Yesterday afternoon I got out of work a bit early because I had an appointment to donate blood at the Red Cross. Donating blood is one of the few things I do that I hope will help me get into Heaven someday. When we lived back on the west side of Washington, I gave every 8-9 weeks, as my schedule allowed. I was half-way between my 4 and 5 gallon pins when we moved.
There is a first time for everything though, and yesterday, for the first time, I was denied on my attempt to donate. Nothing like a new tattoo, or unprotected gay nooky...instead I was turned away because of my blood pressure. They have a band of acceptable blood pressure for the donors...in my case, it wasn't because I had a low score, like golf...it was because my numbers were a bit too high.
My blood pressure has traditionally been on the high side of normal/healthy...in the 130ish over 75ish range. SWMBO, ever the observant one, noticed when I came home that there was no hole in my elbow. I saw nothing to gain by not being absolutely truthful with her, so I admitted the reason I hadn't given blood.
Yesterday afternoon, my blood pressure was 174 over 106. A retest a few minutes later had it 174/104.
I think I would have been better off telling her I was having unprotected gay nooky.
We did some talking. Prior to quitting the shipyard, I had one last appointment with our family practice doctor through group health....at that time, all my blood work came back good, and my blood pressure was in the acceptable range. That was only about a year ago, so I can't see everything else going out to lunch that soon, but, I am worried enough about it that I was willing to take a beating from my LPN wife about it.
More to follow...I can see less beer in my future.
In the six plus months that I went from being an active equipment operator/electrician to a computer slug I've gained about 20 pounds and my BP went up, too.
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