walk over to the surgical prep room.
Once they arrived there one of the nurses from Sickbay began helping Wesley to change into his gown for the surgery. In the meantime his mother and Doctor Adams were getting ready as well. Another couple of nurses were also preparing the Operating suite for Wesley's surgery when he was brought in. After he was placed on the table and prepped his mom came in dressed in her sterile surgery garbs.
"Okay Wes, I'm just going to give you a sedative with this hypospray to help you to sleep for your surgery. Just count down from ten and when you wake up it will be all done."
Beverly's mouth and hair were covered by a protective mask but her piercing blue eyes bore into her sons as he stared at her and began his count.
"Ten...Nine...Eight...Sev..." He tried hard to fight the anesthesia but by the time he reached seven, his eyes fluttered shut as his face grew slack and he was under.
"Okay let's get underway, Dr. Adams will you assist?" She requested ignoring the doctor's somewhat irritated stare. Doctor Adams initially wanted to do the surgery herself but Doctor Crusher had insisted that SHE would be performing the surgery because she was not going to lie to her son. Most of the staff in sickbay knew how protective she was of Wesley, so the doctor unwillingly gave in against protocol and agreed to assist her with the surgery.
Dr. Crusher was handed the sharp bladed scalpel and she glanced up at her son's face. She looked down at his warm tender belly and froze for a moment. "This is my son I'm cutting into..." she thought.
"Dr. Crusher, are you ready to proceed?"
"Yes..." she stammered snapping out of it as she expertly made the first incision into her son's abdomen and began to cut through the layers of soft tissue and muscle in her search for the inflamed appendix.
The two doctors worked at a steady pace to reach and detach the infected appendix from its superior organ, but discovered that the miniscule worm shaped organ had ruptured spreading toxins into his abdominal cavity and blood stream.
Once all parts of the destroyed organ were removed the doctors irrigated the internal areas with saline to prevent infiltration of infection. With tender care she closed up the internal incisions with thin ribbons of laser thread and finished the outside incision with a thin stitch that went perpendicular to his hip bone and covered it with a dermal generator.
She walked up to the head of the bed as the materials from the surgery were now being removed or tossed away, and she pulled down her mask kissing her unconscious son on the forehead. The surgery had taken more than hour to complete, and he would be expected to sleep at least another hour. The healing rest would give his body time to lower its temperature and fight any potential infection that lingered.
Beta read and edited by Jadeblueafterglow17