There's a pretty distinct sinking feeling associated with being told that your niece is on morphine for pain. I mean, this is a tough kid. Last year, she cracked her wrist, and my poor sister didn't notice until a few days later when Rosalyn mumbled something about having to carry her books with her other hand. She just doesn't complain (at least, not about pain), so to hear that she was literally lying in the hospital bed yelling until they doped her... jeez.

She has, like her mom and my brother (I apparently lucked out), some manner of mysterious gastrointestinal funkishness that is autoimmune related. Her stomach appears to have been holding onto food for days and days, which is Not Good. On the bright side, this incident makes it really clear that Something Is Wrong; my sister will be able to use that to force the doctors to keep looking until they figure out what it is.

Edit to add: It depends on what the condition actually is, and the individual's specific biological quirks. My brother has joint issues and a tendency for inflammation in his intestines; he has fairly loose dietary restrictions--not too much meat, stay away from chunky indigestables such as kernel corn, nothing spicy. My sister has intestinal and urinary tract issues, with similar but stricter dietary restrictions, but no joint issues that we're aware of. Rosalyn... all they know at this point is that she's not passing food through her system the way she ought to be. And I don't have any serious GI issues at all. (Knock on wood.)

Thanks for the thoughts.