NightOwl Cat Offline Upload & Sell: On
|
Then again, as sick as I am right now, I may have yanked you off that chopper, hauled you up over my shoulders, and driven you to the ER myself. Luckily all appears to have turned out well and your pilot didn't have to divert to an emergency room's helipad for you. We're getting to the age where our bodies aren't what we want them to be, no matter how much of a superhero workerbee we want to be.
(My sickness is a nasal infection the doc discovered Friday after hearing the change in my voice. High dosage of antibiotics for me. Now my voice is about five octaves lower than normal, my shift for tonight was cancelled for low census, and I'm going to do the sensible thing for once, and get more rest between now and my next scheduled day on Saturday. I'm not normally a whiny sick person, but last night at work about did me in and I asked for the cancellation if it was going to be done.)
Hopefully Sheila and your brother in law have recovered from the anxiety as well.
JWilsonphoto wrote:
Good Morning Laura,
I could have used your expertise on Sunday afternoon. Seems a combination of life, genetics, age, whatever has caused my BP to creep up over the last couple of years. My Doc asked me to get a wrist BP monitor a while back and keep a month long record for him so he could determine the proper course of action. Well, schedules being what they are I haven't stopped long enough to do that. Sunday, on the way to catch my helicopter, I dropped into a CVS to get a teether for my glasses and remembered, so I got one of those OMRON wrist cuff monitors. I had a little time prior to my flight so I set it up, paired it with my iPhone and did a quick check. Um, then I took a couple of deep breaths, attempted to go to a mental "happy place" and took a half dozen more readings, not much change. I emailed the results to my Doc/brother in law and called him to see what his thoughts were. He asked me where I was and I told him, at which point he said, "go to the nearest ER, do not get on a helicopter, don't do anything but what I'm telling you to do!"
Well, under the heading of our "Do you want the shot, or not................?!", with a helicopter enroute and a couple hour window to get the footage needed, I did a little amateur analysis of my situation. I know, I know, "silent killer" and all, but cancelling this mission mid stream would have been really bad form and would have left some very significant friends and clients in the lurch. So, I took stock of what was happening, no symptoms, felt great, went to a pharmacy and double checked the readings with their machine, not much change. By this time Sheila had talked with my Doc and she was calling me, Doc Tom was calling to reiterate the urgency of his instructions, and none of this was helping my BP situation. The helicopter arrived a little early, I spent a quiet moment asking The Lord to protect me in spite of my stupidity, and promised everyone I would head to the nearest ER after my assignment was completed. The flight was perfection, and I always slip into that cathartic, post assignment state so I figured that would help. Once on the ground I kept my promise, returned the dozen texts from Sheila and my Doc, as I drove to meet Sheila at the ER.
I'm not advocating this line of behavior, am fully aware that at 221/something equally horrible, I was rolling the dice with an awful lot at stake, but I think, stupidity not withstanding, I have answered the "Do you want the shot or not........" question once and for all. And yes, I spent four hours in the ER Sunday night/Monday morning, no damage to my heart/kidneys, perfect EKG, then saw my internal medicine guy first thing yesterday and we're in the process of getting my numbers in the reasonable range. ...Show more →
|