The good news however is that overall, I am doing well in the blood pressure department. This is important for two reasons: kidneys play a key role in keeping a person's blood pressure in a healthy range, and blood pressure, in turn, can affect the health of the kidneys. High blood pressure(AKA hypertension) can damage Righty and lead to chronic kidney disease. Which of course we don't want. And for the record, donors like myself are not the only ones who should make sure they know their blood pressure levels are good-one of the leading causes of kidney disease (and for that matter heart attacks and stroke) are people living with high blood pressure who aren't aware of it. Knowledge is power! Even if your resting blood pressure is low, if life (kids, work, husbands, wives, parents) has your BP high frequently throughout the day, the same damage to your body can occur-it is not just about diet and exercise.
My average daily reading was 117/74 (if I recall correctly). I had many lower readings but a few "spikes" in the later part of the day that drive up the average (totally stress). This falls within the normal range for a regular, two kidney person. I am please with the fact that I am doing well after just three months but I also know my increased exercise has probably done a fair bit to help. I'm also trying to be a little more mindful of salt intake where it can be controlled (although sometimes you have to surrender yourself to the salty snack gods). The technician did note I dip a little low blood pressure wise at night and that I should be careful when I get up from sleeping as dizziness could be an issue. I'll take low over high any day as it is a lot easier to fix!
All the other tests I'll do next week. I have to admit though I am feeling pretty confident with the blood pressure being good that everything else will be in line as well (although they all aren't connected otherwise one test would cut it!) Hopefully after the blood and urine tests, no news will be good news!
Good work Righty-good work.
