because I felt so absolutely lousy at work yesterday, as though my blood pressure were way, way up. Even a mid-day chair massage didn’t help for more than a few minutes. I felt so bad that L brought me home early from the poly dinner, and I finally managed to sleep . . . but not very much. I was restless and kept waking every few minutes throughout the night.
So when I still felt dicey as the alarm went off at five A.M., I decided to stay home and wait to see if I could feel a little better. I phoned in sick, then turned over and slept until well after nine. After that, I lay around in bed reading, and didn’t move until almost noon, when I got up and went out to mail off the Academia Waltz books to their buyer. By that point, my stress seemed in a little better shape but I thought the BP might still be up, so I pondered what I might do next about it that wouldn’t cost a lot.
My solution was to go and give blood. The phlebotomists always take your blood pressure as part of the exam, so I figured that was as good a way as any to go, given that I’d just received a “you are eligible again” postcard earlier in the week. So I did, and got a reading of 150/82, which was high, but not so high that I couldn’t give, which I did (pint #53). After that it seemed I really had better drop by the doctor’s office and see what they had to say, and since the office is near the blood bank.
The nurse checked my blood pressure, and then called in the other nurse to check it and be sure, and they both agreed: 128/84, which is quite acceptable. The first nurse gave her opinion that the blood bank should have used the large cuff on me, because my arms are big enough around that the regular cuff has to squeeze too hard and skews the reading, by as much as thirty points sometimes. This made me feel much better about things.
Then it was time to go pick up everyone, and after I’d done that I stopped at the pharmacy to pick up my new prescriptions for Wellbutrin and Prilosec (both of which now have generic equivalents! Hurrah!). You know, I’m not sure, but I have a sneaky suspicion that TEX’s insurance program has never Gotten the Word that I’m not employed there any more and is still paying on my prescriptions, because I only had to pay a co-payment amount ($16) instead of the full cost ($200-and-some). I can’t really afford to complain, but I’ll feel much happer about things when I finally have my new insurance card from the Feds and can switch everything over.
UFOs are hallucinations, and Roswell doesn’t exist either. Fnord.
