Pressure That’ll Tip, Tip, Tip When Your Shoulder Goes Pop!
Because I’m a klutz, I ended up in an ambulance going to the hospital. (The short version is that I dislocated my shoulder and couldn’t put it back myself.) While we were in the ambulance, the paramedic got my information and then took my vitals. My blood pressure reading came back.
Paramedic: “Huh. Have you ever been told you have high blood pressure?”
Me: “No.”
Paramedic: “Hmm… Well, your blood pressure is reading in the high range of what we consider normal. You probably should talk to your doctor about it.”
I kind of brushed it off because my focus was on my shoulder and telling them that I didn’t need or want drugs. But a couple of days later, I was thinking about it, and I really should have said something like, “Of course, my blood pressure is spiked! My arm is six inches longer than it’s supposed to be, it feels like it weighs an extra 100 pounds, and I’m in an ambulance on the way to the hospital! I’d be surprised if it was low!”
But even my discharge paperwork from the emergency room had a note to the effect of “Your blood pressure was a little high, so you should follow up with your doctor for potential pre-hypertension.” I mean, I get that they want to give people information and everything, but also, let’s put stuff into perspective, people! I might not have been reacting the way a lot of people would, but let’s look at the situation here.
For the record, when I went to my doctor for a hospital follow-up visit, my blood pressure was normal.