Little bad blood f*ck*r!

I hate going to the Doctor. They never have any good news for you. ‘You’re as healthy as an ox! You should drink more beer and eat more cake! You should sit on the couch and watch more hockey too!’… No. That never happens. Instead it is always a list of things you can’t do because you are doing your body harm, bringing yourself closer to Death. Quite the incentive, can’t really blow off your Doctor’s advice can you? So I had an appointment yesterday and more strange news, apparently I have high blood pressure. This is pretty shocking as I thought I’ve been taking decent care of myself (mainly bdot takes good care of me). Normal ranges for blood pressure are 100-140 systolic (contracting) and 60-90 diastolic (rest). Anything above 140/90 is bad. I believe I was at the top end of both normal ranges. Reading the wiki page on High Blood Pressure is disturbing. There is not a whole lot of good news about having high blood pressure. So I had my blood sampled yesterday, and I had an EKG done… I get the results in a few months. My doctor didn’t seem alarmed, he merely said I should cut back on salt and caffeine. Hopefully the results don’t reveal anything worse. Sighhhhhhh…. Some prevention tips from the wiki page:

· maintain normal body weight for adults (e.g. body mass index 20-25 kg/m2) << close.
· reduce dietary sodium intake to <100 mmol/ day ( 6 g of sodium chloride or < 2.4 g of sodium per day) << doable.
· engage in regular aerobic physical activity such as brisk walking (=>30 min per day, most days of the week) << dog walk.
· limit alcohol consumption to no more than 3 units/day in men and no more than 2 units/day in women << done.
· consume a diet rich in fruit and vegetables (e.g. at least five portions per day); << 5? holy shit. that will be tough.
· consume a diet with reduced content of saturated and total fat. << do make some effort
· the DASH diet, a diet rich in nuts, whole grains, fish, poultry, fruits and vegetables promoted by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute lowers blood pressure. << not far off on that…

My doctor is in Brampton. We never go to Brampton anymore… Driving home north on Kennedy Road I was surprised by the massive changes. The road now deviates into a huge subdivision before continuing North as I remember it. That was kind of trippy. Apparently that is Caledon (since it is north of Mayfield Road…). Pop-up subdivisions are always curious to me. Suddenly people everywhere where before were fields. Hmm. I was happy to see my favourite Jamaican restaurant in Brampton was still open so I scored two yummy chicken roti for lunch (and ultimately dinner).

The Sabres have clawed and scratched themselves up the standings into a tie with Washington in points. Unfortunately the Sabres lose out on every tie breaking category, which drops them to 9th and out of the playoffs. So they need to win on points. If everything goes right, they will be in 8th by the end of today. These final games will be filled with tension…Tuesday presents an enormous opportunity as the Sabres and Caps play. That game could decide who is in the playoffs and who is golfing with the Leafs.

Sweet zombie Jesus. It was 26 yesterday; IN MARCH. WTF!