When I was younger I did lots of physical things and never broke anything. Not body parts anyway. I've crashed 16 times on my bike (remembered one more, in L.A. on Sunset Blvd. -- hit a pothole at 20+ mph) but never broke anything. Road rash, yes, but nothing worse. Played hockey and ice skated for years until I broke my ankle three months ago. Is being injury and illness-prone a sign of aging?
I don't know. The reason I'm talking about this is my friend David, who rode Davis with me last year and Solvang this year, contracted a blood infection that nearly killed him. He's been sick for a week and a half, running a fever as high as 108(!). He was lucky because his brother in law was visiting him and he took David to ER. David was in renal failure and his gallbladder walls thickened. Worst thing is doctors don't know what he has, so they're treating him by deduction. Tests are showing nothing they can identify and they're just eliminating things that are knowable. Now they think he contracted it when he swam in a triathlon in Russian River two weeks ago. Hopefully no long-term repercussions. Apparently, these things can leave nasty residuals: susceptibility to kidney failure, premature death, and worse. Wait, what's worse than premature death? Never mind. He's improved tremendously in the last two days. I hope he recovers completely. Fingers crossed.
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