Dear Kids,
      I was just sitting here trying to think of some news for my family letter, when Vanessa called and said Meg was in the hospital and her appendix had been taken out. She woke up yesterday morning with stomach pain, and her white blood cell count was high, but the doctor wasn’t sure it was her appendix, because she wasn’t screaming in pain. (Sound familiar, anyone?) Luckily, with laporoscopy they can look all around inside you, and the appendix didn’t look terrible, but it wasn’t normal either. They found a place where her diverticulum had ruptured, though, which can be really bad. So they cleaned it all out and took out her appendix besides, and we hope she will make a fast recovery. She’ll probably be in the hospital for another day. They had planned to leave for Disneyland this morning, but naturally they’re not going now. Sterling was practicing his theatrics (mostly a very sad face) for telling his teacher that they weren’t going to Disneyland because of his sister’s appendix. Vanessa says Disneyland is the absolute last thing on her mind right now. We’re just happy that it all turned out OK for Meg.
      Paul has a job! No, it’s not engineering. It’s not full time. It doesn’t have benefits. He’s working at Frederico’s Pizza in Logan, three nights a week. He washes dishes and sometimes busses tables. Well, it’s honest work. You know what they say.
      My breathing troubles are back again. I thought I didn’t really have COPD, because I was doing so well, but something brought it back. Dr. Newbold prescribed a different inhaler, Dulera, but so far it isn’t doing much for me. He referred me to a specialist he thinks is very good, but whenever I call their number, I only get a recording that says to leave a name and number, and they’ll call back. I’ve left my name and number twice, but I haven’t heard from them yet. Pulmonary doctors are supposedly the hardest to get into. Maybe I’ll drive to their office and camp out at the front desk until they let me make an appointment. But maybe it doesn’t even matter. I’ll probably have trouble off and on for the long term now. Dr. Newbold said the last two tests have shown that my lungs are scarred, but it’s funny I’m just hearing about it now.
      Well, sorry for the downbeat news. I hope you’re all doing really well.
      Love, Mom