A Very Rainy Monday Morning ...

A good weekend! Productive and fun.

Still some debris to deal with but the deck is now almost completely clear so my view of the lake is unimpeded, at least if I lift my eyes a bit!

On Sunday I had a lovely time with Lois, Tammy, Carlos, Marta and all the dogs. We ate and drank well, told stories ... and laughed lots. I hope Tammy and Lois will send me photos because I didn't take any.

Marta and Henry slept over. I am discovering that having someone here at night helps me find the peace of mind to sleep better. I dreamed dreams of old friends and lovers in new situations, and my blood pressure dropped to healthy levels despite have drunk a good bit of wine.

I have been monitoring my blood pressure carefully lately and find that only mental stress and anxiety cause it to rise. Wine has nothing but positive effects on it. My doctor, an abstainer and a Muslim, would like me to follow the 1,7,2 rule. Two drinks a day maximum; 7 drinks a week maximum. In other words do not drink more than a glass of wine every day with dinner or drink two glasses of wine every second day. I like drinking wine daily and I feel deprived if I must stop after one glass. I like the second, and occasionally the third, glass. I associate wine with relaxing at the end of the day, and I usually pour the first glass around 5 p.m. and sip it as I prepare dinner. Dr. Mellick (whom I really like) says that the research is showing that the blood pressure of women is lowered by the first glass of red wine and then raised by subsequent glasses. My research is not bearing this out. My blood pressure is highest during the day when I am most likely to be under stress, and lowest once I begin to relax over wine.

I will be going in to the Ottawa Hospital's Cardiac Diagnostic Centre again on June 13. This time they will do a myoview scan as well as the treadmill. It is nuclear medicine and they will inject radioactive dye and watch the progress of blood to the heart while resting and while stressing the heart through exercise. If there are any blockages they should be able to detect them. Apparently heart X-rays are not always accurate indicators for women because their breast tissue shadows things so that they get false positives more often. That is when the myoview is a more precise tool.

Today and tomorrow I will be walking Remi with Kenya and I am looking forward to it, especially if the rain lets up. For someone who is being monitored for two potentially lethal conditions, I am feeling remarkably healthy and fit.