It was SCARY HIGH

Did you ever stop and wonder if someone has been trying to ell you something for a while? My dad's family has high blood pressure, weight and lifestyle don't seem to matter when it comes to this hereditary fact of life. I seem to have inherited it by the time I was 38, despite being at a healthy weight and having an overly healthy lifestyle. I have managed it pretty well for the past 9 years despite the scale crawling up with the calendar. I spent 5 of the last 6 years on a low level medication. A year ago, a severe parasitic infection that I picked up abroad had me wondering if I was preserving my liver. After months of trying to control the infection my doctor and I decided that maybe a drug holiday would be in order. As far as my BP was concerned it was contingent of course on the numbers.
 I managed to keep things in line for a solid year then the creep set in. First time it was a slight rise, I blamed it on caffeine within the 3 hours prior. The next few times, I blamed it on hormones. I was after-all running every day and I haven't eaten processed food in decades and at this point I was really watching what I was eating. Then came the subtle indicators that something was up, the occasional blurry vision that lasted for less than a few minutes, which I just thought was work stress and sinuses. I do suffer from post-concussion syndrome that comes and goes. Then there was the slight nausea that I have felt since November that I attributed to the fact that things will be changing soon, I am female and almost 50 after all. Last week there was the bloating that I attributed to the same thing.
On Jan 31 I started to think about my dad and how much I missed him. He suffered a stroke when he was my age and died a handful of years later. That was my exact thought, no elaboration, just he had a stroke at my age. Why I was dwelling on that I have no clue?  The next day I got an e-mail from a speedskating friend, an early groundhogs day card. My mothers father was a 4th generation CHUCKER, meaning he was from Punxy. My only thought when I opened it was I wished I could have shared it with my "Grampy" because he would have laughed a hearty belly laugh at it. I wrote Bridie and told her of my ancestral connection to groundhogs. She replied with "read your blog…how's the month's exercise going?" That was Thursday, the same day I woke up with a bad ear-ache. The night before I hadn't wanted to skate, I was tired,  felt feverish or at least I had been sweating all day like I had one. I skated anyway, felt a bit out of it, but managed. On Thursday however I was in enough pain to actually want to go to the doctor after half my day teaching. I left work after my last class and arrived at the Dr by 2PM. I was there until almost 6 while they tried to decide if I needed to be hospitalized for a medical emergency. My blood pressure? It was a whopping 167/110 and not coming down that easily. The worst, Kenny didn't even know I was at the doctor. I texted him and told him I was being held hostage by a nurse wielding a cuff. I had been there for 3 hours. I had both sets of keys and the car. I was most likely not leaving on my own power. I was most likely heading to Danbury to spend my weekend in PJ's, eating really bad over-cooked processed food and growing tubes. Then came the text CAN YOU COME HOME? I AM SCARED.
By 6 PM I was allowed to go but with strict instructions. No exercise until at least tomorrow, no salt, no caffeine, no getting off the couch, no stress, no…, coaching in Lake Placid this weekend, absolutely NOT!
I had to take a dose of med before bed and come back to the office at 8 AM. I had to make sure that if I experienced any symptoms of what I was told could be a FATAL situation such as blurry vision, nausea, confusion, headache, or pain I needed to call 911 immediately. WTF had I gotten myself into?
So, I sat home all of that night, all of yesterday and now my pressure is back to normal with the help of a diuretic. I have a new perspective on my life and quite frankly loosing weight and living an even more healthy lifestyle is something that is not even a question, it is mandatory! I'm so convinced someone was trying to tell me something and I am grateful!