Resolutions Time
Published 1.17.2024: This is a perennial resolution post around these parts, even though the anti-resolution folks appear to have won. By that I mean that there are far fewer pieces arguing against setting resolutions for the year. I, however, still write resolutions for each year. I also review the list for last year to see what if any progress I made towards my resolutions (or goals, which somehow are supposed to be better than resolutions).
For the record, I did the resolutions on the 31st of December. I didn't do great keeping my resolutions last year. The ones I kept were pretty much the same as the year previous. Yes, I continue to make the same resolution even if I kept it, and even if I didn't. Unless I decide for some reason that it's no longer a worthy goal.
Writing resolutions gives me a chance to assess where I am and where I want to be. And I don't get caught up with specific schedules to meet a given resolution. I give it my best try throughout the year, even if my adherence is spotty (which it most definitely was in 2023).
My daughter also makes resolutions, though she does so differently than I do (and no, we don't share them with each other. It's an internal check, not to be shared with the world in my view). None of the males in the household make resolutions.
My son did start going to the gym in the new year, and at least so far seems to be enjoying it. He's taking advantage of free training sessions, we'll see if he continues once he has to pay. It would be a great thing for him if he did so.
On a different topic, high blood pressure (BP) runs in my family. All of my siblings suffer from it, my father did; my mother died of a stroke brought on by uncontrolled blood pressure. My mother was the type that didn't want to pop a pill every day-- which is the treatment for elevated blood pressure, even back then (the 1980s).
My mother also smoked like a chimney, and the two did/do not mix. I think if she'd had her stroke 20 years on, they might have been able to save her. But in 1986, basically it was a matter of waiting for the blood in her brain to kill her-- as horrible as that is to write. It occasioned my first plane trip, because I needed to fly home to be by her side. Her brain was still functioning when I arrived, and no one will ever convince me that she didn't know I was there. Two days later she was gone.
Anyway, my father's blood pressure was low until he was older, and well, I fit in that "older" category now too and I am now on BP medication. It's a very low level, but the purpose for this piece is my latest experience getting my blood pressure measured at my annual physical. A physical that was delayed for months and I only got an appointment when I did because I pointed out that I was looking at my second multiple months delay.
The woman who checked me in and took the BP (with a machine, which I've written about previously) didn't ask me to roll up my sleeve. Nor did she make sure that my feet were on the ground (they were not). So she got a dangerously high blood pressure and a ridiculously low pulse using the machine. Her comment to me (because I reacted to the very high number) was that the doctor would retake it. So rather than try to take a more accurate reading, she just moved me along to the exam room.
The doctor did retake it, and she took it on my bare arm, with my feet flat on the ground and my arm elevated to the level of my heart (you know, the way you're supposed to do). And it was lower, not low-- and I asked her about my prescription level because I'm on the very lowest dose possible. She wanted me to take it at home ( where we have one of the infernal machines) and to see how it varies. Thus I have begun to do this, taking my BP three times and choosing the lowest one as the "real" one. I still record the others though, so that the doctor can see what's going on. the plan is to take my BP for three weeks, at different times of the day, then email the results.
White coat syndrome is real, she noted, and she didn't want to up my meds on a single reading. Which I respect. But I've been reading cardiologists writings online, and they take a much more aggressive approach with BP. If I could lose 15lbs, I think I'd be better off too. But efforts to that end haven't been very successful— but that's a topic for a different piece.
I was just measured this week at the gym and I was 3 lbs less than what I weighed at the doctor's office (and in both cases I was (obviously) clothed. The doctor's office also took an inch off my height-- which would be a big deal if true at my age. But I don't think that was accurate either.
This is a new, fancy facility, and I can't say that the care is any better. Of course, it's not worse, either. I've complained previously about their poor adherence to the BP protocols, and I complained about it again when they sent me a survey asking for comment. Why bother measuring it first thing if the number is going to be taken so poorly that the doctor has to do it again? (Literally what I wrote.)
At least in the exam room, the BP is measured manually. One of the reasons I have doubted whether I need (in the past at least) to be on medication is that at my ob-gyn, where BP is ALWAYS measured manually, I've NEVER had a high reading. Ever. I think the machine adds at least 10 points to the number. But the technicians at my primary care don't know how to do anything but push the button on the machine.
As I've aged, I've argued less about the medication because my entire family is on them, thus it seems inevitable. Still it makes me think that I should take the constant resolution to lose 15 lbs a bit more seriously. I work out regularly at the gym, so fitness-wise I've got things covered. But I need to find a way to drop the pounds. More on those efforts in a different piece.
For the record, I did the resolutions on the 31st of December. I didn't do great keeping my resolutions last year. The ones I kept were pretty much the same as the year previous. Yes, I continue to make the same resolution even if I kept it, and even if I didn't. Unless I decide for some reason that it's no longer a worthy goal.
Writing resolutions gives me a chance to assess where I am and where I want to be. And I don't get caught up with specific schedules to meet a given resolution. I give it my best try throughout the year, even if my adherence is spotty (which it most definitely was in 2023).
My daughter also makes resolutions, though she does so differently than I do (and no, we don't share them with each other. It's an internal check, not to be shared with the world in my view). None of the males in the household make resolutions.
My son did start going to the gym in the new year, and at least so far seems to be enjoying it. He's taking advantage of free training sessions, we'll see if he continues once he has to pay. It would be a great thing for him if he did so.
On a different topic, high blood pressure (BP) runs in my family. All of my siblings suffer from it, my father did; my mother died of a stroke brought on by uncontrolled blood pressure. My mother was the type that didn't want to pop a pill every day-- which is the treatment for elevated blood pressure, even back then (the 1980s).
My mother also smoked like a chimney, and the two did/do not mix. I think if she'd had her stroke 20 years on, they might have been able to save her. But in 1986, basically it was a matter of waiting for the blood in her brain to kill her-- as horrible as that is to write. It occasioned my first plane trip, because I needed to fly home to be by her side. Her brain was still functioning when I arrived, and no one will ever convince me that she didn't know I was there. Two days later she was gone.
Anyway, my father's blood pressure was low until he was older, and well, I fit in that "older" category now too and I am now on BP medication. It's a very low level, but the purpose for this piece is my latest experience getting my blood pressure measured at my annual physical. A physical that was delayed for months and I only got an appointment when I did because I pointed out that I was looking at my second multiple months delay.
The woman who checked me in and took the BP (with a machine, which I've written about previously) didn't ask me to roll up my sleeve. Nor did she make sure that my feet were on the ground (they were not). So she got a dangerously high blood pressure and a ridiculously low pulse using the machine. Her comment to me (because I reacted to the very high number) was that the doctor would retake it. So rather than try to take a more accurate reading, she just moved me along to the exam room.
The doctor did retake it, and she took it on my bare arm, with my feet flat on the ground and my arm elevated to the level of my heart (you know, the way you're supposed to do). And it was lower, not low-- and I asked her about my prescription level because I'm on the very lowest dose possible. She wanted me to take it at home ( where we have one of the infernal machines) and to see how it varies. Thus I have begun to do this, taking my BP three times and choosing the lowest one as the "real" one. I still record the others though, so that the doctor can see what's going on. the plan is to take my BP for three weeks, at different times of the day, then email the results.
White coat syndrome is real, she noted, and she didn't want to up my meds on a single reading. Which I respect. But I've been reading cardiologists writings online, and they take a much more aggressive approach with BP. If I could lose 15lbs, I think I'd be better off too. But efforts to that end haven't been very successful— but that's a topic for a different piece.
I was just measured this week at the gym and I was 3 lbs less than what I weighed at the doctor's office (and in both cases I was (obviously) clothed. The doctor's office also took an inch off my height-- which would be a big deal if true at my age. But I don't think that was accurate either.
This is a new, fancy facility, and I can't say that the care is any better. Of course, it's not worse, either. I've complained previously about their poor adherence to the BP protocols, and I complained about it again when they sent me a survey asking for comment. Why bother measuring it first thing if the number is going to be taken so poorly that the doctor has to do it again? (Literally what I wrote.)
At least in the exam room, the BP is measured manually. One of the reasons I have doubted whether I need (in the past at least) to be on medication is that at my ob-gyn, where BP is ALWAYS measured manually, I've NEVER had a high reading. Ever. I think the machine adds at least 10 points to the number. But the technicians at my primary care don't know how to do anything but push the button on the machine.
As I've aged, I've argued less about the medication because my entire family is on them, thus it seems inevitable. Still it makes me think that I should take the constant resolution to lose 15 lbs a bit more seriously. I work out regularly at the gym, so fitness-wise I've got things covered. But I need to find a way to drop the pounds. More on those efforts in a different piece.