I came across your website as I was researching heartworm risk to dogs in Colorado, and I saw the posting about your daughter’s abdominal illness. The same thing happened to us, my 9-year-old developed severe abdominal pain (no vomiting) and we ended up at the ER per his pediatrician’s recommendation (thinking it was appendicitis). They recommended bloodwork and a CT scan — we had the bloodwork done and there was nothing too alarming there, so we opted to skip the CT scan and wait and see. That very day my son began to feel better, I couldn’t believe it. Then, a couple of weeks later, a neighbor’s son ended up in the ER for the same sort of thing. They were told that there’s a virus going around mimicking symptoms of appendicitis. Glad your daughter’s situation didn’t require surgery either, that’s just a terrifying thing for any parent to go through. And I think these sorts of experiences can be humbling, reminding us of how helpless we truly are in the grand scheme of things. As a healthcare provider yourself, it’s good you were able to adapt that lesson to your own practice. Thanks for the informative website/blog.