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| Hapi and Ava in better days, doing what dogs do |
Last swim of the year yesterday, first hurricane of the season on its way Tuesday. The last few hurricanes haven't made it this far north, but Teddy is due to hit us square on. Today we are getting sideswiped by Hurricane Sally, just a bit of rain and a breeze.
The swim was cold and I only did one lap because I had a lot to do yesterday and could not afford to get so cold that it took too much time to warm up again. The other women were trying to get me to stay in the water longer, they did four laps. I think they have more body fat than me to insulate against the cold. But it was nice to be in the water, I didn't mind the cold really, I just knew it would take a long time to warm up again if I stayed in longer.
Last night I had company for take-out pizza and beer on my back deck. We had "The Meat Lovers Special" pizza and Hapi wouldn't leave us alone. Her guts have not been healthy lately so I asked my guests not to feed her but she was very persistent and I am quite certain the guests were sneaking tidbits to her when I wasn't looking. She seems okay today though. One of the women brought a "growler" (jug) of local craft beer called Hellene which is her and my favourite beer. Lovely evening!
This morning Hapi and I visited her dog buddy Ava who seems better than the last couple of times, she may outlive the vet's prediction (a month at most). The exploratory surgery that revealed her fatal condition was very hard on her but she seems largely recovered from that now, her appetite is back and she goes for short walks in the nearby ravine. The two dogs lay on the floor at our feet while we humans chatted.
Ava's owner's father is back in the nursing home from the hospital, his health is up and down on a daily basis, keeping everyone guessing. But I think this is the beginning of the end. At 105 he's had a damn good run. All his kids and most of his grandkids are nearby now and visiting regularly, so that's good.
My doctor wants me to wear a heart monitor for a day to check my blood pressure. As it happens the appointment to pick it up at the hospital is the day before Teddy is due and I just didn't want to take a chance on having to return the monitor during the storm so I cancelled the appointment. The hospital clerk seemed skeptical of my excuse but she probably hasn't seen the weather warning yet, which just got posted a couple of hours ago.
And she may be right, I will take any excuse not to do it. I am resisting being diagnosed with hypertension because I really don't want to go on drugs for it. Bad enough dealing with insomnia, never mind all the other ills of old age. Slippery slope and all that.
2 comments:
I've been on all sorts of meds for BP and am grateful for it as it was through the roof and they couldn't bring it down. I think it has a lot to do with my Type A personality. I was reminded of that today by podiatrist who said very gently to me: Why are you always so tense? Duh. And I notice that in the way I grip things unconsciously.
Anyway I know it can be a killer, not to mention damage to kidneys and incidents of stroke increase.
Just sayin' :)
Yes those storms are heading our way tho I think we're escaping the wind part.
XO
WWW
My BP is not through the roof, it is borderline. I question the value of medicating borderline conditions. The side effects listed for BP meds seriously concern me, at this point in my life I am more interested in quality than quantity. A lot of people get prescribed these meds and then don't take them due to side effects. Also I am a poor candidate for ambulatory blood pressure monitoring, the results are likely to be artificial in my case. From my reading, home monitoring is just as good as 24-hour ambulatory monitoring (if not better due to artifacts in ambulatory monitoring) and I am already doing that.
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