Derek's Appendix

Derek (14) just had an MRI. I'm not so sure about the expertise here in Rexburg when they can't even find his appendix (which has NOT been removed, yet) so they sent him home for the next 24 hours to "see what happens". The blood and urine tests - and the pain that he is in - show the signs of appendicitis but . . . let's see what happens. Is this a set-up so that he ends up staying for a week having had a ruptured appendix instead of doing an outpatient surgery? Hopefully, he just gets feeling better!

Derek has had a run in with medical problems since he was quite small. He has built up such a tollerance for the pain that he often has a ruptured ear drum before he even knows he has an ear infection. Swimming is the worst for his ears, especially in lake water, so after our Texas trip he ended up with a double ear infection. After putting drops in his ears he would put kleenex in them to stop the dripping. Nathan started calling his Shrek because it looked so funny.



With all the medical troubles he goes through he always maintains a cheerful attitude. The hardest part about him being sick is that I want to let him curl up on my lap to cuddle like he used to do when he was little but his six foot long body just can't do that anymore. The best I can do is pamper him and he rewards me with spunky comments and silly faces and appreciative grins that must take all his energy to produce.

**Derek took a couple of days to recover from his non-appendix problems. Whatever it was cleared up after a lasting fever, a long nap, and a full season of "Psych".