Nala, my Goffin’s cockatoo, and I are sharing a juicy bowl of watermelon.

I went to the doctor today for a follow up on my high blood pressure. My original appointment was April 1, but the pandemic moved it to today.

As they directed me last week, I arrived in the parking lot prepared to call them and wait in my car. (See Medicine in the time of Covid for the full prep phone call, which I also submitted to the Mighty and should be available on their platform soon.)

But they called me as soon as I pulled into the parking lot!

The nurse came out for me and brought me into the office vestibule where she took my temperature. From there, we went into the lobby where she had me step onto the scale. Imagine my surprise when I saw I was lighter at the doctor’s office than at home.

I had horrible, emotional nightmares last night and they left me shaken this morning. I had a raging headache, which might have been dehydration but it could have been stress as I knew I had to do a self-evaluation at work and my boss only gave me 24 hours to do it.

I thought my blood pressure would be awful. My pulse was racing. I felt it.

But even that riled up, my blood pressure had dropped 10 points! Even with the work stress growing, the Coronavirus and all the other issue’s on my plate, my blood pressure went down.

I meant to ask her to take it again before I left because I bet “the good news” made it go down even more.

And according to them, I gained less than 2 pounds during Covid. My records and my clothes disagree.

But I felt really good after that visit.

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