Only a short two years ago my blood pressure was off the charts. My doctor told me in no uncertain terms that I had better find a way to get out from under all the stress. He said I was the “poster boy” for a heart attack. He put me on the needle for insulin and was going to prescribe something stronger for my blood pressure and hypertension.

Nothing changed in Panama, as the doctor there also wanted to start me on additional meds for my blood pressure, but I resisted as I knew, just like with my mother, this would be for the rest of my life. I hoped my health would improve from all the physical work I was doing. Unfortunately the stress of being ripped off by a Panamanian family and having everything stolen, plus being dead broke, only added to my stress levels. Having a gall bladder attack and being forced to have it removed in a third-world hospital also didn’t help.

When I returned to Toronto I found myself walking everywhere. The way the buses work in Toronto you are not allowed to get off and back on again on the same route, nor are you allowed to “backtrack” to get back where you started. There were many, many days when I walked miles and miles, often further than I even thought possible. One day, after getting a little lost on the Humber Valley trails, I think I walked almost twenty kilometers by the time I got back home. Combine all the walking with blading and biking and, well, I was certainly getting my exercise.

Just before I left Toronto I went to my clinic to renew my prescriptions. The doctor took my blood pressure and then gave that “Hmmm” sound that makes you panic a little, wondering how bad it could be. He took it again and then told me he had to double check because it was 120 over 80, which he said was “text book”. He said that was most unusual for someone my age, not to mention also being a smoker and a diabetic. He said I was doing something right.

After leaving Toronto I found the bus system here even worse, and I end up walking everywhere, pretty well on a daily basis. Recently I went to a doctor and the first thing he did was take my blood pressure. Again I got that “Hmmm”. He reviewed my medications, one of which is for high blood pressure, and asked me if I had some sort of divine intervention, because my blood pressure was 90/60, low in fact. He questioned why anyone with low blood pressure would be taking a medication for high blood pressure? Not being my regular doctor, he didn’t want to change things too drastically, so he left me on the medication, but cut the dose in half. He asked me about any “lifestyle” changes. I am still out of work, on assistance and struggling like crazy with no money, so that part of my stress level hasn’t changed a bit. I told him I do have a girlfriend and he said that a good relationship can go a long way to reducing stress. Considering that our relationship is certainly not without stress, as most aren’t, I have to think it’s all the walking that has reduced my blood pressure. Now, if I could just win the lottery! Think what that would do for my health!