Looking Around

Thinking about some things

I am getting kind of slow about doing this blog thing. I thought I had a couple of good topics out there... then I didn't write them down... and now I am sitting here at a blank page wondering what it is I want to write about. Where do I start on something I can't decide on? I have been out to a couple of events that struck me in odd ways.

One, that struck home in a hard way, happended last night. I gor up early to video a speech by a friend of mine. She was doing the keynote at a meeting of a large day care company. We were there from about 8:30 AM until oneish in the afternoon. Which isn't all that noreworthy, exept then, tired from that bit of work, I went to my CAMA meeting a spent almost three hours video taping one of the lectures. They guy was showing us about a new machine that he claimed measured the elasticity of the walls of your arteries.

The mechanism I don't quite understand yet. What I do understand is that it beams an infrared beam through the finger nail, then measures the sub-micro dialations of the arteries in the fingers. My pulse is about 73 beats per minute, which is kind of hign normal. But, according to this, my arteries are a mess. I have the equivalent artery to a 73 year old man (I am about 51 give or take a month). That is a scary thought in many ways- expecially since the circulatory system is so imporant to keep healthy to stop strokes or heart attacks.

My grandfather on my dad's side moved away a long time ago- but I seem to remember that he died in his 50s from a... yup... heart attack. My mom's dad had three heart attacks before age 60, then went on to live into his 90s. My dad had a heart attack sometime in his 50s... so, with all the pizza and cheeseburgers I eat, I am thinking that it may only be a matter of time. With that in the background of my medical history, when my doctor mentioned that I had high blood pressure last year, I basically spent the next three months blowing him off. I haven't gone back to him to follow up because I didn't want to go on blood pressure medicine for a just over average blood pressure check.

Last night, I got the nudge from the new machine that I might need to go start paying attention and taking care of this issue. Not that I should need an excuse or a reason, but to get the confirmation that my arteries may be heavily walled with debris is unsettling. I know my desk is full of clutter. I know my dresser is full of clutter. But, that my arteries my be full of clutter is just too much. And, on some level, the universal field of my life may be trying to get a message to me about decluttering my life. If you don't deal with stuff... it clutters. On my desk, it is an inconvenience, in my circulatory system it could be serious injury or death.

Which brings me around to noticing that I could make a belated New Year's Resolution to eath more healthy, to begin taking some supplements to help the heart and arteries, and to start a daily exercise routine (nothing strenuous- walking more, stretching, or riding my bike). This isn't rocket science. And, the main thing I might do more of is give my physiscian a little break. Let him do his treatment for pressure relief and take a load off my heart. However, at the moment, I want a Moon Pie in the worse possible way. I'll keep this posted on my continued quest for living longer.