Once again, I went on a writing hiatus. Not intentionally, mind you, but I did get out of the groove while visiting Jack in Georgia. My goal of 600,000 steps for November has become a difficult challenge because of that trip. I logged 15, 13, 10 and only 4K on the four days I visited. One of those did include a three-mile run, however, and that felt surprisingly good. I was concerned that running on pavement for the first time in this century might cause me some problems, but everything turned out okay. Since my return, I have been pounding the trails and averaging over 23,000 steps per day to try and make up the difference. I had 389,000 through yesterday, so I still have to average 21,000 for the remainder of the month to achieve my goal. Then…Sunday morning happened.
“Why are you reading about finding blood in your urine?” Miggie asked, looking over my shoulder as I perused WebMD.
“Because I had quite a bit of blood in my urine when I went to the bathroom at breakfast this morning,” I said.
She was very concerned…and so was I, quite frankly. I’ve had several bouts with kidney stones over the years and my first thought is that I was about to have another attack. I had no corresponding back pain, however, and so I was reading on worrying about all the other possibilities. I had gathered a sample and planned to take it with me for a doctor’s visit the next day…provided I could get one. Regardless, I headed out for my seven-mile hike and 23,000 steps for the day.
I called by family doctor, a Cleveland Clinic MD, and went on hold for the obligatory ten minutes. Once connected to the appointment desk, I explained my condition, but admitted it was much clearer this morning.
“It’s kind of rust-colored now, but I saved a sample from yesterday, which was full of blood,” I concluded.
“I will pass this along to the doctor’s office and someone will call you,” she said.
And that was the last I heard. Since I am also waiting for a call from my heart doc with the results of my wearing the heart monitor for thirty days following surgery (that was several months ago), I’m not too hopeful about receiving a call. I guess blood in urine is not enough of an emergency to return a call, but I think I’ll follow up today. It may happen to them all the time, but it’s the first time for me and I’d like some answers…
Hike: 60 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 75 bpm.
Calories burned: 350.
Bonus: 23,000 steps.
No comments:
Post a Comment