Health Reflections Part 1

I don't know quite how many posts I'll put in the health series. I know I have some thoughts and don't want to put them all at once. I should note that if anything in what I say sounds like medical advice, you should talk to your own physician. I'm a history doctor. I can advise you on what happens, typically, in plagues and pandemics and wars and droughts. I am not qualified to tell you what medicine you need now.

(I can most assuredly tell you how wrong things can get without medicines like vaccines that we take for granted now, but ultimately, you should talk to a real medical professional about such things for right now. If you wonder about someone's qualifications for that role, ask them basic questions about human anatomy, what disease-causing organisms look like, and what disease vectors are. If they need a quick YouTube video to answer, go find someone who went to medical school. And get your MMR.)

Back in March of 2026, I went to the doctor for the first time in several years. This was the included "Annual Wellness Exam" that individual insurance plans are required by law to cover 100%. We haven't done it, because our previous insurance company had a very limited network and then also expected you to front costs and then wait for reimbursement. Trust me, if the insurance company has all the money, it's not coming to you very quickly.

However, we changed insurers this year. Another time I'll run down what a blessing that was starting in January with our son's collapsed lung, but that opened up the possibility to get a basic checkup without worrying about having to front all the money and hope for some back later. 

Ann and I went in, and my blood pressure was a "little high." Well, honestly, it was 180/140. That's not a little high. It's a lot high. Doctor told me to start keeping a journal on that and come back to see if we need to try some medication to get it down while I do the work of losing weight. Blood pressure is like any other hydraulic pressure: if you are over the specifications of the hoses, you can do damage with pressure even if it doesn't blowout and leak. If your BP is high, you need to get it down while you make the lifestyle changes to keep it down.

So, that was the plan. Then a few weeks later, I was not feeling right. I went back to the doctor. Nursing student took my blood pressure. Left the room, got a nurse, who took my blood pressure. Who left the room and got another nurse. Apparently, the numbers they were getting were just a bit outside the range of experience. After a brief incident where I threw up while walking out to the truck, I was sent to the emergency department at the hospital next door.

Where my blood pressure was taken and was 232/115. Folks, you should not have blood pressure like that. It's bad. The emergency doctor shot me full of stuff to bring the BP down. They took CT scans of my head and chest, looking for blockages, aortic dissection, and more. They found nothing.

I came very close to not leaving the hospital. Then, my BP came down just enough they let me come home. I'm still on meds, trying to be diligent to lose weight, etc., but a few quick notes:

In this same time span, I've had 4 friends in ministry die from health complications. One more died by suicide related to stress in the ministry. None of them were "old." Not to take away from beloved older folks, but generally one is not surprised when 80-90 year-olds die from heart attacks and strokes. When it hits people from 40-60, something has really gone wrong.

I'll make my first health reflection here: get to the doctor and address your health. Find out the basics, and make it happen. If you are serving a church, pastors, and they begrudge you taking time to visit the doctor, get someone you can trust to help you have a confrontation with the obstacles. Same with a church that will not let you take time away for rest and recovery. They are actively working against you living.

Don't let them.

Now, the next installment, we'll talk about our own responsibility for our health.