Dr says "maybe well done"

5 weeks ago my blood pressure was hovering around 148/92 on the good days. The Doctor was a bit sceptical that I would be able to make some life changes and bring it down without medication.

This was the reading this morning and yes it was calibrated so it is accurrate.

This is the average of the last 2 weeks. The doctor now tells me I do not need blood pressure medicine. Was it easy to make life style changes? Not always but I had a goal. I also lost 12 pounds in the last month. No caffine, less meat and smaller meals do make a difference. Now I still have the extremely high cholesterol levels to deal with. That test was also a month ago and the doctors have been telling me it is hereditary. There is no way diet changes are going to bring the LDL levels down by 70%, which is what they want to see. They are also telling me medication will not bring it down 70%. I am told if the numbers improve it will be a combination of a couple of drugs and staying on my current diet, unless I am one of the 10% who are not impacted by high cholesterol. I am having a calcium score test run in January to see if I am one of those lucky 10%. Also rerunning the blood test in January to see if diet has lowered the LDL cholesterol. 

We are getting closer to finishing Wild Flower cottage. This was a bedroom when we purchased the house.

At noon today this was the same bedroom, cleaned out and fixed.

This was the 2nd bedroom upstairs when we purchased.

Same room this morning.

I would have to say we have made quite a difference.

The hallway upstairs look a thousand times better as well.

This was the tub and shower when we took possession.

We have put in a tile surround (by we, I do mean Matthew although I did grout the tile). We should be wrapping this project up in the next week.

Then it is on to the next house. This is a picture that was on the wall in that house. All the stuff inside the glass of Dad'a best friend are dead roaches. Who was dad's best friend the dog or the roaches?

In life there is almost always room for improvement. I thought it would be really hard to stop drinking coffee. It was a major part of my life. When Tony was living with us he once asked me, "do you drink any water or just coffee?" He had a point but, hey coffee is just water with caffine added right?

We were traveling down to Murray Iowa to see our grandkids in the Christmas program on Sunday morning. I thought I would stop and get a cup of decaffinated coffee on the way down. Wow, that was awful! After 5 weeks without coffee, I don't want it anymore. Same with most of what I was eating. 

It is possible to change and change can be good. look at how the house we are working on changed. A real mess with terrible wallls and filled with junk, to a house I am proud to be one of the owners.

Sometimes we need to have a life changing experience. The man who lived in the house we are going to start on next was trying to get rid of the roaches. I know that because there are a lot of insecticides in the house. But insecticides still in the containers don't kill roaches. Good intentions don't change lives. It takes work and commitment.