I’m in Minneapolis sitting on the heat myself right now. Here’s what I know about the blood pressure thing, the only one I’ve ever found that I thought was useful was the Omron wrist cuff. You might wanna order that off Amazon and try it. I don’t really get too riled up about my blood pressure. I’m taking amlodipine, atorvastatin, and carvedilol in sufficient quantities to lower my blood pressure. At my last check up last week it was 118/74 so I’m pretty happy about that. What I’ve learned is that caffeine does not raise my blood pressure but sugar does. It’s odd to think that sugar raises your blood pressure, but it actually does. So I would definitely not be doing any sort of planking type exercises or anything involving deadlifts or anything more than 20 or 30 pounds. The goal is just to bring down the temperature in the room as it were. I Think that if you get in to see a thoracic surgeon you’re gonna have a really good clear picture of where you’re at physically and what their plan is for you.

In the meantime, you’re gonna be fine. It’s all good. I have survived for the last 10 years with an artificial aorta and I promise you this that you’re doing the right thing by staying on top of it. If there’s one piece of advice, I could give anyone who’s facing aortic issues. It’s this: do not take advice from anyone who isn’t a thoracic surgeon who repairs aortas or a person who has survived an aortic dissection. In a perfect world, you would have a thoracic surgeon who has survived his or her own aortic dissection! I really mean it.

There are a lot of medical people who have opinions about things that they really know nothing about because they’re expected to be smart and have opinions. i’m a lawyer, and I understand the phenomena of expecting that a lawyer will always have the right answer. Obviously, we don’t and neither do the doctors. You need to get in to see a thoracic aorta surgical specialist. They will take good care of you. Peace.