It happened again.
My stressful week was supposed to end in a weekend of rest and recovery. Little did I know how accurate that would become.
When we were teenagers we thought we were invincible. We weren’t, of course, but I remember the feeling. I was an athlete then and was proud of the letter jacket I earned in high school. As time marched on, I had a goal to regain my inner athlete and be in the best shape of my life on my 30th and 40th birthdays. Neither happened, which was 100 percent my fault. As it turns out, you need to put down the potato chips and get off the couch to hit such a lofty goal.
As I approached my 50th birthday, my feet hurt all of the time. I was winded climbing a flight of stairs. I was pre-diabetic. My weight was at an all-time high. I knew I was in trouble but it took seeing a picture of myself on the front page of this newspaper to get serious about diet and exercise. I dropped 75 pounds and actually hit my long-standing goal.
I have continued on that path, and that teenage feeling of invincibility had crept back into my head. I fit comfortably into that same letter jacket and am back to feeling like an athlete.
Two months ago my invincibility took a hit as I found myself in an ambulance on my way to the emergency room. My blood pressure had cratered and I lost consciousness. It had been a stressful day, which I recounted in this space shortly thereafter. The final determination was that a combination of overheating and dehydration were the culprits. I accepted that diagnosis as fact. My invincibility took a hit but remained intact.
Deja vu came last Friday. It had been a stressful day. Halfway through my workday, I could feel myself boiling over and checked my blood pressure. It came in at 180/110. Alarming. Horrifying. It was exactly the same as it had been two months ago.
Friday night was spent decompressing with our best friends.
Then it happened. I knew something was wrong and told my wife. Almost immediately my blood pressure bottomed out. I didn’t lose consciousness but was quickly surrounded by first responders. Again.
An emergency room visit lasted into the wee hours of Saturday morning. Again.
My weekend of rest and recovery from work stress became a weekend of rest and recovery from hypertension and hypotension.
As it turns out, I’m not invincible. My family history of high blood pressure has caught up with me. It took my dad, his brother and two of his sisters.
Sheer determination helped me to wear that letter jacket and reclaim my fitness. That approach won’t help to overcome life-threatening high blood pressure. My doctor and I aren’t going to let my story end the same as my dad’s.
As if I needed any other incentive, hearing my wife tell me “I’m not ready to lose you” is something I never want to repeat.
Goodbye deja vu. If my wife and I have anything to say about it, my story is long from over.
dougb@news-banner.com
