Drink Water!

I have now been sick for 4 days and I am going to have to take antibiotics for the next 10 days. I have a kidney infection which has caused my temperature to soar, 102F last night. This meant a trip to the hospital was neccessary. It was the second time in 3 days that my temperature had gone out of whack. The first time I started popping Tylenol which brought the fever down and convinced me that I was suffering from the flu. Somehow I figured the reason I wasn't exactly peeing with force was strictly caused by the fever. After a day of Tylenol my temperature dropped from 101.5F to normal so back to work I went feeling run down but thinking the worst was over with. By the time I got home from work yesterday I again had the chills and a temperature of 102F and could hardly pass water at all so it was off to the hospital.
It turns out it wasn't the flu and fever causing the problems, it was a urinary tract infection most likely in my kidneys which was the root of my misery. Taking the Tylenol to reduce fever masked the origin of my troubles and in the long run caused things to worsen.
All this may have been avoided if I simply drank more water through the day, in particular when I am at work where I am quite active but because I don't sweat profusely there I don't drink much water. Water flushes out the system and helps prevent infections from proliferating.
I have already talked about my bad water drinking habits while riding my bike and I have improved in reminding myself to drink all the water that I bring on a ride. That is simply not enough it seems and it will now be neccessary to remind myself at work to continually be hydrating. It seems the simplest things are sometimes the most important.
I should also mention that going for hard rides now or for the next few days would be counter productive. The best thing is to just rest and not worry about losing some conditioning. I learned this the hard way many years ago when I had a bad cold a few weeks before the 24 hours of Adrenaline. Instead of resting and making sure I ridded myself of the cold I continued to ride and consequently took much longer to get better. My nose ran like a tap on every lap I did and for the first time ever I had severe leg cramps. Another lesson learned.
P.S.......I don't like to use the emergency at the hospital but I figured not being able to pee for a couple of days before I could see my own doctor meant I had to go. For a while I was waiting beside a woman and her young (roughly 6-7 years old) daughter. Mom had brought the daughter in because she had been swimming in a chlorined pool 2 hours before and now her eyes were sore and red. No problems seeing, no swelling, just irritated. How ridiculous!