So, my sparse writing lately has been in part from the overwhelm of discovering my blood pressure has been 150/90-something for a week. It’s to the point now when I’m starting to think I might always feel like I’m about to explode and the walls are closing in, with the occasional headache, ringing ears, tingling hands, and burning eyes. Not to mention I had a rather large shot of vodka that did nothing… it made me feel normal.

But the good news is that life at Stitch Fix is settling into a new routine and we had an all-hands meeting today to build moral in the face of all the recent changes. And The Teenager received her final fix, that– despite all her pleas to her stylist not to send any more sweaters– has two sweater, one very, very similar to the one she is wearing. The algorithm has failed her.

We’ve had light inventory recently and I wonder if that might have something to do with it. We started receiving new inventory this week.

Today I only folded at 90% of metrics so I’m sure I’ll hear about that tomorrow. But my fixes were damn near perfect.

I left work at 11 to visit the doctor. I had an appointment with one of the residents that my primary care physician requested from me in direct response to my blood pressure reading on Tuesday. I arrived at the office and was met by the same nurse that saw me Tuesday and she brought a student to handle my initial intake stuff.

The first order of the day was to take my blood pressure, which seems pretty basic at the doctor’s office, but apparently they tried to use the large cuff on me, and while my weight is no longer small, my blood pressure cuff size is. And the experienced nurse told the student that a slightly too loose cuff could make the reading a tad off, and since this was a blood pressure issue exact accuracy was important.

150/92.

Barely a change from last time. No change after my Andrew put me through a workout that had my heart beating. No change since I doubled my water intake and cut out caffeine. No change since I’ve been avoiding sugar, salt, snacks. But it’s only been 48 hours. I just wanted to see some sign that it might go down.

When the resident arrived (a very kind and handsome fellow who reminded me of a friend’s husband, but that person already has an identical twin so how can he have a local doppelganger, too? Do twins get doppelgangers or are twins their own doppelgangers?), I explained my symptoms and that it came upon me last Tuesday. With the symptoms changing over the week, and going back and forth. So we starting talking about if anything had changed and while my life is chaotic, it’s the same old chaos. No new supplements. No new medicines. No new foods.

“That’s weird,” the resident said.

He talked to my primary care physician and they did an in office EKG. My heart rhythm is fine. On Saturday I will get all my blood work. I am to keep a blood pressure log until my next visit. I said I would maintain my healthier habits.

When I left, I treated myself to an unsweetened decaf iced coffee from Dunkin.

And came home and made a lunch of warm kale and chicken burger.

And hung out with Nan. Her life right now is as chaotic as mine.