View of Agostino Gemelli hospital in Rome on 8 July 2021. (Photo by Isabella BONOTTO / AFP) (Photo by ISABELLA BONOTTO/AFP via Getty Images)
Pope Francis ran a slight fever on Wednesday evening, after "a quiet day" according to the update that came at midday Thursday from Press Offcie Director Matteo Bruni, who added that the pope "is continuing with his planned treatment and eating by mouth."
In the midday health bulletin on Wednesday, Bruni had announced that the Holy Father had ceased receiving "infusion therapy" -- usually intravenous delivery of medication -- and was eating regularly.
Thursday morning brought "routine and microbiological examinations, and a chest and abdomen scan, which proved negative" after the pope ran a slight fever on Wednesday evening.
The Pope was "eating and moving unassisted" on Thursday, and sent "affectionate greetings" to young patients in the pediatric oncology and children's neurosurgery wards at Rome's Gemelli hospital, where he continues his recovery from a partial colectomy on Sunday.
"In the afternoon ," the Vatican bulletin said, "he wished to express his paternal closeness to the young patients in the nearby paediatric oncology and children's neurosurgery wards, sending them his affectionate greetings."
"At this particular moment," Bruni said, " looks toward all those who suffer, expressing his closeness to the sick, especially those most in need of care."
On Sunday evening suregons performed a left hemicolectomy — the removal of the left side of the large bowel — on Pope Francis, who was expected to remain in hoospital for seven days, “absent complications” following the intervention to treat diverticular stenosis.
A histological examination confirmed the diagnosis of narrowing of the large intestine: diverticular stenosis with signs of sclerosing diverticulitis.
Prof Sergio Alfieri performed the operation, which lasted roughly three hours. Prof Luigi Sofo, Dr Antonio Tortorelli, and Dr Roberta Menghi assisted.
Prof Massimo Antonelli, Prof Liliana Sollazzi, and Drs Roberto De Cicco and Maurizio Soave administered the anaesthesia, while Proff Giovanni Battista Doglietto and Roberto Bernabei — respectively the head of the Vatican’s healthcare services and the pope’s personal physician — were present in the operating theatre.
