Heart to Heart Scare

This past weekend I bought a car from Eric’s wife, Shana, and spent some time hanging out with Eric, Nate and Patrick.  I won’t be doing that again! Just before I left, Eric brought out his Sphygmomanometer and let Nate use it.  He and Patrick both got readings that neither found out of line, so I decided to try it.  On the first try, my blood pressure measured something like 186/101.  Shocked, I quickly took another reading.  160/101.  Hrm… Maybe I wasn’t using it right.  I adjusted the fit and tried again.  Back up above 180. Now, I know I am overweight, don’t get enough exercise and probably inherited a tendency to high blood pressure, but this was ridiculous.  The three other guys took turns giving me advice on getting it down and telling me not too worry, I couldn’t be that bad off.  Just before I left, I half jokingly said I’d try the sphygmomanometer at my local Wal-Mart. I had enough time on the drive back home to mull it over that I drove straight to the Wal-Mart.  When I got there, I took a couple of readings that hovered around 140/90.  Not great, but much better than 180! Today, I tried again.  127/73 (pulse under 60).  Phew!  It must be the company I was keeping. I’ll try again tomorrow on yet another sphygmomanometer.  I’ll get this thing below 100, yet!