Wednesday, May 13, 2020

Bllod Pressure

I have been absent from the land of blog for a bit. Life has been busier than usual after being locked in for so long. The campground is officially open. We were busy last weekend.

Despite me telling everyone that the store was not open, they seemed to stalk the door until I opened it and let them in. I was in a mask, they weren't. One man even sneered at me and said I was crazy. I see a lot of people making fun of those people merely trying to protect themselves by wearing a mask and gloves and making use of hand sanitizer. Why, I wonder, does this seem to bother them so much?

We had our televisit with the cardiologist last Monday. HeWho said he liked this method, that it was so easy. Easy for him. We both had appointments 10 minutes apart with the same doctor. Mine was first. The first call came from the receptionist verifying the appointment and telling me that another call would come from the nurse to go over my medications. Then the call from the doctor and then a follow-up call to schedule the next appointment. 

So, four calls per visit. I took care of all the calls except the call from the doctor to HeWho was busy holding down his chair. About the time he started cardio re-hab, I became less diligent about checking his blood pressure. Then I had my own cardiac adventure and he became obsessed with my blood pressure. Then we seemed to stop taking our blood pressures altogether unless we felt bad.

So, imagine my surprise when I took his blood pressure and it was 210/111! I did this in preparation of the televisit. That is stroke range, you know. So, I spent over half of my doctor call talking about HeWho and trying to figure out what was making his blood pressure spike. 

His diet has not been as strict as when he first came home. He has been known to eat things that are forbidden. I went through everything he did and ate. Then I went through his meds and thought I discovered the root of the problem ….. and it was MY fault! When his last refill came in of his blood pressure meds, I did not notice they had changed the dosage of the pill and I was supposed to be giving him 2 instead of one. In my defense, the 10 mg pill looks just like the 20 mg pill, but I still feel so guilty! I corrected it right away and have been monitoring his BP several times a day. 

It won't come down. I gave him a one time double dose and the lowest it got was 150/88. Still too high. His cardiologist had told me to keep a close eye on him and monitor his food and activity to see if the high BP was a one time thing. It is not.

He is at the doctor's office now. I couldn't go with him because today is delivery day for ice and soft drinks. We pay our vendors upon delivery and I probably could have asked someone to watch the store, but he went to our local clinic and she will consult with the cardiologist.

Nothing to do but wait now ….

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Geez that is pretty high blood pressure! I have noticed that when i go to my various Drs and they take my pressure,on their pro Dr machines, it is always much lower than when I take it on my wrist machine. I finally asked the Dr why and was told that wrist machines were a piece of junk. He recommended an upper arm type but also said if you have a larger upper arm you need a bigger cuff than usually comes with it. Maybe?
B.

Joanne Noragon said...

Not good, and I hope you get to the bottom of it soon.

Linda O'Connell said...

Well if it isn't one thing, it is another for you. I hope all is well by now. That had to be a fright!

Val said...

Maybe it will come down over a few days of the correct dosage. Now you know to look out for it, so this could be a good thing, making you aware to watch it more closely, and get meds changed if BP doesn't come down.

dkzody said...

I'm with Val, you gotta give the meds some time to work, but gosh that is a scary high reading. My dr gets upset if mine gets as high as 130/80. I have a secondary med to take if it starts to climb.