Terrell has such a high threshold for pain that it can be difficult for his parents to know when he's really hurting. But last Thursday it was clear. Terrell was balled up on the family room couch, crying.

Pain that had started in his knee gradually spread throughout his body. He was more short of breath than usual. Carl and Valicia brought him to Norton Hospital downtown, where doctors and nurses increased his doses of steroids, anti-anxiety medicine and Delotid pain medication. In fact, they gave the pain medication intravenously. "Orally, it stopped working," Carl said.

At least one parent stayed with Terrell the entire time he was in the hospital, where doctors worked to manage his pain and get his dosages right. He was discharged Monday at 5 p.m. with a Delotid pump.

As I was speaking with Carl yesterday, Terrell walked into the family room in obvious pain, tethered to the ever-present oxygen machine. His face was swollen from the steroids. He sat down on the couch, and his dog Ozzy snuggled next to him.

Terrell said he was glad to be home and hopes he doesn't have to go the hospital again. "Anything I can do at home would be much better," he said.

Carl said Terrell has already signed a "Do Not Resusitate" order, asking doctors not to use heroic measures to save him. They would like him to live out his life at home.

Terrell said yesterday that the pain was still excruciating, and he was waiting for the pain medication to relieve it -- at least somewhat.

"Right now it's everywhere," he said of the pain.

At one point, his hand on his dog's belly, Terrell drifted off to sleep. When he awoke, he laughed with Carl about memories of a playhouse they once had when they lived in Michigan.

He's determined not to the let the pain keep him from laughing.