Had a bad day recently? Me too.
A complicated set of circumstances made for an absurdly ridiculous day recently.
A little background may help. I am an avid bike rider. I can be found on River Road, Ind. 201 and through Ouabache State Park most days around noon. I’m also a vegetarian. My choice to eat a meatless diet has created a bit of food anxiety when eating in public, at meetings or with friends. I didn’t know this was a thing until just recently. I deal with the anxiety just fine most of the time, but when other stress piles on, my bucket overflows.
On this particular day, my (non-vegetarian) friends were planning to get together later that evening and my bucket overflowed before I had even left the house. I checked my blood pressure and it was off the charts. Blood pressure issues would be a common theme throughout the day. I’m not going to tell you how high it was to avoid getting yelled at but it had been perfect at my annual physical a week earlier.
I waited 30 minutes and the numbers dropped to something slightly less alarming.
By lunch, I was ready for a calming 10-mile bike ride. All was well until the seventh mile. A vehicle seeing traffic coming toward us, didn’t see me and pulled onto the road right beside me as I was riding 20 mph. I had nowhere to go and inches between my tire and gravel on my right. I tried braking but my back tire slid toward the vehicle’s tire. Not good. Touching gravel at that speed would have either thrown me violently into the ditch or under the vehicle’s tires. My only option was to scream at the top of my lungs. The driver stopped, I stopped, oncoming traffic stopped. Crisis averted. I was shaking violently and needed some time to calm down.
The driver did stop to check on me multiple times, unsure if they had hit me. I’m sure they were shaking uncontrollably as well. A friend saw what had unfolded and came to check on me, buying time for the shaking to subside enough to ride back to the office.
I checked my blood pressure once again. It was high, but not as alarming as earlier.
Fast forward to the get-together at our friends’ house. I shared the story of my bike ride and headed to their hot tub with a drink to decompress.
This is where the story should wind down.
I knew I was overheated and moved out of the water to the edge of the hot tub. In my recollection, I told my wife that something was wrong and I didn’t feel good. In reality, I barely got the first word out and began to fall backwards toward some landscaping boulders three feet below. My wife caught me and pulled me forward. I came to with my head underwater. Before I was pulled from the hot tub, I passed out again. Maybe twice.
The next thing I am aware of was the face of an EMT friend whose son is recovering from a skydiving accident. “Hi Pat, how is Joe?” I asked.
My blood pressure had plummeted to 60/40. They said I looked like a black-and-white photo which I found amusing given my occupation. My wife did not.
If you would have told me that I would be riding in an ambulance that day, I would have thought bicycle or car accident. A hot tub incident? Hardly.
My wife and I left the Emergency Room just before 2 a.m. after a gaggle of tests revealed the combination of overheating and dehydration were the culprits. I had run the gamut of blood pressure issues that day and have been monitoring it closely since.
A day like that tends to put everything in perspective. I have a fantastic family, a job I love and friends who care deeply for me. I am truly blessed.
What a wonderful life.
dougb@news-banner.com
