Life At Home

Unfortunately I had to stay at home in Canmore today instead of going to Lake Louise because I discovered yesterday that I have a kidney infection. Whoopee! Don’t ask me how I got it, I’m not quite sure myself. I have been experiencing lower back pain for a couple of weeks now. It was quite minor in the beginning, and I thought it was attributed to lots of double poling. As the weeks wore on, it gradually got worse and accompanied with this was a furious need to go to the bathroom! I for those of you that know me I’m sure you’re all aware of how small my bladder is to begin with. Now multiply that by two. Ya not fun.

On my ski yesterday my back was pretty sore. It wasn’t an injury sort of pain, but moreso the kind of achy pain you get when you’re sick, only mine was just in the kidney area. After my ski I came home and came down with a bout of the chills. I took a shower and then got really hot, all the while my back was still achy. I started to get super worried because one of my friends had a similar incident not that long ago. He neglected to go see a doctor for the longest time, but it got pretty bad so he was more or less dragged into the hospital. It turned out he had contracted a “Super Bug” that was cultivating in his spine. He was immediately trasferred to a hospital that was able to perform emergency spinal surgery. Apparently he would have died had he been a few hours later.

I was actually joking about having a super bug a few days ago, but as I began to draw on more of the similar symptoms I acutally started to get myself quite freaked out. I made a few phone calls to doctors and was told to get in to see someone immediately. I found it odd that people were making a pretty big deal about it (myself included) because aside from the back pain and the chills, I felt quite fine. I didn’t have a fever, my pulse wasn’t racing, and I could still walk and talk.

The sample came out positive. I had a kidney infection. So now I’m on a three day course of antibiotics. My kidneys still feel sore and swollen, so I’m glad I decided to take the day off. The nice thing is I get to chill in my house for a day, something that I felt I needed a bit anyway. In my spare time I’ve decided post some shots of the Wonderful family I live with- the Browns. Without them Canmore wouldn’t be home. They are very dear to my heart.

The Family- from left to right: Aiden, Davina, Dwayne, and Paddy

Aiden practicing his dryland training.

 Aiden is six and dreams of being a goalie for the Pittsburg Pengiuns when he grows up. Right now he plays for the Canmore Grassroots. He is a talented biker, hockey player and skier and is part of the Rocky Mountain Free Riders program with his brother. They can bike and downhill ski better than I can. Ha ha, here’s Aidy in the basement. There’s always something going on in the house. The kids keep me doubled over with laughter every day.

Right- we’ve got a bit of bulking up to do before we’re on the NHL.

 

Davina currently works as a Manager for Parks Canada. She has truly amazing leadership, teamwork, and time management skills. Not only is she a mom with a full time job, but she is also a full time student because- oh what, SHE WENT TO THE 1986 OLYMPICS for EVENTING (that’s horse back riding for those of you who don’t know)!! Pretty, pretty, pretty cool. I almost passed out when I saw the pictures. Yes, we get along well. Always stuff to talk about.

Sorry it’s sideways. Dwayne is a total outdoor enthusiast. It seems like he’s spent his whole life outside either climbing, hiking, skiing, building stuff, or cycling. Out of all those things cycling is certainly his passion. If you want to know anything about current cycling news, he’s already got it. He has a gorgeous Marinoni road bike and it wouldn’t surprise me if I found him spinning on it at 4 in the morning watching live stages of the Tour (no, he doesn’t ever spin this early in the morning, but he has been known to get up to watch certain Tour stages live). And yes, like all avid cyclists, Dwayne loves his coffee.

This is Paddy with Ned, the family dog. Correction, that would be a the shelving box that Paddy is in so often I’ve come to associate it with him. Paddy can do things on a bike that I probably couldn’t do with my own two feet. He aspires to be a pro biker like Canadian free rider Darren Berrecloth or “Bearclaw”.

This is Paddy- now out of the box

Above is the cat, Wiley. He thinks he owns the house and when he is hungry is very very vocal about it. I love him to death though!

If you can read it, the Brown’s posted this message in the middle of thier fridge. It makes me laugh!

Over and out from the Brown’s house!