As much as my lovely pain-y goodness has decreased substantially since the first few days of illness, these damn symptoms will not go away. I went back to the doctor to complain that the treatment so far isn't completely working, though things have improved. He ordered some more blood and urine tests and x-rays as well as an abdominal ultrasound. The tests came back suggesting some kind of kidney infection, so he prescribed a two-week course of antibiotics to kill that off. I've started on those, but my symptoms are still not completely gone. Hopefully by the time I'm done with the antibiotics it'll all be over. Still, my ultrasound appointment isn't for another 9 days, so there's also a part of me that's hoping there's more to this story that we haven't figured out yet given that my symptoms are atypical for a kidney infection.
I was halfway out of the doctor's office when I turned around suddenly. "I'm a bike-commuter, and since I'm feeling a lot better do you think that it's okay for me to get back on my bike yet?" I asked hopefully. The doctor thought about this for a moment, then said "Well, you are ill, even if you don't always feel that way. Also, I'm worried that the seating position on a bicycle might exacerbate some of what's going on there. This is a pretty virulent strain of bacteria that you have." Damnit! No bike-commuting yet.
I did find one little trick to get in a bit of exercise, though. I've just discovered that I can park my car at a public park about a 3.25 km (~30 min) walk from the university for free. So I park there, walk the rest of the way to work, and then walk back to my car at the end of the day. It adds almost a full half-hour to my commute each way, but at least I get an hour of exercise and a solid 6.5 km walk in each day. That's a whole lot better than nothing at all! And walking is so low-impact I can't imagine it being deleterious to my health! Don't I feel clever . . .
