TAGAYTAY COMES A CALLING (AND A HEALTH CRISIS).....

At the Island Rose Farm.....























We are at it again! John scored a scoop of sorts by being able to get the owners of a rose farm, Arnold and Dustin Andaya of Island Rose (not surprising!)and Sonia of Sonia's Garden in Tagaytay, to agree for us, the club, to shoot in their farm and their restaurant cum garden respectively. Now this is one activity I look forward to doing since I can test using my close-up filter with my lens while taking pictures of flowers and getting to go to Sonia's Garden, which I would have wanted to eat in if I have the cash. We went last Saturday, March 17, 2007.

The day started at 5am, when I met John at Cecil's followed by meeting Norman, Cindy and Aiza in Sucat. Next, we went to his RCBC office in Pasong Tamo and met the rest of the group. I rode in Lian's car while the rest took the van and Bless had her own posse.

I thoroughly enjoyed the shoot, with my close up filter able to do the job that I hoped it would. I could get shots of the flowers up close and I just had to concern myself with maintaining it to be sharp, which is easier said than done. I used RAW, since I wanted to play with the white balance when I post process the pics.

But what I am actually concerned about is my health. The night before, I wasn't able to sleep even for an hour! I thus brought a spygmomanometer along with my camera to be sure that I can monitor my blood pressure. Prior to leaving the house to meet John, my BP was 140/100 mm Hg, which is high. To help it go down, I took a 20mg tab of Furosemide. So even if I don't want to produce more urine during a day of travel, I was left with no choice if I wanted to keep my bp down. What I forgot to do was drink lots of water to make up for the enormous urine production my kidneys were making. Hence, by the time we went to Sonia's Garden to shoot, I couldn't do it anymore. I was so thirsty and tired, I ended up seating on the chairs and resting. I knew at that moment that I have an upcoming "episode". A check on my pulse proved to be me having tachycardia. And even if I wanted to ask Robert right there and then to take my bp, I can't since I didn't want to cause a scene. When we finally had the chance to go to Lian's car and Rob took my bp, I was floored with the results. It was 160/110 mm Hg, give and take a few errors in the numbers, it was still high. I just had to go with them and leave early while I tried to sort myself out.

I still am not convinced that I have essential hypertension! I think my bp spikes are the result of my inability to rest and basically abusing my body. I feel if I change some of my habits, I wont be having such episodes. I recently saw a friend of mine whom I have not seen for years, Dr. Roen Cacas in, among all places, Intramuros, during a bridal fair! She gave me her card. At least when I do need a cardiologist, I know where to find her!

I was thankful to Lian that she stuck it out with me. I told her that I shall be alone in the house if I decided to go home and was not feeling comfortable with the possibility that something might happen to me while by my lonesome. I assured her that all I needed was to get some sleep in her car as we returned to Makati. Rob and I then decided to attend her Aunt Gemma's book launching. And true to form, I did feel better after I slept in the car. Whew! That was close!