We had a busy weekend. Oh how I love the sound of that sentence!
On Saturday we attended a family event to celebrate the engagement of my niece. My Sister-The-Youngest-Girl and Beau Bob organized and hosted the happy event, great food, wine, and good company, a winning combination. My Mom and my five brothers and sisters were there, and it was wonderful to share such a happy time together.
We returned home on Sunday morning, to relax and putter around the house for the day.
On Sunday Attila loaded yet more scrap wood into Tank. The scrap consisted of some of the old shed door, that was missed the first time around, and the mousey kitchen cupboards that were removed when the dishwasher was installed, quite disgusting they were. All gone now though. We have had rain and the fire ban was suspended, so that I could burn all of the scrap in a campfire. We have a bit more scrap wood left to burn, that would not fit into Tank, it was sitting under the back porch when we moved here.
The garden shed is still not completed, as Attila lost his momentum due to unforeseen family events this summer. It is close to being finished though, tantalizingly close.
When I arrived at the hospital to have my toe nail looked at, my blood pressure was taken, it was very very high, 180/115. I questioned the doctor about it during the examination, and she said no big deal, “people are just nervous about being here”. I would have none of it, I have been to Emergency many times before and my blood pressure had not risen in this way. I stayed put on the bed, I was going nowhere with blood pressure that high. So the nurse took it again, and it was down to 164/99, so they insisted that I was fine, and should go home without looking any further into it.
Blood pressure measurements fall into four general categories:
Normal blood pressure. Your blood pressure is normal if it’s below 120/80 mm Hg.
Prehypertension. Prehypertension is a systolic pressure ranging from 120 to 139 mm Hg or a diastolic pressure ranging from 80 to 89 mm Hg.
Prehypertension tends to get worse over time.Stage 1 hypertension. Stage 1 hypertension is a systolic pressure ranging from 140 to 159 mm Hg or a diastolic pressure ranging from 90 to 99 mm Hg.
Stage 2 hypertension. More severe hypertension, stage 2 hypertension is a systolic pressure of 160 mm Hg or higher or a diastolic pressure of 100 mm Hg or higher.
The Mayo Clinic
Ignoring blood pressure that high was unacceptable to me, I could feel something wasn’t right. So this morning I took myself to a walk-in clinic, which was a 45 minute drive from Mist Cottage. I am glad I did. My blood pressure was high when the doctor there took it, he suggested increasing the dosage of my medication, and gave me a prescription. He also looked over the blood work report that was done after I was told I had Chronic Kidney Disease. He confirmed that I do not have Chronic Kidney Disease. I was very pleased with the visit.
At home, an hour after I took the additional dosage of medication for high blood pressure, my blood pressure had dropped to normal, the high end of normal, but normal. I am feeling much better.
Luna has decided to go back to school to work on a science degree, and to that end she begins classes when the children return to elementary school. Their’s will be a very busy household this autumn! Luckily Janus has a generous amount of time off work, he is going to need it.
The weather is still warmer than I would like, and humid. Cooler temperatures are always predicted as a few days away, and that is where they have remained all summer, a few days away.
The garden is now lush and green. The green beans are bearing again, there are new tomatoes on the plants, and the peppers seem to have produced some small fruits. The Scarlet Runner Beans are a joy to behold, their bright blooms festooning the fence and swaying with each passing breeze. The lawn will need to be cut soon, the second cutting since last June!
My Mom is doing very well. She has regained the weight she lost when she was ill, her cheeks are rosy, and the sparkle in her eye is back. We didn’t get much of a chance to visit during the Engagement Celebration, but it was great to see her looking so great!
I just noticed something interesting. We have been watching Lucy Worsley’s “Empire of the Tsars” on youtube. The list of her films that appears down the side of the web page, each offering a posed image of Ms. Worsley. And suddenly she seemed familiar and comforting! I was surprised, wondering where that came from, and then I knew. She reminds me of the paper dolls of my childhood, the ones that came in books, with a doll in a frozen pose, and many outfits to change how she looked. And that is what Ms. Worsley looks like to me, in all her poses, a frozen paper doll with tabbed changes of clothes. I loved playing with those dolls, hearing my Granny in the next room cooking on her wood stove. Thank you Ms. Lucy Worsley for the flashback!
Worldly Distractions
Weather
25°C
Date: 3:00 PM EDT Tuesday 30 August 2016
Condition: Mostly Cloudy
Pressure: 101.8 kPa
Tendency: falling
Visibility: 24 km
Temperature: 25.2°C
Dewpoint: 17.3°C
Humidity: 61%
Wind: SSW 27 gust 37 km/h
Humidex: 31
Quote
“My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind.”
Albert Einstein
1879 – 1955
You were right not to ignore the blood pressure problem. Those doctors! I’m glad its better now,and doesn’t seem related to anything else. I have high blood pressure and watch it like a hawk! You reminded me of the paper dolls my sisters and I played with when we were kids. We had such amazing imaginations, didn’t we?
While your clinic is a drive, it sounds as if you might get much better service for non-emergency situations and spend far less time doing it overall. Some of our walk-in clinics will actually make “appointments” for follow-up visits during their generally slower times. While not true appointments, they are in the category of “we’ll do our best to see you around this time if there’s no one just then who needs immediate help.” I wonder if your clinic might offer such a thing.
I’m very glad to read that you had a physician who paid attention to you, prescribed appropriate treatment, and took the time to confirm that you don’t have Chronic Kidney Disease.
Diane, I am surprised by the Doctor’s I have been encountering in the Emergency department. They are very narrow thinkers, and I guess someone above them is calling the shots, insisting that care be brief and shallow, meant to move patients through quickly so the hospital can collect the money for the visit, but without offering any kind of comprehensive approach to health issues, which is serious for seniors who have multiple health issues that impact each other. The hospital is a good place to be in a dire emergency, like a heart attach, something they are prepared to treat, but they are doing a very poor job at filling the gap for those who cannot fnd a primary care doctor.
Playing was all about imagination wasn’t it Diane! Oh the joy of it!
Wendy, the doctor did tell me to come back in two weeks, but I assumed I could not make an appointment, I didn’t even ask! I will call them tomorrow and see if it is possible. This clinic was much better than the last one I tried. They have posters saying that each visit can only address ONE issues, so I felt very fortunate that he glanced at the lab report and gave me the feedback, it was very considerate of him and he didn’t have to do it. Although, chronic kidney disease could cause high blood pressure, so it might have been related, but it wasn’t.
Your new weekends sure are coming in handy. It’s wonderful that you were able to go to the engagement party and still have another day left to get some things done around the house.
Good for you in not taking the Emerg doctor’s brush off of your high blood pressure reading. Hopefully the increase in medication is all that’s necessary and you won’t have to worry about it again.
Only one day left in August. It shouldn’t be too much longer before those promised cool days actually arrive for you. I think we have a forecast of 22C (72F) for Wed or Thursday, here. I’ve looked on the US gov’t meteorology site and they seem to agree with that. Maybe it’ll make it all the way to you, this time.
Teri, had we been living at the country house, and Attila working in his previous job, we would not have been able to attend the event. That was part of what made life at the country house so very isolating. It is wonderful to be a part of things again, after all these years.
“Brush off” is an apt description of the Emerg doctor’s approach. She, and the nurse, were experts at deflecting any attempts for a comprehensive review of my condition. Obviously it is a skill developed through experience, which tells me that the serious problems in the health care system are very deep and very wide.
I do hope the hot humid weather lets up soon! I would love a few weeks of weather in the low 20s without the humidity, that would be heavenly.