Hypertension! Don't worry, Mama!

So my phyiscal today, perhaps my first in 10 years, took a long time. All afternoon.

First of all, I wasn't able to take the bus to my appointment today, like I wanted to, because as I was about to leave the house, the kid that I caught trying to break into my house the other day was spotted in the alley by a sharp-eyed neighbor. So I called the police, like they had asked me to. Then I realized I missed my bus, and I had to drive.

That's about when my headache started. But I drove to GHC and found rockstar parking under a tree. So the headache didn't really kick in until my doctor told me I had high blood pressure. Not scary high, but high. No "nicking" where my veins cross my arteries in my retinas, no monster left ventricle pattern in my ekg.

Pain behind my right eye. They gave me a Tylenol.

My doc wanted me to relax, so he turned off the lights and left me alone for a while. Meanwhile, he called the pharmacy and had them send up a bp med so he could see my reaction to it in the office. My bp responded in less than an hour, dropping by 20 points.

Anyway, most of the visit was spent cooling out in the exam room. I looked at a photography book; very relaxing. I text messaged my mama; less relaxing. She went into medical mode, telling me to ask about certain meds and expressing her displeasure. I had to text her that I was supposed to be relaxing, because she was starting to stress me out. In my family we express affection by stressing each other out... and by that measure really do love each other. Well, by any measure.

The other thing my mama wants to talk to me about is refinancing my mortgages, which has in the past been a major cause of stress. I realize now that my parents don't understand, and that mortgage people don't care, about how demanding it is to be a teacher, so I've basically drawn a line in the sand: no talking about mortgages while school is in session. It must be nice to work in an office, to not be constantly looked at (literally), to go home at 5pm and not have to think about work anymore, to take time during the work day to do personal business. It must be nice, but I wouldn't know, because I'm a teacher. I will fax you the form when I have time, dammit, stop pretending it can't wait.

School is not in session now, so now is a good time, but just thinking about past experiences stresses me out.

So when I was finally done at GHC, I walked across the street and got some teriyaki: grilled meat on rice (no sauce) and some kimchee. I stopped at the drug store to buy a home bp monitor. Then I came home, putzed around for a while, and then went to bed at 8pm.

I got up at midnight and discovered a PBS series about teaching languages, which gives me some ideas for next year...

Also, I emailed my jazz guitar teacher; I am wasting my money on jazz guitar lessons. I need to play with a group for a while, get comfortable with the instrument, learn the fretboard, before I go back to jazz guitar lessons. In the meantime, I can take jazz piano lessons, develop my noodle.

Ok, time to post my bp. As I wrote above, I bought a monitor, but I'm sure I'm not putting the cuff on correctly, which my doc warned me about. So for now I'll just tell you the score I got at the doctor's office: 171 over 113. High, but not scary high. The doc wasn't worried about getting it under control.

I'll try again later this morning, after I get cleaned up and take my meds. The monitor kind of freaks me out, with it's motor sound and then the pulse beeping.