Once a month I get a Xolair shot for my allergy induced asthma. It’s just one of the many medications I’m on. I went in to get my shot this morning. I made the mistake of telling the nurse I was really stressed because of work. She decided she should take my blood pressure. When she was done, she didn’t tell me what it was but headed out the room and said she’d be back in a minute. She came back with the PA to have her double check that my blood pressure was as high as she got. It was. They said it wasn’t scary high but it was high and was especially high compared to my normal blood pressure. They’re concerned because having high blood pressure and being stressed will make it more likely I’ll have an asthma attack.

The PA said she could write a prescription for me to get out of work. Unfortunately our sick and vacation time is lumped together so that would just mean one less day for a vacation. If it was a really nice day, it might have been more tempting but the weather isn’t really that nice today.

Anyway taking a day off work isn’t going to fix my work. I’ve been frustrated for the last several months. Last week my boss dropped a giant bomb shell. It makes it worse because I’ve telling my boss that things weren’t working for me on the project and he almost always agrees with my suggestions to improve them but nothing ever changes. I can’t write about it here because I know people from work at least occasionally read my blog. Let’s just say I got a prescription for Ambien and it isn’t enough to keep me asleep at night. I slept just fine with it the night before Race Across America last year. Even the night before normal races, I don’t sleep very well so I know it will work for me except under extreme stress.