graphic evidence

okay. so i panicked about having high blood pressure. half the country does; well, half the country has high BP, i don't know if they all panic about it. and worrying about it can't help. the report:

left ventricle wall thickness is normal (no damage from high BP) and systolic function is normal. abnormal left ventrical diastolic filling is observed, consistent with impaired relaxation (this is about my heart, not my general attitude). the other ventricle and both atria are normal in size. there is no evidence of aortic insufficiency. there is mild aortic valve stenosis. there is a trace of mitral regurgitation. there is a trace of tricuspid regurgitation. there is a trace of pulmonic regurgitation. there is no pericardial effusion. the aorta appears normal. the main pulmonary aorta appears normal. no pulmonary hypertension is noted.

conclusions:
1. mild aortic stenosis.
2. evidence for diastolic dysfunction.
3. chordal systolic anterior motion.
4. mild mitral valve leaflet thickening.

this is not life threatening (yet), but i do need to have lower BP. below is a chart of my BP. i'm not rigorous about the time of day i check my BP, so the three data points are morning, afternoon, and evening. i began treating myself with an herbal product called Hypavera on sept. 14. as i hope you can see on the chart there is not a noticeable change in BP after that. so after a conference with the doctor on the 20th, where he explained all this and gave me scrips for hydrochlorothiazide (a diuretic, which is supposed to help my body get rid of sodium, which is the cause, somehow of high BP) and Klor-Con (potassium chloride, to replace the potassium that the diuretic leaches out of me). i started those on the 23 of September. i'm a geezer with pills.

you may have to click on this chart to get a big picture to see the words and lines clearly. the upper lines are systole. the dark blue is actual daily readings. the yellow line is an average. the lower lines are diastole. the pink is daily readings, the light blue is an average. in any case the upper lines, systole, are mostly close to 160 and the lower lines, diastole, are roughly varying a bit around 100. not good.

too much technical stuff? too much for me too. i still feel good. robin says i look good. who am i to blow against the wind?

in other news....we have ripe datil peppers! bright yellow! i cut open some green ones 2 weeks ago, saved the mature-looking seeds, and put the sliced peppers in a jar with olive oil. wow. datils are HOT. now i have the very two ripe yellow datils in the picture, sans seeds, in another jar of oil. i put the pepper oil on all sorts of food. very tasty. the weather has turned cool so i don't expect all the datils still growing to ripen completely, but even green they are tasty and tangy. when the plants start to wilt i'll pick all the remaining fruits. and take pictures of the harvest.

capsiaicin, the hot part of peppers, is reputed to have beneficial effects on health. thank you FC for sending me seeds to these very interesting plants. peppers are measured on the hotness Scoville scale. datils are about 30 times hotter than Jalapeño peppers

Tabasco Sauce (tabasco pepper = 2,500–5,000

Jalapeño Pepper = 2500–8,000

Cayenne Pepper = 30,000–50,000

datil peppers = Scoville measurements between 100,000 and 300,000, about like habeñero