Last night I slept near Blue Diamond on the way to Death Valley. I woke around 6:00, crawled out of sleeping bag, and took one of the new pain pills, and then crawled back under the covers. I got up around 6:30 and a hellish wave of nausea hit me. Pounding head ache, dizziness, light headedness, weird. Concern is kidney took a turn for the worse. Made decision to drive back to ST George to seek medical help. My thought was if I had hospital problems I would rather be here w/ relationships already established. My body was out of control. I kept hoping I would “straighten out” and not need to see a doctor. Finally mid afternoon I entered the clinic. My story is getting longer to tell. New dr but had access to my medical records. Blood was drawn & analyzed for crit level and I am topped off so there is no kidney bleeding. This dr diagnosed my issue as a reaction to the new pain pill. He wrote a script for hydrocodone and told me to take a pill when I was in pain which is almost all from my head. As the day wore on my body burned thru the Rhyzott and I reconnected back to earth. The dr kept emphasizing that I am healing a tear on my kidney that is like having had surgery. I must be gentle to allow the wound to heal. He said 3 weeks is too early to really start riding. The dr was maybe 75 lbs overweight and maybe had little idea of physical conditioning contrary to fit urologist. I will “shop” dr advice next week. The urolgist said in 3 weeks I would be about 70% healed, fully healed 6 to 8 weeks. I am counting on riding a week from this Monday. The high blood pressure he attributed to the fact that my blood level is back up and it should start dropping as the meds: 1 pill per day at bedtime kick in.
Went to a restaurant / sports bar to check out Gonzaga’s game. I was early. The OSU game was on which was great so I watched the Bucks win in OT. The bar did not buy the special package meaning they did not receive the Zags game. The help was very helpful in identifying possible establishments that might have coverage. The waitress used here cell phone to call the places. Chilis had the package. I drove over and worked w/ the bartender to turn the TV at the bar on to the game. Several colleg football games were on. Several people asked if the bar TV could be turned to one of them The keep kept his agreement and turned on the game when it started. GU won in a tough smash mouth game. Cool. medical treatment, a Buck and Zag win.
Tired and spent. 130 miles each way ST George to Las Vegas. Tomorrow I plan to be in Death Valley for a shower in a park XG. I read that several XGs in the park have wi-fi, perhaps my card will work.
Sleeping at the gravel edge of a motel parking lot. Temp is low 40s. Bed time.