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Wednesday, July 26

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I’ll begin with a picture of a pretty butterfly I saw on the dogwood tree on our patio the other day.

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The saga of my day began with my yearly checkup at my primary doctor on Monday.

My yearly checkups have been routine for most of my adult life. I had a total hysterectomy in the early 1980s (the doctor was concerned because of the texture of my ovaries due to my mother dying of cancer), several tests because I passed out in 2011, and the removal of an unhealthy parathyroid in 2012.

Monday’s routine checkup was a bit different. High blood pressure for the first time in my life. It has been 126/60 for the past few years. On Monday it was 172/62 – and the doctor heard a heart murmur for the first time.

Getting old is not for sissies! 🙂

He thought the high blood pressure might be a fluke, because my blood work was “perfect”, but asked me to monitor it for the next few days. We bought a blood pressure machine yesterday (Tuesday) and used it when we got home. It was 190 over something. Cerwin’s was normal. He had just come from having it checked at his rheumatoid arthritis doctor. This morning mine was even higher, so I called our doctor’s office. The nurse encouraged me to go to UPMC Hospital ER (Kissel Hill, PA).

We got there about 8 am. They immediately took care of me (I was impressed) and hooked me up for an EKG and blood pressure monitoring.

There was a lot of waiting for blood, (I think they drew 4 vials, maybe only 3), EKG and urine tests. They were also checking to see if I had an infection of some kind.

Conclusion after many hours: nothing wrong except high blood pressure. So, I was given a prescription for blood pressure medication.

I kept thinking of this verse (below) that I keep in my personal devotional page for the 24th of each month. (I keep prayer requests, favorite verses and personal challenges in my computerized devotional page for each day of the month.) The 24th was the day I learned that I have high blood pressure.

God is good! All the time.

We plan to leave for Belgium on Sunday afternoon. So glad this didn’t happen there. At this point the ER doctor said – take the medication and enjoy Belgium.

This experience was certainly another sign of God’s care for me.