Life is Short

This week has been very busy and exhausting at work but I really have no room to complain. Life is good for me. However, it's been a week of introspection and re-learning of an age old lesson: Life is short.

A couple of days ago I found out that one of my old high school friends has Stage 3C Ovarian cancer. Through her blog posts before and after her surgery she has remain so positive and calm. We ran cross country together and I was always a little jealous of how incredibly talented of a runner she's always been. She ran for UVU and just graduated this last year. We haven't really kept in touch (just Facebook messages here and there throughout the years) but it still breaks my heart. Someone so young, so healthy, so full of life is now going through something so terrible and I'm sure very scary. I have been so impressed with her attitude about the whole thing. She's so strong.

Yesterday, my friend's dad passed away. He's been dealing with a lot of health issues throughout the years and this last week made the decision that he wasn't going to go to the hospital again. He quickly declined from there and passed away last night. While you might think that I can empathize with what he's going through, I don't know that I can. His situation is so different than mine was. I was young, it happened very suddenly and as a child the whole thing was hard to understand and take in. While this is still probably very difficult for him, my friend was very at peace when he talked to me about it. Again, so impressed by his strength and faith.

This next week I'm going into my doctor to have my blood pressure checked. I've noticed that it's been high over the last couple of years when I've gone in for physicals and in my Fitness Assessment class my senior year, my blood pressure was always high when my classmates would take it for practice. I decided to check my BP when I was at the store the other night and it was 144/75, with my pulse at 70. For those of you unfamiliar with BP the top number (systolic BP) is the pressure measured when the heart is beating and the blood vessels are closed. The bottom number (diastolic BP) is the pressure between beats when the vessels are open and the blood is flowing through. A healthy BP measurement is 120/80. Lower is good, higher is bad. For the top number, 121-139 is pre-hypertension (pre-high blood pressure). 140+ is considered hypertension. Basically, my numbers are not good. Hypertension can lead to an increased risk of heart attack, stroke, heart disease and other dangerous health risks. It's nicknamed "The Silent Killer" because it can easily lead to these other things without any warning. I know this all sounds dramatic but it's really just the facts. So I'm going to my doctor to get it all sorted out and if there's any news to report, I'll update here. The nurse said they may start me on some medications but I'll see what other options there are because I'd like to avoid medications if I can. I'm already on birth control for my Endometriosis, and that's hard to remember sometimes, so I'd rather not add more! haha!

Moral of the story: life is short and you never know what's coming your way. Do what makes you happy. Eat the cake. Go for a hike. Tell the people you love that you love them. Learn to forgive and don't hold grudges. Don't put off the things you want to do for another day because there may not be another day. Be full of gratitude. Choose to be happy now.