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1st off- no more antibiotics for this girl!!!

Running has taken a back seat lately. I'm easing back in, but only 2-3 days a week. I'm in-between marathon training cycles, so I probably should be cutting back anyways.

Monday morning I finally had my renal lasik scan done. Thursday afternoon I met with a urologist. He was a very young doctor, so I felt apprehensive about his diagnosis. But, he was very professional and competent, so I overcame my initial unease.

A renal lasik scan is an odd procedure. You get an IV full of radio active dye, then they put you in this long machine (like a full body MRI) and watch the dye move into your kidneys, then into your bladder. Then, they inject you with the actual lasik, which forces everything in your renal system to empty. Not painful, you just feel the need to pee for an hour (and you can't, because they have to watch your system).

The urologist said my system was 'impressive', and he hadn't seen anything like this before. We watched the video, which showed that my left kidney filled and emptied within 4 minutes. My right kidney took 28 minutes. My right kidney has less than 14% functionality; my left kidney has taken over all of the burden.

Sounds scary, right? Well, apparently some people are born with one functioning kidney. It usually takes 25-30 years for people to discover this, because that's when health complications start to show up. For me, these complications are an increased risk of urinary tract infections, or even kidney infections. There is no remedy except kidney removal. Unless I have a life threatening emergency, (or I decide I can no longer tolerate my susceptibility to UTIs), I really have no reason to remove the kidney. How weird it is to know you have an essentially dead organ hanging around.... I may seek another opinion. I just feel so odd about the situation.

No lifestyle modifications required, although I should avoid high contact sports. Afterall, I only have one kidney. If I lose that I'm SOL.

Running....

Now that I know I'm cleared to run, it's time to get back out there. Marathon training starts 1/9/17 for  Blue Ridge.

Until then I have a 5K next Sunday and a 10K on  New Years Eve. 

I'm just glad to know that running Richmond isn't what caused kidney damage. Extra hydration and rest time will be built into my next training cycle.

Cheers and happy running!!!

India