Wipe Your Face With Your Own Dog!

Hi,

My title today is just a little funny that I thought was hilarious. It is a line from the movie "The Boys are Back" where the film is winding up and everything that went wrong during the story is now resolved and we are approaching the happy ending. In the scene the father is at the kitchen table and his two sons (from different mothers) are sitting on the couch with the dogs between them as they watch TV. Casually, the older boy takes the dogs long ear and wipes his face with it. The father, shocked, says, "Did you just wipe your face with the dog?" and the little brother looks over and orders him to "Wipe your face with your own dog!" What can I say? I'm still chuckling over the common place absurdity.

In my own life, I've been dealing with an unusual bout of very high blood pressure. I'm not going to tell you the numbers for fear that you will be in shock but the numbers were very very very high for one reading and then only very very high for most of them afterward. This began on Saturday and by the time Sunday happened I was pretty worried so I went to an urgent care facility. I really liked the PA that treated me. He talked fast and had a New Jersey accent but he was very kind, attentive, and knowledgeable. He suggested that I take one of the water pills I had in the house as a temporary stop gap and then go to see my primary care physician in the next day or two.

Problem: On Thursday I had decided not to go back to my primary care physician's office and to begin the search for a new one. I thought I had some time to complete that task, but, not so. I'm not sure what word would describe what happened or how I felt about it, except for maybe "upset" which is not really a description at all. (I shared the story in my last blog post.)

My old doctor (that does not take Medicare) had told me that the BP medicine I was taking was at the highest dose she thought was safe for me, and the NP told me that that was wrong and we could double the size of it. So my next prescription was for 100 mg instead of 50 mg, and I was afraid to take it. I took the 100 mg at night and 50 mg in the day and it seemed to be fine until I noticed that my BP was creeping up. When the BP got really high on Saturday I took the 100 mg morning and night but it made no difference. I took an additional one on Sunday morning and it did not help. I told the PA at the urgent care center and he said he thought it had been a good idea.

Then what happened? On Monday I called my insurance company to change my PCP after searching the insurance web site for someone with the criteria and hospital affiliations I wanted. I was told that since I had been to see the old doc during the month of August they could only make the change effective on September 1st and they would not budge from that position. She did suggest that I call the old PCP and get a referral to the new one. That sounded good until I called the old office and was told they do not refer people to other PCPs.

I realized I might have to go back to the hell hole after all, but, I called the new doctor's office and told them my predicament and they said that I should come in, anyway, and gave me an appointment for today (Tuesday). I also realized that I had two insurance companies and surely one of them would cover this doctor's visit.

I'm so glad! I think I found the right doctor. Her staff was not only friendly, they were kind and respectful, too. When I gave them my paper work from the urgent care facility, they actually read it. And they heard the answers I gave to their questions. I was floored that they then knew so much about me and treated me according to the information. That was completely unusual. A doctor's staff who actually heard what I was saying to them, remembered it, and took it into consideration while treating me. Praise the Lord for bringing me here!

My new doctor was exactly the same way. She took her time to try to find a medicine that I could take without harming me. I so appreciated that she was concerned about the same things I was concerned about. She finally decided to give me a very low dose of another diuretic to try over the next three weeks to see if it works. If that does not work, she will send me to a kidney doctor so they could examine me from their point of view and expertise.

They also gave me an aorta scan right there in the office. I had never had one before but it was a way to check if there were any aneurysms in my abdomen which they told me sometimes happen when BP gets to be too high. There was none, so I was good there. I'll be going back in three weeks for a BP test and in about four weeks I'll have a heart scan, also done in their office which makes it cheaper to do. I really like this doctor and feel much better about going to see her. I don't know if my insurance will cover the visit, but I needed to do it. If they don't then the other one should. I guess I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

By the way: After I took the water pill on Sunday, I discovered the next morning that I had lost five pounds over night. I did not take another one on Monday because it raises my blood sugar and causes inflammation. Tuesday morning I had severe leg cramps and had gone down another three pounds but I had also become dehydrated and shaky. I actually hit 310.5 which was nearly 5 pounds below my first goal. Since it was water, I have no idea how long it may stay off, or if it will. But since I'll be taking a very small dose diuretic for the next 30 days, perhaps some of it will. It was not my preferred method of weight loss, because it could just be temporary, but it was kind of surreal to see the drop in numbers on my scale. I had not really been expecting to see 310 so soon. It has been a long time since I saw it on the way up.

Well anyway. I'm feeling much more relaxed now and hoping my BP begins to go to a better range. If you believe in Jesus, please pray for me.

Thanks.

Be back soon,

Lord willing,

Marcia