Here it is - an important day - July 16, 2007 - -the Monday after the Friday I gave in and went to the ER at Emory Eastside to please my doctor, his PA, and my kids - - -because of the elevated blood pressure of Thursday afternoon when I had been upset (and kept it inside) at bank errors - -I didn;t think it was a big deal - of course your blood pressure goes up when you are mad, or excited, or - - -well, lots of times!! - -By the time I gave in and went - of course the BP was not elevated anymore - -but it had been HIGH - the highest I had ever seen mine or anyone else's - -252/202 - -wow - - -The doctor made light of the whole thing - -seeing my low bp and my history - -but he did hear bruits in my right carotid artery enough so that he thought I ought to have it checked by a specialist immediately - -and since 5 years ago when a doctor heard bruits in the left artery I had surgery almost immediately - -and survived it beautifully - - -so today was the day I had to get an appointment to follow through on this maybe important thing - - -Listened to recorded phones at Dr. Paulk's office one more time - - waited and cooperated and talked with Margaret = the PA = she agreed that I should follow up with what the ER doc said - -and said she would call over to the cardio folks (in the same office to let them know Paulk wanted me to do that) - -I got another recorded answer - -and waited on an operator who said that the doctor who sees me is on vacation so that it would be the end of the month before I could be seen - When I told her that would not do - -she said that I could go to the other office on the 25th of July to see a fellow practioner - - -and I said that was no soon enough, thank you - and hung up - -and called the doctor who took care of me with the last surgery - - -and will be seen Wednesday to get started on solving this issue - - -

I am glad to start my journal and want it to be both like a diary - -wish I had started years ago - -as I have urged countless patients to do - - -AND like a thoughts retainer and I explain to myself some of the thingg I am thinking these days - since I have few folks I can do that with - -and I think it will be helpful to me - and possibly to someone who may read it in the future - - -but mostly I think it will help me "get on with what I need to do in the time I have left" = = =OK - -something new has been added because I pursued this little e-mail to remind me that I had joined this new program - -I have to find time to explore it - -I have not - and it does seem to be interesting and have a wide variety of options - - -we will see!!!!!!!!!!