These Knees Were Made For Walking

…and can send you to the hospital. Yup. Wound up in West Virginia University Hospital at Morgantown for just less than 48 hours. Not the kink I thought I would face next.

On Tuesday, May 20, I was getting ready for a few inches of rain coming in at Outflow Recreation area. I had some pain…took some medication. It helped. For a while. Also, in the middle of the night on Monday, I think I spiked a fever. Took medication then and slept. About 6ish on Tuesday, after working all day to prepare for rain, I went to a fellow camper and asked for some help ostensibly to finish packing up. She took one look at me and asked if she could call 911. It was BAD. So, the ambulance ride was about 50 minutes. Jack stayed with the camp host. Spent a couple of hours in the ED waiting room. Around 11 they called me back to be evaluated. Labs, etc., had already been run. I had a UTI. But this was my 3 one since starting out. So they decided to dig a little deeper. CT scan of my kidneys showed a kidney infection and a recent passage of a kidney stone. And that meant IV antibiotics. Plus, I was running a fever and I don’t tolerate those well. They recommended hospital admission for a couple of doses of antibiotics and, frankly, I did not argue and there I was.

I really think that might be more information than you were looking for today. Suffice to say I am better. I was discharged on Thursday. Sharon LaPalme picked me up from the hospital. She came to spend Memorial day weekend with me. I could not appreciate the timing of that more. Thank you, Sharon.

I got good care at WVU in Morgantown. The staff were kind and helpful. They took good care of me.

And I missed out on another deluge of rain in my tent. Darn.

Many thanks to all those that helped me:

Phil, the camp host. He took care of Jack.

Karen. The National Parks Ranger that helped me navigate, etc,, when I didn’t know what was going to happen.

Patty’s cousin. I don’t remember her name but she called 911.

The two other gentlemen that put my stuff in the car and helped with Jack.

Peggy, the EMS professional and her partner. They kept me as comfortable as possible on the ambulance ride.

But for the kindness of strangers.

And last but certainly not least, Sharon. She picked me up from the hospital and we had a nice weekend camping and hiking. Not a stranger but a friend.