So I wasn’t able to weigh in last week because I was spending the night in Calgary, so that I could observe at my NEW JOB. I’m so excited to announce that I’ve accepted a job as a pre-school/kindergarten teacher at a school for children with disabilities in the fall. I didn’t want to announce anything until I had officially signed the contract, which happened yesterday. I can’t wait to start working, this might actually be my dream job 🙂
I alluded to some little health scares in my title, and I’ll go into more detail now. For this job, I had to complete some medical testing. I’ve never had to do this before for a job, so I went in pretty nervous. My appointment was Monday afternoon. They first had me pee in a cup, then they took my heigh and weight. Next, the nurse took my blood pressure. Now, I’ve never had an issues with my blood pressure in the past (at least not that I know of) but this time the nurse said that my numbers were really high. Too high, in fact, to continue with the test. He had me lay down in a quiet room for five minutes, and tried my blood pressure again. Too high. Five minutes later, and it was still too high. They kept telling me I needed to calm down, but I was getting myself all worked up.
They told me to go home and have a nice relaxing evening, and they would squeeze me in the next morning (yesterday morning). Thankfully, after a good night’s sleep I passed, and was able to continue on with the test. It consisted of various exercises, running on the treadmill, and lifting weights. I had no issues with any of that.
I don’t think that I actually have high blood pressure, but just thinking that I do really scared me. I start my job in exactly two months, and I want to see just how much I can accomplish in the next two months.
I am going to follow the PCOS diet (as best I can) for the next two months, and see what differences occur. I’m tired of not feeling well, and although I know I’ve said that before, this time I mean it. Oh, and this week I actually gained a pound. So it’s time for change.
fearless endeavours 
I can’t help with the PCOS because I really haven’t tried to do anything with mine. I can offer some comfort with the high blood pressure thing, though. I’m a third generation high blood pressure person and my godmother (who’s a nurse) sat me down in England recently to see for herself what my blood pressure was. She said that the number you want to pay attention to is the bottom number (diastolic, I believe?) because that’s the number that tells you if there’s a problem. The top number can apparently change if the wind changes. Doctors do tend to get a little concerned if you have a temporary spike in the blood pressure. Mine hit over 200 when they removed my molars and I didn’t hear the end of it from the staff!
There is also white coat syndrome, which means a person gets so anxious that it artificially raises their blood pressure. That’s always fun for me to explain to the doctors. Also, I don’t know if this is a concern for you, but it is for me – the blood pressure cuff size. If they use a regular size on me, then it shoots my BP way up (and nearly shoots off my hand in the process). Even the in store machines have different size cuffs leading to different readings, so make sure the cuff is the appropriate size.
All of this is a long winded way of saying – don’t worry about the blood pressure:)
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Thanks Melissa! I’m not too worried, especially after it had gone down the next day. I must have had myself pretty worked up the first day though!
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