Progress on Two Fronts

 

Marty and I in a selfie taken Wednesday morning before I took off for Maryland

Scott and I moved into two different paths on Sunday morning May 22nd. He and our friend Pete left St. Augustine at 6:45 AM on Scott Free and motored out the inlet for an offshore passage north. Pete's meeting in Boston had been postponed so he was now able to stay with us until Saturday! I drove to Beaufort, SC for a one night stay at the Hilton Garden Hotel, planning to drive north again in the morning to meet up with them. The expected rendezvous was Georgetown, SC that afternoon. 

But the weather proved better than expected and the men continued for a second night, sailing in the Beaufort, NC inlet Tuesday morning May 24th (now don't get your Beauforts mixed up - they are a long way apart!). And since it was 7 AM when they arrived back in the ICW, they continued their journey, anchoring at Bel Haven, NC, mile marker 136 this afternoon. Now to put this in perspective, St. Augustine is at mile marker 778. So they jumped 642 miles in three days! Pretty amazing! If Scott and I had continued up the ICW it would have taken us 10 days, at least. The journey was overall good with a few squalls and no local thunderstorms (lots in the distance). But they will enjoy a good night's sleep tonight for a change.

I on the other hand felt pretty comfortable at 5 PM until I took my blood pressure. It was very high again and got higher as I took 2 more readings. I drove to the Beaufort Memorial Hospital and as soon as I entered they took my readings and we all panicked (well, actually only I did). It was 253/105. I didn't know it went that high! They kept me there for 5 hours and did a number of tests, all fine, and lowered my blood pressure. The doctor gave me a temporary prescription and told me to see my primary physician as soon as possible. Long conversations with our sons James and Sean really helped me.

I made reservations to fly home to Boston Monday evening. That night was our regular "Fourth of July" Zoom and everyone was concerned (I had notified them of the situation). Marty Wolf volunteered to pick me up at the airport and host me. That morning I was able to make an appointment at Harvard Vanguard Associates with my PCP for 9 AM Tuesday morning. 

My visit went very well this morning. My numbers and test results looked good and we set up a program to monitor my blood pressure. She gave me two new prescriptions and now I'm back in Concord with Russ and Marty feeling much better. I had several conversations with Scott and they plan to continue on the ICW up to the Chesapeake this week. I will drive to Washington DC tomorrow to see my sister for one night,  and then James and Sean for two nights, before meeting Scott and Pete on Saturday, wherever they are. Our car is at Sean's house in Dorchester making that all easy. 

So all well that ends well...Thanks for all your good wishes!