Grounded But Still Flying High

Last Wednesday, the blood mobile arrived at my place of employment and I actually was looking forward to my day's donation because it was going to earn me my "Gallon Club" pin. I have been giving blood all of my adult life but had never been with one organization often enough to attain this goal but Wednesday was going to be THE day - finally. So I arrived at the trailer a little earlier than my appointment, ready to get this ordeal on its way. There is a process that you must go through each time that you donate, consisting of a blood pressure check, a check for the iron level in your blood, and a questionaire which you must answer. My first indication of trouble was when the nurse could not find a blood pressure. I knew I had one, I didn't think I had died in that blood mobile. She tried several times in both arms and then called in the reinforcements. Nurse number two tried and also failed. Nurse number three was able to find it in one arm but not in the other. Then I was thrown for a loop when nurse number three pronounced my blood pressure too high for donations. Since my pressure is ALWAYS low, I have to admit that I was a bit concerned and made an appointment the next day with my family doctor, figuring one of two things would happen. They would take it and it would be back to its normal level or they would take it and it would be high and they would put me on BP meds. Imagine my surprise when the nurse could not find my pressure and the physician's assistant whom I normally see could barely find it in one arm and not at all in the other - and it was high. She called in the doctor who was able to find it in both arms, this time VERY high for me. All of a sudden the conversation was about sending me to Jefferson Hospital in Philadelphia because they were concerned that the dissected carotid artery that I suffered two years ago was again causing me problems. I was really against going back there, not because I didn't like that hospital but because I was sure that they were making a mountain out of a mole hill. They told me that they would call Jefferson to see what they recommended but also would call a cardiologist to discuss it with them. Jefferson told them to send me to the cardiologist immediatley and see if he thought I should make the trip to Philly.

So I ran home to pick up Bill and off we went to the cardiologist. Once again, the nurse was unable to find a BP. I was really glad that Bill was along to see this because he had thought I was nuts when I told him that the blood mobile had been unable to find my pressure. However, this time, the doctor's office had a BP machine and the nurse told me that the machine would pick up ANY BP and she was right, however, by this time, it was really high. The cardiologist made an appearance then and put me through a series of tests to see if the hole in my artery was in any way in danger by the increased pressure. For the first time, I was able to see the hole in my artery as the ultrasound technician slowly probed my neck area and found it. I had never had an ultrasound for this condition before, lots of xrays but never an ultrasound. I was so relieved when he told me that the hole in my artery had a blood clot sealing it off and that it was as healed as it would ever get. That had not been the report that I had gotten last August - they were not able to see if there was any healing at that time and were talking about surgery. But now, this doctor was able to confidently say that it had definitely healed a lot. However, the increased blood pressure was putting it in danger. And they had not been able to detect a reason for my BP to increase from low to high virtually overnight.

Now we begin the series of tests that will try to isolate that reason but the first order of business was to get the BP down so I was put on medicine and given strict orders to avoid any aerobic exercise until it has returned to a normal level and until they perform an MRA to reinforce that the artery is healing and has not been damaged. No aerobic exercise meant no letterboxing. I was heartbroken because I had made arrangements with Dogs with Wings to box on Saturday - a day that looked as though it would be the best day of the summer so far. There was no way that I could convince the doctor that I would be with a nurse so it would be ok. He explained that I am now high risk for a heart attack but I am higher risk for a stroke and that even being with a nurse would not help me if I had a stroke on the trail. So I resigned myself to staying at home.

But even though I felt like I had been given a bunch of lemons, I decided that I would make lemonade. I quickly put a call into Out of Sight and asked to borrow the Milkmonster for the weekend. And to my pleasure, I was told that his social schedule was clear and that I could have him. She made me promise that I wouldn't run after him and chase him around the yard to hear him giggle because that would also be a blood pressure raiser so I recruited Barney and the Immobile One to do the running for me. There is no better medicine than being with my grandson and enjoying things through a two year old's eyes. So even though I was down about the letterboxing, I still was able to have the weekend that memories are made of.



Above, Barney is doing his job admirably and below, the Immobile One heads the Milkmonster in my direction.