This past weekend is one I will not forget for a long time, although I am sure it scared my wife more than me. It started Friday afternoon with a dull pain on the left side of body. I remember falling hard at the Hillside race the day before, but I was surprised that I didn't feel any discomfort until nearly a day later. I was not too concerned as I had cracked my ribs on the right side earlier in the year and the pain was much worse than this. I figured at worst I bruised a rib and all I could do was get some rest and give it time to heal.
I woke up early Saturday morning and my side was still bothering me so Andrea got me a couple of ibuprofen. After taking the ibuprofen I remember taking a couple of deep breaths to stretch the lungs and the next thing I remember was Andrea frantically trying to wake me up. Andrea is not sure how long I was unconscious but figures it was probably about 5 minutes. I am still not sure what happened but I have fainted a few times in the past and this was completely different. Let's just say that I got my first ever ambulance ride early Saturday morning.
After arriving at the ER they ran a series of blood tests, heart scans, chest x-rays, and a CT scan of my head. All the tests came back normal, leaving us with many unanswered questions. The pain on my left side was slightly more than the previous day, but it didn't keep me from doing anything. I was trying to determine a link between the two but it just didn't make sense. The doctors were just as dumbfounded as I was and even insinuated that I had fallen asleep, by asking how much sleep I had the night before and if I had anything to drink. Yeh, I was a little upset, but I know how dumb some people are that come into the ER so I give the doctors credit for asking the question. Anyway, after the remaining tests came back negative I was told to come back in on Monday and not to drive for the next couple of weeks.
I was completely out of it on Saturday and slept most of the day. During this time the pain on my left side got progressively worse and at times I was short of breath. I also developed a low grade fever. I was more convinced now that the pain on my side and the unconsciousness were linked but more worried about what was causing it. Things got progressively worse over the next day, but not bad enough as needing the go into the ER.
Monday morning I went into urgent care and had more blood work done and a second set of chest x-rays. It turns out that I have pneumonia and probably a couple of busied ribs. Although it is uncertain that this was the cause of Saturday mornings events it is a definite possibility. I was extremely happy with the diagnosis because it is easily treatable and it made sense to me.
This the the chain of events that led up to this. The couple of days leading up to the 24 Hours of Afton I felt a cold coming on but was unsure if it was allergies or not. During the race I felt OK, but the day after the race developed a bad chest cold and even had a fever the Tuesday after. I felt slightly better by the end of the week but opted out of the TT and short track at Maplelag. I did race the XC race on Sunday but was not feeling 100%. I took it easy the next week and didn't even get on the bike until the Thursday night race at Hillside. During the first part of the race I went down hard on my left side while allowing a rider to make a pass. I felt like I was pushing hard the entire race, but the speed just wasn't there.
The doctor suspects that my body was fighting off the cold and the added stress from racing and the trauma from the fall led to the pneumonia. I will be on antibiotics for the next 5-10 days and pain meds for the discomfort. As for biking, I am not sure what will happen. I would like to make it to the last race of the season at St. Cloud, but even if I get better soon I will have a limited time to get ready for the race.
See you all soon.
I woke up early Saturday morning and my side was still bothering me so Andrea got me a couple of ibuprofen. After taking the ibuprofen I remember taking a couple of deep breaths to stretch the lungs and the next thing I remember was Andrea frantically trying to wake me up. Andrea is not sure how long I was unconscious but figures it was probably about 5 minutes. I am still not sure what happened but I have fainted a few times in the past and this was completely different. Let's just say that I got my first ever ambulance ride early Saturday morning.
After arriving at the ER they ran a series of blood tests, heart scans, chest x-rays, and a CT scan of my head. All the tests came back normal, leaving us with many unanswered questions. The pain on my left side was slightly more than the previous day, but it didn't keep me from doing anything. I was trying to determine a link between the two but it just didn't make sense. The doctors were just as dumbfounded as I was and even insinuated that I had fallen asleep, by asking how much sleep I had the night before and if I had anything to drink. Yeh, I was a little upset, but I know how dumb some people are that come into the ER so I give the doctors credit for asking the question. Anyway, after the remaining tests came back negative I was told to come back in on Monday and not to drive for the next couple of weeks.
I was completely out of it on Saturday and slept most of the day. During this time the pain on my left side got progressively worse and at times I was short of breath. I also developed a low grade fever. I was more convinced now that the pain on my side and the unconsciousness were linked but more worried about what was causing it. Things got progressively worse over the next day, but not bad enough as needing the go into the ER.
Monday morning I went into urgent care and had more blood work done and a second set of chest x-rays. It turns out that I have pneumonia and probably a couple of busied ribs. Although it is uncertain that this was the cause of Saturday mornings events it is a definite possibility. I was extremely happy with the diagnosis because it is easily treatable and it made sense to me.
This the the chain of events that led up to this. The couple of days leading up to the 24 Hours of Afton I felt a cold coming on but was unsure if it was allergies or not. During the race I felt OK, but the day after the race developed a bad chest cold and even had a fever the Tuesday after. I felt slightly better by the end of the week but opted out of the TT and short track at Maplelag. I did race the XC race on Sunday but was not feeling 100%. I took it easy the next week and didn't even get on the bike until the Thursday night race at Hillside. During the first part of the race I went down hard on my left side while allowing a rider to make a pass. I felt like I was pushing hard the entire race, but the speed just wasn't there.
The doctor suspects that my body was fighting off the cold and the added stress from racing and the trauma from the fall led to the pneumonia. I will be on antibiotics for the next 5-10 days and pain meds for the discomfort. As for biking, I am not sure what will happen. I would like to make it to the last race of the season at St. Cloud, but even if I get better soon I will have a limited time to get ready for the race.
See you all soon.
2 comments:
Sorry to hear that you have pneumonia! Although I'm glad to hear that it isn't anything more serious. You'll be back on the bike in no time.
Matt, whoa, you've had the year!! Hope your on the way to being well.
Heal up, still a few hillside and what not races, not to mention the awesome fall season. See you Saturday.
Post a Comment