‘Unique feeling': Dolphins LB Andrew Van Ginkel describes bout with appendicitis

MIAMI GARDENS — Andrew Van Ginkel is working on putting the pounds back on.

The snaps, he figures, will come after that.

Van Ginkel is still rebounding from the effects of appendicitis suffered late in training camp, a bout that saw him lose his appetite and therefore, “a little bit of weight.” Put it together and it explains why a linebacker who started 25 games the past two seasons did not play a single defensive snap last weekend vs. Baltimore.

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So no, it’s not a demotion.

“I would say the fact that he’s come back from appendix surgery in like 2 1/2 weeks is pretty impressive in and of itself,” defensive coordinator Josh Boyer said. “I would say he’s working his way back. I would say he’s getting his weight back, which I feel like he’s getting at pretty much back to where it was. It’s very impressive that his mental makeup and his desire to get back as fast as he has, and then there’s a lot of times where just because everybody’s available to you doesn’t mean you want to rush them out there.”

Easy for Boyer to say. Not so easy for a player watching his team get off to a 2-0 start.

“Just the timing,” Van Ginkel said of the most frustrating aspect of his situation. “You know, being right at the end of training camp, right? And you get a few weeks in, you start feeling good, comfortable, and now I feel like I had to knock the rust off again, which is tough.”

Van Ginkel said as soon as he didn’t feel right, he went to Dolphins trainer Kyle Johnston.

“He said, ‘Yeah, you might want to go to the hospital and get it checked out,’ ” Van Ginkel said. “And I went in there and the first thing they said is it’s appendicitis. They asked where it was. I said my lower right side. As soon as I said that, they thought instantly it was my appendix.”

Van Ginkel went home, slept, but by the next day he felt worse.