Changing Meds, Donating Blood and Preparing to Travel
It's been one month and some change since my last post. In that time, I've dropped down into another weight bracket (another 10 pounds gone). I picked up a psuedo-cold, then upped the immunity supplements and vitamin C to try and knock it out. I was down to a cough, which I couldn't tell if it was residual from the cold or the stupid side effect from my newest prescription. Aside - the high-blood pressure meds came with a dry-cough as a side effect. A little cough I could have dealt with but mind-numbing hacking every night was a completely different story. So, off to the doctor I went.
I let him know what my situation was with the cold and also the meds. He prescribed something new. I hadn't had my medicine when I went to see him and he was astounded at the numbers of my blood pressure. He said, "Your numbers are great and you haven't even had it today!" He also applauded me for the change in my weight and my numbers overall. He let me know that I could halve the new meds, should I find that my blood pressure drops too low. Too low? Wow. I thought I'd never hear the day.
Scheduled two days later was a blood donation. I'd been meaning to do it ever since the first hurricane. I still had the cough, but I felt good and my levels appeared great for donating. It's been almost twenty years since I've donated blood. It really was time.Once completed, I drank my little juice and ate my nuts. I got a call from the music store telling me an item was ready to be picked up so, off I went to the store (which was just down the street from the Red Cross building). Out of the car and into the store--too quick! The room was spinning and I knew if I didn't sit down, down I would go and not of my own volition. Yikes! The clerks were very nice and offered me food and water to help. I just sat there for a few minutes while we chatted. How embarrassing! The nurses at Red Cross also said no heavy activity for five hours. That turned into two days for me. Why was I so weak? I guess the change in size and weight can effect your rate of fluid and platelet return on a blood donation. I'll be better prepared next time.
My biennial trip is coming up in a couple of weeks. I'm so excited to see my bestie! As I run through all the things I want to do while I'm there, I'm left feeling (as always) that there just won't be enough time to get it all in. Part of the trip will be driving up to our Alma Mater to visit some of our old haunts. I think I'm more excited about that than anything else. It's where we met and where are friendship was born. We have the option to attend some parties but, we did that last time. Honestly, my ass is too old to try and hang out until one or two in the morning these days. No thank you.
Lastly, I let my girls know about the dramatic change in my weight (over 30 pounds lost) and told them that I set little goals in my mind to keep plugging along. The next goal is to go to one of them and say, "Hey, can I borrow your jeans?" The crazy thing is that I'm nearly there. Maybe, by my next post, I will be.
