We went to The Wilds, a safari park located upstate, today
along with some friends of ours we hadn't seen in some months.
The last time we went, several years ago, it was a hot, humid
mid-summer day. Today, we got there just after a rainstorm, and
it was still very misty and overcast. We had booked the trip
months ago, so there was nothing for it but to deal with the
weather. Most of the animals were unbothered, but the cheetahs
and painted dogs in the carnivore center apparently were not
feeling it.
I had Friday off work, and my SO demanded we go see somebody
about my heart after having several episodes of severe chest pain
and light-headedness over the past couple months. I had been
prescribed lisinopril for high blood pressure a couple years back
but stopped taking it after about a week because it made me feel
ill. This time, I was prescribed amlodipine and asked to come
back on Monday for lab work after measuring 160 over 110, which
according to the American Heart Association is apparently just
shy of 'Hypertensive Crisis' levels. I have had blood labs run
multiple times before, and they always come back normal, so I'm
expecting the same this time. I think it's stress that's tearing
up my heart, and the fact that I'm having to do all this stuff
out of pocket at a nurse practitioner's office because I can't
afford health insurance is not helping the stress thing.
Saturday I made a bunch of space in the garage by cleaning
and finding lots of things to donate. I find being able to move
around the garage gives me energy to work on projects out there.
I'm still dragging my feet on it a little bit, but my creeper
project is almost done. I put the last coat of polyurethane on
the body last night, so now I just need to reupholster the
headrest and reassemble everything. The finish will require a
couple weeks or so to cure before it's ready for use, but I'm not
expecting to need to use a creeper until the lawn mower gets its
annual service next spring anyway. I'm mostly just wanting to
hurry and wrap it up so I can start another project without risk
of misplacing or damaging parts while shuffling things around.
My fasting period for my lab work tomorrow has just started,
so of course I'm starting to get a little bit peckish. I'm going
to try to go to sleep now so I can sleep through as much of it as
I can. At least I have a steak in the fridge, waiting for me to
come home tomorrow.
