The world is my oyster!

Or the other way around ...

After a lovely weekend with the new boy and friends, visiting the Hirshorn and Gordon Biersch, I woke up on Monday in excrutiating pain.

A familiar excrutitating pain. One I remembered disctinctly from college ...
kidney stones.

I attempted to tough it out for a couple hours then gave in to the pain and called the doctor's office. Three hours of waiting later, I had a prescription for an antibiotic, one for morphine, and a referral to a urologist.

The rest of the day was spent in a light opioid induced slumber. I awoke the next day to a new hell:

I will never be a drug addict. Apparently, I am allergic to morphine. I spent approximately five hours throwing up and dry heaving, and another five wishing I could and itching like I had used poison ivy shower gel.

I learned several important lessons that day.
1. When you get a prescription for a new drug, get it in the shortest length form possible. The morphine pills were 24 hour extended release, which meant I had to wait forever for them to wear off, and by the time the reaction showed, it was too late to pump my stomach.
2. As triathletes, we're supposed to be in touch with our bodies. I hadn't felt great this weekend, but ignored it and tried to soldier on. Take time to rest, pain and discomfort are warning signs. Witness the psychic shoulder.
3. I have awesome friends. Superhero M. came over and babysat me (I have a history of fainting spells when sick), and took me to the urologist, and brought me sugar-free oreos.
Best new boy brought me dinner and flowers (pink again!) and did not pass judgment on my sickness induced wearing of neon green velour pants.
4. Build sick time into your training schedule. I am so relieved that I am exempt from the Gulf Coast event so that I didn't have to feel guilty about missing these past few training days. You shouldn't feel bad about putting your health first anyways, but it helps to build flexibility into your training schedule.