I had my annual physical today. My family physician of over 20 years abruptly decided that he no longer enjoyed the weather of Central New York and gave little notice when he departed at the beginning of the summer, so today I had my physical with a new doctor at the same location. We reviewed my medical history, the dosages of my blood pressure and cholesterol medication. He was surprised that I survived Spinal Meningitis when I was just shy of my second birthday. I guess I just kind of take that for granted. We talked about flying and my FAA Medical Requirements. I like the new doctor. After the first visit I am comfortable with seeing him again.
The nurse that readied me for the entrance of the doctor weighed me, took my temperature and blood pressure and the like. She thought my temperature was low (97ºF) but I wasn’t surprised, normal human temperature is approaching a fever for me. I usually hover around 96.8 or so, so the 97 wasn’t unexpected. My blood pressure was up at 144/98. She weighed me in kilograms. I enjoyed seeing the Metric system in use. I weighed what I thought I should weigh with clothes on so I was comfortable but not happy with her assessment.
The doctor commented that my blood pressure was high; I asked him to retake it and it was much lower. He asked if that happened often and I replied to affirmative; I have high blood pressure because they’re checking my blood pressure. I hate the cuff on my arm. The second time it was much better (but not great) at 130/88.
I think a lot of what elevates my blood pressure is the way I see the world. I choose to look at Facebook and I come to the realization that there have been a lot of ignorant people in my life. I watch all sorts of ridiculous outbursts take place on Twitter and I can’t help but get angry; people are having incredible hissy fits and screaming things about a “War on Christmas” because Starbucks didn’t make their holiday cup festive enough. Hell, they even talked about the Starbucks Red Cup on the latest round of the Republican Debates, which, by the way, is depressing, infuriating and maddening enough to make my blood pressure go up. And we have a whole year to go before we decide who gets the big chair in the White House.
I was going to continue with this blog entry but I felt my face starting to warm, a sign that my blood pressure was going up. I’m going to sit back, wind this down and go watch a video about kittens or something.
